YL Camp in a Hotel?!

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A guest post by Sean Mann

As our older friends aged out of being able to go to traditional Young Life camps about 5 years ago, our area started our own Texas Capernaum camp.  So far we have done 2 trips to San Antonio, 2 trips in the DFW area, and 1 trip to Austin.  These trips have been an excellent supplement to our Capernaum weeks of camp, as they are less costly and closer to home for parents that are nervous about putting their kid on an airplane. 

Our trips have typically been a long weekend from Friday at lunch until Monday evening.  We stay at a hotel, which our Capernaum friends get really excited about, and have a ratio of 1 leader to every 3 campers in the room.  I would highly recommend Staybridge Suites, or something similar, if there is one in your area because they have rooms with two beds and a pull out couch, as well as the option for rollaway beds.  We cater our meals, and if you are staying within your own area this is a great opportunity to invite churches, your committee or parents to come together to feed your leaders and campers. 

We do club at the hotel in the conference room and use local staff to be our program team and speaker.  Using staff from your region to do program and speak at this mini-camp has been an incredible tool for Capernaum to grow within our region because more staff are being exposed to the beauty of what we do.   In addition to putting on a club everyday we do a half-day trip to an amusement park, water park, interactive museum, bowling alley, etc.  I recommend doing club in the mornings and activities in the afternoon.  Another great experience we have had has been taking all of our friends to a church service as one big group on Sunday morning.  If you choose to do this, call the church ahead of time to give them a warning that you will be showing up, the churches we have attended have gone above and beyond to accommodate and welcome us. 



Lastly, I would recommend not filling up every minute of everyday that you have this alternative camp trip.  That was a trap I fell into at first, but it’s during the “downtime” that our leaders and their friends have the opportunity to have conversations that are about Jesus and real things going on in their lives.  Whether it was swimming in the pool, getting wrinkled in the hot tub, or shooting baskets on the basketball goal, many great spiritual conversations and “real talk” have occurred when we left room for the Holy Spirit to do His work. 

Sean has been on staff with Capernaum Young Life in Dallas since 2006. He is married to Tristyn, who is tangible evidence that God really cares for him, and has a little girl, Lucy, and a little boy, Rhoades.  He is motivated by his little brother Brendan, who was born with Moebius Syndrome, and is the biggest LSU fan in the universe. Geaux Tigers! 

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