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LEADERSHIP STAFF ONBOARDING

UNLOCK & UNLEASH KINGDOM BUILDERS

WELCOME TO THE LEADERSHIP TEAM!

Thank you so much for choosing to serve this summer at Camp Sonshine! We are so excited for you to be a part of our summer leadership team. Are you ready to UNLOCK & UNLEASH kingdom builders?

PRE-SUMMER PREP

There are a few things you need to do to prepare for your summer serving at Camp Sonshine!

TO DO: FILL OUT STAFF QUESTIONNAIRE

This is a great way for our leadership team and adopt a counselor members to get to know you before you arrive! CLICK HERE TO FILL OUR QUESTIONNAIRE!

TO DO: FILL OUT HEALTH HISTORY FORM

NOTE: Information on this form is gathered to assist the camp in identifying appropriate care, to ensure safe parcipation in camp activities, and to confirm the employee’s ability to perform the essential functions of the job. A staff member’ employment is not complete until Camp Sonshine receives a signed Health History Form.

Please make sure to fill this out closer to the time of camp (March – May). 

CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT HEALTH HISTORY FORM!

GET THOSE BONUSES $$$

SUMMER SUPPORT TEAM BONUS

Receive your support team bonus by building a team of 15 support team members!

  • Step 1: Ask you friends, family, and faith leaders, “Would you consider being on my support team? And can we send you updates via email throughout the summer?”
  • Step 2: Gather you support team members names & email addresses in one place!
  • Step 3: When they are all gathered, submit those names & addresses all at once. CLICK THE TITLE ABOVE!

Click here for 5 Tips To Building A Support Team!

**Returning staff can use same list of support team members AND should still reach out to update them about why you are called to serve at Camp Sonshine. Please still fill out the form above with an updated ‘WHY’! We encourage you to add people to your team if possible!

BE A CAMP SONSHINE AMBASSADOR & GET SOME $$$$$

Help us build a team of life changers this summer!

  • Welcome package included!
  • Attend ambassador meetings / video calls – Get camp march & random prizes!
  • Get 1 friend to fill out our lead form – $5
  • Get 1 friend to apply – $10
  • Get 1 friend to commit/sign an MSA – $20
  • Get 1 friend to complete a summer – $100

Ask your recruiting contact about how you can get started as an ambassador!

 

FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE: STAFF HANDBOOK/MANUAL
IMPORTANT SUMMER DATES/TIMES

Mark your calendar (whether that’s online or on paper), these dates are VERY IMPORTANT to remember for this summer!

Arrival Dates (for out of town staff) – Saturday, May 24 – Sunday, May 25

Orientation***

  • Sunday, May 26 at 5 PM at Solaris
  • 2349 State Hwy Spur 34b, Firth, NE
  • Please bring what you need for a two night stay at Solaris!

Training Week – Monday, May 25 – Saturday, May 31

  • You’ll need closed toed shoes, comfy clothes, a water bottle, a backpack, notebook, pen & Bible each day for training!

Tentative Staff Training Schedule

  • Sunday | 5 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. (staying overnight at Solaris)
  • Monday | 9 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. (staying overnight at Solaris)
  • Tuesday | 8 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
  • Wednesday | 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.
  • Thursday | 8 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
  • Friday | 7 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
  • Saturday | 9 a.m. – Noon

Summer Sessions 

  • Session 1 | May 31 – June 7
  • Session 2 | June 7 – 14
  • Session 3 | June 14 – 21
  • Session 4 | June 21 – 28
  • Session 5 | June 28 – July 5
  • Session 6 | July 5 – 12
  • Session 7 | July 12 – 19
  • Session 8 | July 19 – 26
  • Session 9 | July 26 – Aug 2
  • Session 10 | Aug 2 – 9
  • Session Starts on Saturday Morning for Pre-Session Meeting
  • Day Camp = Monday – Saturday Morning (Day Camp Counselor Day in The Life Video)
  • Overnight Camp = Sunday – Friday OR Monday – Thursday (Overnight Camp Counselor Day in The Life Coming Soon!)
  • Session Ends on Saturday Morning for Session Debrief/Celebration!
  • Staff Socials Every Saturday Evening

End of Summer Staff Celebration (YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS THIS!) – Saturday, August 9

Departure Date – Sunday, August 10

SUMMER THEME

COMING SOON!

Pre-Summer Journal Prompts
  1. What is your summer vision for your program you will be leading this summer? Think with the end in mind!
  2. In what ways do you want to live out our core values amongst the staff/campers we are serving?
  3. What fears or worries do you have about leading your counselors/campers? How can you lay those at the feet of Jesus?
  4. What makes a great leader of people?
  5. How do you want to share the gospel and truth’s about God?
  6. What have you been learning in your own walk with God and how can you share that with the team this summer?

 

LEADERSHIP RESOURCES

By popular demand, we’d love to offer you optional resources to dive into to prepare yourself for a summer of leading people! Most of these topics we cover in your training in a short time. Get more context by diving deeper before summer!

BOOK: The Way of the Shepherd by Kevin Leman and William Pentak

“If you’re ready to transform your team, create a culture of belonging, and truly learn to lead by example, it’s time to discover The Way of the Shepherd.” A quick read!

BOOK: Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders

“Sanders holds that even natural leadership qualities are God-given, and their true effectiveness can only be reached when they are used to the glory of God. Let this classic be your guide for leadership, and watch how God works through you to do great things for His glory.”

