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Posts in the ‘Alumni’ Category
Monday, January 23rd, 2012
In a million years, I never thought I would be working at a Christian camp doing youth ministry. Four years ago, I was convinced that Christian camps were dying. I honestly thought Christian camp ministry was outdated, irrelevant and clueless. I was sure that Christian camps didn’t understand their role in the big picture of youth ministry. This is one of the many reasons I stopped taking my high school group to a Christian camp when I was a youth pastor.
Now I am the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries at Mount Hermon, a Christian camp. I love my job and I believe wholeheartedly in the importance of camp ministry in the lives of students. In fact, it was Mount Hermon’s vision for three vital partnerships that enticed me into doing youth ministry in a camp setting. I now believe, more than ever, that youth ministry needs camping ministry. However, youth ministry needs camping ministries that understand their role in the big picture of youth ministry.
For camp ministry to maximize it’s impact in the lives of students and fit into the big picture of youth ministry, it has to foster and build three main partnerships throughout the year:
- Parent partnerships--Camps must realize that parents have the primary responsibility for discipling students. First and foremost, youth ministry is not a camp’s job and it’s not the church’s job, it’s the parent’s job. This means that camping ministry has the privilege of figuring out creative ways to communicate and partner with parents both before and after a student attends camp. The more parents know about their student’s camp experience, the better.
- Church partnerships–Christian youth camps must also realize that they exist to serve the church. Youth workers in the local church are the ones who will see, and minister to, these students the other 357 days of the year. That being said, we can’t expect that 1 week, or weekend, out of 51 is enough to sustain students in their faith. Any decision made at camp needs to be reinforced and worked out in the community of the local church. This has to be kept at the forefront of our minds as we plan out and execute camp programming.
- Student partnerships–It’s great for camps to follow up with students if they understand the importance of the first two partnerships. However, all of our work with students should strive to connect them with two main things: the Word of God and the People of God. For camp to be more than just a mountaintop experience for students, they must get connected to God’s Word and God’s people. If we can help them take steps towards doing this, we can help them draw closer to the God who loves them more than we could ever imagine.
Tags: camp, partnerships, youthministry
Posted in Alumni, General, Youth, Youth Pastors | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
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| Dave & Leslie Burns |
It’s a time of transition at Mount Hermon as Ron Demolar, who has impacted countless lives over four decades at Mount Hermon, has retired. Sort of. He has now accepted a position on Mount Hermon’s board of trustees which is an appointment for life.
Ron asked if Leslie and I would take over as the coordinators for alumni and we agreed.
In our first letter to all of you, this is what came to mind.
Lives Transformed
“Lives Transformed” - it’s the statement found on all Mount Hermon literature.
It is always an indication of a story. Mount Hermon holds a special place in the lives of so many including my own, that have been impacted by the ministry here, through the teaching of the Word, worship, fellowship and for many such as you, serving here for a season.
After being widowed for a year and coming back to MH to co-lead a conference in 2005, my children introduced me to (they set us up) Leslie Cooper, a former staffer who oversaw childcare and day camp for nearly 10 years and worked with many of you. It wasn’t my script but God’s using my kids and former Day Camp staff to put us together. It worked! Leslie Cooper has been Leslie Burns for over five years now and we live in Mount Hermon where I minister as the Director of Adult Ministries.
So many of you have stories to tell of the impact Mount Hermon has had in your lives. How many of you met your future spouse at Mount Hermon as we did? How often have we heard the story: “as a summer staffer in such and such a year I worked with this girl and now we’re married with children of our own.”
Leslie and I are interested in hearing your story. Would you send us an email telling us the impact Mount Hermon has had on your lives? We’d love to create a collection of those stories.
And stay tuned! We want to coordinate an alumni reunion at a Mount Hermon Conference next year!
Have a blessed Christmas and New Year
Dave and Leslie Burns
dave.burns@mounthermon.org
Posted in Alumni, Staff News, Stories of Ministry | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
This is a guest post by Sydney Boral, a senior in high school who has attended numerous youth camps at Mount Hermon.
Mount Hermon will always be near and dear to my heart because it is where Christ pursued me to be His disciple. This past summer, I experienced Ponderosa Lodge from an entirely new perspective; I was a CILT. CILT, or Campers in Leadership Training, is a two week program in which high school students are trained to share the love of God with junior highers. As amazing as being a leader for younger girls was for me, CILT also provided me with the opportunity to dive deeper into my own faith, and to create bonds with other Christians in high school who truly love Jesus. When you’re a CILT, the entire Ponderosa staff pours their love into you constantly. Then, you are blessed with the chance to pour your own love into campers. CILT taught me a lot about what it looks like to not just be a follower, but a disciple. Serving God and others is so fulfilling, and at the same time you’re having so much FUN!
