Important Updates – WinShape Camps

Every year we provide an opportunity for our Summer Staff from the previous summer to get together and relive the memories they share from the summer. For those of you reading who have never worked camp, you have to understand there is a bond created that’s almost unexplainable.

You can be separated for years-on-end and share memories like they happened yesterday. It’s resembles a family reunion minus all the cheek pinches and dating inquiries (okay, maybe just as many dating inquires).

We’ve held this reunion in several different locations throughout the years. For the last several years, we’ve held reunion at Stone Mountain Park just east of Atlanta. This year, the Staff Development team decided to switch things up and take everyone to Six Flags Over Georgia on October 18th! It was probably one of the most beautiful days in Atlanta so far this year. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the temperature was in the 70s. We set up just outside of the park around noon and greeted the Summer Staff who drove in from all around the southeast. Between 12 and 1 we had close to 100 Summer Staff check in and get their tickets to Six Flags. Despite all of the fun to be had just on the other side of the front gate, our Summer Staff lingered just on the outskirts to welcome their friends as they came in. The area immediately surrounding the pop-up tent that housed the tickets resembled an airport terminal around the holidays. Everywhere where you turned, there was someone new to hug. Whether you worked WinShape Camps for Boys, Girls or Communities, there was constantly someone walking up you recognized. Summer Staff headed into a crowded Six Flags to take in all the thrills, lines and sweet treats the park had to offer. Some Summer Staff headed straight for rides like Goliath, known for it’s high elevations. Other groups decided to start a little simpler with the carousel or the sky buckets. At 6PM we gathered under one of the pavilions located just off the beaten path where we were served BBQ, Chicken Fingers, and all the right trimmings. More hugs to be had under that pavilion as groups that arrived at different times made their way into the same area.

Some of our Full-Time staff made their way in with babies and children in tow. As the sunset over the park and we ate together, people connected over what happened at camp and what occurred since the ending of the summer. As we wrapped up dinner, groups regathered to go enjoy the thrills that come along with Six Flags around Halloween. Probably one of the most magical parts of the evening was the moment we were all leaving the pavilion. As you walked out, you were walking around a lake. As the beautiful fall sun began to set, it provided the perfect picture opportunity for our Summer Staff. Next to the lake sat the Ninja roller coaster which beautifully reflected in the lake below and provided a picturesque backdrop. People gathered, cameras flashed and final hugs were given. Groups went their separate ways to go spend the rest of their available time in the park.

Staff Reunion’s are always a special time. Whether they are coordinated by our full-time staff or occur by happenstance, they become highlights in someones year. If I had to guess, this one was extra special. Coming off a summer where we spent so much time talking about true community created an even more incredible bond.

Thank you to everyone who came out and was a part of this incredible day! We look forward to the day when we are all together again!

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If you’ve been to camp, you know that camp is the best place on earth. You’re counting down the days to your very own summer of a lifetime, because you have no doubt that it will be the best week or weeks of your year.

But if you haven’t been to camp, you might not know just how awesome camp is. Isn’t that just so sad? We can’t have that! We want everyone to know how great camp is!

We think everyone should get a chance to taste the summer of a lifetime. So, this week, the WinShape Camps Road Crew hit the road on a 12-week adventure to bring a taste of camp to communities all over the southeast. With a trailer full of fun, and 4 enthusiastic WinShape staffers, they will stop at a number of day camp locations and local Chick-fil-As to promote registration for day and overnight camps.

The team will host over 50 events that give families everywhere a “taste of camp!” We’re working with host churches and Chick-fil-A operators to put on events at Chick-fil-A Spirit Nights, mini-camps at churches and schools, and much more! We’re excited for you to meet our team!

Katie Staples Savannah, GA 3rd year summer staffer WinShape Camps for Communities – Office Director

Lizzie Charlton Los Angeles, CA 5th year summer staffer WinShape Camps for Communities – Volunteer Director

Jack Wardle Martinsville, VA 4th year summer staffer WinShape Camps for Boys – Skills Aid

Byron Wrenn Atlanta, GA 2nd year summer staffer WinShape Camps for Communities – Alpine Village Leader

The WinShape Camps Road Crew are excited to share their experiences with you! Follow them on Instagram and Twitter @wscroadcrew to follow their journey!

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This is a very special week in the WinShape Nation. On Sunday, we opened registration for WinShape Camps for Communities.

With camp locations in 84 cities, we anticipate thousands of campers registering for the BEST WEEK EVER. This week is so exciting that it has a special name. We call this week National Kickoff Week, and we want to share it with you! Maybe you’ve never been to WinShape Camps. Maybe, you’ve only attended our overnight camp experiences. If that’s the case, check out this awesome video and get pumped for the best week ever. Our day camp locations are celebrating this week with all kinds of promotions and fun events. You can check out our website for a list of locations and dates to see if there is a day camp location near you. Once you find your camp, check out their location-specific Facebook page for all the information about camp in your community! We are so excited about this week that we are giving away awesome prizes for every 500th camper to register for day camp during Kickoff Week from March 1st – 8th. We already have 6000 campers registered!

We also have an awesome podcast from WinShape Camps for Communities Director, Gabe Norris! Our day camp experience is open to boys and girls in completed 1st-6th grade, and with 21 different skills to choose from, WinShape Camps is tons of fun for EVERYONE! So, get read for a fun-filled week, and register now!

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This is our very first summer at Truett-McConnell College, and camp is just around the corner! Our boys one-week overnight experience is sure to be a blast, and the Lord has blessed us with beautiful facilities to host the summer of a lifetime!

This new experience is available for boys who have completed grades 1-5, and we are already almost completely full! Here’s a little bit about what camp looks like: Campers and counselors will be split up into three Squads: Blaze Squad, Hydro Squad, and Quake Squad.The very first night, campers of all ages will participate in a special Induction Ceremony where they will gain membership and learn the secrets of their Squad. Once they are inducted, they will proudly remain a loyal member of their Squad every year they return to camp.

Check out these beautiful photos of our new camp location!

Our one-week overnight camp for boys will be located on this beautiful campus of Truett-McConnell College!

Introducing “The Great Hall!” All Track rooms, and camp offices, as well as the Nurses’ Nook, and the Staff Lounge will be located in this magnificent building!

Above you’ll see “The Market.” This is where campers will go for all of their meals throughout the week.

This location is called “The Armory.” This is a chapel on campus where campers will go for Hydrate, our morning worship service, and be prepared daily to put on the armor of God.

Check out “The Arena!” Campers will come to this gym for the Sports Track and for Squad Activities during the week.

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Hello from the open road! We are Lizzie, Katie, Jack and Byron, and we have the pleasure of serving as this year’s Marketing Road Crew.

We’ve been spending the Spring traveling around the southeast telling thousands of parents and potential campers about WinShape Camps and the opportunity to take part in the Summer Of A Lifetime.

Our mission as the Road Crew has been to “create an environment that connects the passion of WinShape Camps with the hard work of hosts, encourages churches, families, volunteers and campers through intentional moments, and engages a community to build Kingdom relationships.” With this mission in mind we’ve been able to partner with Chick-fil-A and communities to do ministry together, and we’ve seen God work in some very memorable ways!

We’ve travelled to thirteen states and 45 communities to promote both overnight and day camps. The power of prayer was evident at our event in Lugoff, SC where our host’s prayer was to surpass one hundred campers during Kickoff Week. We were blessed with great weather and a great group of families at our event at the local elementary school. We had 96 campers register on site, which helped to complete the sign-up goal!

Time at our Road Crew events has been filled with fun inflatables, crafts and games as well as many intentional conversations with parents, campers, and families. We’ve heard campers say things like: “Today was awesome! I can’t wait for camp!” “This was the best day ever!” and “I wish it could be WinShape everyday.” We’ve talked with grandparents who have come to register their grandchildren up for camp because they know the positive influence that camp provides. We’ve met parents who had never heard of WinShape before look around and be amazed at the atmosphere and want to sign their children up on the spot. We’ve also been able to share about this summer’s camp theme, HOPE. Being able to connect with parents and campers around HOPE has been amazing, and the stories that come out of each community are inspiring.

Since our team has only previously served as summer staffers, Road Crew has given us a behind the scenes look into all the planning, praying, and preparation that goes into making WinShape the BEST WEEK(S) EVER. We are so thankful for our Hosts for their hard work that they put in all year long to promote camp, recruit volunteers, and build relationships as they share the mission of WinShape with local businesses, schools, and other churches. These hosts go above and beyond what anyone could imagine, and we are grateful to call them a part of the WinShape family!

We’ve got three weeks left on the road before we head to Staff Training, and it’s sure to be memorable! We hope to see you when we visit your community!

– The Road Crew

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Today is an extra special day for our team. For the first time in WinShape Camps history, we are pre-releasing our summer theme song on iTunes. To say we are excited would be a major understatement.

My favorite part about the songs we write is that they do not start out with a cool beat or a catchy tune. Our theme songs always begin as a truth that we want to communicate through song. The picture often looks like two people, one guitar, and multiple pages of countless words and phrases. It is simple and sweet.

The end goal of an upbeat/fun song is in sight- but for a short period of time the song is stripped down to the message we feel the Lord wants to speak through us this summer. It is a special process that I am thankful to be a part of.

We hope that Top of the World makes you want to sing at the top of your lungs & dance like no one is watching. We also kind of hope that it gets stuck in your head on repeat all day. But most importantly, we hope Top of the World reminds you of the truth that, through hope in Jesus, we can see an eternal perspective regardless of the circumstances we face.

Check out Top of the World on iTunes today!

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“Mickey kisses, prayer, new friends, HOPE, worship, chats about bacon with Rapunzel and more Disney adventures with top-notch leaders makes for one fun (and tiring) Leadership Weekend” – Lauren Smith, WinShape Camps for Girls at Young Harris

Chances are there aren’t many of you reading this who’s weekend could be summed up with a quote quite like that. It’s safe to say the WinShape Camps Summer Staff Leadership had an extremely full weekend.

Every year, we bring all of our Summer Staff who serve in leadership roles to an event we call Leadership Weekend. These positions make up about 1/5th of our entire group of top-notch college-aged students who serve with us during the summer.

This year’s Leadership Weekend is definitely one to be remembered for a long time. We brought everyone down to the great city of Orlando to stay at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.

Throughout the weekend, our Summer Staff participated in several different training sessions. We opened Thursday with what we call opening show where we played a few games, introduced this years theme song (availabile on iTunes) and announced that everyone would be visiting the Magic Kingdom on Saturday.

Friday night finished off with a great worship session led by our friends from Southeastern University and an introduction to our HOPE theme by Ken Thomas and Gabe Norris. We learned about times in Gabe and KT’s lives where they lost hope and how they were able to find it again.

I think the message can be summed up with this quote from KT–”When the focus is on the eternal, we can handle the difficulties of the temporary.”

We spent the next day going through rotations of training related to our specific camps, specific positions and team building. We ended Friday with worship where Mark Lamb and Daniel Black worked through the troubles we may face and promises God gives us to overcome those troubles. We were all given a card to write our troubles on and we stamped the word HOPE over the troubles as of way of remembering to see our troubles through the lens of HOPE.

Saturday we woke up and spent more time in training. We capped of the session part of our day with our special guest speaker David Salyers who has been part of marketing with Chick-fil-A for over 30 years. His team is responsible for creating some of the remarkable ideas that set Chick-fil-A apart such as Daddy Daughter Date Nights.

David hit on our heartstrings and increased our leadership IQ with lessons he’s learned from leading his marketing team. David said we should “believe the best IN each other. Want the best FOR each other. Expect the best FROM each other.”

Once we finished our session with David, we hopped on the Monorail and spent the rest of the day in the Magic Kingdom. Some of us were even bold enough to take advantage of Disney’s Magic Hours. For those of you unfamiliar, Magic Hours are when the parks stay open until 2AM. After fireworks, many of our staff went and hit as many rides as they could with the park empty in comparison to most of the day.

We finished our time out on Sunday with worship hearing from Kelly Chadwick and Trudy Cathy White. Trudy challenged us to give hope away, especially in the time we have left between now and camp. We were each give a Chick-fil-A cookie to share with someone we ran into throughout our traveling to share hope with them. Check out #WSCHopeGivesHope on Instagram as some of our Summer Staff share their stories.

Some of you may be wondering ‘why does WinShape Camps put this much effort and this many resources into such a big weekend?’ We think this is a great question, and it’s one we’ve asked ourselves many times over. There are reasons we’ve landed on why Leadership Weekend is so instrumental to a successful summer. These reasons include teaching them excellence through experience (Disney), spending time getting familiar with those you’re working closest with, and creating vision casters for the rest of our Summer Staff.

More than any of those reasons, we believe what we do during the summer is important. The time we spend with campers is an incredible blessing. We understand we’ve been given the undeniable burden of influence by the parents who trust us with their campers. We don’t take this lightly. We believe every resource we pour into our Summer Staff is a resource well spent because they’re the ones who will be influencing our campers this summer.

Check out Leadership Weekend through the eyes of our Summer Staff by checking out #WSCLW15 on Twitter and Instagram.

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It’s a gift to remember. – Our Senior Director Ken Thomas started off Evaluation Week 2015 with a simple yet meaningful sentence. This statement has really taken shape over these past few days as we’ve carefully looked back before we looked forward. We’ve made sure that we haven’t moved too quickly ahead into Summer 2016, into big dreams for the future, and into new milestones before we take time to remember and celebrate everything God has just done. We’ve seen God at work this summer. We’ve seen campers, families and staff rally around the idea of HOPE. Hope Sees. Hope sees God’s promises even in our troubles. And that’s something we have to be very thankful for from Summer 2015.

Evaluation Week is our annual retreat where we get together as a full-time team to share what God did this past summer at all of our camps, and use what He has taught us to craft the ultimate camp experience. As we look forward, we are going to continue in this journey and dive down deep into what it looks like to FOLLOW Jesus in everything we do. We believe that our past themes of HEART and HOPE have laid an amazing foundation, and we are excited to see how the planning and preparation from this week help to kickstart what’s to surely be another Summer of a Lifetime!

And this group has been hard at work. We’ve been in sessions throughout each day where we’ve gotten to review 2015 data and numbers, celebrate over 1,800 salvations, and pinpoint areas of camp that can be made even more awesome next summer. We’ve begun analyzing skills, fine-tuning our staff recruitment process, selecting new merchandise and developing theme content. Our Day Camps and Overnight Camps, Staff Development and Theme Teams, and our Marketing and Camp Store Teams have been working hard to brainstorm and dream up what we like to call some Big Hairy Audacious Goals for 2016, and we can’t wait for you to see them.

But don’t think our brains have just been focusing on spreadsheets and flowcharts, on strategies and budgets. Oh no, we’ve definitely been having the best week ever! Eval Week is a very special week in the fact that it is one of the few times each year where every member of our leadership teams is able to be together, and therefore we make team building one of our top priorities of the week. We’ve shared meals together, done staff worship and morning devos, and gotten to catch up about our respective summers. As for fun, we started off Monday night with a surprise trip to a local glass studio where we all got to blow glass and make our very own Christmas ornaments, and tonight we’ve looking forward to our annual game of Speed Uno.

We still have two more days together and we can’t wait to continue on our way to bring these great ideas to fruition. Overall we are excited about leaning into our new them, and we know it’s going to take shape in our skills, cabin devos, Wake Ups and so much more. Take it from us, next summer is one you don’t want to miss! Stay updated as the ideas from Eval Week are discussed on our WinShape Camps Podcast coming soon!

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The most valuable asset that WinShape Camps has possessed and will ever possess is the incredible summer staff that serve with us. We realize their importance and we’re constantly looking for ways to pour back into them. In fact, our staff are what parents frequently list as their top reason for bringing their campers to WinShape Camps. This year we introduced our summer staff alumni program called The Formers. The name is two fold. Our alumni are ‘former’ summer staff, but they are also a trail blazing collection of influencers who helped ‘form’ what WinShape Camps is today. We are forever indebted to them for the hard work and relational equity they brought while serving with us.

For the past several years, we’ve invited our summer staff from the previous summer to take part in a Summer Staff Reunion to reunite with friends from around the country. This year we decided to open the doors to all of WinShape Camps Formers even if they served back in 1985! We had over 400 guests register to attend our reunion that took place on The Rock Ranch in middle Georgia on October 17th. We told Formers from years past to bring their spouses and kids. It was fall fun for the whole family.

Our guests began trickling in just before noon where they were able to spend the afternoon enjoying the many different activities across the ranch. Throughout the afternoon we hosted camp meet ups where anyone who worked boys camp, girls camp, day camps, or Brazil camp could come to a concentrated area and see the people they worked the closes with. At these meet ups we saw dance offs, tribe cheers, and received updates about where each camp was headed in the future.

At 5:00 PM everyone came to Truett’s Barn at The Rock Ranch for dinner. All day long, we had kept the doors to the barn closed only to reveal a beautifully decorated room filled with tables and chairs for the huge turnout. As the doors opened and dinner was served, music began to pour out of the doors from the live bluegrass band that entertained us over our meal. Friends caught up for the first time in years as their children colored in their WinShape Camps coloring books. As people began to finish their dinner, our hosts for the evening came on stage to make sure everyone knew this reunion was more than a normal reunion. We wanted to bring as many generations of Formers together because WinShape Camps was celebrating a huge milestone this year. Since WinShape Camps was founded in 1985, it meant this last summer was our 30th birthday as a camp! We all joined in unison singing the infamous birthday rap as we lit the candles on a beautiful cake celebrating our birthday. The band continued playing as we honored this milestone while eating cake.

Shortly after cake was served to everyone, we had a HUGE surprise for everyone in the room. There was so much history that we had to take advantage of, and we did. Janie Bird, the first ever director of our girls camp, was known for the dances she led on Saturday nights for years at WinShape Camps on Mt. Berry’s campus. So in honor of 30 years of WinShape Camps, we invited Janie Bird to lead us in the Hamster Dance and the ever popular ‘Hands Up’. The whole room got a workout as they relived one of the greatest memories from the last 30 years. Shortly after Janie Bird finished, Ken Thomas who serves as our Senior Director of WinShape Camps came up to share a message with us. He talked about how important it is to look at the history of our organization as we continue to look forward. He reminded us of the days that Truett used to visit camp. Each year Truett would bring with him a message and a memento that resonated with so many. The message was that in all things, we should remember that we are third. God first, other second, I am Third. When he would share with the campers and summer staff, he would passed out a piece of cardstock that said “I am third” so that they would remember to live out that message long after they left camp. To honor the legacy of Truett and to remember this message, we had magnets made for everyone to take home and put somewhere to forever remind them of that message.

After KT finished, we spent some time worshiping with our girls camp intern Leslie. It was beautiful to see a whole room united in singing songs praising God for what He’s done, and for what He will do. Our hosts came up and gave away a few raffle prizes including a brand new iPad air. We began to wrap up when what was probably the most memorable moment of the night happened. The hosts invited Rick Johnson, the first ever director of WinShape Camps for Boys, up to end our night with our favorite cheer, the Bobo! The whole room stood up as Rick encouraged us to give him all we got as him and Speedy led us in the Bobo. We dismissed our Formers who headed back outside only to see that The Rock Ranch was ending the day with a Hot Air Balloon light up! The entire ranch was filled with colorful bright balloons to cap off what was an incredible day together.

We were honored to have so many Formers and families there with us for an incredible day. If you’re reading this and you served with WinShape Camps but haven’t signed up to be a former, you can do so here (WinShapeCamps.org/TheFormers). Thanks to all of our full-time team and the incredible people at The Rock Ranch who helped us pull this off. Yours Truly, The Staff Development Team

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The following is a post written by Aaron Maraj. Aaron has served for three summers at WinShape Camps for Boys at Mt. Berry and is a native of Virginia. He is currently serving with the WinShape Camps Road Crew.

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A SHORT WHILE AGO, IN A GALAXY NOT SO FAR AWAY…

A few weeks ago, hundreds of people gathered together for the WinShape Camps for Communities Host Rally!

These “hosts” traveled from all over the country to learn about how to be a successful host for when WinShape Camps for Communities comes to town this summer.

Dani, as WinShape Camps for Communities director, helps lead worship.

As someone who has only worked at the overnight camp, I was honestly not even aware this event existed. Road Crew was asked to volunteer and help out for the Host Rally, and with no prior knowledge of WinShape Camps for Communities, I had no idea of what to expect stepping into an event like this.

Months and months of planning, preparation, and prayer had gone into this four-day event and after everything was said and done… there was truly nothing like it.

It was so humbling to see God move as we used the Host Rally to put on what felt like “camp for the grown-ups.”

Experiencing the world of WSC for Communities for the first time was a blast! As I looked at camp in a new light, I fell in love with it all over again.

One of the most rewarding things about working Host Rally was watching these hosts light up with excitement as they learned to love camp as much as I do. Feelings of nervousness were replaced with confidence. Anxiousness was replaced with hope.

I saw new friends become part of the ever-growing WinShape Camps family.

WinShape pulled out all the stops and brought in speakers like Alex Kendrick (Film Director of War Room, Fireproof, etc.) Jeff Foxworthy, and Dr. Robert Smith Jr. We also had the great honor of having Trudy, Dan, AND Bubba Cathy at the same event.

Bubba Cathy introduced speaker Alex Kindrick by inviting him to ‘crowd surf.’

There were lip sync battles, worship sessions, and even the announcement of the BRAND NEW village.

Through volunteering at the event, we had the privilege of meeting fantastic church staff and Chick-fil-A team members from around the country. I got to hear some amazing stories about what WinShape Camps was doing in the lives of campers and their families.

Dr. Robert Smith Jr. shares with us during worship.

Hosts frequently tell WinShape Camps that Host Rally is one of the few times they get to be poured into as church staff without having to plan something themselves. I got to see the results of this first hand. We did a lot of behind the scenes work while we were there to serve the hosts.

One of those tasks was driving shuttles.

As a shuttle driver, I was able to build some great relationships with hosts as I drove them to and from hotels. The night after Dr. Robert Smith Jr spoke, I felt God move in an incredible way. I honestly couldn’t help talking about what God was doing. I ended up having a conversation about the message with a host I was dropping off while running shuttles. She too had been incredibly impacted by the talk. After sharing thoughts, we had a God-centered moment where we were able to encourage one another and pray for each other.

I love moments like those.

I love those God moments.

And what’s crazy to think about is that those kinds of moments are what camp is all about. That week of Host Rally was a preparation for those God-centered moments to happen in 95 communities across the country.

God is using WinShape Camps to impact campers, parents, and communities with God moments. As hosts left to return back home, I knew that there are hundreds of God moments just waiting to happen this summer.

Broken people will be restored. Lives will be changed. And we will all be grown and stretched by God as we learn what it means to really Follow Him.

-AM

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For those of you who haven’t heard, we are opening a brand new camp this summer called WinShape Camps for Girls at Cohutta Springs.

This camping experience will be a one-week opportunity for girls who have completed grades 9-12 to experience authentic community, leadership development and spiritual formation in a beautiful, lakefront setting. The launch of this camp is one of our most exciting new adventures yet; if you are not already signed up, we have to ask the question, “what are you waiting for?!

Our team has spent the better part of the last fourteen months dreaming, designing and planning everything that this camping program will entail. It is always fun for us to meet the challenge of creating something brand new. When the creative minds on our team get together, we are often asking the question, “how can we do this differently than we have done it before?” Asking ourselves this question has been the launching pad for so many of the creative elements you experience at our different camp locations today.

The planning process for WinShape Camps for Girls at Cohutta Springs was no different. In fact, designing our focused worship element at Cohutta Springs was especially no different.

So today I am going to let you in on a little big secret. Are you ready?!? For the first time in WinShape Camps history, we are hosting Guest Speakers for each full week of camp. These wonderful ladies will be joining us for the entire week and will be bringing the message at our evening worship gatherings. How incredible is that?! We believe these worship moments will be extremely impactful for us all as we learn from women who specialize in teaching girls like us. We are confident that the Lord is going to use these women to encourage us to go deeper, learn more and challenge ourselves further.

So, without further ado, I would like to introduce you to our Guest Speakers for Summer 2016. Drum roll please . . .

Weeks 1 & 4: Annie Downs

Annie F. Downs is an author, blogger, and speaker based in Nashville, Tennessee. Flawed but funny, she uses her writing to highlight the everyday goodness of a real and present God. An author of three books- Let’s All Be Brave, Perfectly Unique, and Speak Love, Annie also loves traveling around the country speaking to young women, college students, and adults. Read more at anniefdowns.com and follow her on Twitter @anniefdowns.

Week 2: Jo Saxton

Born to Nigerian parents and raised in London, Jo Saxton has spread her message for the past twenty years across the UK and North America. Jo serves with a ministry called 3DM and she and her husband, Chris, have recently planted Mission Point Church, in the Minneapolis area. In addition to speaking around the world, Jo has written several books, such as More than Enchanting: Breaking Through Barriers to Influence Your World, High Heels and Holiness: The Smart Girl’s Guide to Living Life Well, Real God, Real Life. Jo’s message encourages people to engage in missional living and discipleship. Her message specifically equips women for leadership and influence and inspires all believers to engage the world in the same way God does—by going out rather than just reaching out. Jo loves running, good music, reading, and laughing loudly with family and friends over a great meal. Jo and Chris have two amazing daughters. Follow her on Twitter at @josaxton.

Week 3: Trudy Cathy White

Trudy Cathy White is the daughter of the late Jeannette and Truett Cathy, founder and chairman emeritus of Chick-fil-A, Inc. In 1985, the Cathys also founded WinShape Camps! Trudy has served as the Director of WinShape Camps for Girls since 2003, but her heart for serving, teaching, and leading young people extends well beyond that role. After twenty years of international missions, Trudy and her husband, John, co-founded Lifeshape which resources Impact 360 Institute and Lifeshape International. Trudy’s role as a wife, mother of four & grandmother of twelve fuels her passion to maximize her opportunity of influence through her commitment to obey God’s leadership, nurture family relationships, and promote godly character in the next generation. twhite@winshape.org

Week 3: Kelly Chadwick

Kelly never expected to call Atlanta, GA home, but after living in 9 states and 32 countries she is putting down roots right here in the south. With a background in youth ministry and international missions, she has travelled the world sharing the gospel and experiencing plenty of adventure along the way. She has a long history of speaking truth to women of all ages and loves seeing them come alive as they learn to hear the voice of God and believe what he says about them. She is a lover of all things handmade and DIY and is currently applying all of her HGTV education to her own home in Atlanta. Her one vice is Diet Coke, but she maintains she can quit anytime she wants.

What are you waiting for?!

Register Today!

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Kick-off week is one of the most exciting weeks for the WinShape Camps Nation as we prepare for another summer!

Throughout the country, many churches will see the majority of the campers that will attend in their community register during this week. Some communities are even offering special discounts during kick-off week! (If you don’t like your community’s WinShape Camps Facebook page, you’re going to want to do that!)

We thought we’d get in on the excitement. We have even decided to start the party early! From March 2nd to March 13th, we are going to be giving away prizes for every 500th camper registered all the way up to 10,000 campers. This will include campers in the Galaxy village who pre-register in our registration system.

Prizes Include:

Set (2) of our ‘Summer of a Lifetime’ mugs (3)
WinShape Camps Nalgene (3)
WinShape Camps North Face Backpack (4)
WinShape Camps hoodie/t-shirt combo (4)
Set (2) of WinShape Camps tumblers (3)
Brand New Eno DoubleNest Hammock (3)

WinShape Camps for Communities registration opens for everyone when the clock hits midnight (EST) on Sunday, March 6th! If you’re registering a 7th-9th grader, a special pre-registration opens March 2nd from 7-9pm EST. (For more info on the new village, listen to this podcast.)

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The following post was written by guest blogger Kelly Johnson. Kelly and a team of our Summer Staff are spending their spring break putting on camp in Brazil as a part of our International Project!(IP)

Boa Tarde from sunny Brazil!

I am writing this from the comfort of a couch in the living room of Agua Viva: our absolutely beautiful home for our week here in Brazil. The last few days have been a whirlwind (I feel like I skipped a day of my life when we flew here), but I wanted to give you an update as to what we have been up to!

Thursday night we fought the Atlanta traffic and made it to the beginning of Stateside Training at John and Trudy Cathy White’s beautiful home. Our time began with some fun games and introductions as our team began to bond. We wrapped up our night spending time praying: for our team, for the community of Jardim ABC where we will be doing camp, and for the country of Brazil. As we prepared our hearts for leaving the U.S., it was a beautiful reminder of the God we serve and of the power of the Gospel.

We woke up Friday morning to pancakes, bacon, and coffee (thanks to Staff Development!) and began to learn about camp in Brazil. For those of us on the team who have only worked at the overnight camps, we are getting a real taste of what it looks like to work with WSC for Communities. Because Brazilian children only go to school for half a day in the morning or afternoon, we will run camp twice per day. We also spent time learning about airport procedures and what to expect when we go through customs at the airport (I hate to admit that I was among 4 of us who were “detained” by Stephen and Jonny during our mock customs visit. Oops.) We then freshened up, packed up, graduated from training, and took off for the airport!

Our first flight was an 8.5 hour trek from Atlanta to Sao Paulo. Some of our team took advantage of the endless movie options, while others of us tried to sleep (thank goodness for the earplugs and eye masks from Delta!). We all made it through Visa customs with no problems and headed to baggage customs. We had a few close calls with the customs officers being confused about some of our items (you’ll have to ask David Caro about the mummy finger toys that the officer played with.) Once we made it through customs, we checked in for our next flight and took a bus to board our plane. Our flight was only just over an hour, but the airline changed our plane to a bigger plane than we needed, so many of us took up an entire row and took a much needed nap before landing safely in sunny and warm Brasilia.

Since arriving in Brasilia, we have hit the ground running with Onsite Training here at Agua Viva. Camp in Brazil would not be possible without our church volunteers who give so generously of their time to come and work camp. This entire weekend was essentially staff training, packed into two days. We spent time getting to know our volunteers and introducing them to WinShape. We closed our night in Worship and that has quickly become my favorite thing that we do here. Accompanied by only a guitar and our voices, we collectively raised our voices, in English and Portuguese, to the God that makes all of this possible.

After running around all day on little sleep, it was a much needed pause and reminder of the real reason why we are all here together. Today, our last day of Onsite Training,has been packed full of fun and learning! We have spent most of our day running through a mock day of camp, learning games, practicing crafts, and learning the motions to all of the songs we’ll be singing! With all of the time we have been spending in our specific roles, it has also been a good opportunity to get to know our volunteers better. This year, I am teaching Group Games (or, Jogos de Grupo) with Lucas and Gabriel. Through a combination of our broken Portuguese and English, we were able to talk about how excited we were to play games, but also to teach the campers about Jesus. Later in the afternoon, we put on a WinShape graduation ceremony and celebrated the end of OnSite training with our volunteers!

As I write this, some members of our team are pulling last minute items together for crafts, some are taking advantage of the outdoor hammocks to catch a nap, and others are building friendships with our new Brazilian friends. We have especially been enjoying the Brazilian meals that we’ve had, which have included many glasses of Guarana, many many many handfuls of Pao de queijo, and Brazilian coffee.

To close, I wanted to say thank you to all of you who have supported us and have been praying for us! We are thankful for the safe travels, successful and energy-packed onsite training, and our dedicated volunteers. You can continue to pray for the community of Jardim ABC where we will begin camp tomorrow; for open hearts in the campers to hear the message of Hope (Esperanca.) We believe in the power of Jesus and we would love for you to join us in praying for the kids who attend camp this week.

Vai com Deus, Kelly Johnson

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The following post was written by guest blogger Lizzie Charlton. Lizzie and a team of our Summer Staff are spending their spring break putting on camp in Brazil as a part of our International Project!(IP)

It’s Friday morning and after another great breakfast of grilled Nutella paninis and cinnamon sprinkled bananas, Team 1 is working to wrap up an incredible four days of camp with the kids of Jardim ABC. With soggy shoes from the rainy afternoons, bodies sore and sandy from long, loud nights of volleyball, and hearts full of the love our Father has for all of creation, we pack our pool noodles, nail polish, and color group flags neatly in preparation for the team to come.

It’s crazy to think that just four days ago we pulled into the depths of Jardim and we opened the gates of the school that would be our haven of Hope for the days to come. Our first day not only set the stage for our theme, but introduced us to the precious children the Lord had sent to hear about His promises. As the volunteers and summer staff worked seamlessly together to hang banners, flags, and the promises we would explore throughout the week, the Lord seemed to whisper His own promises to us, that He was in this place and that He had started a work that we were going to have the pleasure of joining. Both the morning group and afternoon group started with timid looks and lots of “que/what” at the staff’s broken Portuguese, but by the end their grin’s could not reach farther on their faces. The heavy rain didn’t stop the campers from relishing every moment: singing from the bottom of their heart, decorating crosses in Art, or even doing the man cheer as they shot rockets off. That trouble was silly compared to the promise the Lord had given that He was with us.

Tuesday morning sent us to camp tired, yet expectant of the beautiful moments to come. As Bruna, our worship speaker, presented the idea of fear, we all quickly realized the reality of the community we were in. As conversations started between Volunteers and Campers about their fears, snakes and spiders turned to talks of jail and being robbed, or worse. It was a moment of complete humility for all of us, not only at the amazing blessing we have been given with our families and homes back in the US, but also in the depth of the Father’s desire to truly help us. Campers made sand art and played water dodge ball, even though we were already soaked from another rainstorm, and as we raised our arms to show off our clay dusted muscles and say that, “Hope sees that God helps,” we were reminded of the ever present overwhelming strength and compassion God has for us.

When we arrived Wednesday, campers were already lined up an hour before camp started. They were anxious to start the day, hoping to chant “Oh Lay Lay” or roll their arms to the “Top of the World.” As they painted their faces with stripes of blue, yellow, or green and hugged our waists with all the strength they could, it was as if to say, “We are ready to hear this good news.” As we walked through John 3:16 throwing our hands up in the air in celebration declaring the gift of eternal life with our Father, the joy was tangible. The energy through out the day was evident as the campers in Azul, Amarello, and Verde talked with volunteers from the church about what this gift meant. As we met and heard about many hopeless situations, campers living alone or without parents, campers too poor to stay clean or healthy, communities too scared to walk at night, the tender whisper of the Father was that not only did He send His Son to save us, but He desires to save each one of us from the ugliness of sin and the desperate darkness of a life separate from Him. As we waved goodbye to our new friends and family, we knew the Lord was doing a great work in this city.

After another late night of volleyball, which I have to say we all are excellent at, the last day of camp met us with a mixture of excitement for an amazing day, and a deep sadness for the reality of the coming goodbyes. But this didn’t stop the campers. They laughed as they ran around collecting “treasures” during Rec and as they painted Avel, our media specialist’s nails-you’ll have to ask him about his experience at the salon getting the polish off. They learned about the promise that God has made us on purpose and WITH a purpose, and listened as Volunteers shared their struggle with believing this truth. They loved on us by giving us gifts and kind broken English words like, “Me love shooo.” Every camper was so different and beautiful, some great at Art, some amazing athletes, and some amazing servants. Every Volunteer and Staffer used the gifts God had given them, and even though we all had points where we felt like we weren’t enough, the Lord sweetly reminded us through the truth of the day that He, “makes us.” That night we got to have a Family Fun Night at the church, and as parents walked in a bit hesitant and shy, they couldn’t have been more proud watching the video of the kids enjoying camp that week or dancing to every song they learned. As we used translators to tell their parents how much we loved their kids and how much God loves them, Jesus was right there beside us, drinking guarana and eating pizza bread with us.

Overall, it’s funny how you always think that you have so much to share with someone else, but in turn they teach you more than you might be ready to handle. The bus rides back to Agua Viva were full of conversations that unpacked what the Lord was teaching us: His power in us, the universal message of the gospel, the promises we can believe in. As we head into the city to explore the sights, the looming feeling of breaking off these relationships we have built that might not be experienced again this side of heaven is so real. But one thing we know is that God’s promises are the same in English as they are in Portuguese, His love is felt anywhere on this globe, and His saving grace is found even in the darkest of places.

It really has been the best week ever. But more, we are excited that it doesn’t stop here.

See you soon, Brasilia, Lizzie Charlton

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For the last 6 months, 30 of our incredible staffers have been preparing for and looking forward to what could easily be referred to as the Spring Break of a Lifetime.

Since 2009, WinShape Camps has taken 2 teams full of all-star summer staffers to Brazil each spring break to put on camp in communities in and around Brasilia. Every single WinShape Camps International Project has been full of life-changing experiences, lifelong new friendships, and lots of really incredible food. This year was certainly no different as our 2 teams each spent 8 days in beautiful Brazil watching firsthand as the Lord transformed lives and showed His beauty and faithfulness in every moment.

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Before taking off to sunny Brazil, the teams spent about 24 hours in Atlanta training, preparing, and bonding as a group. At the end of this time, they graduated from Stateside Training, hopped on a van, and made their way to the airport. Just 2 flights later, they found themselves standing in warmer weather on a beautiful Saturday afternoon exhausted from travel but ready to hit the ground running!

Camp was not set to start until Monday, but there was plenty of preparation to be done. During Saturday and Sunday, we welcomed the volunteers from the church to Agua Viva, the beautiful farm where our teams have the privilege of staying, to get ready for the week ahead. Our goal for this time was to teach the volunteers how we do camp and what camp will look like. We teach them the WinShape Camps recipe, the theme we will be teaching, and all the important elements of a successful day of camp. We do this not only to prepare the church for the week ahead, but also because we want our church partners to feel equipped and trained so that after we leave Brazil, they can put on similar camps in their communities without our help. This year, we took camp to the communities of Jardim ABC and Luziânia. Both of these communities provided us with an excellent camp space, 10-15 really incredible church volunteers, and an unlimited supply of energy and excitement for camp!

Over the two weeks, we did 2 sessions of camp per day for 8 days reaching 300 total campers. 300 campers heard the message of Esperança – or Hope – that we have in Christ. 300 campers received love, joy, and attention that they may not be receiving elsewhere. 300 campers were engaged in conversations about their lives and what they think about Hope. 300 campers got their faces painted, their necks hugged, and sang and danced like nobody was watching. 300 campers learned new skills, made cool crafts, played fun games, and smiled and laughed until their faces hurt. It was a joy to watch and listen as lives were being transformed right in front of me!

On Thursday night, after our four days of camp had passed, we welcomed parents and members of the community into the church for a Family Fun Night. This was a time where we could sing songs for them and share the theme with them as well as feed them a meal and engage them in conversation. This time served as a transition and commissioning for the church as it signified that we were leaving and it was time for them to continue ministering to their community.

If you asked me what my favorite part of the whole experience was, it would be summed up in one word: People. The whole experience would not have been possible without the incredible people that worked together to make it happen. We had two fantastic teams of summer staffers who teamed up with an extraordinary group of Brazilian volunteers to make one giant dream team. I am so grateful to have spent these two weeks serving alongside such rockstars! From putting on camp with them to the endless hours of van rides, laughs, and volleyball games – it was an experience I’ll always remember with people I’ll never forget.

I could ramble on all day long about this experience and all the joy that came with it – but I’ll simply end by bragging about the Lord’s faithfulness through it all. He was faithful through the big details and the small ones. He was faithful in providing excellent church partners with hearts for Him. He was faithful in allowing so many lives to cross paths, even if just for a short time, to be able to experience this together. He was faithful in being active in Brazil long before we ever arrived and I know He will continue to show His faithfulness in Brazil long after we have gone. The experience was a beautiful one that could not have been possible without the Lord’s faithfulness.

Our theme verse was 2 Corinthians 4:18 which says “as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” In the midst of all the things going on around us, may we look to Him for our Hope, may we look to Him for our Joy, and may we look to Him as we give Glory and Praise for all that He did in Brazil in March of 2016!

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There’s a saying we have around camp on a Sunday or Monday morning when staff will ecstatically exclaim, “The campers are coming! The campers are coming!”

Last week, our year-round team had the privilege of proclaiming, “The staff are coming! The staff are coming!” for one of my team’s favorite events of the year—Leadership Weekend! Think of this event as the Spring Game for a college football team or Meet the Teacher Day before the start of a school year. The summer leadership staff we have prayerfully selected join us for the first time as we begin to develop and equip them for the roles they will hold this summer. Along with all the best things that happen at camp, we have the mentality of work hard, play hard! This year we hosted Leadership Weekend in Orlando, Fl at Rosen Shingle Creek.

Close to 18% of our 685 summer staff are in a leadership position and attended this training weekend. For the majority of the event, our year-round team trained our staff in the position they’ll be fulfilling while developing their abilities to lead their peers this summer. During Camp Specific Time, staff honed in their specific skill set through small group teaching. From Tribal Leaders and Camp Pastors to Office Team Leads and Production Directors, the wide variety of position training that happens at Leadership Weekend is the foundation for how these staff will ultimately lead campers and staff this summer. Operations teams were studying Camp Store software. Camp Pastors and Worship Speakers were learning through Preaching Labs. Program teams were experiencing how to lead fun, engaging activities. Almost everything that is seen at camp this summer can be tied back to a moment at Leadership Weekend when our year-round team teaches our summer leadership staff on how to execute aspects of camp!

In addition to the Position Specific and Camp Specific training our staff receive, we also hold a number of camp-wide trainings. In one of these sessions, we dived into a book our summer leadership staff actually received several months before they even arrived to Orlando. That’s right—we send them homework months in advance and ask them to be prepared to discuss with their leadership team. This year, our staff read In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen. On Saturday morning, several of our year-round staff led us through a debrief of this book and small group discussions. We encouraged our staff to be leaders who follow after Christ’s example as a leader. He was a praying leader, vulnerable leader, and trusting leader! Through small groups, our staff were able to discuss temptations they think they may encounter this summer and how they can combat these temptations with Christ’s life!

It’s never a WinShape Camps event without a memory-making moment! So on Saturday night, we loaded onto a few buses for a trip to Universal Orlando! Our summer leadership staff closed down the parks with their teams and ultimately made memories that will carry on throughout the summer. From flying high through Hogwarts to journeying through the Mummy, our staff were able to get to know their teammates and take a break from the firehose of information they had been receiving all weekend long.

On Sunday, we closed out the event with our final worship service. We had already begun diving into the summer’s theme earlier in the weekend. Yet, Sunday’s message was a true challenge for the staff we’ve entrusted to lead WinShape Camps this summer. Are you a leader worth following? We are all at an intersection—a crossroads—but will we choose to follow Jesus? Our summer leadership staff had a moment to reflect on what they need to stop doing and start doing in their lives to become leaders worth following by choosing to follow the perfect example—Jesus Christ! Leadership Weekend 2016 has come and gone, but for us, it’s the start of an amazing summer that’s just around the corner. We hope to you soon at WinShape Camps!

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Today marks the beginning of one of the most important things that WinShape Camps does all year long.

Not only is our Staff Training significant to executing the programming of camp, it’s also one of our favorite events of the year. Over the next week and a half, you’ll be seeing a lot of posts going out from our 2016 Staff Training. We thought we could take a second and help you understand exactly what we mean when we talk about Staff Training. Here’s the who, what, when, where and why of Staff Training.

WHO

Staff Training involves everyone that is working for WinShape Camps in the summer of 2016. Whether you work at WinShape Camps for Boys, Girls, or Communities, you attend Staff Training. Our entire full-time team leads the way as the work to train our summer staff on everything we’ve been developing since last summer. This year, we will have over 700 full-time and summer staff participating in staff training. Our summer staff come from close to 20 different states, and over 100 different colleges. Some of them fly in from California, while others drive up from Atlanta. Close to 50% of our summer staff served during a pervious summer.

WHAT

Staff Training is an extremely intentional and exciting event that develops our summer staff in a few different ways.:

WinShape Camps 101: We remind our returning summer staff, while teaching our new summer staff about what makes up the DNA of WinShape Camps. How did WinShape Camps begin? What is our mission? What is our organization structure? All of this is answered at Staff Training.
Skill/Track Development: Chances are the reason your kids want to go to camp is that it’s….well…fun. One of the highlights of their week is probably skills or tracks. (i.e. basketball, secret ops, painting, etc.) We’ve created a playbook for each skill and we train summer staff on how to lead them well.
Theme Content: Each year WinShape Camps chooses new biblical truths to teach campers. Our summer staff spend time deeply trying to grasp just what we are teaching campers, and how to help them understand. We help summer staff learn to apply our truths to their own lives during worship sessions so that they can help campers do the same.
Team Building: Most of these college students have never served on a team with the people they are working with this summer. We create times of intentional team building to help them get to know each other while having some fun,
Personal Development: We try to not make Staff Training solely about preparing for camp. We want to develop our summer staff in a way that impacts their life long after camp. We invite guest speakers in to talk about anything from finances to relationships. This year we’re excited to welcome Bob Goff, author of the book Love Does, to share in a session.
Safety: There is nothing more important this summer to WinShape Camps than the safety of our campers. We prepare our summer staff to provide an environment that is safe and healthy for everyone who joins us. Summer staff will hear from experts on child safety and psychology.
Fun: Summer staff participate in socials and competition throughout the week including a race put on by our friends at Connect Events.

