Senior Highers Make the Best Junior Staff
We've been doing Camp Griggs for a long time now, 7 summers, and it keeps getting better, thanks in large part to the teenagers who grew up in it.
Camp Griggs started in the summer of 2019 with a single week of basketball camp. The next year, 2020, even with masks and extra precautions, it grew into a two-week VBS-style event. Six years later, camp now runs for four weeks, most of the day, complete with a free lunch, over 35 neighborhood kids, crafts, games, lessons, testimonies from West Side leaders, and field trips to the Children's Museum, Roper Mountain Science Center, and the Greenville Zoo. The kids still play plenty of basketball, but the program has grown far beyond that first summer. There's been many "additions" to the programming each year.
All of these program additions have been great and necessary. But our favorite addition isn't about programming at all. It's about people. After seven years of running Camp Griggs, some of our original campers have aged out and become teenagers. There aren't yet enough of them to justify a whole second camp for their age group, so the question became: what do we do with these high schoolers? We couldn't just wave goodbye. We love them too much, and even though they've grown older, we're still their church, and they still wanted to come to camp.
That's why our summer directors developed the Jr. Staff role, and it has changed everything.
First of all, it keeps teens engaged year-round. To serve as a Jr. Staffer in the summer, teens need a track record of attending church each Sunday. As a result, our teens have started showing up more on Sunday mornings: serving on the welcome team, ushering, speaking from the stage, and worshipping alongside the rest of the body.
Second, it gives them real work experience. After qualifying through attendance, each teen receives a "contract" spelling out their job and pay for the summer. Responsibilities include working with the youngest campers, serving lunch, prepping games, taking attendance, cleaning up, and generally leading wherever needed. They're expected to show up on time and follow through on their duties, and at the end of the summer, they can use us as a reference for their first "real" job. Several Neighborhood Network teens have gone on to work jobs down Poinsett Highway in Cherrydale.
Finally, it advances our mission of discipleship. Every Jr. Staffer is required to attend services, chapels, and a Thursday night discipleship small group. That gives us the chance to teach them more about Jesus, root them in the gospel, pray with them, mentor them, and expand their biblical knowledge, which, obviously, is the biggest win of the whole program.
This summer, we had four Jr. Staffers: Cam, Junior, Heaven, and Jordan. All four completed their contracts, grew spiritually, and floored us with their servants' hearts. They didn't just get practice; they did real-deal ministry.
It brings to mind Jesus's first disciples. Some scholars suggest the youngest of them, like the apostle John, was likely in his later teen years when he began following Jesus. It's a good reminder that you're never too young to make an impact, change lives, and be a vessel for Jesus.
