The Shocking Truth About Senior Ministers That Go To Camp
unicorn: something unusual, rare, or unique
(Merriam-Webster)
Apparently, I am a unicorn, or so I’m told. I am a senior minister that goes to summer camp. As times have progressed, we’ve seen the baton of camp ministry passed from senior ministers to others at our churches who specialize in children’s ministry and student ministry…whether they be volunteers or staff; people with gifts for whom I am thankful.
But even if not as a dean, I still go to camp. And here’s why…
I get to serve with my wife, Elizabeth.
So often, ministry can pull the senior minister and his wife into silos: she focuses on her area, and I focus on mine. Or the couple finds themselves consumed with the day-to-day nuts and bolts of making church ministry function. But when my wife and I go to camp as faculty, we simply serve. And we’re doing it together. It’s refreshing.I have an ever-expanding “camp family.”
I’m fortunate to be faculty at Rhonda Currier’s Junior 1 week each summer. As our team has served together over the years, we’ve become a family (that’s always glad to get larger). Even when I’m at camp, I have a place to belong, just as our campers do.I get to build relationships with kids from our congregation.
The kids in our churches today are part of our churches today. And one day, if they aren’t already, they’ll be sitting with the congregation listening to us preach. But will they ever know us beyond just being the guy in the pulpit? I love considering that when the kids in our ministry grow up, they hopefully won’t just remember me as the guy they saw on Sunday mornings, but also the guy who was at camp, riding the “broom around the room,” reading them stories at bedtime, sharing goofy illustrations in the chapel, or giving a personal testimony by the light of a campfire… a man who did his best to be present, because he was trying his best to be like Jesus.I get to have a front-row seat to the work of God.
The highest joys I have ever experienced at camp are being a spectator and cheerleader for what God is doing in the lives of young people. I’ve been able to sit in the camp office as campers call home with tears of joy and relief about life because Jesus is now a part of their lives. It rejuvenates my spirit and my calling.
When we return home at the end of the week and pull in our driveway there’s a strange mix of physical exhaustion and spiritual rejuvenation. And we get out of our car tired, but ready to do it again the next year.
I know there’s a lot of logistics for the senior minister to take time away: Who will preach? Who will make the hospital calls? Who will man the office? I assure you, there are solutions and everyone of them is worth it.
-Nic Skinner
Senior Minister