PODCAST: How to Lead When You're Not In Charge by Andy Stanley

“One of the greatest myths of leadership is that you must be in charge in order to lead. Great leaders don’t buy it. Great leaders–whether they have the official authority or not–learn how to be an influential presence wherever they are.”

Part 1
Part 2

Book Link

BOOK: Life is Tremendous by Charlie "Tremendous" Jones

Believing that enthusiasm makes the difference, Charlie shows how anyone can be happy, involved, relevant, and secure in the midst of a high-pressure, commercialized, automated society.

BOOK: Habitudes: For Self Leadership by Tim Elmore

“The Art of Self-Leadership helps students and young adults:

  • Build strong character based on integrity and emotional security
  • Develop habits of self-discipline and initiative to achieve their goals
  • Choose their own set of core values for making wise decisions in life.”

BOOK: Leadership & Self-Deception by the Arbinger Institute

“Leadership and Self-Deception uses an entertaining story everyone can relate to about a man facing challenges at work and at home to expose the fascinating ways that we blind ourselves to our true motivations and unwittingly sabotage the effectiveness of our own efforts to achieve happiness and increase happiness. We trap ourselves in a “box” of endless self-justification. Most importantly, the book shows us the way out. Readers will discover what millions already have learned–how to consistently tap into and act on their innate sense of what’s right, dramatically improving all of their relationships.”

Self-Deception Video Overview

ONLINE: Right Now Media

Start your Right Now Media account to get access to “a bajillion” Bible-based video resources! Some of the above books and podcasts and video versions here!

NOT SURE WHERE TO BEGIN?

Set up a time to meet (video call or over coffee) with Adrianna! She’d love to hear your heart and give you suggestions of where to begin with these resources!

SHARING THE GOSPEL RESOURCES

*UNDER CONSTRUCTION*
We’re building a resource list for you to use this summer to show counselors how to share the gospel!

The Wordless Book / Bracelet

BLACK Sin Romans 3:23 All have sinned
RED Blood I John 1:7 Jesus’ blood covers all sin
WHITE Pure Psalm 51:7 Jesus washes away confessed sin
YELLOW Heaven John 14:2 Believe on Jesus and receive Eternal Life
GREEN Grow 2 Peter 3:18 Grow in the knowledge of the Lord

THE KIND OF PEOPLE WE WILL “BE”

Camp Sonshine Core Values

 

We’d love to spend some time before summer with you meditating on Camp Sonshine’s core values and what scripture has to say about some of the ideas presented below. We’d love to hear from you as you read and ponder these things!

Buying into and living out the core values of Camp Sonshine is not something that we hope our staff members will just accidently fall into. While certain values may manifest themselves more naturally in different people at different times, we recognize that adhering to these values and allowing them to formulate a grid by which to filter all actions and decisions is a choice that each person has to make on a daily basis. Therefore, at Camp Sonshine, we choose to: Belong, Become, Believe, & Go Beyond!

CORE VALUE - BELONG

We strive to create and maintain a community where the love of God is experienced by all.

Although our programs are designed for the children and teens who attend camp, our desire is to minister to the entire family as well as to the various individuals who comprise the greater camp community. Each person has value because they are created and loved by God and as such will always find a place where they are accepted and belong. Everything we do is designed to create or maintain a community where the love of God is experienced by all.

  • Romans 15:5-7 – May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
  • Matthew 18:20 – For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.
  • Romans 12:4-5 – For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another
CORE VALUE - BECOME

We work to see each camper and staff member grow more into who God created them to be.

We want to see each camper and staff member become more of who God created them to be and to promote positive growth in all arenas of life: physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual. In order for those who are connected with camp to leave more in line with God’s plan for their life than when they arrived, it is imperative for all to live with a heart of teachability and openness to the lessons and challenges presented to us.

  • Hebrews 10:24-25 – And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
  • Proverbs 27:17 – Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
  • Colossians 1:9-10 – And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
  • Galatians – 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
  • Other passages: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 , Psalm 1:1-3, Philippians 1:6 
CORE VALUE - BELIEVE

We infuse a positive and uplifting perspective into every relationship, circumstance and situation we experience. 

God is always up to something good regardless of the circumstances we face. We believe the best about others and what God is up to all around us. This belief provides the foundation for the positivity that permeates our community through our attitudes and actions.

  • John 16:33 – I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
  • Romans 15:13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
  • Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
  • Philippians 2:3-4: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others”
    CORE VALUE - go BEYOND

    We initiate exceptional customer service and will not settle for the minimum standard or effort.

    We seek to offer unbelievably amazing customer service. We believe that through exceeding expectations our ministry to staff and families will be enhanced. We do not settle for the minimum standard but with hearts of selflessness and servant leadership pursue the flourishing of our community and the benefits of its members regardless of the cost.

    • 1 Peter 4:10 – Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
    • Ephesians 6:7-8 – Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.
    • Mark 10:45 – For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
    • Ephesians 3:20 – 21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

     

      Year Round Staff Opportunities

      Camp Sonshine International – Camp Sonshine works in partnership with ministries around the world to provide and train leaders who can provide life-changing camp experiences. Join our CSI teams who travel to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico or Zambia, Africa! Click here to apply!

      Ministry Internship – Looking for practical ministry experience and a place to learn and develop your skill and abilities personally, spiritually and professionally? Apply to our internship program!

      Year Round Events – Looking for a part time job during the school year? We provide year round camp events and would love to have you on our year round team and pay you hourly! Check out HOMEBASE for available shifts!

       Follow Camp Sonshine on Social Media!