Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Sa foreign.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: Day today here in Gastonia, North Carolina. And I hope you are found blessed by the voices of my team right here at this table. Today we're going to be talking about some really cool stuff. Let me introduce some folks at the table. We got. My director of development, Nate Flowers is back with us. He's an icon here.
[00:00:52] Speaker C: It's officially my job to remind everybody the housekeeping rules. Remember, if you have a question for us, email podcast at Crowders with an S camps with an s dot com. You can always email us if you want to ask a question privately. Or you could tell us and we'll answer it on the air for other people to hear somebody else.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: How do you guys do this? How do you guys do that? We love to say so we would.
[00:01:09] Speaker C: Love to talk to you more and we would love to just hear what's working for you guys.
Yeah.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: So just remember the vision of this podcast is to be a resource to those who do not have the resources. And back in the day, we needed resources. So we would just want to give out every bit of nuggets that we have. Also today at the table, we have Jeremy Russell, my div. My director of stewardship. He didn't even know he was going to be at the table today.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: And that's okay. Be ready in season out of season.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: In season out of season. So, Dave, today we're going to talk about a really cool topic of where can you find great employees? A lot of the times we pull people from our summer staff and they tend to work out, but in my years of being a camp director, I see that the younger bucks and does they go out pretty quick, you know, whether they hadn't been married yet or then they get married and they have a baby and they just kind of split. Well, I want to tell you a cool story. Jeremy Russell has 25 years of church ministry experience. He was. He started out as a youth pastor. Then he. I don't even think he can sing. But then they made him a worship leader and then he became the executive pastor. And Jeremy, just kind of share your story about how you got here to Crowders camps right quick. Don't go too long. I know you're a long winded man.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: Right, right. 25 years in ministry.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: How did you tell the audience how got here?
[00:02:28] Speaker A: Well, you know, it's kind of crazy. We have a little saying, thank God for scoreboards that. That we use.
It's really interesting because I had. I had been in ministry, like I said, For 25 years, serving at a local Church, several different areas in there, did youth ministry, did worship ministry, and then, of course, executive role, and really enjoyed what I was doing. But. But it was coming to a point in my life where I'm like, okay, God, is this exactly what you want me to continue on in? I think you should always stay before the Lord and making sure that you are moving right in the direction that he has you to go. And especially if you see him working somewhere, we always want to go, and we want to be doing where he is, working, where he's moving, experiencing God. Yes. There you go. And so.
I know, right? And so we just dated ourselves the whole process of that. I began to pray and say, okay, God, I want to be where you want me to be, and I want to do what you would want me to do. And I went to an app state game, and that's where I ran into you. And just some comments were made. Hey, come help me with this. And just opened the door for definitely praying. It's not something I was seeking out as far as trying to make a move, but the prayers went up and the Lord began to direct, and it was a perfect fit.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: Fit.
[00:03:59] Speaker A: And when God is in it, you know, you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're moving in the right direction. So.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: So, Nate, we was just having a conversation for. Jeremy came up here. We've seen a lot of talented people in church ministry, and I believe a lot of camp people directors. As we look to start hiring different people for different staff positions, we. We just simply look for people that can do ropes or are you outdoorsy type? Can you rock climb? Can you kayak? Yeah. And the truth is, the local church is hiding a lot of great camp ministry. You know, I mean, we just talked about one young man that we, you know, he could be a program person, you know.
[00:04:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: Easy. Because Ryan comes up with 45,000 wrecks during his camp. We've seen it.
[00:04:42] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, we think about, like, transformational leaders in the church, and a lot of them have very transferable skills to camp, and a lot of times we. We miss it. And the other thing is, I think a lot of people, I mean, around this table, we're involved in local churches.
[00:04:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:57] Speaker C: And we don't want to feel like we're stealing from the local church.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:00] Speaker C: We don't want to feel like we're poaching someone. But in reality is, it's not about stealing or moving people from a church to a camp just because of. You want them because they're more talented or whatever the reason might be. I think it's what Jeremy said, like, you have to be open to what the Lord has for you. I was listening to another podcast. Sally McRae said she's also experiencing some. What you're saying, like, is this really what I'm supposed to be doing every day? And she said, every day you have to throw yourself at the feet of Jesus and ask, is this what I'm supposed to be doing this day?
[00:05:30] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: And so. But let's just go back. So, Jeremy, if. If that school board moment wouldn't happen to me and you or you felt like, hey, camp ministry was a lower class of position or job for me, then potentially you could have stepped out of the center of God's will, went, became the executive pastor at the church down the street and been miserable for another, you know, five, four, six years.
