In Christian Camping

This past month we hosted a brand new event at Ridgecrest, Youth2Christ - The Urban Connection. It was a weekend event aimed at urban youth and was attended by over 200 youth and adults. From all accounts, it was a successful event. Everyone had a great time and more importantly, lives were changed by the Holy Spirit.

Plans are already under way for next year's event and details should be up on our website soon. In the meantime, please take a couple of minutes and watch the video below to experience a little of this year's event. You'll even get to enjoy a great Kirk Franklin soundtrack!

Today, as I was looking through the books in my office bookcase, I came across a blast from the past. The book is titled Without Reservations - An Uncensored, Unabashed Look At How People Behave In Hotels and is a compilation of guest stories from Holiday Inn hotels during the early 90's.

As I looked at the book, I remembered first reading it when I was the general manager of the Holiday Inn Townlake in downtown Austin, TX. The book was loaned to me by Oscar Sanchez, my front desk manager at the time. After reading I must have set the book aside and forgot to give it back when Oscar left to go to another hotel. So, Oscar, if you read this... I'm sorry man!

From experience, I can tell you that guests really do some strange things when staying in your hotel. I wish I would have been smart enough to right down all the crazy stuff I've seen over my hospitality career. While I don't remember all of them, here are just a few that I'll never forget.

• While helping to open the Crowne Plaza Galleria in Houston I remember I man coming down to the front desk and complaining about the toilet in his room. Not an unusual complaint for most hotels. However this one had a twist. See, we had really rushed the last couple of days of construction in order to get the hotel open in time for the Houston Homebuilder's Show and when you rush construction, some things tend to get missed.  When the desk clerk told him she'd send maintenance right up to fix the toilet he told her the problem was not a 'broken' toilet. No, the problem was he didn't have a toilet at all, only a hole in the floor of the bathroom! Big oops!
• One night, when serving as the Manager on Duty, I got a call on the radio that someone was shooting off a fire extinguisher on the 4th floor. Grabbing two security guards to go with me, we headed up the elevator. When we got off the elevator, we didn't see anyone and it was very quiet. Thinking we must have missed them, we started to head back down to the lobby. However, before we could, we noticed CO2 powder running down the corridor carpet so we followed the trail. The trail led us directly to a room on that floor so we knocked on the door. Imagine our surprise when a young man opens the door with a fire extinguisher in his hand. Talk about finding a smoking gun! Needless to say, he and his buddies had been partying in their room just a little too much. They ended up spending the rest of the night in jail...
• One Saturday afternoon, while working as the F&B Director at Holiday Inn East in Montgomery, AL, I got a call from the front desk saying someone had reported a 'bum' loitering in our Holidome. She asked if I would check it out and if true, politely ask him to leave. I said sure, but before I could walk out of the restaurant, one of my waitresses came running into the restaurant all excited. I asked her what was going on and she breathlessly explained that she had just see Hank Williams, Jr in the Holidome. Turned out he was the 'bum' that had been reported to the front desk. Evidently his tour bus had stopped next door to the hotel and he was just walking around to stretch his legs. Needless to say, I didn't ask him to leave. Even though he did look a bit like a bum...

What about you? Care to share an unusual hotel experience with us?

This is an excellent article from Fuller Youth Institute that gives great insight into "Guy Land," the world that your boys grow up in. It also offers some suggestions for how to walk with them through "Guy Land". Having worked closely with boys in middle school and high school for the past 10 years, I find this article to be right on target. This is the adolescent boy world. If this is news to you, then I encourage you to read the entire article, and perhaps even take a closer look into your son's day-to-day life. Who is he spending time with? What are they doing? What do they really talk about? And who is leading them into the rest of their life? Are they leading themselves? Or is there an loving, caring adult walking beside them through these crucial years of transformation? Enjoy the article and please feel free to comment with any questions or concerns...

Click this link for read more:  http://fulleryouthinstitute.org/2009/08/just-guys/

Last week I wrote a post listing the top 10 reasons why people stay with an organization (read entire post here). In that post I referenced a book I recently read entitled, Love 'em or Lose 'em. In this book, the authors offer 26 engagement strategies for managers to use in helping retain good employees.

Of the 26 strategies, 25 were proactive and basically a list of do this, or do that. However, one chapter focused on what not to do. The chapter was titled, "Jerk - Don't Be One". Immediately below the chapter title was this, "WARNING - If this book landed on your desk with a bookmark here, pay attention!".  If you're like me, you probably chuckled when you read that.