One of the most noticeable characteristics about being in a leadership role is the challenges you face. I’ve been a camper for seven summers now, and have always been terrified of the leap of faith. One day when I was with my campers at the ropes course, one asked me to be her partner for the jump, and without hesitation I accepted. I’m not sure why her request was so easy to answer, but I know that God was working through me. God really gave me countless ways to be a leader during CILT, and every boundary I grew past brought me closer to being a true disciple.
Another challenge brought on by CILT was knocking down your walls. The entire first week of CILT is spent training to be a leader, and bonding with your fellow CILTs because they are your family. We all had to open up about the tough stuff, but being able to admit your struggles brings you so much closer to God and shows you how much your “family” cares about you.
CILT was undoubtedly the best adventure I’ve ever experienced.
Tags: CILT, ponderosa, Redwood, Youth
Posted in Alumni, Stories of Ministry, Youth, Youth Pastors | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
 Ponderosa Lodge CILT Campers 2012
This is a guest post written by Evan, a high school student who attended Mount Hermon’s CILT camp this past summer. CILT is a 2-week program for juniors, seniors and graduated seniors that focuses on leadership development.
Whenever I am asked to put my experience of CILT in a few words I honestly don’t know how to do it. But in general CILT did the unimaginable for me and my walk with Christ. A quick way I’ve been able to explain the experience for others back home is telling them how, for basically forever, I have had NO idea what I wanted to become or do with my life after high school; what college I wanted, what job, any of it. No clue. But I can honestly and full heartedly say, after the blessing of the two weeks at Mount Hermon’s CILT, it was the very first time something felt RIGHT. It felt like it was exactly where I needed to be.
I have been going to Mt.Hermon since primary week at Redwood Camp, and that place has been like a second home to me. Something that I realized is that I have always been provided FOR there. And the most beautifully amazing thing CILT gave me was the opportunity to provide for others and not myself…and honestly, building people up in Christ is the most beautiful and incredible thing to ever be apart of, at least to me. And I got to do that for TWO WEEKS!!!
I became so vulnerable and open with people I had only known for 3 days and then God stepped right in and made those into friendships that I’m still in touch with literally everyday to this day and I still care for them SO much. I’ve seen God work through that in such ridiculous ways by bringing us together and it has been so so extremely cool. What was all the more rad was then going our separate ways into cabins of our own but still having each other as we put all our effort and strength pouring into these kids to bring them one step closer to Jesus.
Meanwhile, God himself was bringing us so much closer to him as well whether we knew it then or not. It’s that indescribable!
Posted in Alumni, Stories of Ministry, Youth, Youth Pastors | No Comments »
Monday, January 31st, 2011
Are you ready to be challenged and grown while watching God transform lives? Are you eager to live and share your life in community? We offer opportunities to college-aged individuals who want to make a difference in their world. In the summer, Mount Hermon is CAMP… 24/7. This is not just a job, this is an experience that will impact your life and the lives of those you encounter.
We have many different types of summer staff positions at our various locations. Redwood Camp, Conference Center, and Ponderosa Lodge take place in our Santa Cruz mountains facilities, approximately 75 miles South of San Francisco. ECHO will take place at Kidder Creek, which is our facility located in Northern California near the Oregon border.
Posted in Alumni, General, Kidder Creek, Youth | 1 Comment »
Friday, September 17th, 2010
Greetings Alumni!
 Sunday night September 26 John Fischer and Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary, did a Concert at Mount Hermon. It was a winner!
John Fischer worked several summers on Staff at Mount Hermon. John led in Worship at Ponderosa Lodge for several years and provided a platform for new worship styles for High School students. He wrote several songs while he was on Summer Staff and they became favorites with the campers and went on to become favorites all over the country.
I was most impressed with John as an evangelist. He had campers lined up outside his door most days to learn more about Christ and so many campers at Ponderosa Lodge in the early days would trace their beginnings in walking with Christ to John Fischer.
In a recent blog post, John talks about this a little bit and I thought it would serve to remind and encourage you about your service here on Summer Staff too! If you want to hear more from John Fischer you can follow the links in this posting.
Warmly in Christ,
Ron Demolar
 Last Sunday night I had the opportunity to take part in a concert at Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center, a camp nestled in the towering redwoods north of Santa Cruz, California where I spent a good deal of time ministering in the early days of my career. The fact that I was sharing the evening’s offering of music with folk legend, Noel Paul Stookey, only added to the magical nature of the event for me. And though there were so many facets of the experience worth writing about, the highlight for me turned out to be in the people who came, manifested by those I met afterwards. [Click to read the rest of the article.]
