Northern Light Winter '21

A Note from the Executive Director | Introducing Catalyst | Meet the Advisory Board | Updates from Around HoneyRock | Facilitating Leadership Development on a Global Platform | Meet HoneyRock Graduate Students | Recent Blog Stories

2020—What a year! There’s been so much challenge and loss and YET so many opportunities and so much growth. As I look back on 2020 I'll remember it as one of the most stretching years ever as well as one of the most fruitful personally and professionally.

I spent more time in prayer and in deep-creative conversations with our team than ever before. I saw incredible sacrifice and service in our summer staff. I saw students—who lost so much—rise to the challenge and thrive. As I look ahead to 2021, I'm extremely hopeful and excited.

The need and desire for engagement, authentic community, and experiences in creation will explode in 2021 as COVID-19 hopefully subsides. This coming year provides incredible promise for HoneyRock.

This Northern Light highlights several ways HoneyRock has been able to step into new opportunities and a compelling future, two of which are introduced in this edition: an improved equestrian facility and expanded global impact.

Please join us in praying for a safe and COVID-safe spring semester for our 22 Vanguards and 20 Graduate students. Pray for our summer planning...it’s challenging to plan for an unknown state of affairs but we run forward with what we learned from last year until now, confidently planning for a full summer of programming. Have you heard? Our 2021 dates are live!

Know a parent who's on the fence about sending their child to camp? We've recently developed two guides for camper parents that I would encourage you to share. You can download them with the links below:

5 Signs Your Child is Ready for Camp

3 Ways to Prepare Your 8th Grader for High School

It is humbling to have such a great team at HoneyRock and Wheaton and a fantastic board of advisors (meet them below!) to help us think deeply and prepare. We count you as an important part of that team. Blessings in 2021. – Rob

Since the early days of HoneyRock, there has been a purposeful team of advisors to provide external support and input to the Director. The composition and size of the Advisory Board has changed over the years. Currently, it is a group of 9 people with various gifts, professional perspectives, and levels of experience with HoneyRock. We generally meet three times per year in person and occasionally as needed on Zoom. They have two, three-year terms. As the Executive Director, I have so greatly benefitted from these wise and faithful friends. They speak truth, challenge thinking, deeply encourage, and fully support me and the team here. I’m happy to introduce our current team with gratitude for their service:

• Becky Eggimann, Board Chair: Dean of Natural Sciences at Wheaton College, Associate Professor of Biochemistry. WC’ 00. Expertise: Higher education, natural sciences, faculty development, Wheaton Administration.
• Todd Murphy: Associate Director, Northwestern University Center for Leadership... Ordained priest ACNA. WC ’87. Camper parent. Expertise: Higher education, leadership development, professional coaching.
• Liz Robertson: Student Development at Westmont College. Pursuing a Ph.D. in leadership at Pepperdine University. WC ‘04. HoneyRock professional staff 5 years. Expertise: student development, higher education, emerging adults, leadership.
• Chris Traut: Retired Business Executive. Camper in the 70s. Camper parent. Expertise: Higher education, organizational leadership, business/finance, succession planning.
• Wayne Frey: Retired fundraising professional, 16 years in Wheaton Advancement. Expertise: Donor relations. Campaign and fundraising strategy.
• Kirk Weaver: Retired family ministry leader. Wilderness leader 16 years in the 60-70s. WC ’78. Expertise: family ministry, curriculum development, spiritual formation, wilderness leadership.
• Matt Erickson: Business Executive. Camper and camper parent. 4th generation HoneyRock family. WC ’94. Expertise: Organizational leadership, business, finance, marketing.
• Theon Hill: Associate Professor of Communication at Wheaton. Expertise: social change, race, and rhetoric.
• Tiffany Kriner: Associate Professor of English at Wheaton. Multi-year professor at HR. Camper parent. Expertise: Wheaton, students, women in leadership, faculty, creation care.

Click on the photo to view a larger version. Photos follow the order of individuals listed above.

Since May 2020, I have been part of a global cohort of camp leaders from around the world. The group, facilitated by our Executive Director, Rob Ribbe, has formed the Executive Track of Christian Camping International’s Global Leadership Program (GLP). It has been a major silver lining in the dark cloud of COVID-19 that has enveloped much of the world for the past 10 months. The mission of Christian Camping International (CCI) is to promote and support Christian camping throughout the world, as a means of serving the Church to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. Though this training was envisioned way before the pandemic, the composition of the cohort of global leaders, the depth of engagement by its members, and testimonies of its impact has so far turned out to be even better as a result of the pandemic.  

A global CCI gathering planned for April 2020 in Sydney, Australia, pivoted to online events as a result of the pandemic. The Executive track of the GLP is one such offering. One of the stated purposes of the training is to “build a global cohort of camp leaders who support and challenge one-another towards continual growth and God-honoring effectiveness.” Since May, the cohort has met online for six sessions and explored topics such as understanding what leadership means around the world, the character of a leader, and the shepherding role of leadership. In between the main sessions, small groups organized around common time-zones to discuss readings and resources. We also encourage and pray over one another.  I have the privilege of being in a group of four leaders, two from Canada and one from Mexico.

These are just a few examples of how I have experienced God “make all things new” (Revelation 21:5) amidst the pandemic. 

Our first online gathering consisted of 54 leaders representing 20 nations and numerous languages, cultures, backgrounds, and experiences.  Many of my fellow participants would not have made it to the gathering in Sydney due to limited availability away from their vocations, the expense of travel and accommodation, and the complexities of acquiring visas.  As a direct result of the pandemic, the cohort of leaders is a much more accurate representation of Christian camping around the world! The wisdom of God far surpasses our wisdom, and his plans are perfect (1 Corinthians 1:18-31). 

We have been able to encourage one another to prepare well for our sessions by sending each other reminders and notes via email. For many in the camp world, setting aside time to read widely does not come easily, and testimonies include “feeling like fellow students” again after many years. Our different cultural starting points as we read assigned books and Scriptures have served us with rich, well rounded, and sometimes surprising perspectives and insights. Our meetings as a small group and global cohort continue through March 2021 when this program comes to a close.

We are all eager to see how God will lead us to continue growing together as we serve the Church to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. Meanwhile, we can testify as Joseph did in Genesis 50:20 that what Satan meant for harm to Christian camping, God has used to “germinate” his Kingdom in ways we would never have expected.  God is making delicious lemonade out of a very bitter global lemon!