Youth Work ~ A Relational Ministry
The most important thing for a successful youth ministry is a relational ministry. This is where it can be tricky because relational ministry doesn’t necessarily come with the most charismatic leader or the coolest young adult. It happens through a mutual building of trust between the youth and the leader.
Walking with Youth
Today as I took a short walk to clear my head from hours of staring at the computer screen, the sky was a clear vivid blue with white clouds painted sporadically throughout the scene. Over to the west, dark clouds were starting to form, waiting to slowly move through the Spokane area with yet another [...]
“You’re coming too!” Campers and volunteers of all ages experience the sacraments at Camp Cross
After stomping twice, over 200 leaders from around the Diocese chanted together, “I’m going to Camp Cross, and you’re coming too!” The next day, clergy and lay people from Grangeville to Oroville, from the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist to the Episcopal Churches of the Resurrection, wore badges to the closing Eucharist of Diocesan [...]
Transforming the silence at Camp Cross
A few feet of snow, a chilling breeze, absolute silence . . . . Hiking into Camp Cross last February to shovel snow off the pontoon boat, Camp’s beauty seemed isolated, singular, and alone. Months later, walking through a camp settling into the quiet of fall, I cannot help but feel behind it the vibrancy [...]
Staff cheers campers along their epic race
I’m not sure anyone saw the guy who won Spokane’s Bloomsday race quite as many times as I did. Standing on the corner of Broadway and Oak, cheering at the top of my lungs, I could see that tall Kenyan in the eyes of every boy and girl who looked up at me, heard my [...]
Passion + presence = communication
For our youth, the remoteness of Camp Cross is one of its greatest features. It is a place away. Likewise, our youth events held in and with congregations from around the Diocese are times away; times to rediscover a bit of themselves. These away times are important aspects of formation but, as has been continually [...]
Invite and include: this camp is your Camp
Barak Obama, whatever your opinion of the candidate, has run a very unusual campaign. Like Howard Dean in 2004, he has built an incredible network of internet based support. Unlike Howard Dean, his campaign hasn’t fizzled out because of an inability to mobilize on the ground. Instead, his deputy campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand, explains, “(the) [...]
Building our spiritual home and living in the external world
Our greatest service to young people is to teach them to be “good architects of their internal homes,” emphasized Mark Andrus, Bishop of California, at the recent Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers’ annual conference. In the spirit of Lenten reflection, therefore, let’s look at how Camp Cross helps youth develop internal homes to help them [...]