Posted in Alumni | No Comments »
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
I just finished several weeks of recruiting in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois and Northern California. The schools that we recruit from are:
- Trinity International, Moody Bible Institute, Wheaton, in Chicago
- Cedarville in Ohio
- Hope, Calvin, Cornerstone, in Michigan
- Taylor, Indiana Wesleyan, Huntington and DePauw in Indiana
- Bidwell Presbyterian Church in Chico, Simpson College, UC Davis, William Jessup University and Bayside Church in Sacramento, California
It is cold out in the mid-west in February for a California boy like me but we talk to some great students every year that would love to spend a summer working in a camp in California!
We are pretty much in the selection process for summer staff now but we are still getting applications (middle March) on a daily basis. If you know of some good students that should be encouraged to apply, let them know. We have great candidates but are always open to more applications.
This will probably be my last year to visit these schools because we have a great new younger person who is ready to take on this assignment. Charlie Broxton is our new Youth Director at Mount Hermon and will oversee the Youth Programs at Mount Hermon and Ponderosa Lodge. He comes to us from Twin Lakes Church in Aptos (near Santa Cruz) and is uniquely gifted for this ministry. I like the way he works with people and believe he will be a great addition to our staff to direct our Youth Programs and to pick up recruiting in the mid-west.
Ron Demolar
Associate Director of Advancement
Posted in Alumni, Giving | 3 Comments »
Monday, April 20th, 2009
We are saddened to report that former Mount Hermon Executive Director William D. (“Bill”) Gwinn died Friday afternoon, April 17, in Palm Springs, CA. He had a minor heart attack on Tuesday in Banning, and doctors thought he was getting better, but then he worsened and was moved to a larger hospital in Palm Springs. He was in ICU when he died, with his wife, Colette, at his side. He was 79.
Bill was here from 1957 to 1978, starting first as program director under a dual-management model, then a triple-management model, and was finally named executive director in 1963. He was responsible for the development of a family camp program, and greatly expanded Mount Hermon’s programs, facilities, and influence in the 21 years he served here.
He is survived by his sons Casey and Doug and his daughters Melissa and Jenny, and several grandchildren.
Memorial services have been set at Mount Hermon for Tuesday, May 12, at 2:00 p.m. in the main auditorium. Dr. Charles Swindoll has confirmed as speaker, and Dr. Howard Stevenson, Roger Williams, and Dave Talbott will also participate in the service. A reception will follow in the Dining Hall.
Roger has authorized a “friends and family” rate for anyone coming who needs to stay overnight in Mount Hermon hotel units. If your family needs that, call the Registration Office and tell them it’s for the Bill Gwinn Memorial Service.
The family is selecting a specific project, probably related to our trail and/or bridge system, for gifts through the Mount Hermon Book of Remembrance. Details will be announced soon.
Posted in Alumni, General, Stories of Ministry | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
Ponderosa Lodge is a place that changes lives. It changed my life and I am grateful!
After attending Redwood Camp several summers and rededicating my life to Christ there, I went on to attend Ponderosa Lodge every summer through high school. I also attended each winter while in high school because my youth group at First Covenant Church in Oakland ran their own weekend retreats. It was those weekends where my mentoring relationship and life long friendship with Ron Demolar (the director at the time) began.
Like many campers, while I was in college at UC Davis, I applied for summer staff at Ponderosa the summer of 1979. My 2 roommates also applied and got hired. I didn’t even though I was the one with the most history at Ponderosa! (It has has been a running joke all these years and a great teaching tool as I trained the summer staffers that worked under my leadership.) A few weeks later I did receive a call from Dick Dosker telling me there was an opening and I had a job at Ponderosa if I wanted it. That was the beginning of 17 years of service at Mt. Hermon.
I served on staff the summers of 1979, 1981, 1982, and 1983. Then Ron Demolar had the crazy idea to hire a single, 25 year old woman (3 strikes against me!) to take his spot as Director of Ponderosa Lodge. I started in 1984 and left the summer of 1996. Those 12 years were incredible as I grew in my ability to minister to others, deepened my relationship with Jesus, made life long friends, enjoyed an extended family in the Mt. Hermon community, and had FUN with the Ponderosa staff each summer! Oh, the runs to Marianne’s ice cream, the sailing expeditions in the Santa Cruz Bay, sitting by the pool and discussing theology and ministry, the crazy skits and themes, watching campers mature in their faith over the years, and on and on. Even one camper became my god daughter! What an incredible job that I had the privilege of doing for 12 years. I loved it!
To be able to celebrate Ponderosa Lodge’s 40th anniversary will be a blessing! I hope MANY of you – those I served with as a summer staffer, worked for me, were campers when I was director, were guest speakers at Ponderosa – will come to the festivities! You were all a part of changing my life! Thank you!
Robin Agee Spurlock
Posted in Alumni | No Comments »
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