You're probably reading the title and thinking WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU ZACH!?!?!  And I agree, we just got done with that COLD, grey, dreary season...  And I'll be honest I really don't like winter.  I feel like I spend too much time cooped up indoors trying to keep myself warm.  The days seem kind of dull...  Gray skies, nothing to do...  That may be a little over exaggerated, but you're connecting with my thought process, right?

Let's do something different this winter! 

Start putting plans together now to host a winter camp for your students.  Its a great way to jump start second semester...  work with a few of the church's you attend summer camp with and put together an event where your students can reconnect with friends they'll meet this summer.  Like summer camp, design your winter camp to be spiritually charged event.  For each of the locations in our network we have a tag line, it reminds us of our mission and purpose.  Each of the lines is meant to represent the spiritual life-change that our guests can experience.  At Lake Williamson its  "...where our guests can restore, renew, reconnect with God..."  at Lake Placid its "...where our guests can be at peace, find inspiration, and renewal from God..."  and at Faholo & Lost Valley its "...Get away... Get Closer..."  Get closer to God, build relationships, etc.

Start making plans for your winter camp in the same way, by creating a spiritual goal or mission that the event needs to accomplish.  Then build objectives that will help you to meet those goals as you plan in the details of your event. 

Here are a few starter ideas:

1. Spend time in prayer, seek God as you begin to develop your event goals.
2. Find some volunteers to assist you, ask each person to take a focus area, like rec activities, worship services, registration & marketing, etc.
3. As a team, agree upon and write out the goals and objectives.  That will give each person on your team a better ability to focus in on meeting the objectives for their area.
4. Choose some dates and length of your retreat.  (2-4 days is a good length, it give you good investment time on retreat to spend with your students, but its shorter than a week-long camp so it will also be more budget friendly).
   Here are a few good options:
   December 27-31 (week between Christmas & New Years
   December 31-Jan 3 (New Year weekend)
   January 21-24 (MLK Day Weekend)
   February 18-21 (Presidents Day Weekend)
5. Begin working with a property.  At Midwest Christian Retreats we give discounts all year-round, but especially on holiday weekends for volume groups.  Consider inviting a couple other youth pastors you attend summer camp with to plan winter camp with you.  (The other pastors could also make up a good portion of your planning team.  Divide and conquer is way easier than trying to do it all by yourself.)  Ask for discounts.  And plan in advance.  At Midwest Christian Retreats we are always happy to assist event planners with coordinating their events.  We help groups plan out marketing strategies, registration tools, etc. etc.  But those things take time, so its always best to plan in advance.
6. Once you have dates secured. Start filling in the details like arrival & departure times, meals, and the activities that will contribute to you meeting your goals like services, small groups, and workshops.  Then fill in the gaps and balance out your schedule with recreation time.
7. Build a marketing strategy.  (There are several articles with ideas under Event Marketing & Promotion)
8. Secure any other assistance you might need (Keynote speaker, worship band, entertainment...)
9. Have dates for winter camp and begin letting your students sign up (at least to show interest or secure their spot with a small deposit) as soon as you return from summer camp or start up back to school.  You'll have a lot of success getting students to attend if you build off the momentum of another event.

If you have questions or need some help planning out your winter camp, contact our retreat planners a call at 877-833-2272!