Sometimes I get asked, “As a Camp Director, what keeps you up at night?” Roughly ten years ago, while sitting on the front porch of the Inn late at night with close friends, that question came up. The honest answer that surfaced for me was our college-aged summer staff. It was becoming increasingly difficult to recruit and retain them, and I worried we weren’t living up to our own promises of developing them spiritually, personally, and professionally.
This had not always been the case. In my first 15 years we regularly had a surplus of 10-15 applications and retained 50% of our staff each summer with some staffers serving up to 3 or 4 years. However, a few years before the pandemic, we noticed a shift as applications began to decrease and convincing staff to return for a second season became a struggle let alone a third or fourth summer. It left us asking a critical question: What had changed?
Each year we were trying new things, but they were mostly about efficiency and effectiveness. This approach was very helpful and improved our service, but it did not address the changing attitudes towards work of a new generation. We weren’t really changing our overall approach.
It is kind of funny looking back on those early years when what we had done before was not working. I remember thinking that it had worked for me when I was on staff and it had worked for the last 15 years, maybe we just needed to double down on what we had been doing. Sort of like saying something louder when someone doesn’t understand you. It might feel good, but it doesn’t work. I was more about being ‘old school’ than ‘new school’.
Around this time, one of my mentors, a long-time Arcadian, and senior counselor for our Omega Retreats, Brian McKenna, introduced me to the work of Dr. Tim Elmore. Elmore has written many books and resources for leaders looking to better work with Generations Y and Z. To quote Dr. Elmore, “Generation Z is graduating into a VUCA world: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. They’re already the most anxious generation in modern history and now they live in a most anxious time.”
Shifting Gears
If we were to achieve our mission to our guests and our staff, we had to change. The world and our staff were changing and we needed to change too. Before I get into what we are focusing on for this upcoming season, here are some highlights from the past 10 years:
- Adding “Nurturing our Staff and Volunteers” to the Camp’s values. Click here to read Camp’s Mission, Vision and Values.
- More responsiveness and support to our staff through weekly check-ins, end of season surveys, free on-line counseling, prayer partners, and increased communication before and during their employment.
- Increased pay and offered more bonuses for signing on early, staying later, and recruiting others.
- Providing better internship opportunities and communicating the value of working at Camp for future career success
- Increased adult supervision and mentorship by adding additional leadership positions to our program, housekeeping, and kitchen teams to provide more support to our college-aged staff.
- Switching to a 6-day retreat schedule to give staff time to recharge between sessions.
- To prevent staff burnout and offer more varied experiences, we started rotating staff between two departments.
“Generation Z is graduating into a VUCA world: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. They’re already the most anxious generation in modern history and now they live in a most anxious time.”
In recent years I have been following Dr. Rob Ribbe’s work studying Christian camping. Dr. Ribbe served as executive director for over 30 years at Honey Rock, a Christian camp in Northern Wisconsin. He continues to serve as professor at Wheaton College, who owns and operates Honey Rock. His book “Leaders Yet Discovered” was very instrumental in changes to our model. Many of his insights confirmed observations that me and my team have witnessed at Arcadia.
Dr. Ribbe’s work reveals that despite a world that has left young people more lonely, isolated, struggle-resistant, and grasping for a clear sense of identity, he has found young adult staff to be highly motivated and mission-driven as they ask fundamentally questions: Who am I? Where do I belong? How can I contribute?
Dr. Ribbe frames leadership as capacity building which is more than just about building skills and knowledge, it is about identity – a grounded sense of knowing who we are, what makes us valuable, what values and priorities guide our lives, and how we can contribute.
Developing leaders is more than just doing the right things at the right time, it is about learning to deal with the complexities of leadership. Leadership is a life-long journey that involves a progressive process of meaning-making, awareness, revision, and confirmation.
Additionally, a positive staff community has always been an important factor in the staff experience and their ability to perform at a high level. Dr. Ribbe’s study of camp staff revealed that the number one reason camp staff return to work another summer is their positive staff relationships. And, the number one reason they chose not to return was negative staff relationships. While the desire to build a healthy staff community is stronger than ever, the skill to do so has atrophied. As a result, today we focus more on getting the staff to connect with each other, form healthy relationships with appropriate boundaries, and to live out the Christian life of grace and forgiveness.
