I’ve been visiting Camp Cross for over 10 years. We attended a Labor Day Family Camp with our St. James’ (Pullman, WA) parishioners and I enjoyed the glorious natural beauty, but also the fellowship among the participants. Christian community in a non-parish setting is one feature of Camp Cross that has me reminding others to “keep comin’ back! “

While wading at Crescent Beach, my wife Alison relayed her metaphor for her relationship to God.  In the cool water, she floats effortlessly.  As she returns to the rocky shore, her body becomes heavy as she leaves the (holy) water and works to carry herself. It’s harder and harder to gain ones footing.  Yet, a loving arm reaches out to help her gain stability. This arm is God’s love in the form of your loving friend. Together, you can walk the journey on hot, dry land, until you once again return to refreshing water for relief.

Additionally, Camp Cross is a holy place where I have seen miracles happen.  Of course, miracles are in the eyes of the beholder and subject to perspective. This week I have seen the miracle of change. Mid-high campers arrived on Sunday, with anxiety, fears and few friends. In just a few days, I have seen them transformed. They’ve bonded with each other, shared intense experiences, been challenged in their views of faith and even improved their table manners (yes, a great miracle indeed!).  In all seriousness, the joy shared in a small group or gathered around a summer campfire is a holy miracle repeated again and again here.  I’ve noticed another transforming miracle recently.  As I look at this year’s staff members, several have spent many years coming to Camp Cross. They’ve loved being a camper with all the newness that experience brings. Camp Cross can be an intense emotional experience of faith on a young person’s own terms, far from their parish home.  It’s their mountaintop where they gain spiritual insight. Some grow into being a counselor, learning leadership skills shepherding a small group.  This is a critical stage in the faith formation of young people. Of that group, some continue serving as permanent staff members, gaining more leadership skills at the next level, long after coming to Camp Cross for the first time.  This chain of transformative experiences shapes the lifelong faith of many.

Wednesday night, we used a meditation from Taize to focus in the darkness of the cool evening, sitting on a floating dock.  Many relaxed on their backs, pondering the universe, gazing up into the vast expanse of stars. Some reported seeing up to five shooting stars and several orbiting satellites were visible.  Amid the cool breeze, surrounded by both intimate friends and endless cosmos, God is good; Very good; Always.

Youth Ministry encompasses many different things.  Depending on which web site you visit or magazine you read you are told that you can learn the absolute most important things about youth ministry.  You can discover an array of fun games, movie clips to show for a lead into a Bible study, discussion starters, prayer service, the newest songs with spiritual references and the great ways to decorate space for youth.  All these things enhance a youth program, but the truth is that none of these are the most important thing for ministry with youth.

            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.  There is no minimum or maximum age for a youth worker who builds a relational ministry.  Instead there is the fact that the youth worker is there to be present for the youth.  They are the person who will be there every time the youth group meets.  They are the person who listens to the youth as they talk about their hopes, fears, families, friends, schools and other interests.  The relational youth minister meets the parents of the youth building relationships with them. They let the parents know what is happening at youth group and what are the upcoming plans for the group. 

            You’ll know when relational youth ministry happens by the amount of phone calls the leader receives from the youth checking about activities.  You also know it is happening when the youth turn to their youth leader in times of distress and times of happiness.  It is happening when you receive phone calls from concerned parents asking if you can talk to their son or daughter to help them through a difficult situation.  It can also happen when the leader receives an occasional late night phone call, text messages on your day off, or a phone call during lunch from a group of youth at school to tell their youth leader that they love them.  Youth ministry can be all of these things and yet it can be as simple as sitting down with a youth and listening to what they have to say.  They pay is minimal, the hours long, but the youth are a treasure to behold.

snow, snow, snow!

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 storm.  This winter has been a challenge for most of the people I know, even those who enjoy winter.  The snowstorms and cabin fever of this winter have tended to create a feeling of restlessness among many who are anxiously awaiting the arrival of sunny warm weather.

