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This was hands down the best winter camp in our 4 year tenure with Northway Student Ministries. This can be largely attributed to those factors previously noted (although I didn’t end up tubing, all of the others came through with flying colors as anticipated) and some others.

I think what was most enjoyable for me was taking off the administrative hat, since everything was extremely well-planned before we arrived and I had no responsibilities other than “youth leader” (which translates loosely as “hang out with teenagers, try to have as much fun as them, bond in the meantime”.) And guess what - I did! The girls in my room were awesome, as were a lot of the girls in other rooms I didn’t know very well before. I also participated in WAY more activities than I usually do, since it took me 4 years to realize you can “supervise” stuff and do it at the same time. Thanks to my newfound appreciation for and participation in such activities, namely ice skating (with a doubles routine), rock wall climbing (with a few boosts from the guy with the pulley) and swimming (two ridiculously easy games of sharks and minnows), I am incredibly sore this morning. But with many fond memories
The weekend was not incident free but we all got home and are either healthy or healing. Overall it was a great success and I can’t believe I’m saying this but I actually wish the weekend had been a little longer! Friday evening to Sunday morning trips fly by - especially when they fall on Spring Forward weekend (a cruel combination, really).

Elevate 2006 gave way to some serious bonding within our student ministry; students with students and students with leaders. A lot of our students made decisions that lasted and a lot them have since emerged as leaders within NSM. It’s cool to look back one year later and see how those students have changed, and how a new group of students are beginning down the same road. Can’t wait to see how far they will have come by next year’s Elevate!

It’s weekends like this that make me realize how much I love student ministry. When you get to step back from all the busy-ness, from setting up and tearing down tables and chairs, from striving to create environments that students will feel comfortable in, from eating Chinese food every wednesday (or thursday) night for 4 years… Weekends like this are what it’s all about, reaping the rewards of all of that madness because those kids did feel comfortable in the environment you created, and decided to register for Elevate. It’s worth it when you get to sit and melt chocolate with a hairdryer and giggle incessantly with four teenagers…when you hear them talk about their lives and how much they love having a place they can come to refuel and learn how to navigate through the trials that come their way…it’s hard to pinpoint specific things but very few people leave weekends like this the same way they came, youth leaders included.