Happy Advent and Merry Christmas from our sacred playgrounds to yours! We're donning Christmas hats and embracing Advent as we prepare for Jesus to come...to camp! This season reminds us that our ministries have audiences of influence - those we serve, those who serve with us, and those we impact, sometimes without even knowing it. On this episode,…

Leaders who thrive learn from other leaders. Recently, Jake and Jared got to participate in and lead workshops at annual camp conferences for Lutheran Outdoor Ministries and the Campfire Collective (PCCCA, OMA-UCC, OMI, + more). They had the chance to sit down with 4 camp leaders from different locales and traditions to gather insightful perspectiv…

Sometimes we love to hang out in our camp bubble, don't we? Sometimes even so far as to, at least in part, shut out the outside world. It makes sense, because there's something special about camp being set apart. And yet, we're part of an ecosystem, a culture, a community. Last week, election day in the United States brought on emotions and actions…

What's your favorite scary movie? This week, we're embracing the spooky season with our #QuickQampQuestion. Post yours in the comments on our website, Facebook, or Instagram! On this episode, we've got 3 "scary" things to share about traditions we prioritize and the wellbeing of those we serve. We're sharing one scary story about a still-common cam…

"The most effective way to get campers this summer is to get last summer's campers to come back." On this episode, Travis Allison from Go Camp Pro joins us to talk through what's actually effective in recruiting and retaining campers and their families. Built from a sense of frustration that so many camp leaders spend so much time, energy, and mone…

A meaningful camp experience can be a powerful catalyst for family faith formation. That truth is at the heart of the Rhythms of Faith Project, the Lilly Endowment, Inc. funded project that Wheaton College/HoneyRock and Sacred Playgrounds are partnering on. We've spent the last year taking in current and past writing, qualitative and quantitative d…

Ministry is about impact. It's what we hope for, plan for, program for, recruit for, market for, evaluate for, and pray for. It's maybe the one thing that aligns the entire outdoor ministry industry. We may not even define impact in the same way (fyi, we don't!). Yet, we're aligned in that our deepest foundational mission is to impact lives for the…

Season 4 of the Sacred Playgrounds Podcast is here! We're back behind the mic and behind the research for another season of camp-centric content focused on leaders like you. On this episode, we'll share a quick what-to-expect from this season, and then dive into what we learned through the Post-Summer Pulse Check survey we launched a few weeks ago.…

finale {n.} the last and often climactic event or item in a sequence It's the last episode of season 3 of the Sacred Playgrounds Podcast! Whether it's your first time or you've been along for the ride since our first episode, thanks for listening! It's an honor, and a lot of fun, to talk camp with you and for you. On this episode, we'll run through…

On this episode, we're sharing the mic with a good friend and camp research colleague! We're deeply honored to chat with the Senior Director of Research and Education for the American Camp Association (ACA), Laurie Browne, PhD. Laurie joins us to unpack some key camp research learnings from the big picture at the ACA including important projects li…

Every now and then, I get a little bit restless And I dream of something wild - Bonnie Tyler "Total Eclipse of the Heart" Eclipse week! Epic, singular experiences are our specialty at camp, and yet, how we prepare campers and families for integration of faith in the totality of life is the real heart of our ministry. On this episode, we'll hear the…

It's launch week for Holy Ground 2024! It's no secret, so says the research, that summer staff are the heart of camping ministry. We know they need support, agency, and faithful community to thrive. That's why we constructed the Holy Ground summer staff guidebook for the third year. On this episode, we'll quickly share the what, how, and why of Hol…

Check! We're gearing up, camp family! For many, it's time to begin forming our plans for staff training, even as we continue to recruit and hire staff. We're bringing you 8(+1) items on a summer staff training checklist to help you frame up a successful, impactful staff training experience that gets your summer staff well-equipped and wisely-prepar…

We're constantly learning. Every season, we take care of each individual and/or group of camps we work with - creating reports, digging in with consults about the findings, and creating ways to help those insights tell stories. And, we take that data and compile it, looking at it from a higher level with richer numbers of responses. We do this to l…

We're making a new friend in this episode as we talk with author Maria Warner who wrote a book all about her family's transformational experiences at family camp, a specialized kind of camp that can, as Maria passionately shares, help families thrive. Listen as we hear stories from the book and capture some of the secrets that make family camp work…

We're hitting rewind on an episode from last season where we broke down some of what we know about emerging adults today. Knowing who they are, what they care about, and what motivates them makes a big difference in how we connect and communicate with them, especially during the recruiting process. Rev. Anna Sorenson and I will bring some fresh con…