Unfortunately the reality is that it's not really funny for a lot of people. The reason being, they work for a boss that acts like a jerk and it makes their work life miserable. Over the years I've had the unfortunate experience of working for a couple of jerks (none so far at LifeWay!) and it was not fun. In one case, it was bad enough that I was ready to quit. When I complained to my general manager he told me that I could learn as much from the bad managers as I could from the good ones. (Not sure that's what I really wanted to hear, but looking back I think there's a little truth in there somewhere.) Fortunately, before things got really bad, I got a promotion and was transferred to another hotel.

As it almost was for me, working for a jerk boss is one of the top causes for a person to leave a job. Even employees who are well paid, receive recognition and a chance to learn and grow will leave if the boss is a big enough jerk. This begs the question, "Are you a jerk boss?". Some bosses are proud of the fact they're a jerk, but I think most of them (maybe even us sometimes) don't really realize the impact their behavior is having on their employees.

So, what are some of the behaviors of a jerk boss? Here's a "Jerk Behavior Survey" that can offer a little insite. The survey poses the question, "Which of these behaviors would make you leave your job?" and lists 42 jerk behaviors to choose from. Once you check the five that would most likely cause you to leave, you get the results of what everyone else said.

Here are the five (4 of 5 were in top 8) jerk behaviors I said would cause me to leave a job:

1. Belittles people in front of others
2. Lies
3. Humiliates and embarrasses others
4. Betrays trust or confidences
5. Swears

What about you? Have you ever left a job because the boss was a jerk? If so, what was the behavior that sent you out the door? If not, what jerk behavior would cause you to leave a job you were otherwise satisfied with? 

Over the course of my work career, I've been involved in more performance reviews (giving and receiving) than I can remember. Most were positive, others not so positive, but in my most recent performance review my boss asked me a question I had never heard before.

Near the end of our meeting, Jerry asked, "What would it take for you to leave LifeWay?". For just a moment, I was speechless. In 30+ years I've never had a boss ask me that question. I'm sure I've had one or two who probably wanted to ask what it would take to GET me to leave, but never what would it take for me to leave. Fortunately, I truly do love what I do. Once I recovered my voice, I said that short of the audible voice of God, I couldn't think of anything that would get me to leave to LifeWay.

As we discussed this question further, Jerry shared that he had recently read the book, Love 'em or Lose 'em. In this book,  the authors challenged employers to ask this type of question before a good employee leaves, instead of waiting and asking why they left in an exit interview. When you stop to think about it, this makes a lot of sense. Why not engage your good performers and find out what might cause them to leave before they really leave?

In their book, authors Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans shared the results from over 17,000 folks who answered the question, "why have you stayed with your organization?". Based on that research, here are the Top 10 Reasons why people stay with an organization:

1. Exciting work and challenge
2. Career growth, learning and development
3. Working with great people
4. Fair pay
5. Supportive management/good boss
6. Being recognized, valued and respected
7. Benefits
8. Meaningful work and making a difference
9. Pride in the organization, its mission and its products
10. Great work environment and culture

I would love to hear what you think about this. How do these reasons line up with how you feel about your job or organization? As a boss, which of these areas can you positively impact?

Well, it’s exciting and there is nothing we can do to stop it. Some sessions already have a wait list. This is the fastest registration process in the history of Camp Ridgecrest. We are doing everything we can to ensure that our returning campers can get their spot, but you have to act fast. All current campers were sent multiple emails with the registration link included. Check your inbox for details.  General Camp registration opens September 1, 2010.

Also, we are in the middle of the first annual Friend Frenzy Week! This is a week designed for current camp families to give their friends a chance to sign up before we post the registration link to the general public. Take advantage of this unique opportunity that ends August 31st.

Overall, the summer of 2009 was a huge success! We love hearing story after story of how God used this place to impact the lives of campers, staff and even parents. If you have a story to share, please comment below, or send us an email to rscamps@ridgecrestcamps.com. We love hearing what God is doing in the lives of our Camp Family.

See you in the Summer of 2010 at Camp Ridgecrest and don't forget to check out our Glorieta Summer Camps.

Tomorrow, my daughter and I will board the first of three flights that will eventually take us to Nairobi, Kenya (via Detroit and Amsterdam). Given that I've never been outside North America, I'm both excited and just a little bit nervous.

The primary purpose of our trip is for me to spend time working with the management team at Brackenhurst Conference Centre. Brackenhurst is a Christian conference center located about 30 miles outside Nairobi. I will be learning about their operation while also sharing with them how we operate Ridgecrest and Glorieta.

