Group Mission Trips Resources
It’s your first day of camp and there are a lot of things that happen in a short period of time. First, thank you for driving in a stinky church van for hours (sometimes days!) to bring your teens to Week of Hope! You have worked hard up to this point to fundraise, get all the forms done, pack vans, and plan out bathroom and snack breaks. Hopefully you can breathe a sigh of relief that you made it and now you can enjoy seeing your group grow in their relationship with Jesus by working with community service organizations and helping others. Here’s a snapshot of what will happen on that first day of camp so that you know what to expect.
Arrival: 3-4:00 PM
We highly recommend that you get there as close to 3:00 as possible so that you have time to settle in and not be rushed. As you get close to the lodging facility, you will see a smiley staff member in a red Staff shirt welcoming you in. They will direct you where to park and your teens can tumble out of the vehicle to stretch their legs. Before everyone scatters, GMT staff (we call them Red Shirts) will ask you to gather in an area to take a group photo before anything else is done. PRO TIP: Many youth groups design a camp shirt for arrival, and they all wear it at check-in. This helps youth leaders find their participants quickly and identifies what church everyone is with. This is not required but you will find that it’s a camp tradition for many youth groups.
If anyone needs a restroom, the Red Shirt can help direct you. Once your photo is taken, pick a male and female adult chaperone (including you as the primary contact for the group) and head up to the check-in table. The rest of your group can hang outside, start unloading your vehicles, and pull out the coolers and water jugs. Your youth group won’t start moving into the lodging facility until the two leaders have been taken to their sleeping rooms and gotten all checked in.
The staff at the check-in table will ask you what church you are from and ensure that you brought the number of people that you said you were bringing. Any changes to participants or vehicles? Did you take out that back seat of the church van last minute and your seat number changed? Do we have notes about your youth group needing to stay together on crews or any special accommodations that you put in your customer account? This is the time to tell the camp staff and update anything that was missing! This is also a great time for you to mention, confirm, or chat about anyone in your group that has a food restriction. Once you are done at that table, GMT tour guides will take your two adults on a quick tour of the facility. They will show you the sleeping rooms, key areas like program space, showers, eating area, restrooms, etc. You will receive copies of the facility map so that you can lead the tour for your own group as you are settling in. In your sleeping rooms, the tour guide will tell you how much room you have for your own group in the room. You may be sharing the room with another group so be considerate and plan for the other group’s space. PRO TIP: Ensure everyone brings a twin-sized air mattress and pack as light as possible so that you have as much room as possible.
In your group’s assigned sleeping room, there will be mission handbooks and wristbands for your entire youth group. PRO TIP: When you leave the room, grab the wristbands to take back out to your youth group and have them put the bands on right away. Leave the mission handbooks in the room until everyone gets settled. They will get lost in the shuffle of moving in. These bands are different colored based on ages so 17 and younger get yellow and 18 and older get blue. This will determine when you can shower as we have different shower times for youth and adults, and it also shows the camp staff that you belong at camp! If someone’s wristband gets damaged or ripped off, the camp office will have new ones available.
Once you have finished the tour, you can go back outside and get your group. Put their wristbands on now before they get lost. Now give your participants the same tour you just went on. Show them where the bathrooms are, where they will be eating, the program space, the camp office, emergency exits, where the showers are and where the shower schedules are posted, etc. Just show and explain to them that the boys are allowed in the boy’s hall and room, and girls in their space. Have each person write their name on a nametag at the nametag table – we wear these just on Sunday but everyone is learning each other’s names so it’s important that they have them for when they meet their crew that evening. Once all that is done, everyone can start hauling in their luggage and get those air mattresses blown up and beds made. Set up a meeting place and time so that they know how much time they have to get everything done and if you want help back at your vehicle, tell them when to be there.
Coolers and water jugs can now be placed in the appropriate spot that staff showed you. And if you brought community gift items, your tour guide should have shown you where to put those items. Now is the time to make sure your vehicles are cleaned out, throw trash away, recover all those stray French fries, and get your vehicle cleaned out for the week.
Adult Meeting: 4:30 PM
Every person that is 21 years of age and older will go to the adult meeting. If you have younger interns or leaders and you want them to attend, that is fine. The Red Shirt staff will lead this meeting, and they will cover specifics about your camp and community. Topics covered include things like the shower schedules, safety concerns, schedule updates, program details, and you will get to know the camp leaders and their experience with youth ministry and Group Mission Trips. They will set expectations for the week like how participants are expected to behave and what happens if they don’t. This is an important meeting so ensure that all your adults are there and attentive- it generally lasts about 40-45 minutes.
