What a difference a year makes! Last year, we were still hiring summer staff a week before camp started, and struggling to find all the staff we needed for the summer. This year, before March even hits, we have already received enough applications to fill every single staff position for our 2023 summer camp season!
While we still have 2 open positions to fill (as not everyone we offer a position to is able to accept), that is still a tremendous difference compared to last year! All this happened during our recent trip to Kalispell, Montana for the National Lutheran Outdoors Ministry Association (NLOMA) Conference.
NLOMA is the LCMS branch of camp ministry, made up of over 26 Lutheran camps across the country. NLOMA helps provide our full-time Lakeview staff team with spiritual growth, professional development, and a cohort of other camp professionals to learn and grow from. It also provides the basis for Lakeview’s summer staff recruitment through a process called Joint Recruitment.
In Joint Recruitment, all NLOMA camps come together to recruit and place over 500 summer staff for the summer. We share a common application, and NLOMA members participate in recruiting trips across the country. When someone applies to one NLOMA camp, their application is able to be seen by the other camps in NLOMA, helping to make sure that every person who wants to serve in camp ministry for the summer is able to find a place. At the NLOMA Conference, we gather together with the rest of the camps in NLOMA to select and place a large majority of the staff each camp will hire for the summer.
If you wanted to apply and didn’t meet this initial deadline, we have good news for you! There are many camps across the country still looking for qualified young adults to invest in kids this summer. Here at Lakeview, we still are looking for a Female Counselor and a First Aid Coordinator on our Camp Lakeview side, but there are also many other Lutheran camps across the country looking for a wide variety of roles to be filled!
A summer at camp will help you gain leadership and group skills you will use no matter where your life or career takes you. It teaches you so much about what it means to live out ministry and follow Jesus in every aspect of your life. You will gain a new family of friends from the community of your fellow summer staffers. In short, there’s no better way to spend a summer! Check it all out at lakeview.camp/summerstaff, and get ready for the best summer of your life!