Why I Love CentriKid

I love camp. Surprised? Probably Not. After all, it's what I do most every day of the year. However, it's not just camp that I love, it's CentriKid Camps. Why?

It's gospel-centered. Here at CentriKid Camps, we keep our Bible study curriculum focused on the gospel and its impact on our lives. I love this about our camps! This summer we will learn about living a transformed life, knowing that transformation comes only through the gospel, God's work in our lives. What better way to assist churches than helping kids understand the message of scripture? What better thing to teach kids at camp than the good news of Jesus Christ?

It's all about relationships. We believe true life-change happens best in the context of relationships, so we provide a group of well-trained, relational staffers who LOVE kids and have a deep desire to help them grow in their relationship with Christ. Our staff teams are totally focused on kids at camp. This also helps you focus on relationships. As a leader, you aren't throwing together lesson plans at the last minute, hiding away preparing for the evening message, or answering questions from confused or unprepared volunteer Bible study teachers. Instead, you, too, can hang out with your kids, play football with them, have quality conversations, and invest in relationships.

It's organized. We are professionals. We plan year-round. I've seen a lot of camps, and one of the things I love about CentriKid Camps is the attention to detail and the strong emphasis on organization. We hear from group leaders all the time who love CentriKid because it's organized. Even our most loyal fans know that we certainly aren't perfect. We mess up. We don't always get it right, but we work hard to plan, evaluate, and stay organized... so that people like you can enjoy the camp experience to the fullest.

It meets a true need. Camp is one of those things that you, as an individual, can spend month and months preparing to do on your own. It dominates your spring and summer, leaving you little time to work on other ministry needs. Or, it gets handed off to your intern who's never done this camp thing before. Instead of opting for one of these options, let us meet a need for you with CentriKid Camp... all you have to do is get the kids there, and we'll do the rest! Your kids still have TONS of time to connect with you, your leaders, and kids from your church while they are at camp. In fact, I would argue that you have MORE time to really hang out together than if you're busy teaching and leading and cleaning up the rec field!

Our team is completely passionate about what we do, and totally invested in our program. We always want to make it better. We always want to improve. We want to continue to meet the needs of churches... so keep letting us know how we can better serve you!

Want to come to camp for FREE? Share this blog with another church leader... They sign up for camp, your spot is free and so is theirs!

Meredith Teasley has been involved with CentriKid Camps since her first summer on staff in 2002. She even brought kids to camp while serving as a full-time #kidmin... at a church she met while serving as a camp director. Follow Meredith's love for camp on twitter.

STAFF: It's Paperwork Time!

Dear Returning Staffers,

The time has come for you to send me your paperwork. You may be thinking, "I’ve worked before, can't they just transfer all of my paperwork from last year?" No. Sadly, that’s not how it works. We need you to be prompt in sending your paperwork so that we can get yours processed and have time to get new staffers' paperwork filed before the summer. 

Your paperwork is due by Dec. 1, 2011.*

You know the drill:

• Go to the website. Read it carefully and do everything it tells you to do.  
• Print and send the forms at the bottom of the website to me.

 Jen Hall
CentriKid Staff Paperwork
One LifeWay Plaza
Nashville, TN 37234-0182

*Anyone that has not mailed in their paperwork by Dec. 1, 2011 will be subject to one or more of the following: Facebook messages, emails, Twitter conversations, and phone calls from Jen Hall. You've been warned!

Sneak Peek of CentriKid 2012

Our office team just returned from Eval Week ... and while every detail isn't ironed out for camp next year, we made progress on some fun new changes.  Here are a few of the changes you can expect at CentriKid in 2012!

- Group Leader Information is being revised and updated ...so many church leaders and parents talked about how helpful it was, and we are adding more specifics to make it more effective as you prepare for camp.  The parent page will be a better resource for parents to prepare their kids for camp and to follow-up on the spiritual aspect of camp too.

- The evening schedule will be like the new Thursday schedule from this year.  Each night will begin with the Party, then Worship, then open-ended Church Group Time.  The energy and excitement will start big and get more focused as the night continues.  This change really helps at locations where the church group rooms are kinda far away.  

- 6th grade hang-out is getting a new look.  We got a lot of great feedback about some needed improvements.  This will be a cool way to commemorate the last CentriKid experience for 6th graders.

- we are working on all-new arrangements of worship songs that will be used at camp and available to download too! There will even be a couple of brand new songs you will learn at CentriKid.

- Paca the Pinata will not be joining us next year at camp, but we've got new friends who are coming that you are going to absolutely love ... tune in to centrikidblog.com along the way to get the first glance of production elements before camp!

- Another popular request from kids ... every camper gets to take home a puppy.  Just kidding... that one is just to keep you on your toes.

We got so many great ideas from group leaders this summer as we chatted with them every week of the summer.  I know that if you are a group leader, you are likely to see changes happen that were suggested in your listening session!

CentriKid LIVE!

Traditionally, camp is all about getting away from your normal routine and experiencing Jesus Christ in a new environment. We absolutely believe that is true, and we are always looking for cool ways to tell people about the awesome things God is doing at CentriKid. So what would happen if we brought camp to your living room? Well, this year, that is exactly what we are going to do....LIVE! Join us HERE on July 27 and July 28 as we stream live the CentriKid worship services happening at Ridgecrest Conference Center. Jeff Slaughter will be leading worship and Gus Pacheco will be bringing the word of God to 800+ campers! Join our host, Lydia, as she shows us what a day of CentriKid Camps looks like and then we will join the live worship service happening at Ridgecrest. 

As if that wasn't enough, we have more! Want to know what the theme for CentriKid Camps 2012 will be? You'll have to join us to find out. It's going to be an awesome and exciting event and its all happening RIGHT HERE! Bookmark that page and we'll see you at 6:30PM on July 27 and 7:30PM on July 28 (all times are EST).