One thing that I have noticed this winter is that the youth have had the best attitude about it.  They have embraced the weather, enjoying the winter sports in which they partook.  But this is not a new attitude for the youth I work with.  They approach life with a measure of hope and love of fun.  They look for opportunities to meet people from all walks of life and find new experiences.  Youth are the best teachers!  We need to spend time with them, talk to them, listen to their music, watch their videos and hear their stories.  They have so much to share! Through them we can learn a new appreciation for things we have come to take for granted. 

When we appreciate the gifts the youth offer to us then we can truly connect with them.  We can journey together to learn about our faith and explore unknown spiritual paths to God.

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 Convention stating the same, “you’re coming too!” Truly the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane is ready to welcome all the “yous” out there to Camp Cross in 2009, so, in our bold welcome, let’s remember what we’re welcoming people to.

First, we are welcoming everyone to an accepting and loving community that is an expression of the Anglican yearning to be in communion together. Camp Cross lives out this call to be in community and communion by asking people to come together to enjoy life, share a meal, and relax in a place where the beauty of creation transcends all the ideological debates that cloud our vision of what togetherness looks like. It is a place where our youth are asked to put aside the tools of judgment used in school, from clothes to class, and simply have fun together. It is a place where all, young and old, play together, creating a common experience that gives a common meaning to gathering around the Eucharistic table.

This community thrives in the midst of God’s creation; we are welcoming people to a home in nature. In our busy modern lives, there is likely no other place where cars are left behind, where we have to rely on other people to get us where we’re going, where we are forced, before coming or going, to look out on God’s creation and pause. It is easy to underestimate the value of this, but where else can you leave your watch behind, let someone else worry about the cooking, and leave your keys and wallet out of your pockets? We are welcoming people to be free of the tiny shackles of modern life and breathe nature in deeply.

Beyond the beautiful place that we as a diocese are blessed to be part of, we are welcoming our friends and families to a wonderfully Episcopal experience. Many camps ask youth to accept Christ as their savior, many camps are a place where youth are educated in the Gospel, but Camp Cross calls its campers and guests to experience Christ. We welcome all to live in a re-enchanted world, where the sacraments are something experienced, not just something done. This, not surprisingly, comes naturally to children, who see the mystery of faith all around them. And this is why we must be welcoming not just our children’s friends, but our own friends, to spend a day, weekend or week at Camp Cross, and let God deepen our experience of a sacramental life.

Camp Cross is our gift to share with the Inland Northwest. So I ask you to commit, with all those at Diocesan Convention, to coming to Camp Cross for one day next summer. Come share a meal with us. And, beyond that, commit to welcoming someone to share that experience with you. Even if Camp Cross opens its doors and puts up the sign “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You,” we will have very few drop in visitors on our little peninsula. We need our whole diocesan community to welcome children and adults to share this fun and loving community, this uniquely beautiful location, and wonderfully Episcopal vision of Christ. That is our New Year’s resolution. So, repeat after me, “I’m going to Camp Cross, and you’re coming too!”

Like what you’ve read in the Inland? Want to be up to date on what’s happening with Camp? Join the Camp Cross e-newsletter by emailing campcross@spokanediocese.org with “Subscribe” in the subject line.

From the incredible turn out for Labor of Love in May, Camp Cross has been blessed this season with hundreds of people of all ages volunteering their time to make Camp happen.  In May and June, folks braved the flooded parking lots and beaches to do more work than we had done at the end of staff training in 2007. On top of that, a couple of weeks later folks even came out to clean up our beach after the flood waters receded. This meant our staff had more time to train and prepare the innovative and creative programs for the summer once they got here.

The amount of time given to Camp Cross this summer goes far beyond just the folks who came up and labored with us. We had volunteers in the kitchen week after week pumping out meal after meal for our ravenous campers, parents and clergy spending hours on the road making sure our campers got to Camp, and counselors that took on new challenges both in leading the campers and taking care of big projects around the property.

The Camp Cross community has also truly stepped up to the plate in their financial support. Churches from around the Diocese raised over $11,000 in scholarship funds for campers from their own congregations and others. Holy Trinity, Wallace, wasn’t discouraged by the lack of camper-aged children in their congregation; they raised scholarship money so the impact of their congregation’s unique youth ministry could be spread across the Diocese.

