PCCCA Bulletin Board for Spring 2008

Are You On the PCCCA Membership List?
As the 100th anniversary of Presbyterian camp and conference ministry unfolds, 2008 is sure to be a great year for the Presbyterian Church Camp and Conference Association. For the first time in history, our 2008 Annual Conference will be held as a cooperative event with the camps and conference centers of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. We want you to be a part of this important year by joining or renewing your membership in the PCCCA organization. There are many different levels of membership, but all of them give you discounts at PCCCA events, access to the online resource repository, and ownership in this important ministry to camps and conference centers. You can find more information and even pay your dues online at the membership page. If you would like to pay by check, just print out and mail in the membership form. We wish to thank all of the sites who have already renewed their organizational memberships. These are Bingle (AK), Calvin Crest (CA), Crestfield (PA), Donegal (PA), Dwight Mission (OK), Hanover (VA), Heartland (MO), Hopewell (MS), John Knox Center (TN), John Knox Ranch (TX), Joseph Badger Meadows (OH), Kirkmont (OH), Lackawanna (PA), Lambec/Westminster Highlands (PA), Makemie Woods (VA), Menucha (OR), New Hope (NC), Pee Dee (SC), Pine Springs (PA), Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley (AL), Presbytery of the Cascades (OR), Pyoca (IN), Rockhaven (MT), Sandia Conference Grounds (NM), Saugatuck (MI), Upper Ohio Valley Presbytery (OH), Westminster Spires (MT), Westminster Woods (KS), Wilmot (NH), and Wyoming (IA). Thank you for your continued support of PCCCA.

PCCCA Kitchen Connection at Meadowkirk
The first PCCCA Kitchen Connection is up and coming, but it is not too late to sign up. From Monday afternoon on April 7th through Thursday mid-day, food service professionals from other camps and conference centers will gather to discuss what it takes to put a good meal on the table for the guests every time. A Health Inspector is even going to come and answer your questions. Bring your best recipes (25 copies of each) and your burning questions and join us at Meadowkirk Camp and Retreat Ministry in Northern Virginia horse country. Please see the program brochure for more information.

PCCCA Fund Development Event at Pyoca
"Building the Annual Fund and More" is the theme for the Fund Development event. Join others who are interested in learning more about how to develop a board culture that promotes common ministry, in examining how to develop or refine your annual fund to make it a sustainable fund, and in considering what to look for in database management. The event will be held on April 28th-30th at Pyoca Camp, Conference & Retreat Center in Brownstown, Indiana. The leader for this event is Jamie Levy, a consultant from the Indiana University School of Philanthropy who specializes in non-profit management, fundraising, and organizational structures. For more information on this program, you can consult the flyer on the PCCCA website. Registration deadline has been extended to March 31. If you are planning on coming, please let us know so we can email a pre-event survey to make this event as applicable as possible.

PCCCA Annual Conference at Zephyr Point
Are you making your plans for the PCCCA Annual Conference on November 9th-14th, 2008?  This year's meeting will be held at Zephyr Point Conference Center right on Lake Tahoe in Nevada. Not only will we be celebrating the 100th anniversary of Presbyterian camp and conference ministry, but we will also be joined by our friends in outdoor ministry from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Our theme is "Gathered As One" and we will be focusing on education, inspiration and relationships. Our keynote speaker is the Rev. Anna Carter Florence (pictured here), who is the Professor of Preaching and Worship from Columbia Theological Seminary and has a passion for outdoor ministry. The Rev. Joan Gray, current PC(USA) Moderator, will be leading worship on the closing evening. We will be in community during worship times, workshop times and hospitality times. We hope to have 300 in attendance, but are planning small group time together so that we can be with each other. Tuesday will be our free day and many and varied options are being planned for you to enjoy the local venues. Families are welcome and we are working hard on providing something special for every age group. The planning committee is encouraging you to stay for the entire event- you really won't want to miss anything by coming late or leaving early. Registration will take place in July. Please check the PCCCA website and your emails for updates as they become available.

Seeking PCCCA Partners in Higher Learning
Joel Winchip, our Executive Director, is the adjunct instructor of the "Camp and Conference Program and Administration" course at Columbia Seminary (Decatur, GA) this semester. The seven students in the class are all from PC(USA) churches and bring a wide variety of camp and conference experiences.  Joel is seeking educational partnerships with PCCCA member sites. The projects during the semester include marketing analysis and program development for summer camp.  If your site is interested in participating in one or both of these projects, please send the following: your site map, mission/vision statement, facility rates/descriptions, and eight copies of your 2008 summer camp brochure to Joel Winchip at 191 Diane Road, York, SC 29745. A copy of the completed project(s) will be mailed back to the participating site at the end of the school year. If you are considering a seminary student for a possible summer internship at your camp or conference center, you can send eight copies of your summer camp application packet, a cd with pictures of your site, and eight "gifts" from your site.  These could be any trinkets you might want to share to "sweeten the deal" (if you want to contribute t-shirts- please contact Joel for shirt sizes).

