Presentations & Workshop Resources

• The Ancient Future Church (Keynote Presentation, Dr. Rodger Nishioka)
• Mosaics & Milennials (Workshop Presentation, Dr. Rodger Nishioka)
• Marketing Your Summer Camp Program (Workshop Presentation, Ashley Graham-Wilcox)
• CAMP-Supported Agriculture: The New Way to CSA (Workshop Resources, Chris Tokarz)
• Building the Continuum: Preparing for Success in an Uncertain Future (Presentation | Resources)
• Alumni Associations and Development (Panel Notes)

If you presented a workshop and have materials to share with the wider ECCC Membership, please email them to: ashley@campstevens.org.

Council Members help expand and broaden the vision of the ECCC Board of Directors and serve as advocates for camp and conference center ministry at all levels of the Episcopal Church! 

Check out the ECCC Update Advent Edition article and contact Peter Bergstrom at peter@episcopalccc.org if you would like to nominate someone for membership of the Council.

*** History Note ***

The first ever Episcopal General Convention was held in 1785 in Philadelphia, with the House of Deputies being formed first, since there were no bishops in the newly formed United States.  Hence this was the 77th General Convention!

Sunday, July 1st

Bill unpacks the car in the exhibit hall and picks up Peter Bergstrom at the airport.

Monday, July 2nd

Set up booth, shopping run for the next 9 days,  dinner with our friends from Formation and Vocation ministries, Bronwyn Skov, Ruth Ann Collins, Jason Sierra, Valarie Harris, and others to help their booth or the Official Youth Presence.

Tuesday July 3rd

Final touches on booth setup, exhibit hall opened at noon. (Soft Open  )  Map is of all 85 sites and 20 dioceses that rent facilites for the summer.  People stopped by the booth, to put a map pin in the map for there camps or centers!

Wednesday, July 4th

Exhibit Hall opens and deputies, bishops and guests that are early arrivals start stopping by and saying hello.  Let the networking begin, found out about new Interim at Hardtner, diocese Western Louisiana, and how things are going at Camp Stoney, diocese of Rio Grande (New Mexico).  Cookout dinner with a few ECCC supporters.

Thursday, July 5th

Steady flow of people stopping by.

Friday, July 6th

More pins being put into map, and people are getting the ECCC shirts.  Peter and Bill go to CREDO reception.

Meeting of the ECCC Bowling Society  (also met on the 3rd)

Saturday, July 7th

Peter addresses House of Bishops!

Bill and Peter go to Episcopal Church Foundation reception.

Sunday, July 8th

Head to worship in the morning, packed house, then at 11:30 people head to Diocese of Indianapolis event at Victory Field.  Wearing their camp and retreat center gear. 

Early afternoon, ECCC presented Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Dick Schori, with Hero of Camping Awards!!!  Given by Natalie Weir, Board of Directors President from Waycross Episcopal Center, and comments from Peg Smith, CEO of American Camp Association.

Full Article by Hannah Wilder, that went out on Episcopal News Service

Monday, July 9th

ECCC received an United Thank Offering (UTO) grant for continuation of the Continuum project, that started with the Summit in November 2011.  St. Crispin’s Camp and Conference Center, Diocese of Oklahoma, also received a grant, to be used on a challenge/ropes course!

Tuesday, July 10th

Last day of exhibit hall, and final image of the map, with 400+ pins, over the course of the whole week!

Thank you to the following people for coming to help out at the booth:

Natalie Weir, Marcia Taylor & Van, Jane and Jen Beers, Scott Rudd – Waycross Center

Christine Tokarz – Procter Center

Chris Hamby – Diocese of Lexington

Jimmy Haden – Kanuga Conferences, Inc.

Thomas Morris – St. Mary’s Sewannee Retreat Center

Carla Odell – Day Spring Conference Center

Hannah Wilder – Diocese of San Diego – Thank you for Article!

One of the attendees, Brin Bon, a seminarian at Yale Divinity School and postulant from the Diocese of Utah, describes the event best:  “The Growing Food and Faith conference was designed especially to bring together people active in food ministries from around the country, so we could share ideas and support each other in this new but growing area of ministry.”

Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers were well represented, with staff from:

• Ascension School, Diocese of Eastern Oregon
• Camp Capers, Diocese of West Texas
• Camp Mitchell, Diocese of Arkansas
• Gravatt Camp and Conference Center, Diocese of Upper South Carolina
• Mustang Island, Diocese of West Texas
• Procter Camp and Conference Center, Diocese of Southern Ohio
• Sheldon Calvary Camp, Diocese of Pittsburgh
• Waycross Camp and Conference Center, Diocese of Indianapolis

Other attendees included people from Ohio, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, representing smaller rural parishes. 