Dinner Gathering: 5:30 PM
By now, everyone should be settled into their sleeping rooms, and they can go eat dinner. Dinners are served all together so make sure everyone is there right on time. For all meals other than Sunday night dinner, participants will be divided into meal prep crews so your group will be assigned shifts to help with meal prep, serving, and cleanup. There will be a sign in the cafeteria space that shows the menu for the meal so if you have someone with dietary restrictions, they should be able to see what is being served. If there are concerns about the meal, find a Red Shirt in the cafeteria for help. They can either get you access to a place where you can store food, or they should be able to answer questions about food ingredients.
There are shower times offered on Sunday so check the signs around the facility if anyone in your group wants to shower. During this time, GMT staff have put together work crews and they will start posting signs around the facility with crew information. These signs will list each person and what crew they have been assigned to. Ensure that each person knows their crew number before they go into the 6:30 kick-off program. At this time, each adult that you brought should know where their coolers and water jugs were left, and they can go put the cooler and water jug that they will take to their project site under the crew number assigned to them in the lunch-line area.
Kick-off Program: 6:30 PM
Right before this meeting, pass out the Mission Handbooks and have everyone write their names in them. This will be needed for every program and for crew and youth group devotions. Remind them to bring these, a pen/pencil, and their Bible to every program. This program is generally a bit lengthy. This program will be a fun welcome to camp and get everyone ready for the week. You will watch the Typical Day video so that everyone can see what most days will look like. The camp Code of Conduct will be reviewed at this program to ensure everyone knows what is expected for the week. You will also learn about food safety and care cards- a camp tradition of writing notes of affirmation to each other. Towards the end of this meeting, your participants will find out what project they have been assigned to and who is on their crew. They will select roles that they are going to fill all week- some are responsible for lunch, some are devotion leaders, etc. At the end of the program, each person will meet with their full crew, and they will be given their project in a packet with a few other things. There will be instructions on what they are doing at their project site. PRO TIP: Tell your adults to read the service project description as well. We want a teen to be the Organizer (a crew role), but it’s super helpful for the adult to also look at it to ensure that everyone has the supplies, and they are best prepared for the first day of work. They will also get a small first-aid kit to use throughout the week. Each crew will have the opportunity to chat with the Red Shirt Project Leader about what they will be doing that week. We will also collect lunch order forms so that we can ensure you have enough food for lunch.
At the end of that program, each participant will pick up their camp T-shirt outside the program space.
Evening Program: 8:00 PM
This is generally a quick time to introduce the week’s theme and introduce you to a camp dance called “Get Down”. Once this program is finished, your youth group can meet for devotions.
Youth Group Devotions
These are provided to you in the Mission Handbook, and you can expand on them as you wish. Find a place for you to meet for devotions each day where your group is free from distractions and focused. These devotions are tied to the camp and daily theme so it’s important that you do them. There should be plenty of time so if you want to or need to take your group out for ice cream or a quick run to Walmart afterwards, that’s totally fine.
Lights-Out: 11:00 PM
You will be ready for bed at this point! Around 10:30 start getting your participants in their sleeping rooms, teeth brushed, and ready for bed. There are a few nights that our Red Shirt staff will gather all those that are interested and they will lead a bedtime story! At 11:00, our staff will ensure the building is locked up and they need to know that everyone is in their assigned rooms and ready for bed. GMT staff need sleep as well!
Tips for the Next Day
Wakey wakey is at 6:45 AM so our staff will play music and get you all up and going for the day. If you are assigned to breakfast crew, you need to be in the kitchen at 6:30 AM! Plan on wearing your themed t-shirt to that first program and out on your project site. If you don’t want to get it dirty, bring an extra one with you to change into once you arrive at your project site. Ensure that each adult driver has the correct address to the site and that each crew has their cooler and water jug. Each evening the rest of the week there are dinner crews meeting at 5:00, dinner gathering at 5:30, followed by hospitality tasks at 6:30. You will get all those assignments during the adult meeting on Sunday. If anyone is interested in being part of the program and the drama team, let them know that they will meet each evening at 6:30. If you have anyone interested in helping lead worship, be in the program space at 7:00 pm.
OK, you made it through your first, and hardest, day of Week of Hope. There’s a lot to do and learn but by Monday evening, you will get into a routine, and it will be a great week. If at any point you are unsure about what to do next or how to do something or have any concerns at all, stop by the camp office for a Red Shirt and you will be helped. Welcome to camp and let’s see how God impacts your participants this week!