Impressed

We are proud members of the American Camping Association: “a community of camp professionals who, for over 100 years, have joined together to share our knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs.” Every so often the ACA sends a team out to assess the entire camp operation: a process that is exhaustive and very beneficial to us. Yesterday we had our accreditation visit from three representatives of the ACA, soon we will have our annual visit from the Henderson County Health Department. We always pass with great scores (of course), but we also gain an uplifting sense of our camp from the perspective of an outsider.

Greystone has a very large program that is shocking in its depth. This is a result of the number of campers we serve, the priority we place on community (we keep our campers in camp every day as opposed to taking them on long camping trips), and the number of high school aged campers we serve (The majority of our campers are teenagers). Added to these details is our genuine desire to live our lives in keeping with the principles of Scripture (by loving each other all the time). All these things combine to flavor the general atmosphere of camp.

We represent Christ in a winsome way by living together in harmony and striving for excellence in every detail. We hold ourselves to a high standard because we represent the King of Creation. To do less would not be worthy of our calling! We get used to the “feeling” of camp and sometimes don’t appreciate how wonderful it actually is.

This is accutely felt when we see camp from a visitor’s perspective. A visitor will first notice how beautiful Greystone is. The setting is amazing and the grounds reflect generations of thoughtful care and extravagant preparation. It is a setting not unlike a country club (the reputation we have in some camp circles) but the attitude of the campers and counselors is nothing like a club. About five minutes into the visit, the shockingly open smiles and open hearted greetings are noticed by even a skeptical visitor. One can not help but feel welcomed… to sense the genuine connection between campers and counselors. There is indeed a sweet sweet spirit in this place!

Shortly afterwards something else is noticed… the remarkable depth of our program. Our campers are learning really wonderful skills in a very wide range of classes in some really amazing facilities. To walk into any of the classes [arts, cooking, Riding, Dance, Swimming, Adventure, Landsports, Sailing, Kayaking, (and the list goes on)] is an inspiration. Layer upon layer of surprise and delight… it makes for a very impressive experience of what camp is like.

This is not to say that camp is perfect. In fact, Main Camp in particular is a camp marked by hard moments… moments of tension arising from living together for a very long period of time. We spend every waking hour surrounded by a whole lot of people, it is natural that tensions arise and it is good that we learn to resolve these tensions with love.

This is what makes Main Camp so great! In two weeks the girls will be united with bonds that are remarkably strong due to the many moments that have been shared. That is what goes on this time of the session, it is intense and it is good. We love it and see the good that comes from this growth every year.

It is a beautiful slightly overcast day, highs expected to rise to the upper 80’s or lower 90’s. No chance of rain, which will be good news for our group night activities tonight (Waterpark, Asheville Tourist baseball game, Putt Cove, Pool, dinner at Dr. Margaret’s, and Overnight at Thunderhead… most require good weather to be fun!).

We are well and having a great day, thank you for checking in!