On Change and Feedback
Change! We’ve probably all heard the jokes about Lutherans and our resistance to change. Funny, since we are responsible for the Reformation, which was a pretty big change by any standard.
Camp Arcadia is often portrayed as a place that doesn’t change, and for good reason. Camp has pretty much had the same mission and purpose for most of its 104-year history. On top of that, many of Camp’s daily rhythms have remained remarkably unchanged over the years.
But, Camp does change. In fact, we have to change if we are to continue carrying out our mission to renew in spirit, mind, and body, and to inspire our guests and staff to share the love of Christ in their lives, families, and communities. Adjustments, improvements, and shifts in how Camp fulfills its mission are crucial to the impact we can make.
This process starts with the feedback and observations we receive from our stakeholders – our guests and staff. We need and want your feedback. This is how we learn and how we begin to challenge the status quo. This happens in conversations we have with you when you are here, through in-person and online guest surveys, staff surveys, and exit interviews, as well as the letters, emails, and phone calls we receive throughout the year.
Any leader will tell you that feedback is one of the most important tools for identifying strengths and areas for improvement. Sometimes feedback is positive and encouraging; other times, it can be unexpected and challenging. One of the ways we train our seasonal staff to receive feedback well is to put it into perspective. We teach a posture of letting negative feedback go to our head, not our heart, and letting positive feedback go to our heart, not our head.
Meaning, that it is important to let constructive feedback inform logical improvement; it’s something for us to analyze, but not to see it as a personal attack or let it break our spirit. Our worth is not in what we do, but in whose we are – a loved child of God. When we receive encouraging praise, it is important to appreciate these compliments and let them warm our hearts, but we do so with humility, knowing that our true worth lies in something more foundational, and that there is always room to improve our service.
We also know that most changes are really experiments: things we try, evaluate, and change again if needed. While a lot of thought and planning go into any adjustments we make at Camp Arcadia, we also put a lot of effort into evaluating those changes and their effectiveness. Which means that any change… might change.
How Does Camp Change?
There are various levels and types of changes we make at Camp. There are daily adjustments that our young seasonal staff make as they learn and develop in their roles. Each week, we make course corrections as we listen to feedback from guests through conversations, weekly surveys, and our own observations. This may result in menu changes, adjustments to program activities, areas for improved cleaning, and opportunities to celebrate success.
We also make changes from season to season based on our experience, guest and staff feedback, learning new ideas and best practices from other camp professionals, reading books, and listening to podcasts. Examples of this include adding Family Trivia as an evening event, developing KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for our staff, and implementing a weekly check-in process that gives our staff time with their department leaders to process their experiences.
Finally, we make bigger, more significant changes, such as building and grounds additions and improvements. These take more planning, require more opportunities for input throughout the planning process, and could span years. Examples of this include the shoreline protection added in 2019 and the upcoming Spirit of Arcadia: Growing Together campaign, which will add an elevator to the Inn and additional guest rooms with private bathrooms, and an additional cottage, among other projects.
2026 Changes to Anticipate
All that being said, let me highlight three changes we are making as we look toward the start of the 2026 Camp season.
1. New Coffee Machines
We have received a lot of constructive feedback on our coffee over the past few years. We had made some changes, but we decided this off-season to step back and take a more deliberate and comprehensive approach to the coffee we serve at Camp. We explored a bunch of options – from providing high-end coffee drinks and all the equipment and staff training that would entail to talking with equipment and supply reps on what kinds of machines and products would make sense for us to offer.
We decided that we needed to make significant changes, but that we were not going to enter the business of providing on-site high-end coffee drinks that guests would be charged for. Why? It was a combination of analyzing the physical space needed to provide this service, the staffing required, and our mission and values. We realized that people’s tastes in coffee have changed, and we needed to adjust and improve, but we had to do so in a way that respected our available resources.
So, what changes did we make? Knowing that one of our issues was inconsistency, we have invested in new machines for the Assembly, Inn Lobby coffee areas, and the dining room coffee. The process for stocking and caring for these machines will all be the same; they are similar in their ease of use, and the coffee product will be easier to store. We are also adding another machine (in addition to the coffee machine) to the Inn Lobby that offers hot chocolate (don’t worry – we would never!) as well as rotating cappuccino flavors – offering you some new and improved options. We’ll look forward to your feedback and input on these changes this summer!
2. Building Mountain Biking Trails
Our mountain biking program continues to grow as more and more people enjoy getting out on the trails. While we will continue to take people up to the Arcadia Dunes trailhead, we wanted to offer an option that is closer to Camp and hopefully get more people out on the bikes. Feedback has been that more people would be interested in trying mountain biking if the barrier to entry was reduced – easier trail, less time commitment, and easier to fit into your schedule. So, over this summer, we will be building our own trail on Camp’s property that will be less demanding (although still a lot of fun) and available throughout the day. Our older morning youth groups will be spending time once a week on a service project to help build the trails.
3. Staff Leadership Development Model
Over the past five years, we have devoted a good amount of time to developing our staffing model in order to attract, retain and develop our young adult seasonal staff. This is an important value for Camp Arcadia because we believe the best way to deliver a transformational retreat for our guests is to offer a life-changing experience for our staff.
We have also spent time listening to our staff, observing what works and what doesn’t, researching best practices, tracking cultural changes, and collaborating with other camp professionals studying this area. This summer, we have honed our leadership development philosophy to focus on identity development.
Leadership is about capacity building, which is more than just about building skills and knowledge; it is about identity – a grounded sense of knowing who God created us to be, what makes us valuable, what values and priorities guide our lives, and how we can contribute. Leadership is a life-long journey that involves a progressive process of meaning-making, awareness, revision, and confirmation. It is about empowering the self to equip others in service together.
We will continue to develop ways for our staff to process and reflect on their experiences, knowing that doing so with loving, supportive mentors can be transformative. We are introducing a staff camping trip during staff training to create space and time for them to get to know each other better and to focus on what God has in store for them this summer. We will also be creating more robust small groups within the staff for them to study God’s word, pray, and reflect together on how God is working through them and others at RKD.
Final Thoughts
We thank you for your feedback – both the positive and negative – for this is how we grow and change, preparing us to better serve you and carry out God’s mission at Camp Arcadia. We hope that you enjoy the improvements we’ve made for this upcoming season, and, as always, we’ll look forward to aligning your feedback with Camp’s vision, mission, and values to serve you with excellence this season and for years to come!