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: And I think that's happened. That's what's happening with some people in the local church because they think they just have to serve. There's a lot of parachurch minist ministries out there for people to take their ministry talents to and serve. But I think we feel like I need to be in the local church. You know, camp ministry is here to support the local church. Right? We're here to support the local church. That's what we do. We're a parachurch organization. But I just see so many people that are so talented in church ministry, but they're hurt.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Well, the thing that I realized is, you know, there is ministry outside of the four walls, and you don't just have to be on staff at a church to be able to conduct ministry. I feel like I've been able to do a far greater ministerial work being here over the past year than I did in the past couple years at the church, just because of the way the church is structured and set up. And I'm speaking of church in general, not just specifically the one that I came from, but I think if we get beyond that and a lot of the folks who've been in church ministry for 5, 10, 15 years, unfortunately will get in the mindset of this is what it is. This is how it is. It has to be done this specific way and I have to always be here. And they're just making either lateral moves from church to church, and they're not really digging in and saying, okay, God, what is it that you have for me specifically, you've made the statement to me before about we're Swiss army knife. And so there's so many of us that have different abilities, talents, blessings that the Lord has given us. And it's about using those. And sometimes when you are in a specific role in a church ministry, you don't utilize all those other tools. They just kind of sit, sit to the side. And since I've been here, I feel like I've opened up the entire knife. And I mean, you know, we're doing everything from can opener to. To scissors.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I like the toothpick.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: The toothpick, yeah. And so it's. I truly feel at this point, I am really moving in the direction that God has for me, and I'm being able to utilize all the things he's blessed me with to turn around and bless him and to help ignite sparks in other people's lives.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: So all you listeners out there, the Swiss army knife is this that I always tell my people I hire. I was like, hey, I don't hire a switchblade. I hire Swiss army knives. Because I want everybody to be able to work in any area. You know, if it's go, hey, go run sound or go blow leaves where it doesn't matter what our titles are, doesn't matter what our pay grade is. We're all willing to go serve wherever God wants us to serve that day with his blowing off leaves. Or is it speaking on leading worship on stage?
[00:08:37] Speaker A: There's no task whatever. It's too small.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: Exactly. See a need and you meet a need, which we're going to talk about core values in our next episode. So everybody be ready for that. But the day's nugget is, you know, sometimes it's not the camp conference employment board board you need to be looking at. Sometimes it's relationships. In the past, before me and you had that scoreboard moment, we knew I knew each other for.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Our kids grew up around each other practically.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Our. Our. Our two kids are the same age, going to the same college now went to the same Christian schools. And so we had known each other forever. I knew of your skill set. So how's the transition? What do you. What are some of the main differences? Just so everybody knows, because what I'm going at today is, I'm saying, guys don't just look on the job boards for camp people. There's plenty of people in the local church too, that may be be sensing for God to move them. And they have so many skills, it's pathetic. You know, I mean, they. They're ready to go. So how's your transition been from the local church? What's. What's really excited you or what do you see as some of the biggest.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: Well, I think. I think one of the things that's excited me is I've gotten out of the. The rut of ministry as far as that goes. And, you know, a rut's just a grave with the ends kicked out of it. And a lot of times in ministry, especially within the church, we can get pulled into that rut of doing the same thing, and it's just as routine.
And being here has allowed me to step outside of that and to really dig down deep and to kind of go back to some of my youth pastor roots and be able to deal with some things there. The excitement that I see on two areas. Number one, with the students that come through this camp, the opportunity that is there to pour into them as well as to pour into the leaders. That's something I would say that I've enjoyed extremely, is being able to do the leadership meetings, and not just the leadership meeting with those leaders who come in with the churches, but to step outside of that and to be able to walk up to them and say, hey, how can I pray for you? How's it going? And they're able to pour their hearts out and have somebody to listen to them. One of the biggest things that we deal with in the church is not having anybody that we can talk to, because you can't talk to people in the church, and you really don't want to talk to your spouse because you want them to like church. And so it's nice to have somebody that you can just be open and honest and know that, hey, if I'm in one of those situations where I'm just. I'm ready to throw my hands up, I've got somebody that's got my back and can talk and pray. And then the other side of that is being able to come alongside of the people that work here.
This is unlike any place that I've experienced.
Just the camaraderie, the willingness to work together, to be on the same page, the same purpose, the same vision, the same goals. We all have different skills, different abilities, but everybody wants to work together to bring glory to the Lord.
[00:11:43] Speaker C: For me, I think a lot of times also what we're finding is that the people that are in church ministry that we have brought in, like, Jeremy is a great example.
