As the time for staff applications approaches, I thought it might be appropriate to reflect on my summers with PASSPORT camps. Often, it is hard to articulate the experiences of a summer. It is a special experience that words sometimes cannot describe. But let me try and convey the four main reasons I continue to work for PASSPORT.
Passport produces an intentional community that fosters growth.
A summer staff is together for 7 to 8 weeks during the months of June and July. We are all doing the same thing and we are all there for the same reason. We are invested in what we are doing and support the cause of being the hands and feet of Christ to the communities that we serve. All of these things go into fostering a safe place for a healthy community; a place for young ministers to explore our callings and sort out our Christian identities.
Passport provides an environment for practical experience.
Whether you are a Bible Study Leader or a Camp Pastor, you are gaining practical ministry and life experience. I worked on my first summer staff, never thinking that ministry would or could be my career. At camp, I was pushed to explore options that I was not comfortable with at the time. Working camp provides an experience that causes you to have to solve problems, further develop communication skills, and work as a part of a team. Camp empowered me to step out of my comfort zone to explore a calling that I didn’t expect which completely flipped my future plans upside down.
Passport provides a missional experience to campers.
Passport is different than other camps that I went to growing up or was ever a part of. I love Passport, because of the holistic approach that is taken. We are not at camp just for personal growth, although that is certainly a part of it. Passport adds a missional component where campers either learn about what people are doing for others around the world, or be active participants in showing the light and love of Christ to different communities.
“Be love in action, heal and be healed, thoughtfully serve in the context of community, making earth as it is in Heaven.”
Chew on that for a minute! If you resonate, we might be the camp for you.
Working Passport is FUN.
Even though camp days are often long and hard, working camp is a ton of fun. Every aspect of camp the staff facilitates, from Rec Party to Free Time activities, creates a fun and fulfilling time for both campers and staffers. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t like to have fun?
These are just a few of the reasons that I keep coming back, year after year, to be a part of this organization that has grown to mean so much to me, and had such a profound influence on my life as a young minister. Come and see what we are all about. If you get the opportunity to work, I promise that you will not regret it. Apply, and see what God has in store for you!
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Interested in being a PASSPORT staffer this summer?