Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:5-9
So here we are . . . again. Every fall there is a very literal feeling of déjà vu.
As I embark on year twenty-five, I should have this camp thing down. Or not. From the outside, it appears that we just keep on doing what we have always done. But the people are always new.
Former staff maintain LLYC’s foundational culture and spirit, but we have learned that we are only as successful as the new team we assemble. That’s why in September we are already chasing high school and college students to be on our staff for 2019. The recruiting process is incredibly humbling. We take seriously the mission of working with young people. We have faith that God will send us good staff, and we work hard to recruit good staff. But we always wonder who will step up for us to make LLYC a place where lives will be changed and ridiculous fun will be had.
As we recruit, Philippians 4:4-9 is our blueprint. Our entire staff manual could be summed up in these six verses. Be gentle. The Lord is near. Don’t sweat it. Pray. Be thankful. Relax in God’s love. Keep your head on straight. Draw near to Christ. Learn his ways. Go do it.
Fall recruiting means summer is right around the corner. We are back in the groove, breaking down all our systems, reassessing what we do and why we do it, and hitting the road for yet another round of LLYC.
Hope to see you soon. Thanks for being a part of what we do.
Questions for reflection: