Camp Spofford’s Gap Year Program

1. Origin of Idea I first began to recognize the need for reaching young adults while serving as Campus Pastor at Christ Church. Through my work, I found myself spending a large percentage of my time with 20- year old men and women. Most were single, living at home and had either completed college or never made it to college. In my personal experience, I saw a common theme in my interactions and relationships with this group. Almost all of them were searching and frustrated. They were searching for truth. They were searching for identity. They were frustrated with the way they perceived life was going for them. All of them expected to be in a stable with the ability to live on their own and afford a social life that was “social media” worthy. Through my personal experience as their pastor, I worked with them as they struggled to make decisions, commit to a direction, make friends and manage money. All while having conflicts of faith and lacking a truly Biblical worldview. They were easily swayed by the latest cultural movement and were quick to bash organized Church whole longing for community and faith. It became clear to me that as their pastor, I had a duel role…to disciple and to life coach.

This was not everyone I met or pastored. There are exceptions to every rule. I encountered young men and women who were launching into adulthood with a faith that was vibrant, rooted in the Scripture and who were willing to take risks for the Gospel and their . They were not afraid of the future or discouraged by the present and it was rooted in their trust and belief in God. They knew themselves well, where they were gifted and how to move forward in pursuit of their own dreams.

I recently came across this quote from a High School principal, that captures and recognizes what has happened to this new subset of our population, emerging adults:

I felt the need to write you today about our children. They’ve been on my mind… Now that both our kids are older… I hate to admit that we’re getting used to higher levels of anxiety and depression in them. I deeply regret our adult children are addicted to screens and meds to help them cope with life. I’m disappointed that we didn’t teach them emotional intelligence and social intelligence; and resilience; vision and leadership. These are basic skills my parents taught me, but I’m afraid they’re not getting taught at home or at school these days… I want to apologize for the part I may have played in Matt’s developmental problems. Like too many other school leaders, I carried a narrow definition of . During the last fifteen years I felt it was all about test scores and keeping up with Finland and Singapore. As I look back, it appears the more we pushed them academically, the more we failed at teaching them life.1

When I began the transition from Christ Church back to Camp Spofford, this group of 20-year old’s was on my heart. I assumed that this reality was not limited to my church, my area or my personal experience. I believed that there were a lot of adults who were living life with a struggle to maintain a Biblical worldview and forge a path into adulthood. I began to dream about how Camp Spofford could step into this place and reach a group of people in such need of help.

I know what Camp is capable of, I’ve seen it and been a part of it for years. As I reflected on the power of Camp, in particular Camp Spofford, I was struck by how the staff experience has been one of the more powerful and forming moments in the lives of kids who come through Camp Spofford. When I served as Program Director from 2002 through 2011, we made an intentional choice to become more focused on discipleship of our summer staff. I look back on that time with tremendous gratefulness, because I know that God did a mighty work in the lives of High School and College students as we committed to an internal mission statement of discipleship. I have countless memories of pastors, parents and staff themselves recognizing the role Camp played in the discipleship of our staff each and every summer. I returned to Camp Spofford with this idea, to combine our commitment to disciple our staff with the need for staff during the Retreat Season. 2. Research of Emerging Adults As I prepared for the idea of launching a Gap Year program at Camp Spofford, I wanted to do some research to see if my personal experience translates beyond my pastoral experience. Here is a quick synopsis of what I found.

Jeffrey Arnett has been one of the country’s leading researchers about emerging adults. In his book Emerging Adulthood, he provides 5 features of emerging adults:

1 Elmore (2018) • Age of identity exploration. Young people are deciding who they are and what they want out of work, school and love. • Age of instability. The post-high school years are marked by repeated residence changes, as young people either go to college or live with friends or a romantic partner. For most, frequent moves end as families and are established in the 30s. • Age of self-focus. Freed of the parent- and society-directed routine of school, young people try to decide what they want to do, where they want to go and who they want to be with-- before those choices get limited by the constraints of marriage, children and a career. • Age of feeling in between. Many emerging adults say they are taking responsibility for themselves, but still do not completely feel like an adult. • Age of possibilities. Optimism reigns. Most emerging adults believe they have good chances of living "better than their parents did," and even if their parents divorced, they believe they'll find a lifelong soul mate.2

Delayed marriage and parenting have been a big part of this new subset of adults. In 2010 the typical age for marriage is 26 for women and 28 for men. This leaves a large gap between leaving their home and starting a new home. That gap has been filled with education, exploration and expectations. One of the problems that arises for emerging adults is that expectations tend not to match experience. In a sad perspective of reality, anxiety and depression has skyrocketed in the emerging adult population. Feeling depressed was also more common among younger emerging adults (36% at ages 18–21, declining to 27% for 26–29-year-olds). More general feelings of anxiety are strikingly high in emerging adulthood. In the national Clark poll of 18–29-year-olds, 56% agreed that “I often feel anxious.”3 The research was confirming what I saw through my personal experience with this age group. Anxiety and depression were common parts of my conversation with many emerging adults, and they certainly felt the ground shifting underneath them.

Tim Elmore, in his book Marching off the Map, also found similar experiences, captured in this quote,

2 Arnett (2015) 3 Arnett and Schwab (2012) Biologically, the graduate is an adult. Emotionally, the graduate may be unprepared for the adult world. During the years of 2010 to 2015, somewhere between 60-80 percent of our kids moved back home after college.4

Both Arnett and Elmore look at the sociological impact on emerging adults, but there is also theological impact as well. As I mentioned in the 1st section, I quickly realized that emerging adults needed to be both discipled and coached. The need for discipleship is much greater than just helping emerging adults’ transition into their own family and career. In his book The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood, Christian Smith finds that 60% of emerging adults say “morality is a personal choice, entirely a matter of individual decision. Moral rights and wrongs are essentially matters of individual opinion, in their view.”5 They have lost sight of God and his Word being the moral compass for our lives. They have lost sight of the role of the Holy Spirit in convicting us of our sin and moving us toward repentance. Of most concern, they have lost the need for repentance and a Savior.

In addition to morality, views of the Bible have changed drastically. Barna, along with the American Bible Society conducted a 6-year study on Bible engagement. They found: • The millennial generation is less likely to read or trust the Bible than any other. More than half (55%) are “Bible-neutral” or “Bible-skeptical,” compared to 45 percent of teens, 51 percent of Gen-Xers, 40 percent of boomers, and 40 percent of elders. • are twice as likely (23%) as elders (11%) to say the Bible is “just another book of teachings written by men.” Elders, meanwhile, are twice as likely (31%) as millennials (16%) to say the Bible is the actual word of God.6

One source of encouragement in Barna’s study is that for practicing Christians, Bible engagement is consistent with previous generations. But the reality is, that more Millennials are walking away from the faith than ever before.

4 Elmore (2018) 5 Smith (2011) 6 Barna (2016) As I poured over articles and books over the last 12 months, it has become more evident that there is a need to step into the lives of emerging adults as they make the transition into adulthood. The help they need is not limited to one area. They need to learn what it means to be an adult, but more than that they need to learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus. As I survey the current landscape of Camp Spofford, I see 80 High School and College students who join our staff every summer. Many have grown up coming as kids, and others have come because of a recommendation of a friend. But they have spent their summers here and we have invested in their faith. However, I can’t help but think about how many of them are entering this new phase of emerging adulthood with the same anxiety and depression that the research shows. Chances are, 1 out of every 3 are going to have a rough time transitioning into adulthood. I believe Camp Spofford is uniquely positioned to step into their lives and be a place where they can come and be encouraged to grow in faith, character and calling.

3. Camp Spofford’s Plan The overall plan for the program is as follows: • 10-month program – end of August to beginning of June o Separated into tri-mesters of 9 weeks, 10 weeks and 9 weeks o Breaks for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter • Weekly o 20-25 hours of Retreat Support Staff work o 8-10 hours of Biblical Worldview classes o 3-5 hours of service, Bible Study and Small Group o Exceptions ▪ Weeks with weekday groups would be 40-hour work weeks and no classes ▪ 4-5 weeks are designated for group trips or week long intensive classes • Program Overview o Semester 1 ▪ Old Testament Survey – Lew Miller ▪ Hermeneutics – Jon Deming ▪ Spiritual Growth 1 – Jon Deming o Semester 2 ▪ Old Testament Survey – Lew Miller ▪ Systematic Theology – Jon Deming ▪ Spiritual Growth 2 – Jon Deming o Semester 3 ▪ New Testament Survey – Lew Miller ▪ Disciples Who Make Disciples – Jon Deming ▪ Engaging Culture with a Biblical Worldview – Jon Deming o Community Involvement ▪ Weekly Small Group ▪ Local Church and Community Service o One Day Seminars ▪ Budgeting ▪ Career Planning ▪ Working in the Business World ▪ Dating ▪ Personality Assessment o Intensives ▪ StrengthsQuest – assessment and development of strengths ▪ Life’s Healing Choices – sin and addiction assessment and discipleship o Trips ▪ 1-week spiritual formation and service trip ▪ CCCA regional conference REFERENCES

1. Elmore, Dr. Tim; McPeak, Andrew. Marching Off the Map: Inspire Students to Navigate a Brand

New World (Poet Gardener Publishing, 2017).

2. Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen. Emerging Adulthood: 2nd Edition (Oxford Press, 2015).

3. Smith, Christian. Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood (Oxford University Press,

2011).

4. BARNA. The Bible in America: 6-Year Trends (2016).