WHEN:

Staff Training always begins the Wednesday that falls two weeks before first session. This year, it goes from May 25th-June 1st.

WHERE:

Staff Training takes place in Rome, GA which serves as the home of WinShape Camps for Boys and Girls at Mt. Berry. Some of our summer staff stay at our camp facility, while others stay in the dorms of Berry College.

WHY:

We believe the key to a successful summer starts with our summer staff. We think it’s important to bring them all to one location where they can collaborate and prepare together. In fact, their ability to learn and build relationships while at staff training is so essential, we do everything we can to remove distractions. This includes taking up the phones for every single summer staff. You read that right. Close to 700 college-age students making the sacrifice of no phone for a week!

We hope you enjoy following along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as share all about staff training this week!

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Cobb County has hosted WinShape Camps for Communities one-week day camps for close to 10 years now. In fact, it was one of the first communities to sign on to this unprecedented program that partnered with churches and organizations to truly make a community event.

It also serves as home to many of our year-round and summer staff. That is just the start of why we love one of the most advanced, family-centric, and biggest counties in the state. That being said, we’ve compiled a list of 5 reasons we love Cobb County!

#5: Entertainment Destination

Cobb County has a little bit of everything you could dream of when it comes to entertainment. It’s hard to imagine a summer that goes by without at least one trip to Six Flags or White Water. Not to mention all of the family fun centers like Andretti’s or Jimmy’s Mad Mad Whirled. Combine that with venues like the new home of the Atlanta Braves at Sun Trust Park or the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center and you have one of the greatest hot spots for entertainment in the country.

#4: Athletics

Sports are represented in a big way in Cobb County. Starting from the top, Cobb County was recently picked as the home of the Atlanta United’s brand new practice facility that is sure to draw athletes from around the world. It also houses one of the biggest universities in the state and a NCAA Division I school with historic sports programs at Kennesaw State University. Cobb County high schools are renowned across the nation as one of the best recruiting spots for their football programs and just last year was home to the AAAAA state champions at Allatoona High School. East Cobb Baseball is no joke either producing some of the best talent in the state.

#3: Chick-fil-A is never far

This is one that you may not find on other lists of why to love Cobb County, but we think it’s a big deal. No matter where you find yourself in Cobb, you’re never far away from that Original Chick-fil-A Sandwich or a large cup of fresh made lemonade. There are over 15 locations in Cobb County alone. Reason enough in itself to love this great county.

#2: Culture

Cobb County is a cultural center of the state and the southeast. You can find some incredible history by visiting Kennesaw Mountain Battlefields. A Saturday in Marietta Square can show you some of the musical and artistic talent throughout the state at the farmers market or The Strand Theater. Cobb is also home to nature and trails like the Silver Comet which connects metro Atlanta with Alabama for bicyclists. Not to mention the unique combination of restaurants and chefs that keep our taste buds guessing and The Food Network filming.

#1: Home of our newest day camp experience

Okay, so by now you’re realizing that you read this whole list to get to this point, but we think it’s a pretty big deal. We’ve hosted day camps in over 100 communities throughout the country over the last 10 years. Many of those locations loved camp so much they started asking if there was a way we could come to their community for more than just a week. We began to dream of what it would look like to have a day camp in a community ALL SUMMER LONG. With help of some of the best minds at Chick-fil-A, we looked at what communities would be a great fit for this experience. When we started looking at Cobb County, it didn’t take long for us to decide this is the place for us! That’s why we’re excited to be launching WinShape Camps for Communities at Cobb which will take place on the secluded 35-acre campus of the Mt. Bethel Upper School.

That’s why we’re excited to be launching WinShape Camps for Communities at Cobb which will take place on the secluded 35-acre campus of the Mt. Bethel Upper School. This will be an experience unlike anything WinShape Camps has ever created, and we’re excited to see this community come through our doors in the summer of 2017. Learn more about our newest camp experience and register starting Sept. 7th, 2016.

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We understand you want to give them something they won’t break or grow out of within a few weeks. You also want to give them something they’ll love and never forget. We think we can help! Here are 6 reasons you should give the gift of overnight camp this Christmas!

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1. If camp was reviewed on Amazon, it would have 5 stars.

We want the families who attend camp to have the best experience possible! To ensure that camp has been worth their investment, we send out surveys each year to a large group of parents to get their feedback. Two of the most important questions we look at are the ‘Parent Satisfaction Rate’ and the ‘Camper Satisfaction Rate’. This past summer, both of those numbers averaged 4.9 out of 5 across all of our overnight camp locations. How could you go wrong giving a gift that kids and parents love so much?!

2. Shipping is always free!

No one enjoys paying unsightly shipping costs on Christmas gifts and then worrying about them making it to your house in time! Registering for camp is the gift you can give without having to worry about getting it shipped. We will, however, send you a little something to put under the tree for your camper to unwrap that let’s them know they’re getting camp this year. Just fill out this form by December 18th.

3. One size fits all.

Well – sort of. WinShape Camps has something for everyone. Whether you have boys or girls, athletes or artists, elementary age or high school age — there’s something for every kid. We offer horseback riding, flag football, calligraphy, gymnastics, gourmet chef, wacky science, man land and so much more!

4. Batteries not included, because they’re not needed!

No batteries. No WIFI. No complicated packaging. No hidden surprises. Camp is the gift that will get your kid’s noses out of their iPads and into the great outdoors. The only thing you’ll stay up late trying to figure out is what you’re going to do with all your free time while your kids are at camp.

5. We have a deal better than any store’s doorbuster!

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In case you haven’t heard, WinShape Camps is paying 50% for first-time overnight campers to attend any of our one-week or two-week overnight locations! Plus you won’t run the risk of getting stampeded at the door at 3am. We’ll keep dollars in your piggy bank, and put change in your summer. Learn more by clicking the play button!

6. It’s the gift that lasts a lifetime!

We don’t call this life-changing, memory-making, adventure-taking awesomeness for nothing! A summer at WinShape Camps could change your campers life forever. Your kids will make friends, try new things, and have unforgettable fun all while growing in their faith. They will never stop talking about it! It’s truly the #SummerOfALifetime.

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