GatewayNextGen

2012 Camp Reports

A few things accomplished this year in regards to camps:

1)  Almost all new meal teams had to be placed at both of the Wondervu and Pomme De Terre camps. That was a huge task to cover. I feel that it went very well at Pomme De Terre, but Wondervu’s team went terribly over-budget, so we’ll have to more closely supervise that next year.

2)  I used the interim year in the Wondervu teen camps to try and establish some new guidelines in budget, registration, leadership, spiritual impact, etc. The overwhelming feedback from campers and leaders was that this year’s camps were the best facilitated in recent memory.

3)  I am in the process now in working with camp directors to develop and devise a standard operating procedure across all district camps – one with broad parameters so that directors can still pray and pursue their own vision, but within our established guidelines. This will also serve as a training manual and job description for new leaders coming up as potential assistant directors / camp directors in the future. It will also provide template forms for items such as incident reports, etc.

Here is how the numbers broke down from this year’s camps (click for larger view)…

In addition, we had two Hispanic camps in Nebraska and Missouri that were not able to give us their information by the time of this report.

Overall, I cannot say enough about how fantastic our camp directors and their staff and leaders are doing. I was able to participate and/or visit five of our ten district camps this summer and was continually encouraged by how deeply impactful this year’s events were. Hearts were “MOTIVATED” to pursue a God who loves them fully, kids in Colorado were given a “HEART FOR THE NATIONS”, and children were given a voice to “PROCLAIM THEIR PURPOSE”! I also was a part of Deterri Rockwell’s PK camp in Colorado, where I am always highly encouraged and deeply grateful for her amazing care of our lead pastor’s students.

Other NextGen Progress in 2012

GatewayNextGen.com continues to be a vital tool in networking and resourcing our NextGen leaders. Year two brings the site up to almost 77,000 all-time views. We have averaged 82 unique visitors a day so far in 2012. As of the last week in July, we have published 490 posts, created 22 pages for structure, events, and archival purposes, and have divided content into 22 searchable categories.

The ECHO School of Ministry at NorthRock Church in Thornton, Colorado, launched its first successful year as a fully sanctioned ELN (Foursquare’s Emerging Leader Network). One student has graduated, and two students from the first year are progressing now into year two, with several new students applying for the fall semester. I am in communication with two churches, one in Rapid City, South Dakota, and the other in Salina, Kansas, about potential additional ELN schools in our district.

Our NextGen Area Leader’s team officially launched in the fall of 2011 with nineteen proven leaders with a passion for encouraging and networking with other NextGen pastors/leaders in our district. We met in Denver and sent them out with the goal of each connecting with ten leaders in their geographic areas. They have had mixed results in connecting with leaders, but I am happy with our first year’s efforts and fruit. Several new connections were made and are continuing to be established. This team also serves as a cabinet of sorts, that I go to as I prayerfully engage vision and direction for the ministry and discipleship of our NextGen leaders and students.

Vision Going Into 2013

•  Some hopes and dreams for Gateway NextGen going into the next year of ministry.Year one was a lot about networking and resourcing. Year two was focused on pastoral care. This year, I plan on joining with the overall district’s plan of equipping and training. I’d like to put tools in the hands of NextGen leaders to make it hard for them to fail.

Our Area Leader team has already been discussing area day-training/networking events in two sides of our district sometime in the spring of 2013. Our goals are to keep the events short, accessible, low-cost, and full of opportunities for NextGen leaders to both connect and be resourced and trained.

•  I’m in the beginning stages of developing a welcome pack for new NextGen leaders that come into our district. It would be a digital resource that leaders could download and share featuring: links to our already existing resources, ways to connect with other Gateway leaders, avenues to stay current with Gateway NextGen activities and training, suggested NextGen reading materials, and a to-do list for their first two years in ministry.

•  Continue championing ELN programs in our district and look for opportunities to plant more schools of ministry in various strategic locations in our district. I highly regard ELN as a proven and highly effective avenue to train, equip, and resource young leaders in our district.

With this year’s annual ELN Forum being hosted at NorthRock Church in Thornton, CO, I will be no doubt be encouraging several area leaders (lead pastors and NextGen) to attend and become more informed about what ELN is all about. My immediate goal would be to have two more ELN’s in our district in the planning/launching process by this time next year.

•  Work with young adult leaders to provide more avenues of ministry and connection points with young adults and college students.

•  Continue partnering with De Rockwell to come alongside our Gateway Pastor’s Kids.

I believe we’ve got an excellent pool of NextGen leaders in the Gateway. My continuing overall goal is to care for, resource, disciple, and network them by…

1) Empowering churches to disciple NextGen students from crib to college

- help communicate that NextGen leaders are not just the “cool, young, hip guy”
- taking the WHOLE Gospel to the WHOLE world

2) Identify callings: Intentionally helping leaders help students develop their mission and purpose

- helping NextGen students identify their calling, and then, when they are adults, they won’t be frustrated
- providing clear pathways

3) Network churches to connect to training

- raising the bar in training for real world ministry
- with 4,400 campuses across the nation, there should be a church plant or campus ministry at every one