He's actually. We've had meetings about this. He's great at talking to people, and he has this wealth of experience of what it's like serving in a local church. And so whenever we, like me I'd lead a lot of the sales function of the organization trying to book people that are in Jeremy's past shoes. Yeah, right. And that wealth of experience helps us be able to know, okay, what type of experience should we be crafting at camp that really supports the local church that's not just fluffing our own ego, and it's not just cool because we want it, but what type of experiences can we create that's actually supporting local church and growing the kingdom of God? I think sometimes you need that little glimpse of experience to know what exactly it is. Because, I mean, I've been to a lot of different camp conferences, and you find a lot of cool stuff.
[00:12:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:45] Speaker C: But ask the question, is that experience that you're bringing to your camper really building up the kingdom of God? And sometimes hiring those people with church experience or other ministry background can help you identify what. What does the local church need right now?
[00:12:59] Speaker B: It can bring a fresh, new set of eyes to your ministry. No matter. You know, I don't. I don't care if you were Samaritan's purse right now. Right. You know what I'm saying in this podcast, the nugget is, you know, open your eyes to the people around you. I would have never thought that that day at the football game that I was going to say, hey, well, why don't you come work for me? And I doubted it a few times after I said it.
[00:13:20] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:13:21] Speaker B: And you. Oh, yeah, you did, too. You went back and forth, too. And, you know, we had several conversations. But while you were talking, I really feel like a lot of local church people lose their passion because they're not focused on the fruit.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: Exactly. Yes.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: You know, it gets mundane. We're doing the same thing. Because I come from 18 years of youth pastor, so I got that blood, too.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:45] Speaker B: And the one reason why I think I was so fired up in my last few years of being a youth pastor is because I focus on fruit. You know, I kept evangelism number one. You know, I wanted to see kids discipled. I was doing retreats where we was going through the survey of the Old and New Testament, you know, and the God's word never returns void. And I think that a lot of local church folks and camp leaders, too, we take our eyes off the fruit, and if we can stay focused on life change, igniting sparks of life change, no matter what happens. If I'm out blowing off leaves, I'm thinking about kids walking through those leaves, we don't want any interruptions at all for Them to meet Jesus where they are. And I think if all of us can stay and keep our passion on what really matters, keep the main thing, the main thing, as they used to say, I think you're going to see your team stay fired up and your eyes will be open to new opportunities to hire different types of people.
[00:14:43] Speaker A: And being here allows me to do something that as a follower of Jesus, I've always had a desire to do and that serve people, to be able to love on people, to encourage people and to be there. I mean, that's what Jesus did. He spoke truth, but he spoke it in love. And he was always willing to be there to help someone. And that has been just a refreshing breath of air in my life.
[00:15:11] Speaker B: I can go through my staff right now and there's, there's three in this room right now that literally had, you know, no camp experience before you came in. Except for going and working with me at camps we rented for the first 10 years and now we have our own facility for the last 11. And I would say the roughness and the creativity that non bred camp people bring into employment is something I think that keeps an organization fresh.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: Oh yeah, most definitely. I was in a conversation yesterday with youth pastor talking about booking a retreat and he started going into a lot of detail about stuff that he was dealing with and things that were going on. And he's like, I don't need to bore you with all that. And I said, hey, no, no, no, no, no, listen, listen. I served in ministry and I was a youth pastor and so I get it. And it's just like this connection was made. It's like, hey, there's somebody that understands where I'm coming from and that allows me to be a blessing to them.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: So you're saying that as we go through the sales pitches with these youth pastors and pastors that call us. Oh, you mean we have an opportunity to speak into their lives too?
[00:16:23] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly.
[00:16:24] Speaker B: Now every phone call is a ministry opportunity. And I just wonder how many of the listeners out there have forgotten that, you know, that we have opportunity even to minister to people through the phone, but even before they get here.
[00:16:37] Speaker C: I'll never remember, I'll never forget. There's a couple times where we've had parents.
I have dealt a lot with our food and food service and I have talked to parents before. And some of you listening maybe are in this situation where you deal mostly with parents, you don't deal with a lot of group bookings where they were sending their kid off. And it Was a middle schooler for the first time, going away to an overnight camp.
And this mom was calling, and she called eight times in about three hours because her daughter had a food allergy.
And she was so worried about this food allergy. And so I said, hey, it's okay. And I explained all of our procedures, how we handle it, and kind of got her calmed down about the food allergy. But what came out was that she was so worried about the safety and security of her daughter that she was really losing a lot of faith.
And she was like, hey, I just am not really super connected with local church, and I just really want her to experience this, but I'm struggling with this. And I was able to. To talk or have a faith conversation just because we were talking about a peanut allergy.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:47] Speaker C: And so I think whenever we have people that have different backgrounds, we can use those experiences to relate to people. Right. I had a little corporate stint, and I still think that experience was valuable. It brought something back to the organization that was fresh. Jeremy had a ton of ministry experience that brought to the organization that was fresh. I think sometimes we need a little bit of eyes outside of cat camp.
