Campers Say "Thank You!" to Donors

Elizabeth Baltus--Registration Coordinator

Throughout
the years, HoneyRock has been blessed by many gracious donors who have given
sacrificially in order for hundreds of kids to come to camp each summer.  One of the highlights of my job is getting to
see the thank you notes that campers and parents write to these donors.  Today we would like to say “THANK YOU!” to all
those who have given to our Camper Scholarship Program.  I have seen and heard first-hand from campers
and parents alike that your gifts have not just helped kids come to camp, they
have changed the lives of kids and families.

The words
of one camper sum this up well:  “If you
hadn’t given to HoneyRock, I wouldn’t be on such a good road right now.  I wouldn’t have known God and most of all I
wouldn’t have been saved. HoneyRock has changed my life immensely!  I love God more than ANYTHING in the world
and HoneyRock helped me realize that. God wanted me to be with him at the end;
He had a plan and you were a part of it.”

So
again, we say thank you!  Thank you for
your generosity and partnership in the gospel!

Here
are a couple notes written by campers who were able to come to camp last summer
because of your gifts:

 

Carpetball vs. Broomball

Becki Henderson-Administrative Assistant

If you have spent any time at all at HoneyRock during the
cold and snowy winter months, then you know that Broomball is pretty much the
most popular thing that happens here. 
Many HoneyRock staff and guests are thrilled by the game, almost to the
point of obsession.

So today I wanted to focus on a different game, and one that
I feel is better than broomball in every way. 
This game, this “unsung hero of games,” if you will, is called
carpetball.  We have two carpetball
tables set up near the Village in the Carpetball Shelter.  The game is played on a long narrow table
with pool balls and is played by two people. 
Each person sets out five pool balls on their end of the table, and the
players take turns rolling the white pool ball down the table to knock the
other players’ pool balls into the pit at the end. 

I believe this game is better than broomball for the
following five reasons:

1. You
   can play carpetball in all four seasons. 
   I can play carpetball in August while wearing a sundress or in
   February in Carhartt Coveralls. 
   Now, how many other activities can you say that about?  Soccer? 
   Ultimate Frisbee? 
   Swimming?  Participating in
   the Ropes Course?  Broomball?  I think not.


2. There
   is no danger of being hit by a stick while playing carpetball.  No one is wielding sticks in
   carpetball—therefore you are unlikely to be hit by one while playing.


3. If you
   fall down (which you probably won’t, since you’re standing on even ground
   inside a happy Carpetball Shelter) you will not get a bruise the size of a
   sandwich.  During the winter at
   HoneyRock, the staff are constantly showing off their Broomball bruises
   as marks of honor (at least the bruises that are in appropriate places
   that one can show off, such as knees and elbows.)  Falling down is a regular part of
   Broomball, and for absurdly self-conscious people (like myself) that is
   very embarrassing.  I would much
   rather play a game where I don’t fall down as soon as I step on the court. 


4. No one
   trash talks about carpetball.  I
   have never overheard anyone at lunch saying, “Hey, do you want to come
   down to the Carpetball Shelter later and get totally OWNED?”  or “We would have won that game if we
   were playing the best out of five” or anything else like that.  No one cares enough about carpetball to
   trash talk about it.  This is part
   of its appeal.


5. You
   need virtually no skills to play carpetball.  If you can roll a ball you can play
   carpetball.  You don’t have to
   balance on ice, or balance on ice while holding a stick, or try to walk on
   ice while holding a stick and avoiding the person who is running straight
   at you.  Nothing like that.  Just you, a white pool ball and a
   pleasant table.  How fantastic is
   that?

So, these are my thoughts, but I’ll leave it up to you to
make an informed decision.  You can come
to HoneyRock to try out (and possibly enjoy) either game.  What do you think?

Becki is pictured below playing carpetball in the 15 degree weather today.  For the record, she won the game.

Elijah

John Vandervelde - Program Director

In a few short hours I'll be boarding a plane and heading back to the Northwoods.  The time in Colorado Springs at the Christian Camping Conference was good.  I learned some things that we can implement in our organization and in my own life.  It has also been a lot of fun to connect with camping leaders from around the country (and world).  Sharing meals together, praying for one another, and learning together is great.

