Back when I was a summer staffer in 2019, the Village staff would come up with a staff motto each. 2019 was the launch of the “A Place For You” capital campaign, and fittingly, the theme that was constantly coming up for us Village staffers as we thought about building “place for you” was “full send.”
Now, “full send” can mean a lot of things. But for us Village staff that summer, it meant giving “a hunna percent” (more commonly known as “give your 100%.”) This could translate to something like pretending it’s not cold and raining when it very obviously was, or, when you’re sleep deprived from late prior Night Owl Tuesday evenings, you still pull to the fullest strength during Wednesday mudpit tug-of-war for your campers.
It was actually a lot more impactful than we thought.
When we came up with our staff theme, we wanted something more meaningful than a “silly trendy statement” and for some reason, we thought using Google to translate “full send” into Greek to be more Scripture-like would be the thing to do (thanks Kennedi “Pablo” Vandergriff for that idea).
In Greek, the very, very rough translation of a “full send” summer is “Πλήρης Ἀποστολή,” or “pleres” (pleh-rehs) “apostole” (ah-poh-stohl-eh).
“Πλήρης” is an active filling-complete, perfect, and honestly, unattainable. “Ἀποστολή” is “to send,” or “one sent,” and we see this used to describe an “apostle,” a sent one.
If we dig deeper to the active part of using both words (bearing in mind I am still not a Greek expert) it’s actually not so much a meaning of “full send", but rather “fully sent.”
In John 3:16-17 we see this phrase lived out to its completeness in Jesus Christ. Jesus was fully sent to us because He loves us so much He died for the whole world.
Following the example of Christ, a “full send” summer means truly being present, witnessing the example of Christ’s love, and lifting up those who may be struggling. It’s worshipping at morning devotions with the most energetic of camp song actions, and devoting time outside of giving cabin devos to be in the Word. It’s lifting up a sad or homesick camper, and praying with our fellow staff members when they’ve had a rough time.
It’s being a servant of the cross - who is impacted by the servanthood Christ gives to us on His cross.
My hope “for generations to come” is that each summer the campers experiencing camp get to witness a “fully sent” summer.
Not just the full send of a no-hands spaghetti commitment, but also the love and care of summer staff who themselves are fully sent to witness Christ’s love to the campers. Those summer staff are only able to do so knowing that they, themselves, have also been loved and sent, both by the full time staff teaching and guiding them, but also by Christ Himself.
My prayer is that the campers and staff know that wherever they go, what they have learned at camp will fully send them to wherever they are called to go next.
As an alumni, I have seen myself at my lowest and highest points at camp. I have been fully sent because of Christ’s servant-filled heart and sacrificial love. And I only know that because those that came before me throughout the generations have also been fully sent to share that love with me.
“That where I am, that you may also be” (classic camp song that it is!) comes to mind when thinking about such things. And with a “full send” summer coming forth for Lakeview, I sign off as a full-time staff member at Lakeview also knowing that church workers are fully sent, and I have been fully sent to a new chapter at Christ Memorial Lutheran Church in St. Louis, Missouri as their Director of Youth and Family Ministry.
Thank you to Lakeview, for fully sending, and continuing to fully send the past, present, and future campers. You have truly created “a place for you,” “for generations to come.”
So, for this new group of summer staff, I say to you: Have a “Πλήρης Ἀποστολή,” summer. You are loved by Christ and sent forth to be that next generation. And thanks be to God for that calling!