Camp staff outcomes align remarkably well with the top skills employers identify as most important for the 21st-century workforce, including teamwork, communication skills, leadership, and problem-solving. Being a member of a Christian summer camp staff builds vital skills needed for impactful careers and faithful lives. On this episode, we're brea…

Happy New Year! We're back with our third annual New Year's Resolutions episode! We're sharing 5 fresh resolutions for sacred playgrounds like yours for 2024. Here's what you'll find: Build resumes Complete the circle Look to the stars Transition well Keep learning We'll also share a bit about what you can expect from our sacred playground in the y…

Merry Christmas from Sacred Playgrounds! Green beans and great songs and cookies and memories, these are a few of our favorite things! (Sing it or it doesn't count) On this episode, we share some favorite fun in an extended, Christmas-themed #QuickQampQuestion. AND, we'd like to hear yours. Here's the list: Favorite Christmas song Favorite Christma…

Our heart is restless until it rests in you. - ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO "Spirituality." How do we actually define that word? What's the difference between spirituality and religion? Can one be a non-spiritual person? What does it mean to be "spiritual, but not religious" as many have described themselves? And, as we should always be asking, why does …

Have you taken a walk through the life of Jesus? Have you brought your campers through an experience like this in a way that puts them in the story? Immersive experiences have power, especially in the context of camp spaces already so experiential in nature. Bringing The Story to life is an honor, and we have an opportunity to make a connection bet…

We've been doing what we're built for, turning data into stories, and today on the podcast we're sharing some of these findings via 3 questions: What's changed? What's stayed the same? What's surprising? And, most importantly, why do these things matter. We've also got a Quick Qamp Question about attending different camps or sticking with what's fa…

It's time to set this rhythm in motion. Our brand new project, Rhythms of Faith launches with waves of energy and anticipation of what we'll learn and the impact those learnings will have. Funded by a $1.25 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, we're partnering with Wheaton College and Honeyrock, their center for leadership development, on this e…

"Of all the pillars of health, spirituality is the one that has a perfectly inverse relationship with anxiety and depression." - Tracey Gaslin Listen in to this deep conversation with our own Jake Sorenson and Tracey Gaslin, Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance for Camp Health about why and how establishing a culture of health and wellbeing at c…

Have you heard that phrase? "Ok, boomer..." Or how about the not-insignificant number of millennial-bashing parody songs across YouTube? What leads us to slap these "Gen ___" labels on people? Where did they come from? In this episode, we're unpacking generational theory, exploring what may be helpful and not helpful in this way of sociological thi…

Welcome to Season 3! We're kicking off this season with a what-to-expect and introducing two new segments we're including in each episode this season. Read more about them and download your free graphic below! We'll be behind the mic every other week bringing you fresh insights from the latest data, all on a mission to help camping ministry thrive.…

Eat. Let go. Grateful. Jesus. Giggle. No, it's not a silly camp word game. Ok, maybe a little. The season 2 finale is here! We'll look back at some of the numbers and share our favorite episodes of this season. Hear our longest, shortest, and most listened-to episodes. Any guesses? Then, we beseech leaders to remember some things for the summer ahe…

Special guest day! We've got two special guests with direct, experiential perspective on the seasonal migration that is about to or recently has happened for thousands of college students (and many high school too) on their way in to serving as summer camp staff. We'll hear from Jenna, one of those students in the midst of such a transition, and fr…

Staff training is identified by many leaders and summer staff members alike as their favorite part of the summer. There must be something going on here. There is. Something that matters. Your camp culture starts here. The creativity, clarity, and community that is gained in these training and orientation experiences set the tone for the summer, imp…

These are some of the most impactful findings on the pulse of outdoor ministry today, draped in a really hopeful outlook. We unpack things like the biggest threat to outdoor ministry this year, what we're learning about director demographics, the four types of faith-focused camps, and more. We just finalized the report on the 5th OMC Director's Sur…

To know and listen - these is the best gifts we can give our camp community. This applies throughout our ministries, from the connection between a counselor and camper, to how we engage our trusted supporters, and everything in between. Life is loud, input is constant, and expectations of production are high. It's part of why set-apart experiences …

In 2018, after hearing about some of the data from the first Power of Camp Study with Christian Camp and Conference Association ministries, Camp Judson and Executive Director Kevin Saxton decided to join the project. After their first year of data, they were struck with what they learned about where their campers were coming from, and made intentio…

Walking in the steps of Jesus is no small thing. True pilgrimage spans the preparation and prayer before, wide-eyed wondering during, and intentional processing and application after these holy experiences in these holy places. We'll hear from Jake and Anna from our Sacred Playgrounds team who recently got to do just that, embark on a long-awaited …

We're in it. Recruiting season. When we know the systems, life stages, situations, and motivations of the emerging adults that will soon become this summer's incredible staff, we can recruit in a way that sets both the staff member and the ministry up for the best summer ever. In this episode, we'll break down some research and resources that give …

