Responses to a Spontaneous Staff Survey

One of our summer staff was doing a speech for a college class and surveyed some other staff with this question:


"Would you say that working at camp and changing kids lives is more than worth the long hours and giving up part of your summer?"

And here were the responses verbatim:

• oh yeah. Definitely 
•  most definitely 
•  seeing the smile on those kids faces are more than enough worth to work at COCUSA 
•  Yes x1000 
•  yes yes yes!!!
•  yes! 
•  Yes absolutely!! 
•  Yes! 
•  I believe that camp is the best thing since sliced bread, and if you don't quote me on that, I will be disappointed. As far as your specific question, I believe that there is nothing more rewarding than giving back. There are a lot of jobs that could pay you a lot more, but there's something much more important than money that you can get from working at camp. I don't see the fruits of my labor every day; sometimes it even feels like we're going backwards. But at the end of an 11-hour day, I feel fulfilled going home every time without exception. There are hard days, but those are the ones where I learned to rely on God the most, and therefore those are the days that were the best for me. In short, the long hours are beyond worth it. I look forward to going to work, and I cannot imagine finding a more fulfilling summer job. 
•  ya 
•  for sure! 
• No. Definitely not. That's why I did it for 8 summers. (please discard intended sarcasm) 
•  Yes mam! Even though I don't work there anymore I def agree:) 
•  FOR SURE!!!:) 
•  i completely agree 
• Absolutely! 
•  O my goodness, yes! I'm so glad you are doing a speech on camp! Share His name any way you can!! 
•  Absolutely, it is way more than worth it! (: 
•  YES 
•  OH YES!!! 
•  Sure thing! 
•  Yes 
•  Yup 
•  si si si

Well... I've got my encouragement for the day.  :)

Believing in God working through Camp

It's so encouraging to see people BELIEVE that God is working through COCUSA.

Yesterday I spent over an hour with a couple summer staff who have a desire to see a Bloomington site start this summer... even if it's just a two-week trial.

The prospect of a new site both excites and scares me.

But seeing two summer staff believing that God works at camp... so much so that they want to be the main people who pull off a new site... that's just plain awesome.

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.