Sacred Playgrounds Podcast

Summer is here! Camp leaders, your staff have arrived, or are arriving soon. This episode is designed specifically for them. We're speaking right to those emerging adult summer staff about to make ministry happen at camp this summer. On this episode, we'll take a minute to share some of what we know about summer camp staff, and contextualize it for this summer's staff teams. They&ap...

It's the season 5 finale! Summer is almost here, and for some, it feel like it's time to PANIC! We get it, you get it, your fellow leaders get it. The sprint up to staff arrival and camper arrival can get overwhelming. On this episode, we'll talk through seven things you, your staff, or your colleagues may be starting to feel panic about, and how to find some focus amidst the "...

Character. This word is, as our guests on this episode will say, a "big tent" concept. As the American Camp Association has been exploring, building, and developing the Character at Camp Initiative and the Character at Camp Grant Program, the word character has had a galvanizing, unifying effect. We can be aligned in seeking to create experiences that develop something deeper beyond the...

They're coming. And then, they're staying, and working, and playing, and praying, and connecting, and serving, and living this moment of their lives together at camp. Your staff, when fully equipped throughout the summer with three things they need to thrive, will be a difference-making, camper-retaining, relationship-forging, joy-slinging force at your camp. This is true for "class...

This episode features good friends of ours, Jess and Jessica, who lead vibrant associations of camps, conference centers, retreat centers, and farms. We'll hear where, how, and why generating insights and then using them well is becoming increasingly impactful and consistently critical to decisions, actions, and strategy at each layer of outdoor ministries. Jess Elfring-Roberts serves as the...

We're in an action phase at camp, or at least we hope they are in an action phase. That "they" is camper parents. On this episode, we're laying out five strategies backed by recent insights that can help lead parents to the critical actions we want, and need, them to take right now. We want to lead them to register, recruit, and retain. These key actions, and leading as many pa...

On this episode, we're around a table with five incredible camp leaders bringing different perspectives from their role, to geography, to camp journey, to denomination, and more. We're sharing this table while gathered at Camp Wapo in Amery, Wisconsin for CampWell X Sacred Playgrounds - a training event around well-being at camp in partnership with our friends at the Alliance for Camp He...

There's a shift coming, and it affects camp in significant ways. On this episode, we'll talk about why, how, and when it's coming, and leave you with some ideas to get ahead of it. When you lay out the story thread of camp over the story of demographic shifts through our past and present, you can wonder with wisdom about what's next. As we follow things like rate of live births...

We've learned so much about summer camp staff over the past few years. With insights from more than 2000 summer staff members at more than 120 camps in the last 5 years, plus additional data from projects like the ACA Youth Impact Study and more, we know quite a bit about the emerging adults who make your summer ministry work. And here's the truth. The more you know about who they are, w...

On this episode, we welcome Jake back from his journey to Egypt, where we travelled with other camp and church leaders on a pilgrimage that lead them to and through places and spaces with deep Biblical, historical, and spiritual significance. We'll hear stories from Mt. Sinai, the Nile River, and more. As Jake weaves key parts of his experience, we'll uncover where pilgrimage and camp in...

Happy New Year, camp and camp-connected friends! It's 2026, and we're kicking off the new year with our annual installment of the New Year's resolutions for camp. On this episode, we'll share a fresh set of hopes and dreams for camp based on the latest research data and conversations with camp leaders. We'll talk through these 5 resolutions, and would love to hear your per...

As we release this episode, it's almost Christmas 2025! We're wishing you a very Merry Christmas from our sacred playground to yours. We're ever-grateful to share this space with you. On this (shorter) episode, we're taking a few moments to answer a handful of curious questions from camp leaders. We'll quickly explore things like staff kindness, phrases like "no margi...

It's true. Adults are a deeply important audience for your camp in one way or another - or more likely, in many ways. Not just as a donor, parent, or partner, but as one who can have personal, meaningful experiences at your camp. On this episode, we're talking about adult engagement at camp, especially in retreat and other year-round opportunities. We've got four reasons why adults...