“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 we are, what makes us valuable, what values and priorities guide our lives, and how we can contribute.”
Changes for This Season
Ahead of the 2026 season, Assistant Director, Shelly Gallo, and I (with help and input from the rest of Camp’s management team) spent a lot of time determining our next right steps in this direction.
Concentrated Focus on Strong Staff Relationships
- We started our staff training by going on a camping trip with all the staff for one night. The goal was to get everyone on the same footing and get to know each other better – outside of their roles at Camp. We have also programmed more structured time for staff to connect (mandatory and voluntary) during the first few weeks of Camp, knowing that making friends early on is vitally important.
- Each week, Staff meet in small groups, intentionally mixing new and returning staff from different departments. This year, groups will be guided by their peer leadership staff with focused time for processing their experience and Bible study created by fellow staff members.
A Paradoxical Vision of Leadership
While a lot of our staff training is about learning how to do your job, we have expanded our view of leadership to embrace how to deal with paradox, tensions, and develop a both/and way of thinking rather than an either/or mentality. This type of leadership deals with tensions and complexities that can be difficult to process, but it is the work we are called to engage in if we are to grow and mature as leaders.
There are many of these paradoxes or tensions, but specifically we train on these three:
- Ambitious Humility – The tension between taking initiative and understanding that you need to still learn from others.
- Responsible Delegation – The tension between a sense of responsibility that seeks to get the job done even when it is not popular or comfortable and learning to delegate meaningful work to others, even risking failure.
- Curious Certainty – The tension between clarity of our capabilities and limitations and an ongoing curiosity.
Mission-Centric Motto & KPIs
Staff training, as you can imagine, requires a ton of planning and organization. Shelly Gallo, our Assistant Director, has spent a lot of time working to make the progression and outcomes of our training sessions logical and memorable. We’ve honed in on a motto to remind our staff (and ourselves!) what is most important in our service:
Christ at the Center,
Hospitality at the Heart,
Excellence in All We Do!
We also have centered our key performance indicators (KPIs) around three areas:
- Caring for Self (Self Leadership)
- Caring for Others (Community & Culture)
- Carrying out the mission (Camp’s Mission and God’s Commission)
Debriefing & Check Ins
Dr. Ribbe’s work focuses on how we learn about ourselves and our experiences. A key tool to help with this are intentional times to process and debrief – to make meaning out of our life. We have ramped up our debriefing sessions and continued our focus on weekly check-ins with a leadership staff member. It is difficult at times to slow down and take the time to reflect and listen to yourself and others, but we have found it to be invaluable in helping us all grow. Dr. Ribbe reminds us that during these times of reflection that we are to, “value failures, challenges, disturbances and uncertainty, as they lead to letting go of illusions and false stories about ourselves that create space for new perspectives to take shape.”
Continuous Improvement Mindsets - for all of us!
As I reflect on the trajectory of the past few years, I can see how the changes we’ve made and continue to make are benefiting Camp’s ministry. In my experience, investing in the summer staff experience has, in turn, led to continued improvements to the guest experience.
As we continue to nurture our staff and volunteers, we (along with our summer staff) will continue to identify opportunities for growth and improvement as we move forward! The strategy of staff development is still something we’ll continue to navigate – evaluating and making adjustments to the changes we’ve already made. But we praise God for the ways we see ourselves trending in the right direction!
All of the management team members at Camp Arcadia care deeply about our staff and we treasure our responsibility to do our part in moving them along in their journey of growing into leaders. We give thanks to God for each and everyone of them and ask you to pray for us all as we start our summer of service.
Did you know?
As part of its annual distribution, the Arcadia Foundation has directed funds toward the Summer Staff Development model for the past three years. This multi-year partnership includes funding for leadership development, training and professional development for our management staff and seasonal staff! A huge thanks to the Arcadia Foundation for its support of the growth and development of the next generation of leaders at Camp Arcadia!
The Arcadia Foundation invests funds to generate income for distribution toward Camp Arcadia’s ministry. Gifts are primarily received through estate gifts and bequests. These gifts make a huge impact on Camp’s ministry as it grows and evolves from season to season.
