June 25, 2026

Greystone is a big camp (more campers than most) but has a core goal of “feeling small”. This is not something I have talked about before, but since the goal arises directly from our mission, a few points are worth noting.

How do we feel small to the campers? Campers feel seen, heard, valued, and accepted. We make good friends and naturally add to our circle every week. A camper wrote yesterday: “At school, I only have two real friends, but at camp, I have more than I can even count.” Girls often say that at camp they can ‘be themselves’ and not be judged. This is profound… for Christians have a reputation for being very judgmental, and we are REALLY Christian around here. But we strive to show Christ as He is… gracious, patient, kind, gentle, slow to anger, abounding in love… and in this light we feel accepted as we are. We honor each camper as they come to us. Want to talk, we talk; laugh, we laugh; write, we write; smile, we smile. Jokes are met with jokes, and serious conversation with gravity. Doesn’t matter the age difference… it is wonderful.

How do we feel small to parents? We respond to your communications promptly (our goal is to respond within hours). This is sometimes impossible (Surveys are tough, arriving all at once between sessions… still coming in, but we try to respond to any feedback that feels raw within a day or two). Phone calls should get an answer immediately or within a couple of hours. Emails come in (hopefully within hours) during the day, and letters within a few days. We respond in the same way you reach out… meeting you the way you want to be met. We also give good communication before, during, and after camp and reach out in difficult circumstances that we learn of throughout the year.

Jesus had thousands of followers, and all of them felt a connection with him. We pray that our efforts will reflect that winsome outcome throughout our community, so that God will be glorified. Bad analogy, but it occurs to me that Taylor Swift has this kind of connection with her fans. Her fans love her not only for her songs but also for the person she aspires to be. We run a good camp, but we also aspire to be like Jesus. If we can even weakly reflect His love, we will accomplish our mission To delight and inspire, for the glory of God.

Photos: I might as well spend ten minutes writing about this because we know this is a subject on your mind. While many parents are thrilled with our photo changes, some parents have also been disappointed in the way we are doing photographs this year. Rather than post 2,000-6,000 photos a day (last year we posted over 350,000 during the summer), we now shoot for 300 a day from professional photographers. We recognize that this is a big adjustment and that many parents didn’t realize how significant it would feel during the session when you’re eager to see proof of your girls having fun.

The reason for the change was rooted in providing the best possible camp experience… for the camper. In recent years, camp life has revolved around the cameras that filled every nook and cranny of our day. Girls would strike poses in every setting (Dining Hall, lower road, Pageant Court, in classes, at programs), and every time they did, it had an impact. Instruction time dropped because girls were late to class and teaching was fragmented with girls stopping to take photos. Relationships were strained as girls were left out of groups walking… it felt like camp was becoming a social media content-generating machine. We began to sense that our campers could “feel” the camera on them at all times - exactly the opposite of the break we want camp to provide from the pressures at home to look and act a certain way.

This high number of photos was good for camp enrollments (we get great exposure as these photos are shared with friends and families all over the world), but it impacted camp in a subtle but noticeable way. Classes were one thing, but what really hurt was the campers who REALLY didn’t want to be in a photo. They would not get in the water if a photographer were around. They would hide their face with a hand or by turning away when in a group. They were annoyed and frustrated… and the omnipresent camera was impossible to avoid. It just felt wrong.

It would have been easier not to do anything. We love having an abundance of photos for you to enjoy. The glimpse into camp life is good for you; the abundance of photos is good for us; and other camps looked at our numbers in awe and envied our system. However, our biggest goal is to delight and inspire for the glory of God, and to do that, we have to keep a close eye on the feel of camp and our camper experience.

We have already seen incredible impacts in our camp community from these changes, but we recognize that (as with everything), there are still tweaks to be made as we look for a happy medium response. We have hired two photographers for many days this summer, and we’re working with them to hit a variety of classes and camper groups. We will continue to keep a close eye on photos and their impact, both at camp and at home. By the end of the summer, we’ll have a lot to analyze!

We deeply appreciate your feedback as we work to provide the best experience possible for these girls. One thing we know for sure - it has been a GREAT summer, and we believe photos have been one of the reasons why. This blog post about photos during June Camp shares specifics that we saw even in the first couple of weeks of this new system. NEVER have we had a Junior or June Camp like we just experienced, and so far, Main Camp is following the trend. With outcomes that good for the campers, we have to discern what changes are responsible.

Thank you for your patience, your kindness, your trust, your thoughts, and your appreciation of camp. If you have read this much, you are a fanatic, and we are lucky to have you on our team… no matter what your feedback on this policy might be! Thank you for your passion and for allowing us the honor of this summer.

Weather Perfect 80 degrees, low humidity, partly cloudy, UV 11 (again!)
Great Morning Assembly Devotion
*Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, sausage
Lunch Chicken Tacos
Dinner Texas BBQ, Idaho Potatoes, Carolina Collards, Alabama White Sauce, Georgia Peach Cobbler (theme EP is a celebration of America)
EP Theme night (Iconic America)
Taps at 9:40