Our community also jumped in to help Camp in its time of need, whether it was replacing broken speakers or the thousands of dollars given by parents and friends during our closing lunches; people went out of their way to support Camp as a transformative force in our lives.

The Camp Cross community has done something incredible in transforming their individual talents into actions truly contributing to the over-all transformative power of Camp. I saw it in St. Paul’s, Kennewick, which sent 13 kids to one session, in the individuals whose warm personal invitations to their friends and family filled our camps, and in the line dancing classes at Labor Day Family Camp. I saw it in everything from the creative and engaging formation and worship by our Camp leaders and clergy to the chainsaw lessons that helped us clear trails all across our 107 acres. And I saw it in our 42 counselors, who not only used their talents to lead and nurture our youth, but also showed their leadership by doing everything from dishes to digging gutters for run-off.

Now, when I walk around, I don’t feel alone at Camp. In every trail, dish, and building I can feel the efforts and passion from the thousands around our Diocese and beyond who have supported this place in an incredible array of ways in 2008. We could not have been the welcoming, transformative force in so many hundreds of people’s lives this summer without your support. Thank you – and come join us at Camp next year!

Steve Goheen and Wayne Underwood from All Saints, Richland, at Man Camp, proud to have finished assembling a fine new Adirondack chair for Camp Cross.

Summer is underway and Camp is in full swing! Thanks to the passion and commitment of so many in May and June, we are set to have an amazing season. With so many individuals from around the Diocese inviting others to join them, we had a record breaking 49 people – ages 2 and up – out to help open Camp Cross at “Labor of Love” over Memorial Day weekend. All the hard work was rewarded with a wine and cheese recep­tion, with the sun setting over the lake, a fire crackling in the fire place, and James Taylor’s music setting the mood.

The youth of the Diocese came out the following weekend to hone their leadership skills and prepare to be coun­selors in 2008. From the silent hike to the inaugural camp fire at Pioneer Camp, to the orienteering challenge, our coun­selors stepped up to the plate leading pas­sionately while reflecting thoughtfully on the challenges of meaningful leader­ship. The counselors also committed to raising $50 each for programs and equip­ment, and will decide at the end of the summer how the money will be best spent. Camp Cross also committed to raising funds to match the staff’s efforts, so not only are the counsel­ors leading our campers this year, but they are taking on the responsibility of leading the continued growth and stewardship of Camp Cross. Let’s support them in this bold venture!

In a weekend of con­struction and discussion, as well as steak and micro­brews, the Rev. Lt. Col. Jeff Neuberger led our first “Man Camp” June 6-8. On top of his thought provoking stories of his chaplaincy in Iraq, he led a discussion on what the story of “the Road to Emmaus” means for our call to mission. The guys also made the first of many Adirondack chairs and disc-golf baskets that are going to be cropping up around Camp this summer. To close a weekend of fellowship and for well-deserved relaxation we had a steak and potatoes dinner before pulling out the guitars around the fire.

At all of these events, old-timers and first-timers came together to make them memorable. So as the summer rolls quickly on, I ask you to be bold in evangelizing Camp and joyful in your invitations; help us grow our family this summer and bring a friend! Don’t forget to join us for our Open House Eucharist.

It’s easy to forget our race is epic. In a world of billions, where there is always someone who is better, faster and stronger, how can we justify the feeling that our times matter? It’s easy to forget that our faith journey is epic, amidst a fast changing world where truth bends, hardens or fades with each fad, election, and new religion. But it is epic, it’s the only journey that matters, and we have been promised that in the face of the ultimate reality, in the face of the One Truth, in the face of God, we can stand and say that our journey is epic.

When I was out there cheering, the reaction that most surprised me was that of the adults. When the honest “thank yous” were called out from the middle of the running mob, I was humbled. Our epic journey was honestly supportive, one screamed out over the din of thousands of pedestrians; my race was our race, their race was everyone’s. We were celebrating something beyond numbers, scores, and times; we were celebrating an epic and unreasonably loud communion through a road race of all things.