After spending a week or so at Brackenhurst, we will have the opportunity to go with some of the conference center staff on a weekend mission trip. We'll be working with a local Baptist church in the Homa (no relation to my dad!) Bay District near Lake Victoria. After returning from the mission trip, we will turn right around and head out on a 3 day safari to the largest Kenyan game reserve, located in the Great Rift Valley. Very cool! Actually I'm told that part of the trip will be pretty hot, but you know what I mean...

With only a day left before we leave, I've been checking and double checking all the details. Typically, when we're heading out on vacation, I will usually take a small folder with the confirmations for our plane tickets, rental car and hotel reservations. Heading to Africa has expanded that folder just a tad bit. In addition to those confirmations, I've added passports, a daily agenda, US State Dept info, shot records, travel insurance, anti-malaria meds and a checklist that would make an air force pilot proud. However, I'm sure I'll still be up half the night tonight trying to think of anything I might have missed!

My prayer has been, and continues to be, that God would keep us safe and use this trip to change our lives and those of everyone we come in contact with. I will do my best to keep you updated throughout our trip. Please feel free to check back here, or on my personal blog.

Brackenhurst, ready or not, here we come!!

Over the course of my lengthy hospitality career, I have attended and/or exhibited at more conferences than I can remember. Whether they were big or small, long or short, intense or relaxed, they all pretty much had one thing in common. A group of people, with common interests, coming together in one place to learn and to network.

Thinking back over all of the conferences I've attended got me thinking. Why were some better than others? Why did some seem to fly by, while others felt like I was on that proverbial slow boat to China? Certainly the quality of the speakers and program had something to do with it, but it's really more than that. I've learned the hard way that getting the most out of a conference is really more up to me than anything else. The more I put into the conference or trade show, the more I get out of it.

With that in mind, here are four things you can do to help you get the most out of the next conference you attend.

• Have an objective. Why are you attending the event? Is it to learn new methods? To get new business leads? To make a certain number of new contacts? To relax and work on your golf game? Whatever it may be, make sure your objective is clear in your head before you go. This will help you to focus on the real reason you're there. Otherwise it can be way too easy to get distracted by the busyness of the conference. Before you know it, it's over and you feel like you've just wasted a few days of your life.
• Intentionally and consistently talk to strangers. For some people this is very easy, for others it's pure torture, but it's critical if you want to get the most out of the conference. I find I usually learn as much, or more, from the individuals I meet as from the general sessions and breakouts.
• Arrive early, stay late and be outgoing at any and all networking opportunities. This one is especially important if you are an exhibitor at the conference. This is your opportunity to meet potential clients away from the "sales" atmosphere of a traditional trade show booth. People are usually more open and willing to talk when in a casual, social environment. When meeting new people, try to make it more than exchanging a business card. Take the time to qualify the potential value you each could bring to the other's network.
• Stay in touch. After returning from the conference, be sure to stay in contact with the people you met and want to add to your network. To develop a good network you must invest time in building the relationship. Whether it be through Facebook, Twitter, email or phone, take the time to get to know each other. Remember, the great thing about building a solid network is that you not only benefit from the knowledge and experience of that person, but also of those they are connected to.

What about you? What do you do to get the most from attending a conference or convention? 

That's a question we've heard a bunch since we announced a new operating model for Glorieta last January. We've also heard, "Why are you closing Glorieta?". Quick answer to that one, "WE'RE NOT CLOSING GLORIETA!"

So, now that you know for a fact we're not closing, I would like to share with you some of the details of our new operating model for Glorieta. We're excited about the future for Glorieta and we believe God has great things in store for the ministry that takes place there.

 Glorieta Update from Byron Hill on Vimeo.

Growing up, I never had the opportunity to attend a summer camp. At the time it was no big deal because I didn't know what I was missing. However, the longer I've been involved with our summer camps, the more I wish I could have enjoyed the camp experience as a child.

The following is a recently published article detailing a mom's wish to provide that summer camp experience for her kids. I hope you'll enjoy it.

When Heather Murry tried to enroll her children in camp at Ridgecrest, there were no spots open. Camp staff suggested she try their newer sister camp in Glorieta, N.M. The mother of five from Belmont Baptist Church in Conyers, Ga., said that was divine providence.

"Glorieta boys and girls camps are the jewel of the Southwest – it’s an undiscovered treasure," Heather said. "We wouldn’t trade any camp in the world for this one. It has everything from good, old-fashioned archery and canoeing to worship and quiet times all in one of the most beautiful settings you’ll ever experience."

To read the entire story, please click here.

What about you? Did you have a camp experience growing up? What about your kids? A week or two each summer, at a Christian camp, could have a huge impact on their spiritual growth. If you don't believe me, find someone who's had a "good, old fashioned camp experience" and I'm sure they will tell you the same thing!