What’s recently happened?
Summer camps are always very fun and exciting, but they are also both physically and mentally exerting. Granger Community Church (GCC) recently hired its first ever Camp Staff.
Camp Staff were selected by the Camp Director and Church Pastor John Keim. The students who were interested in working for four or five weeks of their summer went through an interview. When they were accepted, they were officially part of the team and they began preparations for camp.
Their first week together was an intense 40-hour long training to prepare for middle school camp. This was when the team began to get to know each other and they learned about who they would be taking care of. The Camp Staff learned a lot of new information in this week of training.
During this week of training the camp staff listened to three pastors that spoke truth to the students and gave them guidance. All of their days together were centered on Christ, and they also spent time going through God’s Word, the Bible.
The week of training was a balance between sharing camp counselor rules (behavior management, how to communicate with parents, policies, do’s, don’ts etc.) and equipping the camp staff members with the correct perspective and true tools that they needed to lead like Christ.
They learned that they were placed in their position by God for a purpose, and they grew closer to each other and to their Creator.
Middle school camp was a week-long overnight camp, and it was a week full of activities and learning. During training week, the counselors were warned that it was physically exerting and that they would feel weak and tired by the third day, but when they felt this they had to stick together and to rely on God’s strength to keep them going.
Leonardo Santiago was a middle school camp counselor and led a group of eighth grade boys and one seventh grader. Camp allowed him to finish the week strong, but not by his own strength.
“It was great, and it was really fun. I really relied on God throughout the whole week because of my sickness, yet I still had to pour out on the kids what God had poured into me,” Santiago said.
This was his job and this was everyone's job, to reflect Jesus' love and joy to all the campers. Through training together and doing middle school camp, all of the camp staff grew closer to each other, and they still had two more weeks of camp left.
Hunter Martsolf was part of camp staff and was a counselor for Middle School Camp. He appreciated how training and camp brought everyone together, and it made the experience more enjoyable and less tiring.
“Training week forced the camp staff to surrender pride and insecurity. The team had to be unified and each team member had to recognize the gifts that they offered. As our team embarked on a three-week journey, we had to strive toward the common goal of modeling the way of Christ and presenting Him to our campers,” Martsolf said.
This was key in serving well and allowing for the campers to have a great time, and for the counselors to reflect Christ in every activity they did.
After leaving Middle School Camp and arriving back at church on Saturday, the camp staff had training the next day for two weeks of Day Camp. Day Camp was not overnight and these were elementary aged kids.
Day Camp was different from Middle School Camp. The little ones were more eager to learn and they joined in whenever leaders led a chant or song. They just soaked it all in and God worked amazing things in the campers and in the counselors.
In Middle School Camp, counselors were alone with a group of five to six kids, in Day Camp counselors had a helper, a Counselor In Training (CIT). In Day Camp, groups were made up of about 10-11 campers, led by two leaders, a counselor that was part of Camp Staff and a CIT that was a volunteer for just the two weeks of Day Camp.
Day Camp was a success and everyone served and used their gifts for Christ. The four weeks that the Camp Staff shared together, strengthened their relationships with each other, and with God.
The Camp Staff experienced true serving because they couldn’t rely on their own strength to finish each camp week strong. They needed God’s strength to keep going. God always provided the perfect amount that each leader needed.
“Each member had a role to play and I believe each member fulfilled their role faithfully!” Martsolf said.
The first year of Camp Staff was a success, and it will always be remembered because of the memories and friendships that were created.
What’s coming up?
Gull Lake Ministries (GLM) is a non-denominational, Christian summer resort and luxury year-round retreat center in Southwest Michigan. GLM hosts many powerful speakers and missionaries throughout the summer that speak to many parents and young adults.
Every week of the summer Gull Lake hosts a new group of families. This is a week long camp where families rent out a home and enjoy all that the camp has to offer.
In the beginning of the week the youth are separated into groups based on their age and gender.
This is the group that they will be staying with and doing studies with throughout the week. The whole week is planned out and scheduled for everyone in the family. The adults will have speakers and dinners while the youth have their group time or activities.
There is a time every day when everyone, including adults, are able to have “free time” which is two hours of enjoying all of the activities the camp has to offer. This is a time to have fun and to connect with different people that are sharing the same faith journey.
Miller White, a High Tide camper, is looking forward to furthering his Faith while at the resort.
“I love the Christian community, and I most look forward to playing volleyball and going boating. Gull Lake helps strengthen my Faith through constantly being in the Word, and seeing everyone there. Everyone is like-minded, and it’s so easy to relate with,” White said.
Gull Lake is something that every family that has gone to looks forward to each year. It is fun and you meet many people that share the same Faith. Families usually plan on being there the same week, so that they may see each other again.
At Gull Lake you will create many long-lasting relationships and amazing memories. This is a camp that your entire family will enjoy. And you will always want to come back, because of the people, the relationships, and the memories.
Community member spotlight:
Isaac Nuñez was a student athlete at Bethel University for six years. He played soccer as a defensive-midfielder and always worked hard balancing time to practice and time to study.
All throughout his Bethel career, even when he was not getting the playing time he wanted or was struggling in classes, he had the joy of the Lord and an important relationship of reliance to push him through.
After graduating from Bethel University he became an accountant at a firm and worked hard during tax season. There came a day when he realized that he wasn’t happy doing what he was doing. He felt as if he was missing something in this life, and that there was something more that God had for him. Nuñez shared what caused this decision to come to mind.
“I received a plaque as my senior gift and on it was the second part of Ephesians 4:1, ‘live a life worthy of the calling you have received,’ this hit me like a truck,” Nuñez said.
He still had a solid relationship of reliance with God and Nuñez still had His joy.
Every year when tax season came along, he worked hard and was constantly feeling exhausted and tired. He decided to quit his job and join a local ministry that shared the gospel while preparing high schoolers to play soccer at a college level.
This program is called Player Development 1st and the ministry is called LifeWorks. LifeWorks meet once a week in a home to have dinner, worship, then they end the night with a discussion all about our life and our true purpose.
Nuñez now serves in this ministry helping many high schoolers find Christ and to play soccer at a college level. He is focused and busy doing what he feels God is leading him to do, that is to serve and to be a light of Christ.
He doesn’t know exactly where he is going, or where this may end, but what he does know is that the Creator of this world knows him and is guiding him wherever he goes.