Training Staff to Be Spiritual Leaders
In response to the recent conversation among camp leaders about strengthening the spiritual development of staff and campers, this book contains activities for staff training as well as a foundation of understanding about Christian spirituality. Beginning with a detailed review of the Six Spiritual Steps, the majority of the book is committed to providing dozens of activities based on the spiritual steps you can use with your staff. Published by Healthy Learnings, the book is available for $19.95 from the ACA Bookstore.

Special Offer for Special Issue of Camping Magazine
The American Camp Association is making a wonderful offer to all camps (both members and non-members) to receive the May/June issue of Camping Magazine for $1 per magazine (in bundles of 10 issues each). This issue will be devoted to staff training. Some of the "heavy hitters" of camping will be contributing articles, all of which should be of great value to summer staff. Some of the authors are Bob Ditter, Chris Thurber, and our own Nancy Ferguson. The magazine will be available late April or early May, in plenty of time to be able to send them out to staff for required reading before staff training begins. To take advantage of this offer, go to the Camping Magazine website and order issues with a credit card. The order form asks for your ACA membership number, but it is not necessary to fill that in to receive your copies. Take advantage of this great opportunity for training your staff.

All God's People: Faith Formation Throughout the Life Span
You are invited to attend this first-time event called "All God's People: Faith Formation Throughout the Life Span," October 13th-15th, 2008 at the General Board of Discipleship (GBOD) in Nashville , Tennessee . Event participants, together with leaders from the Family, Life Span & Latino Ministries Team, will explore how faith is formed in people from birth through older adulthood and how we can be more effective in nurturing faith for people at all ages. The format of this event will be different from other GBOD events you may have attended. This is not an event that features keynote speakers or a variety of workshops on specific age-level or ministry topics. The participants and the leaders will become a learning community, examining faith formation from a holistic perspective through the windows of growth and development, generations, transitions and cycles of life, culture, settings, and traditions and heritage. These various lenses all play a unique role in understanding how faith is formed and nurtured throughout the life span. Together we will explore what leaders can do to strengthen faith for people of all ages. Registration is limited to 120 participants, so we encourage you to register as soon as possible to ensure a place. More information can be found at their website.

The 2008 BlueTreeResources Staff Devotional
Provide your summer staff with the resources they need to strengthen their faith and deepen their own spiritual growth. The devotional consists of eight weeks of devotional material with a scripture reading, reflection, and prayer included for each day. The focus of this summer’s devotional is the Creation. You purchase the original as a CD or download, as well as permission to make as many copies as you need for the your camp staff in the summer of 2008. The devotionals are available for $40 at www.bluetreeresources.org.

"Handle with Care" Curriculum
The theme for the New Earth curriculum for summer 2008 is "Handle with Care."  God made the heavens and earth, the sky and sun and stars, the day and the night, the green of the plants and the blue of the water, and all creatures to walk and fly and swim.  God called it all good!  Campers will enjoy the goodness of God’s creation and explore the meaning of loving relationship with God and all creation.  They will hear about their role as stewards and what it means to handle creation with care.  Daily Bible discoveries, sample pages, and ordering information for "Handle with Care" are all available here.

Additional Eco-Justice Resources for "Handle with Care"
There are free, downloadable resources and sermons that are adaptable and useful for camp, conference and retreat ministry. They can also be used to tie in with this summer’s curriculum, “Handle With Care.” The resources are produced by the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Unit and cover topics such as land and wilderness, water, green buildings , environmental justice and environmental health.  Just go to the Eco-Justice website and explore.

PCCCA Campfire
There have been some staffing changes over the past months.  We would like to welcome folks to their new seat around the PCCCA campfire.
Bruce Aycock is the new Program Director at New Hope in Chapel Hill, NC.
Kevin Cartee is the new Director of Fellowship (Waterloo, SC) and Buc (Sapphire, NC).
Christine Gough is the Program Manager at Westminster Woods in Occidental, CA.
Matt Gough is the new Program Director at Westminster Woods in Occidental, CA.
Debra Hepler is the new Executive Director of Ghost Ranch in Santa Fe and Abiquiu, NM.
Andy Kennaly is the new Program Director at Clearwater Forest in Deerwood, MN.
Elizabeth "Biz" Larkin is the new Camp Coordinator for the Presbytery of the Cascades (OR).
Keith Newman is the new Executive Director of Bethelwoods in York, SC.
Matt Riley is the new Director of Camping Ministries at Camp Pee Dee in Bennettsville, SC.
Tom Roots is the Interim Executive Director of Geneva Center in Rochester, IN.
Elizabeth Sharp is the new Program Director at Dwight Mission in Vian, OK.
Rick and Kitty Ufford-Chase are the Transitional Directors of Stony Point Center in Stony Point, NY.

If you have announcements or questions you would like to share on the PCCCA Bulletin Board, please send them to Joel Winchip.  The deadline for the Summer issue of Branches Online is July 15th.