Staff Orientation

Right now there are around 50 young men and women, mostly 18-22 years old who are spending a week at Camp preparing for the next 9 weeks. These 9 weeks will be a powerful, exciting summer, and will bless these young people like no other summer. This week is Staff Orientation, and is a week full of instruction, encouragement, laughing, learning, bonding, fellowship, singing, worship, and growth.

Some of the staff members have been on staff before, so they now what its like to be a staff member at Camp Deer Run. Others were campers last year, so part of this week for them will be learning what it means to be a staff member instead of a camper. Others are spending their first week ever at Camp. They may have friends that convinced them to come work this summer, or heard Ty talk during a college visit and decided they wanted to spend the summer serving God.

I always loved the week of Staff Orientation. It allowed me the opportunity to reconnect with my best friends, people I spent 5 summers with. It allowed me to meet new people, and see them learn what Camp Deer Run is all about. It also gave me the chance to develop new relationships with former campers that were new staff members. One of the things that we did to bring all of these new people together was to do some team building activities. These first 2 pictures show some of us doing just that.

During Staff Orientation you have to go over all aspects of Camp. So we would take time to tell all of the stories that are told during a typical Camp session. In this picture all of the staff is gathered together on Hoche Ballfield to talk about Sadie Hawkins Day, or Killi Olympics, or some other special day.
My last summer on staff, or fearless leader and then Camp Director David Ward, decided he wanted show everyone exactly what the Indian was supposed to do on Indian Day. He dressed up and acted all crazy like a crazy Indian. He ran off into the woods and all of the staff had to run after and chase him down. Then they had to cleanse him, for some reason in the pool, of his crazy illness.
The most important part of Staff Orientation is teaching the staff the importance of their job during the summer. Some staff members will be counselors, some will work in the canteen, some will even work with the horses, but each staff member will be working in God's Kingdom, and each one of the campers that will be at Camp will be watching them and listening to them. The staff's most important job is to show the campers the joy that life brings when you are following God. So this week, be thinking about the staff members at Camp, and pray that they are being prepared in a way that will bring glory to God this summer.

Hail, Dear Ol' Deer Run,

Sparky