[00:18:08] Speaker B: Right.
[00:18:08] Speaker C: To give us the experience to be able to have a little bit of empathy for these people.
The. The real reason, the way that I learned how to talk to that mom was because the corporate place I went to was a car seat and stroller company, and my job was to talk to moms all day long.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:25] Speaker C: And so I learned how to do it.
[00:18:26] Speaker B: How's that good for you?
[00:18:27] Speaker C: It was terrible. And I'll still say it for the public record, but even in that terrible, rough experience during COVID I still learned an experience on how to talk to people, and now I'm able to use that to minister to people. Not just talk to people, but minister to people. So I think whenever you're looking at hiring those people, the variety of experiences that they can bring to the table will really help, really help them open their eyes to be able to minister to people in different ways that you may not be able to do as a camp leader right now because you don't have the experience.
[00:19:00] Speaker B: I think a lot of us as camp leaders, we're trying to find just the person that's got the outdoor look to them, you know, hey, you look campy. Would you like a job here?
[00:19:09] Speaker A: I have started wearing a lot of flannel.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: Yes. You have flannel on right now.
[00:19:12] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:19:12] Speaker B: And I have that same shirt, so I'm glad I didn't wear it today.
And we're like, hey, I can train them. I can mold them.
Two keys of today. Hey, keep your eyes open. What's the Lord doing in your next hire? Maybe it's somebody from the local church. You never know. Have conversations with different people, ask people how they're doing. I think me and you got on that conversation underneath the scoreboard of how you doing? And you started telling me how you felt unsettled. And then always remember and make sure your administrative people listen to this podcast as well, because as we answer the phones and hear people's voices, we can always ask the question, how are you?
[00:19:52] Speaker A: Well, And I just want to add one more thing.
What I try to do every day is say, okay, Lord, this is the day that you've made.
You're allowing me to live in this moment.
What do you want me to do today?
I think sometimes we try to project too far out. God, what do you want me to do five years from now, 10 years from now, 15 years from now?
What we need to do is live in the moment. God, what do you want me to do right now? Who are you going to have me cross paths with? Is it that youth pastor? Is it that mom that has a concern about her kid?
Those are the people that we minister to, those in the moment. That's what Jesus did. He ministered to the person who was right in front of him. And so that's the same mindset that I try to have in everything that we do.
[00:20:39] Speaker B: We've talked. We do a win meeting every Monday morning. We've talked about our core values, which is next episode. We're going to be discussing those, how important they are to have core values and mold them into your staff. But we talked about one of our core values is called camper First. And, Nate, you did something really cool, right? Whenever kids are going through the registration process, you allowed them to fill out this little form. Tell everybody about this little form right quick because it's really cool.
[00:21:04] Speaker C: Yeah. So every person that comes on our camp has to fill out a waiver and registration system through our software just to kind of protect us a little bit. We can talk about software in another episode, but I set up a form, and it just. The title of the form says, how can we pray for you or your camper?
[00:21:19] Speaker B: I love that. Yeah.
[00:21:20] Speaker C: So if a mom is filling it out, they can answer on behalf of their camper or themselves. It doesn't matter. And then I have it set up to where every single night, an automated report runs and a PDF document gets Sent out to our whole entire team.
[00:21:34] Speaker B: So it was like, two weeks that I knew you set this form up, and next thing I know, in one of our win meetings, he's like, yeah, here's some inquiries. And literally, people started doing it.
[00:21:44] Speaker C: People were literally giving their life story in these prayer requests because they just needed somebody to pray for them. I mean, we had everyone from a single dad struggling raising two girls to a cancer diagnosis in the family, and this was a. They were trying to get away for a weekend because this cancer diagnosis was really consuming their life. I mean, we've. We've heard everything, and people being really vulnerable in this little, tiny form that I just set up as an idea.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: I was amazed, because how many times do you fill out a waiver and you're like, I want to get this done as fast as possible.
[00:22:15] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: You know, nobody's paying attention to. You know, you're flying through there, checking the boxes, signing like you're, you know, buying a house.
[00:22:21] Speaker C: Right, Right.
[00:22:21] Speaker B: And then they automatically stop. And then they're filling out this form. Even if they. Even if it's one sentence, you know, they took the time. So people have needs. And, guys, that's what we're in the business for, is meeting people's needs and showing them Jesus. Yeah. All right. So I hope you guys have enjoyed this episode. Keep your eyes open. There's a lot of opportunity out there. This is the day. The Lord has made what he wants you to do today. God bless you.