“This training brought us all together, connecting us around the subject of food,” said Patty Lindsey of Ascension School in Eastern Oregon. “It was great to have parishes and camp/retreat center folks working together, and feeling like we are part of something bigger than just our center or our parish.”

While at the training, people also learned hands-on practices to take back:

Seed Balls, composed of - clay, soil and mixed herb seed, which will take root if left on top of dirt:

Pallet Planters, making tables to use in gardening from existent pallets:

And Vertical Gardens, made from gallon milk cartons:

Participants also attended a blessing for Rogation Day by Bishop Thomas E. Breidenthal, bishop of the Diocese of Southern Ohio, with a procession of new friends:

Keep on the lookout - there are plans to have another “Growing Food and Faith” in the near future!  The next one will based on discussing nutritional benefits and fresh food in dining halls.

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Article by Bill Slocumb, Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers (ECCC) staff

Photos: Brin Bon, Matters of Food and Faith, and Procter Camp and Conference Center staff

Highlights inlcude - Annual Conference 2013 @ Kanuga planning, Episcopal Church Foundation training update from Chris and Lauri, and ECCC Bowling Society bowled in two states (MA,CT) on the same day!

After the meeting, the board and staff went to visit surrounding centers.  Beth and Helen went to Barbara C. Harris Center, Diocese of Massachusetts (located in New Hampshire); Christine "Chris" went to Bishop Booth Conference Center, Diocese of Vermont & Christ the King Center, Diocese of Albany; and Peter, Rob, Lauri, Patty and Bill went to have lunch at Incarnation Center, also in Connecticut.

Incarnation Center, is in located near Ivoryton, CT, and is also home to Incarnation Camp which is the oldest co-ed camping program in our nation, 1886! 

We had a great tour with Nancy Pilon, Executive Director and were joined by other staff Peter Larom and Shay Coe for lunch.

Taking advantage of being in New England, we also were joined by near by ECCC directors:

Meaghan Kelly - Episcopal Conference Center - Rhode Island

Matt Lindeman, Summer Camp Director - Barbara C. Harris Center - Massachusetts (in New Hampshire)

Jean Handler - Camp Washington - Connecticut 

Nauvoo, Alabama – January 22nd – 27th, 2012 

Psalm 34 calls us to “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” When summer church camps open their doors and gates, they are telling their campers to do the same thing. Come and experience the beauty of God’s creation. See the rushing water. Touch the craggily bark. Hear the falcon’s cry. Taste a fresh strawberry. Smell a real campfire.

Sleepover/resident summer programs are anywhere from 3 nights to 8 weeks long, with most in the one to two week range. Here are some thoughts on the health benefits of attending these camps from the perspectives of our five senses.

Sight. Most camps are located in natural areas, surrounded by plains, waterways or forests -- a place apart from our metropolitan city areas, where most of the population resides. Being outside allows youth to open their eyes, to break away from the tunnel vision caused by televisions, video games, computers and small cell phone screens. They also regain their night vision which is often lost in urban or suburban areas. Their eyes adjust to walking around camps at night. Counting stars becomes possible. Campers discover new parts of God’s creation.

Touch. In the past decades, camps have been advocates for nature, and reuniting people with the environment. They are now places where youth can feel the environment.  Youth learn about trees and waterways. Some camps have started to have organic gardens on their property, where kids are getting there hands dirty either planting and/or harvesting food. They learn through hard work that food does not just come from grocery stores, but from hard-tilled soil!

Hear. Youth open their ears to hear birds and deer, wind in the trees, plains, rivers or oceans, or even to hear the sound of silence. They also get to listen to each other, real voices, of fellow campers and counselors. Camps take youth away from technological sounds and traffic noise. They are living in a community in nature now. They hear each other differently. Favorite hymns sound different, too, when sung in the woods or by a campfire.

Taste. A great percentage of camps are on well water systems, which are filtered. The drinking water that the campers and staff are consuming is from the ground, and not from a plastic bottle! Campers will drink more water, and thus youth are getting away from the ubiquitous soda and energy drinks. It might also be a chance to eat food that they might have picked or helped to grow.

Smell. Campers also get to open their noses while away at camp. There are the smells of nature, of flowers and trees, and then equally important, the fresh air that is hard to find in our polluted, bigger cities. They can take a walk in the woods, and experience the smells of a growing and decomposing forest. They can stop, close their eyes, and fully take in the life of our forests.

Camps are excellent places to not only get back to nature and God’s creation, but to re-align our senses. It is a chance to balance oneself, and to be in an intentional Christian community. Such a time enhances our spiritual life. I hope this encourages you to visit your local church camp soon. Come to “taste and see” how broadening and restorative God’s creation can be.

Bill Slocumb is the Associate Director for Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers, an association of 106 camps and centers of the Episcopal denomination located all across the United States. He has been on staff of four different centers in Texas, California, Maryland and Florida. He hopes to get as many people back in nature as possible.