Camp is perfect, right? Right? At least, my camp is... You've thought it. So have we, and so has every camp enthusiast since the beginning of camp-time. And yet, we know that sometimes people have an experience that is less positive than we planned and prepared for. This likely doesn't mean everything at your beloved site is doomed, but it may mean something had or has broken down. On th...

Our team spent the week at the Outdoor Ministries Connection Great Gathering! It's been an incredible week connecting in person with 500+ of our closest friends. From insightful keynotes to leading and joining engaging workshops to creative worship and making new friends - we're feeling full, blessed, and inspired for the work ahead. On this episode of the #sacredplaygroundspodcast, we g...

This is a cutting edge for outdoor ministry right now, and camps, when we understand our role as a catalyst, is poised to have an outsized impact on faith lives of countless campers and families. The connectivity in three sacred spaces - camp, church, and home - through program and practice, mission and method makes a profound difference in the faith-forming impact across this ecosystem. Through o...

On this episode, we're excited to sit down with Cara Meredith, a lifelong camp enthusiast, experienced camp speaker, and author of the book Church Camp . This book has been stirring in many ways for Christian camp and camp-connected leaders, and we are grateful for the opportunity to sit down with Cara to hear the heart and story behind this book and the impact it is having. We'll ask so...

Each fall, early in our podcast season, we try to spend time talking through some of our, really your , learnings from the summer. We aggregate data from Effective Camp and Power of Camp projects - those that focus on campers and families - and run it through a variety of statistical and strategic lenses, including comparing this year to previous year's data. This allows us to uncover somethi...

If you've ever planned an event, fundraiser, conference, or other significant gathering, you know that there is so, so much that goes on behind the scenes to make that happen. On this episode, Jake and Jared are joined by the Co-Directors of the Outdoor Ministries Connection Great Gathering, Cat Holbert and Joanne Kovac-Roberts. These dynamic leaders guide the OMC Great Gathering planning tea...

We're back! Welcome to season 5 of the Sacred Playgrounds Podcast! On this episode, we've got some words of welcome, a quick summer in review from our Sacred Playgrounds team, and what to expect from this season. Then, we dive right into some impactful insights from our Post-Summer Camp Leader Pulse Check survey, where we asked camp leaders some simple but critical questions about how th...

Bonus episode of the Sacred Playgrounds podcast! Summer camp staff, this one's specifically for you! It's mid-summer for many camps, or will be soon, so we're taking a few minutes to offer 3 things specifically for summer camp staff to encourage, equip, and embolden them for the rest of their summer of ministry. Camp leaders, be encouraged to carve out some time soon to listen to th...

It's the season 4 finale! So, we decided it's a good episode to play a classic camp game, with a sacred playgrounds twist. On this episode we're playing 2 Truths and An Untruth, often used as a get-to-know-you game at camp, in four rounds from the perspective of key camp audiences: campers, parents, directors, and summer staff. In each round, we'll share 3 statements, and your...

Some things are up, some things are down, some are holding steady, and it all has meaning and impact for how we can make informed decisions and tell impactful stories for this summer and in the months ahead. We've pulled out seven key insights from the 2024-2025 OMC Director Survey findings, and sharing the up, down, and steady movement we've seen when comparing to the last decade of fin...

The more things change, the more they stay the same? The only constant is change? If you’re not riding the wave of change, you’ll find yourself underneath it? Whatever your cliché du jour, the truth is, things aren't the same as they were a quarter century ago, and outdoor ministry is not immune to the shifts. On this episode, Jake and Jared welcome Chad Hershberger from Camp Mount Luther on...

Where will they find spiritual grounding, these summer staff members of ours? These emerging adults that truly make ministry happen at our camps; what does it take to equip and encourage practicing faithfulness in their lives while they are at camp, and foundational habits that last beyond our time with them? On this episode we'll talk about the key to fostering the kind of faithfulness in su...