Archive for the ‘Program News’ Category

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Be Still And Know That I Am God…. even in the chaos

by Tuna

Hi. I’m Flora, or at camp I’m Gigi.

This summer I’m the Day Camp and Leadership Training Director. Every summer I’ve worked here I’ve seen God clearly in the campers, in nature and the community among the staff. This summer I’ve seen him in each of those places, but I’ve also been challenged by the scripture- “Be still and know that I am God” in Psalm 46. If you’ve never been here when there are campers, still is not the word you would come away saying. Camp is great with campers, and it’s energetic, and loud and a little crazy. Not still. During orientation Cheeks had us do a practice where we found somewhere quiet and repeated “be still and know that I am God”, then reduced the phrase to “be still and know that I am”, and then “be still and know”, slowly removing words until we were just repeating “Be” to ourselves. I really enjoyed this practice, but had trouble thinking about how that scripture could be true for me this summer. This scripture kept coming up for me the next couple weeks, friends would send it to me or it would come up in my devotionals but it didn’t seem possible. When I decided to listen to a sermon from my home church in Burlington, VT, and the sermon scripture was “be still and know that I am God” I felt like God was yelling at me to obey that scripture.

That sermon changed my idea on what being still looks like at camp. My pastor talked about the Hebrew word Rapha, which he described as a calm confidence in God. Being still became more attainable to me as he described peace coming from posture of Holy awareness, instead of what had been in my mind, which was being alone and finding long periods of time for God, which this job doesn’t always allow. Since then I have been able to find Rapha in some of the least still moments of the summer, by expanding on the scripture. During the many times when it feels like my patience is running low when I’m with campers who may require extra attention I remind myself to be still and know that God is God who provides patience and love. I don’t need to be all those things, because God is for me. And on the days when I get woken up by the radio in the night and don’t get the sleep I need to make it through the day I am reminded to be still and know that God is God who has energy and is the life in me. When I’ve had this posture I’ve seen myself being more full of what I should be empty of and more aware of God giving me what I need.

This summer I had the opportunity to lead a three day backpacking trip with seven campers, and two other staff. The morning we were leaving for the trip I woke up at 4am with every worst case scenario running through my head. Thunderstorms. Medical emergencies. Behavioral issues. No logic could solve the stress I was feeling. I had solved these problems when I was planning the trip earlier that summer; we had extra tarps, I have wilderness medical training, and I know how to deal with campers, yet I was still stressed. I was physically still in bed, but my mind was not still. As I laid in bed I knew what I needed wasn’t more backup plans, but rather the peace of Christ. That week as we hiked along the Long Trail I experienced God not just in the stillness of nature, but in the conversations and riddles that kept us hiking. As I led with a calm confidence in God I found myself knowing that He was there, and providing for each need of each person on that trip.

Flora “Gigi” Dewar

Staffing crises point to the Body of Christ

by Tuna

Greetings friends!  Been a while since you’ve heard from us via the blog.  That’s because in April, our Program Director, Courtney, fell ill and could not continue her duties!  Please pray for her health and healing.  Where did that leave us at camp?  Restructuring!  In terms of the summer camp leadership team, the restructuring seems to have worked.  We were able to shift leaders around and call Amber “Cheeks” Bergey back into service as Camp Director.  She is mentoring some newer leaders including the Day Camp Director and Resident Camp Director.  All are learning and growing and doing good work.

Come June, it started to feel like we were going to make it through the summer excelling and hosting the many campers as good as always.  As that feeling set in, a second crisis struck in the male counseling team.  We lost an assistant to a broken leg, another to a change in heart.  We lost a male counselor to anxiety and another to a concussion.  We are still down all four of those guys.  How could we go on?!

Many summer staffers talked with friends and one of those friends came to BBC for the first time and did a great job the first week of camp (and will be back twice this summer).  We reached out to other Mennonite Camps and uncovered two brothers who were trusted counselors and could give us a few weeks.  A long time counselor said he could return for a week or two.  Our facilities manager who used to counsel, said he could counsel as needed.  Things are starting to look up!  I was reminded of the “Body of Christ” and how together we can function as a cohesive community and in so doing Jesus would meet us and help meet our need for “daily bread” (in this case, having qualified counseling staff for each camper).  Keep an eye on our youtube channel this weekend for how we made the picture of a body at the top of this post.

Personally, this pair of crises stretched me and my family quite a bit.  I found early morning wake ups common, some tears in talking with God, and challenges at home as the kids got used to their nanny (so thankful for her and my strong wife, Cheeks, who is leading the program team in her third pregnancy!).

I find myself stretched, challenged, thankful and looking forward to uncovering who the next camp director will be.  If you know someone who would be a good fit, tell them of the opportunity to live and serve in the Green Mountains!

Brandon “Tuna” Bergey

Winter Family Fun Day 2018

by Tuna

Well that was fun!  Each winter and summer we host a family fun day to highlight all the good stuff the Bethany Birches program has to offer.  This winter we will host 5 weekends of winter camp for grades 3-11.  Find your session here: bethanybirches.org/winter

About 80 folks enjoyed winter family fun day this year.  The youngest in attendance appeared to be less than a year old and the oldest seemed to be nearing 80.  That’s what we like to see!

As the founder of our back country ski program I enjoyed leading that very much.  We had some skiers who never skied before and a couple who were seasoned.

Of course there was lots of tubing!  Due to the recent snow the run was a little slower the first half of the day.  Waxing the tubes helped.  Big thanks to neighbor Bob Lambert who faithfully drove the truck and trailer all day so people didn’t have to walk the steep 1/4 mile hill after each run.

Lunch was great!  Thanks to Wonder Woman, Batman, Wendy, and Joanne for making great food and lots of it.  I’m still wanting those brownies.

On top of the skiing, tubing and lunch we roasted marshmallows, painted snow, had an epic broom ball tournament in which there were 5 overtimes, knitted, played carpet ball, gaga and 9square among other things (including a very artistic drawing pictured here).  Thanks to all of you who came out for the fun and I hope to see you up here for a winter camp!

Love,

Brandon “Tuna” Bergey

New Program Director Hired!

by Tuna

Greetings Friends, a little while back I announced that Dan “Chick” Laubach was moving on from Bethany Birches at the end of August.

We launched a search in March and received 27 applications by the time we closed the application period this summer.  After extending an offer to an applicant and receiving a “no” from him, I opened a discussion with a friend familiar to Bethany Birches.  We call her Wonder Woman.  Outside of camp she is known as Courtney Hollingsworth.  She has volunteered as Camp Shepherd, Day Camp Manager, and Kitchen Aid, among other things.  She’s filled with energy and love and was looking to get back into ministry of some kind after supervising the front office at the Woodstock Inn.  Prior to that she was in seminary and before that she was a director of high school youth ministry at her home church in CA.

The only agreement we have come to at this time is that she will be full time through next summer.  Her and I will consider her fit after she’s been here a few months and see if we would like to arrange a longer tenure or not.

She has already begun!  She has an email address (courtney@bethanybirches.org). Feel free to reach out to her and introduce yourself.  She is currently working from a distance lightly and will start here at camp on the 27th of Aug and overlap with Chick for a week and then take the reigns.

Courtney/Wonder Woman with a baby sea turtle

Thanks to each of you who have been involved with the camp and have helped to cause our ongoing success.  Please welcome Wonder Woman warmly.  I hope you’ll come out to camp soon if you haven’t been recently.  Next option to be here is the Benefit Auction September 29.

Brandon “Tuna” Bergey

Program Director Application Period is Open!

by Tuna

That’s right folks.  This is your chance to apply for your dream job.  Being the Program Director at BBC is perhaps one of the most fun (and most challenging) jobs out there.  Just think – it could be your job to run (or delegate) Wet and Wild Wednesday.  It could be your job to run (or delegate) the annual cardboard sled and boat races.  I mean, how awesome is that?  Not to mention recruiting and training staff, budgeting, performance reviews… oh wait, those perhaps are not the most fun parts.

Seriously though, if you have any interest, apply now!  I hope to select the next BBC Program Director by June 1 of this year.  That gives you a month and a half to finish your application and tidy up your resume. Start here: https://www.bethanybirches.org/pd

And if you’re not going to apply, would you pray for the process?  Pray that God nudges an ideal fit this direction and that we have the wisdom to see that person when they show up.

Brandon “Tuna” Bergey

Executive Director

Program Director transition: you will be missed Chick!

by Tuna

Why do all good things come to an end?  So that new good things can begin!

Dan “Chick” Laubach has served as program director since May 2015. He has decided to finish his service at Bethany Birches effective the end of August 2018. He has made important contributions (and will continue to this year… and he evens plans to volunteer beyond this year).  While he was program director, summer and winter registrations were opened earlier than ever.  I believe that has contributed to the ongoing increase in attendance (in fact, half of programs offered in a calendar year have waiting lists… we’re expecting even more waiting lists this year).  Chick has also contributed to a professionalism in the office.  He has helped to upgrade policies and procedures and has sharpened some of our marketing and communications plans.

I very much appreciate the amount of time he has allowed us for making the transition.  He is going to continue managing the program throughout this winter and summer.  He will depart at the end of summer 2018.  If a replacement is found in time, I would consider him/her starting as soon as May 2018 for maximum transfer of knowledge, ideas, practices etc.  However, if an ideal fit is found, we would start them whenever works best for them.  The search for a new program director will begin shortly.  We have some backend work to do to clarify the type of person we’re looking for and finalize some details.  In the mean time, if you or someone you know has interest, please do reach out to me.  Call the office, email or even text if you have my number.

We give Chick a big round of applause and wish him the very best in his future endeavors.  Most importantly, may you be guided by God’s spirit and at peace into the unknown.  Thanks for your service and can’t wait to see you back here as a volunteer.

Brandon “Tuna” Bergey

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