If you are interested in becoming a Legacy Builder by including Camp in your estate plan or will, reach out to Sarah Olson (sarah@camp-arcadia.com) for more details.
13 Responses
Great article. Great work you and the staff are doing, as well! March on…..
Thank you so much Rich!
Hey Chip, You are a good thinker. Thanks for sharing this post an excellent read for me. That Ribbe insight really helps get behind a lot of thoughts and well beyond camp staff – a real people insight.. I’d like to know your evaluation of this approach at the end of the year when you are sitting on the porch this fall. Thanks
Thanks Rob! Let’s talk after the season. I know our staff will be evaluating what worked and what didn’t.
Hi Chip,
What a fantastic and thoughtful article!
What impresses me most is that you and your team appear to be playing the long game. Many organizations facing staffing shortages would simply:
* raise wages,
* lower expectations,
* recruit harder.
Camp Arcadia has certainly improved compensation and support, but the heart of the article is different. Your strategy is: “Build people, and the ministry will follow.” That is servant leadership at its best.
As someone who spent a career leading people through changing workforce expectations, I was struck by your willingness to rethink assumptions that had worked successfully for many years. The strongest leaders I worked with were not the ones who clung to old methods, but those who adapted while remaining true to their mission and values. Your focus on identity, belonging, relationships, and leadership development reflects a servant-leader mindset that I deeply appreciate. I came away encouraged that Camp Arcadia is investing not only in the guest experience but also in shaping the next generation of Christian leaders.
Great work!
Mark Witte
Thank you so much Mark for your thoughtful reply. You are correct in your description of our strategy to “build people, and the ministry will follow.”
Chip, it’s awesome to hear about what’s been brewing and what you are doing in the way of leadership and community development for summer staff. That is fantastic for them, the camp and all they are serving. Thanks for your faithful service and for continuing to learn and respond to God and the needs of staff and campers in new ways. May God continue to bless you and others through you.
PS – thanks also for your faithful prayers and encouragement to Kristin and me through this last few years. I/we grieve losing her in this life but am comforted by His presence now, hope for the future, and friends like you.
As a longtime camper and a strong believer in and supporter of this ministry, I am so grateful for your willingness to adapt the training process to be an encouragement for the summer staff. You have gleaned rich wisdom from reliable sources, and I have increasing trust that God will continue to bless our Camp Arcadia.
I see applications well beyond RKD! May I share this with leaders in other ministries?
Hi, Chip!
Your thoughts on leadership are very helpful to me, as I recently accepted God’s call to be an LWML Michigan District Zone President. It is imperative that we, as leaders, consider all of your points to encourage our young women to embrace leadership roles as women in mission. I appreciate Mark Witte’s comment that strong leaders are ones who do not cling to old methods but those who adapt to their mission and values. “Because we’ve always done it that way” doesn’t work any more. Thank you for your insight!
B. J. Morrison
Thank you all for making camp a safe and comfortable place for Luke to feel at home. Your guidance and support have helped him grow in maturity and his faith.
Glad that you are continuing to improve your leadership, Chip. Your modeling that attitude and mindful approach certainly rubs off on those around you. Also glad you have a leadership pattern for those in the VUCA generation. I particularly affirm your three leadership paradoxes. I hope you, your staff, and all who show up at camp have a grand and joyous summer experience.
I will forward this article on to St. Matthew Lutheran in Holt as we are transitioning into new beginnings and new leadership. Teaching and recruiting leaders is going to be a focus. And for myself this was good information as I will leading the LWML. Thank you Chip for your commitment to raising up leaders.
Hello Chip, been a while….
If there had ever been a question asked, do we have the right man for the job?, the answer should be a resounding YES! Thank you for sharing what has most certainly been on your mind and heart! There will still be false steps, and hard work, and time, and planning and prayer ahead, but looking to the future, I can only see good things for staff and campers down the road because of it! Youth Ministry is hands on, the backbone of the future of the church, and working as camp staff, being a much valued part of that! My prayer is that through the tending and cultivating, God will bring forth much fruit! I am excited for you all!
Thank you Chip for recognizing a need and taking the steps to offer an even more valuable learning and growing experience for our young adults.