The staff and counselors at Camp Cross love to cheer obnoxiously.  We love to scream out for more speed, more passion, more love, more joy, more dancing, and more Jesus. All of us have seen it in the eyes of our campers, and even in the staff’s eyes-the look of the epic, endless summer. Our faith is epic, it does matter, and at Camp Cross we do all we can to remind people of that, reignite that fire, not of doctrine or rule, but of life that made us all fall in love with God in the first place.

At Camp, we have races with winners. There will always be the cool kids, the bookish kids, the outgoing kids, and the quiet kids. And at Camp we will always have kids starting an epic faith journey, a journey that transcends those labels, measures, and social boundaries, and through swimming, archery, crafts and canoeing becomes the unforgettable reminder of our epic faith.

At Camp Cross, we will cheer, and laugh and cry and pray, for our epic faith. And after the summer, we all have to keep cheering. We often wonder how to bring Camp home; remind your camper (young or old) that their journey is epic and so is yours. That they matter, and that you always have to keep moving, sometimes with the fiery irrational exuberance of the victor, and sometimes with the knowing and passionate eyes of a saint.  Yell”thank you” from across the crowd for their inspiration. We at Camp Cross welcome you to rediscover your epic journey, and cheer for us as we rediscover ours.

Of course, communication is at the heart of this challenge, but the term needs to mean more than talking or letter writing, more than just communicating facts about events. If we think instead about how to communicate support, encouragement and genuine concern, our signals and behavior are underutilized tools for communicating with our youth.

Behavior in this case goes beyond being a good role model; it means participating together in what is important. By volunteering at Camp Cross, whether at Labor of Love or working in the Camp kitchen, a shared experience is created. Empathy is demonstrated by service and by the shared songs and jokes. By sharing in their experience, we signal to the youth that the place is special, that their journey is important, and that a community of people supports them. Even something as simple as learning the campfire songs the youth love demonstrates the strong connections between the spirituality they feel at Camp and the spirituality of the adults in their congregation.

The same goes for our Diocesan youth events. Whether through cooking or chaperoning, organizing trips or leading a small group, we develop relationships and shared experiences that help integrate these events into the youth’s formation with our own congregation. Our presence is a signal that youth events are an extension of, not an escape from, life at home. And on top of that, we meet involved and passionate people from around the diocese who also want to give our youth formative experiences that will sustain them through the challenges of high school, college, and the rest of their life.

Your passion and your presence are the most powerful tools for communication with the youth of our Diocese. When our youth return to church, whether from Camp or Winter Weekend, I look forward to more of us being able to remind them and ourselves how much fun we had and what we learned.  So get in touch, right now.

Operators are standing by … !

Email Chase at chases@spokanediocese.org or call 509-624-5780 right now to learn how you can be involved in any number of ways.

As I continue to travel the Diocese and talk to more folks and congregations, I am energized by the incredible love and passion for Camp Cross that I find. People recall for me experiences of Camp from 70 years ago, write essays for me about Camp 50 years ago, and inspire me to work even more determinedly for this wonderful place. And as the excitement builds for the year at hand, I wonder what can be done to make this a year of passion that actively changes the communities we care about, a year of Obama instead of Dean.

So the question is, how this year can we mobilize the incredible energy and passion of the Camp Cross community so it becomes manifest as activity within our congregations and Diocese? For both Youth and Adults the first step is simple: participation and invitation.

Participation seems an obvious answer, but for adults around the Diocese it’s an often overlooked first step to supporting and developing the mission of Camp. Coming to Man Camp, Women’s Weekend, Days at the Lake or any of the Family Camps isn’t only a chance for personal retreat, it’s an opportunity to strengthen and energize the interconnectedness of our Diocese. Joining the Camp staff for Eucharist and brunch on Sundays, for the annual Open House, or even volunteering for a few hours or days, creates a sense of abundance and belonging

At Diocesan Convention, the excitement of meeting, learning from, and being in communion with other Episcopalians was palpable; Bonnie Anderson, President of the House of Deputies, commented on the spiritual connectedness of our Diocese. Camp Cross serves as another blessed meeting place for our Diocesan community, a place for us to get excited about the wider Episcopalian family we are part of, and get fresh perspectives on our faith and our congregations.