The conference speaker for our large group morning meetings was a man named Peter Reid.  He is a leader at a Torch Bearers Center in Southern Germany.  The first morning he got up to speak he had us turn to 1 Kings 19.  I instantly knew I was going to enjoy his teaching.  See, 1 Kings is perhaps my favorite book of the Bible and 1 Kings 18 & 19 are the best chapters of that book.  I love reading about the life of Elijah.  Elijah's experience on Mt. Carmel is my all time favorite Bible story and I teach on it often at HoneyRock.

1 Kings 19 is an interesting passage that has a powerful lesson for Christ followers.  In 1 Kings 18 Elijah stood up to Ahab and the prophets of Baal.  God showed up in a powerful way and with fire from heaven he burned up the altar Elijah made on Mt. Carmel.  The prophets of Baal were slaughtered and the people of Israel confessed that the Lord was their God.  Elijah was in a powerful ministry situation on Mt. Carmel.  Just a short time later in chapter 19 we find Elijah running for his life afraid of Jezebel and the revenge she promised to have on him.  Elijah is exhausted both spiritually and physically from his experience on Mt. Carmel and he lies under a bush and asks God to take his life.  Here we see Elijah, God's man, a hero of the faith, a man God eventually raptures to heaven, laying on the ground just wanting to die.  Feeling like a failure, feeling like his ministry is useless and that there is no hope.

God meets Elijah in his despair.  He gives him rest and he sends an angel to care for him.  God takes Elijah on a 40-day journey through the desert where he rebuilds Elijah's hope and faith in Him and prepares him for his next assignment. 

There are times in life and ministry where we come to the end of ourselves, where we are just worn down and beat up.  We, like Elijah, may become depressed and want to end it all.  We've given up hope and we just want to quit.  We see no fruit in our lives, in our work, in our ministry, and we've lost all hope.  It is in these moments where God wants to reconnect with us and rebuild us.  It is in these moments we need to stop looking at the fruit and abide in The Vine (John 15).

So today maybe you're like Elijah.  Maybe your feeling beat up and worn out in your life as a parent, in your job, at your school, or in your church.  Maybe you're depressed about the lack of fruit you see or you have a deep sense of hopelessness.  My encouragement to you (and to myself) is to abide in The Vine.  Go on a "40-day" journey with God and let him rebuild you.  Don't give up, God still has an assignment for you. 

The 7 Things...

John Vandervelde - Program Director

Yesterday I mentioned that I attended a seminar with Bob Kraning and Chuck Gieser.  Combined these men have over 55 years of leadership in camp ministry.  They shared with us the 7 things they would do differently if they were entering camp ministry leadership today.  In the comment section of our blog Doug Wall asked "What were the 7 things they shared?"  I liked the question, so here's what they said:

1)  Work on your board.  Be close with your board members.  Trust them, and work so that they have a strong trust relationship with you.

2)  Work on your family.  Don't work too much.  Support your kids and be involved in their lives.

3)  Hire slow and fire fast.  Take a long time to make sure you bring on the right people.  If you have someone that is a bad fit, don't let it go on forever; have the hard conversations and move the person on.

4)  Empower your leadership staff.  Don't micro-manage and don't feel like you have to do everything.

5)  Always have a person you are mentoring.  Mentor someone to fill your role as leader of the ministry.

6)  Listen to your staff.  The best ideas come from the staff on the front lines.  Listen to them and consider their ideas.

7)  Surround yourself with honest staff.  Let them say the hard things you need to hear and make sure they can hear hard things from you.

I believe these are not just 7 lessons for camp leaders, but for anyone working to lead others. 

Thanks for the question, Doug!

Those Who've Gone Before Us

John Vandervelde - Program Director

It is quite late Monday night as I write this entry.  I just want to take a minute to give you a quick update from Colorado Springs where we (Scott, Liz, and I) are attending the Christian Camp & Conference Association national conference.  So far the conference has been great.  It has been fun connecting with other camp professionals from around the nation.  We've all enjoyed the large group meetings with inspiring speakers and moving worship.  We've also enjoyed the small group seminars and have already learned some new ideas and ways we can improve what we are doing at HoneyRock.