It's here! Holy Ground 2023 is available for pre-order, and we couldn't be more excited. We know these staff are the heart of your summer ministry, and we've learned and learned again that supporting them is absolutely vital. That's why we created Holy Ground. This year's edition comes complete with 12 weeks of brand new for 2023 devotions, updated…

Happy New Year camp friends! It's here - one of our favorite and most downloaded episodes of season 1 gets a 2023 reboot. These 5 New Year's resolutions were built directly from what we heard over the last year and see unfolding in the year to come. Here are your resolution key words to listen for in this episode: identity, hire, mom, agency, & ins…

Join Rev. Anna Sorenson, our Director of Operations and Associate Pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in La Crescent, WI for a Christmas week reflection on John 1. Merry Christmas! Come help camp thrive with us on Facebook, Instagram, or at sacredplaygrounds.com.Par Sacred Playgrounds

Parents spend so much energy giving to and for their kids, let's give them a few gifts from the camp community. We've packaged up our ideas in 3 "L's" that are the impactful, keep-on-giving kind. Plus, we'll hear a chat Pastor Anna Sorenson, Sacred Playgrounds Director of Operations had with Margie Fiedler, Executive Director at Flathead Lutheran B…

Happy Thanksgiving! There are many studies that connect happiness and even productivity with an attitude of gratitude. We have a lot to be thankful for in our own lives and in our ministries. Can I get an, "Amen?" Starting within ourselves and moving concentrically outward there are circles of impact and influence that should hear words and feel ac…

Say it louder for the people in the back - parents are your primary constituents. Camp is one of the spaces where the final decision makers are not necessarily the ones having the experience, yet their perspective on how things go at camp is so, so vital. We're deep in summer 2022 parent data right now and have compiled and analyzed data from 37+ c…

We hear it and see it from parents, youth, and society - plugged in to some kind of technology is our near-constant state of being. There are precious few places and it takes more intentionality than ever to get ourselves outside - yet it matters as much as ever for our mental, physical, and societal health. Enter outdoor ministry, people and place…

The relationship between your Executive Director and your Board of Directors is a vitally important - maybe the most important - relationship in the infrastructure of your ministry. There are ways to keep it healthy and thriving, giving foundation from underneath, support from all sides, vision from above, and spirit from within. On this episode, w…

Pick your analogy, a seamless pass of the baton in the zone while speeding around the track, a quarterback placing the ball squarely in the gut of a tailback headed for the endzone, an instrumental duet with a melody passed perfectly from one first chair to another - when handoffs are done well, it's beautiful and successful and everyone is the bet…

Season 2 begins now! How was your summer? Did you encounter challenges? Did you experience things worth celebrating? Either way, you're not alone. As we kick off this new season of the podcast, Jake and Jared take an episode to review the summer and name 3 things worth celebrating in the outdoor ministry community and 3 challenges many of us faced …

It's the season one finale of the Sacred Playgrounds podcast! It's going to be E.P.I.C. This episode is framed with an epic alliteration of four key things to remember and apply as camp begins for the summer. Think of them as broad-brush questions to ask, focal lenses to look through, key ideas to overlay. Are we being fully participatory? Do we cr…

Meet Amber Hill Anderson, a professional mediator and conflict resolution specialist, not to mention former camp staffer and current ongoing enthusiast. Here's the reality, camp won't be all sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes people see and experience things differently. Sometimes there are disconnects. At camp, we have a unique space to approach con…

Spoiler alert. The key ingredient in the secret sauce to an effective summer camp experience is a well-equipped, well-trained, faith-filled camp staff. It makes so much sense to give them the support they need to thrive. That's what Holy Ground: A Guide for Summer Camp Staff was created to do. It's a powerful, yet accessible guide and 12-week devot…

There's a path for summer camp staff to be well, really well, in body, mind, and spirit this summer. When they, and you, are supported in mental wellbeing, it lays a foundation for a season of less staff attrition, more energy, and incredible ministry. On this episode Jake sits down with Joy Hensel, a youth and outdoor ministry veteran with trainin…

How Christian are you? That's a real question, one that camp leaders get. It's a question that parents are wondering when they're making choices about the kinds of experiences to say yes to for their kids. They wonder what happens to their kids if they send them to a camp that's "too religious" just as much, or maybe more, than a camp that isn't fa…

99% We share some statistics and such on this podcast, and that's one we don't share very often. 99% of parents say that camp is a place to unplug from technology. What's even more interesting - the kids like it. On this episode, we're giving a bit of a State of the Screen for 2022 - how is technology affecting children and youth and why does it ma…