The Importance of Meetings

Yesterday I had 3 separate meetings planned, one with a mentor of sorts, one with a friend, and one with a summer staff member.  I was slightly feeling guilty for so many meetings in one day, but it was neat to see what God brought out of them.

In my first meeting, I got a great idea for morning staff meetings.  I was also challenged with some ideas to help get people into God's word.

In my second meeting, my friend offered to lead a workshop at staff training for me.

And the summer staff member I met with wanted/needed 20 hours of volunteer work this school semester.

Feedback from Night Out Interns

A couple feedback notes from my Night Out Interns:

It gives me a better understanding on managing time with the kids


I think guys Night has helped me develop some leadership abilities

Paid Interns

This school year COCUSA started a new position: Part Time paid interns.  (I already wrote a little about it here.)

I just want to restate that this program/position/thing has been and is going to be great for Camp and all involved with it.

We've already expanded our reach to families and parents in the school year through a Bible Study program.  We've helped the interns in their ability to raise support and work on projects.  We're increasing the quality of Tyro curriculum tenfold (no offense to last year's Tyro curriculum team... which I was 1/3 of...)

I can't wait to see where God uses Talissa and Kyle throughout the spring and into the summer, and I'm equally excited about continuing these positions with new interns next fall.

What are you working on now?

Even though summer camp is still four months away, COCUSA is already working hard on every aspect of our summer program.

One part of the summer that I take the lead on is planning Staff Training.  The image above is representative of one day's schedule during training.  We'll have our summer staff members attending as many as 20 workshops over the four days of training.

Ultimately our goal and prayer is that these counselors, junior counselors and site directors will be fully prepared for a summer of ministry.  We want to give them the practical tools and instructions so they can care for children and do so with excellence.  But we also want to encourage and equip them to share the gospel, make disciples, and serve the Lord in every area of their life (both now and into the future.)

Training our staff is a daunting task considering we only have four half-days with JCs, four full-days with counselors and six full-days with site directors.  If you think of it, can you pray that 2012 Staff Training will be effective and glorifying to God?

Encouraging Staff

Yesterday I met with a staff member.

This dude is awesome for several reasons.  But the one that always jumps out is that even though he hasn't worked a full summer at COCUSA in several years, he is still all about the ministry that we do.  He encourages, supports, and otherwise cheers us on.  It's pretty great.

When we met I was able to encourage him in his efforts to disciple a small group of guys (he co-leads a freshmen Bible study).  God's using him in really cool ways, both to encourage some of our current summer staff members and to point guys at the University of Illinois to Christ as well.

Great Audio Clips

This is just a reminder that I recorded some fantastic audio clips at the Staff Christmas party.  God definitely got the glory as they explained what camp meant to them.

Rockin' Ministry

It has been really awesome to watch our new part-time intern dive into growing staff and campers.

Through the weekly Bible Study Talissa has helped staff become more faithful in their Bible intake and really connected campers (and campers' friends!) to Scripture for the first time.

Here's part of the story in her own words: I just had to tell you this story about how God is at work!!
The past couple of weeks I have gone to pick up Abby from her house. Only this time when I arrived she asked if she could speak with me outside. She told me that her friend Wendy was an atheist and didn’t feel comfortable coming. I told Abby that day I was just planning on making some sugar cookies and having a short sharing time with staff to tell their favorite verse. After I explained that to Abby she talked with Wendy and they decided to come. I noticed that Wendy seemed really quiet at first. But I talked to them the whole drive to Pekin.
After we made the cookies and went in to the staff room I just prayed that God would touch her heart. I had each of the staff share a verse that they like. We finished up with a game of apples to apples and then parents started coming. After everyone left and we finished cleaning up she asked me for the study book. She said that she really liked it and she learned a lot. I can’t even tell you how overjoyed I was! So I gave her the book and then she asked me about the scripture Anna read from Matthew. Wendy said that it really spoke to her and I showed her where it was and she wrote it down. You could just see her excitement to read the book and learn more. Then on the way home in the car we had a really good discussion about being a consistent witness for Christ. We can’t be one person at church and another person with our friends. Oh it was so good and I just left send all kinds of praises and hallelujahs to God. HE IS AMAZING! Please pray for Wendy and all the girls. I just had to share how I see our wonderful God at work!!!