The most powerful experience for me today was a seminar I went to entitled "Upon Further Review".  This course was led by Bob Kraning and Chuck Geiser.  Bob is the former Executive Director of Forest Home in California, one of the largest camps in America.  Chuck is a HoneyRocker who went on to serve as Director of Deerfoot Lodge in New York for 25 years.  Combined they have over 55 years of camp ministry experience.  These men shared the 7 things they would do differently if they were starting out in camp ministry leadership today.  They shared with passion, they shed tears, they spoke with conviction, and they inspired me a great deal.  It was a very special moment for me and the others gathered there to gain so much wisdom from such great men of God and heroes of Christian Camping.  The trip to Colorado Springs was worth it just to sit and learn from these leaders for an hour and a half today.

I hope I never fall into the trap of thinking I have it all together and stop listening to those who have gone before me.  Equally, I hope those who have gone before me continue to look back and share their tools for navigating the journey successfully.

Thankful for Camp

John Vandervelde - Program Director   

So it's a few days after Thanksgiving, and I'm sure you all, like me, have been thinking and talking about the things in life you are thankful for.  It would be easy to fill up a couple weeks' worth of blog entries, talking about all the things I'm thankful for.  This week I spent about 17 hours building Lego creations with my two boys (Brayden, age 5 and a half, and Wyatt, age 4).  It was great fun, and I can honestly say I got pretty into it.  Okay, really into it.  It was like being a kid again.  Each morning for the past 3 days, we'd eat breakfast quickly and run down to the Lego pile to work on the latest project.  As you can imagine, this provided great bonding time with my boys.  I am very thankful for that time.  In the midst of building our "Fire Crew Rescue Hovercraft," my oldest son, Brayden, said, "I'm thankful for camp, Dad."  Of course, he was talking about HoneyRock.  I told him, I'm thankful for camp too.  Later that day I reflected a bit on camp, not HoneyRock specifically, but my camp experience as a young person.  I came up with a short list of the reasons I am thankful for camp:

1)  I went to Camp Roger in Rockford, MI, when I was 8 for my first overnight camp experience.  My counselor's name was "Pink," and he went to Calvin College.  He had pink bandanas tied around his leg and his arm (circa 1986), and I thought he was so cool.  I remember him telling us Bible stories and thinking they were so cool being told by him.  He loved God, and I wanted to too.  I'm thankful for Pink.

2) When I was 10, I went to Camp Pendalouan in Montague, MI.  My counselor's name was John, and he took us out on a wilderness camping trip.  This was not my first time camping, but it was my first time sleeping under the stars.  I remember being a bit scared, but eventually I drifted off to sleep looking up at the stars.  One of my favorite things to this day is sleeping outside under the stars.  Even if a tent is available, I'd rather be outside.  I'm thankful for John taking me on my first wilderness camping trip.

3) At camp I learned how to shoot a compound bow.  I've never shot one since, but I did at camp.  I'm thankful for camp allowing me to try new things.

4) I led my first wilderness trip at HoneyRock in 1999 as a student.  That changed my life forever, and I've been involved in adventure ministry ever since.  Camp gave me a vision for my life, and I'm thankful for that.

5) At camp I learned to paddle a canoe -- the right way.  Each summer I take my boys on a 3-4 night wilderness canoe trip (we started when Brayden was 3).  I'm thankful for those patient leaders who taught me how to canoe because it is something I love to do and can enjoy with my kids.

6) At Teen Missions Boot Camp in Florida, I committed to following Jesus with my whole life -- I became a Christ-follower.  I am thankful for boot camp.  

While you're reading this blog post, I'm sure you can think of all the reasons you too are thankful for camp.  Christian camping is something special.  This week I, along with Scott and Liz, will be taking part in "Hi-Def" the National Conference of the Christian Camp and Conference Association (CCCA).  Pray for us, and other camp leaders, as we work to keep Christian camping something people can be thankful for not only today, but for generations to come.