Be the Director I Could Follow: ...a Camp Director's Manual

John Pearson writes in his foreword:

Harvard Business Review’s classic article, “7 Surprises for the New CEO,” is a wake-up call for both corporate and nonprofit leaders - including camp directors. Surprise Number Five is a shocker: “You Are Not the Boss.” Few articles and books equal the honesty and warnings from these co-authors.

So I was blessed and privileged when Earl invited me to write this foreword. His written labor of love - transparently delivered with warts and all - is a valuable survival kit for new and growing camping leaders who will find not seven, but dozens of surprises in their leadership journeys.

Oh, my. How I wish Earl’s wit and wisdom had been in print decades ago when I invested 11 immensely challenging (but thoroughly satisfying) years as a camp director in Illinois and Washington. I would have read this book every week!

Then when I was privileged to lead what is now called Christian Camp and Conference Association (CCCA), I would have gifted his book to hundreds of struggling (but amazingly committed) men and women who loved Jesus and led remarkable camping ministries.

Be the Director I Could Follow is a feast for new leaders and old leaders. In addition to Earl’s savvy smarts from his in-the-trenches school of hits and misses, he’s invited four of my Christian camping heroes (Dick Angelo, Brian Ogne, Enoch Olson, and Tom Robertson) to serve up their common sense approach to leadership. Brilliant!

Here are six reasons you MUST read this book - and share it with your team:

1. Twitter-Worthy Quotations Sprinkled Throughout the Book. Amazing stuff! Like John Maxwell’s insight: “The only thing a title can buy is a little time - either to increase your level of influence with others or to undermine it.”

2. Brian Ogne’s Four Principles of Funding Your Ministry. My favorite: “People give money to success, not to distress.”

3. Tom Robertson’s Transparent Confession. “…I needed to settle the glory issue. Either I got it or God got it. I was not meant to carry the glory belonging to God. It was so freeing to lay that burden down.”

4. Enoch Olson’s Sacred Task. “As the visionary I had the sacred task of proclaiming a vision of a future that did not yet exist ... for a people with the means to bring that future into a present reality.” (Note: Enoch wrote his chapter at age 85 and noted, “With the help of many, my style of leadership is still improving which means it is a growing process. There are real reasons why some leaders succeed and others fail.”)

5. Dick Angelo’s 7-Day Prayer List. “The best practice that a young or old director can get into is to take all the cares of the week, make a list of them, and daily spend time in prayer over them. Keep that list at least a week ahead all the time. That way, one prays for the need today, as well as always praying for the needs of the next several days.” Yikes! How did I miss this discernment insight? While grace abounds, I wish I had started this 50 years ago, not this week.

6. Earl Taylor’s Metric That Matters Most—the Happiness File. “I do keep a close watch on the finances of the camp; without enough money, the camp begins to flounder and morale and facilities go downhill. Staff likes to be paid. But I have an even more important system to measure the success of the camp: it is called my ‘happiness file.’ In my desk, I keep a file of all the good reports I hear from parents, churches, and campers.” Great insight - great idea!

John Pearson

Earl Taylor is also the author of Be All You Could Be. He is currently the Director of Vision and Design at Hidden Acres Christian Center in central Iowa. www.hacamps.org The author can be contacted by email: earldtaylor@yahoo.com