Invitation is just as important as participation. Not only is the invitation to Camp Cross a wonderful form of evangelism, of sharing the joy of our faith with those around us, it’s also a chance to deepen our connections with those close to us. An invitation to a young adult in your congregation is a great chance to demonstrate that you care about their faith, want them to have a home in your church, and want to be a mentor for their life journey. Even for me, a Camp veteran, such an invitation would be incredibly moving and affirming.

An invitation is also a chance to take responsibility for the relationships you have with other members of your congregation. There is someone in all our congregations that we don’t know as well as we want to, someone new and unsure, or someone who we struggle to connect with because of cultural or generational differences. Camp Cross gives us the chance to create a common experience in which a new spiritual friendship can be rooted.  Don’t go another year wishing you got to know someone better, or wondering how to get them more involved in Church. Invite them to join you at Camp Cross to join you in something you love.

The passion we have for Camp is powerful and energizing. But passion without action can never be transformative and, like Howard Dean’s campaign, fizzles out. Barak Obama speaks with passion and hope, but he has also allowed people to translate that passion and hope into real action campaigning actively, one person at a time, for his vision.

I invite all of us to this year make time to come to Camp and extend the invitation to others, so that our passion and hope for Camp Cross can become the reality we continue to live in and celebrate come November.

What characterizes a good internal home? In “Raising Resilient Children,” by Robert Brooks and Sam Goldstein, the ability to perceive, communicate and understand emotion (often called emotional intelligence), the ability to overcome uncertainty and failure (be resilient), and having a sense of intrinsic self worth are all essential characteristics of such a place.

This is not to say an internal home is without God. For a Christian, charity with others, faith, and understanding God’s unconditional love are equivalents of the above concepts, and although we might be more comfortable with their form because they are Christian, in function there is often little difference.

Langdon Gilkey, in “Naming the Whirlwind: The Renewal of God-Language,” explains that because our understanding of the world around us is developed primarily with secular language and concepts (i.e. science, psychology, pop culture, high school social scenes), the words used for religious concepts have lost their spiritual meaning. We have lost our ability to approach the world on a truly spiritual level because we no longer understand the deeper meaning of the words and concepts used to communicate it. Without an understanding of the spiritual meaning in words and concepts, youth can hardly be expected to passionately live them out.

How then can youth build an internal home with spiritual depth if the words and concepts with which they define the world have none?  One way in this diocese is Camp Cross. Camp Cross reconnects the words and experiences of everyday life with their spiritual meanings. As Evita Krislock often said, Camp Cross is a thin place, a place where the distance to spiritual meaning is more easily bridged and a place where the will of the Sprit is more easily heard.  This thinness, living closely with the spiritual, animates everyday things like friendships, sitting quietly, and even labor with a new joy and depth. This animation, supported by friends, counselors and teachers, makes Camp an experiential learning center for the God-Language, one not mirrored in campers’ largely secular lives.

The difference between secular language and God-Language is revealed clearly when campers share that a friend from school and a friend from Camp Cross are different; they are both friends but one friendship is imbued with spiritual depth, even if not explicitly communicated. The difference is so pronounced in high school that many youth confess to being reluctant to bring new friends to Camp Cross because “they won’t understand.” The youth understand that the God-Language of Camp is substantively different from the language used in secular relationships.

This reluctance is an apt reminder that our internal homes should not be constructed in secret, hidden from the secular world. They should be open, something to be lived into out in the world. It is essential to share our camp experience. As older campers become counselors, the spiritually grounded internal home they’ve built is shared with a new generation. It also happens when in the secular world we teach the God-Language meanings of words in the manner of St. Francis, using words only if absolutely necessary.

This is the power of God-Language. Our internal homes become calls to action through their connection to the spiritual: “perceiving and understanding emotion” becomes living with Christ-like compassion; “overcoming uncertainty and failure” becomes living faithfully through all life’s trials, and “intrinsic self worth” becomes finding the spirit’s will for you and living it out.

And as for a Lenten resolution, the Camp theme this year, “Becoming Bread for the World,” is the perfect chance for us to help campers live externally, in the deep and spiritual internal home they’ve built, by giving them confidence to be authentic and open Christians.