TRIP CAPTAIN 101

You stepped-up to lead at MAN CAMP. Well done. This page was built to outfit you for an amazing weekend. First things first: we don’t expect you to be a Bible scholar, a therapist, or a psychologist. Your role is to care for the guys in your unit, answer their questions, and guide them through the weekend. You’re going to do great.  Read through this, and if you still have questions, shoot us an email.

LEADING BEFORE CAMP

Your Trip Captain duties started yesterday. Welcome to leadership, pal. Before camp, do this:  

  • Connect with your guys before MC weekend—in person is best if you’re in the same city. Share your excitement. Answer any questions they have. Talk gear. Discuss your beer preferences so you don’t all bring Natty. 

  • Pray for your guys. By name. Every day until camp ends. Ask God to meet them, call them to adventure, and change their lives.

LEADING DURING CAMP

Rubber, meet road. You’ve done the pre-work, now it’s time for the big show. During camp, these are your main goals:

  • Love your unit. Nearly all men are spiritual orphans, looking for a father-figure to love, encourage, and come alongside them. Guess what? That’s you. Fathering isn’t a function of age or experience, it’s based on actions. Show love, and be invested in your guys.

  • Lead by example. What you do, and how you engage, will set the tone for the rest of your crew. Do the challenges. Be the first to pitch into help. Get vulnerable. Make it a point to engage with the outsider.

  • Put your unit’s experience above your own. We want you to have a great time, but when you made the choice to be a TC, you made a choice to sacrifice your experience for the good of your crew. Way to sacrifice. Very Jesus-esque. 

  • Be aware of the specific wins and challenges for each member of your unit. You will have time during the campfire to sincerely and specifically encourage each one of them. So take mental notes. 

LEADING A FIRE TIME

If you’re an MC alum, you already know that time around the campfire is the most critical part of the MAN CAMP experience. Here’s how to do it well.  

  • Model and honor vulnerability | You prove this is a no BS zone when you go first. 

  • Tell stories | Advice is preachy and rarely helpful. Relate to each other through stories.

  • Balance grace & truth | Jesus welcomed people in, but he was also brutally honest. 

  • Ask questions | You don’t have to have all the answers. Just keep asking questions. 

  • Listen well | You know the drill: don’t interrupt, eye contact, body language. Be engaged.

  • Listen for God | God might ping you to share a scripture or ask a question. Be bold and do it.

LEADING AFTER CAMP

You had an unbelievable weekend. Now what? Use the ideas below to ride the momentum:

  • Continue to pray for your unit, by name, as they return home from camp. 

  • Reconnect as a group. Talk through your shared experiences from MC—the good, bad, and ugly. If anyone had an action plan coming out of camp, check in on it.

  • Reconnect one-on-one. Same idea as above, but with one or two guys at a time. Buy the wings.

  • If your unit really gelled, consider getting into a regular rhythm of meeting together for shared times of fun, encouragement, and spiritual engagement.

THE SPIRITUAL FRAMEWORK

While everyone’s spiritual journey is different, we do find that every person passes through similar stages. We call those stages a spiritual framework. Everyone in your group falls into one of these frameworks, including yourself. While you may not introduce this language to your guys during MAN CAMP, understanding the stages, and getting a handle for where the guys in your unit are on their journey, will help you lead them more personally.

  • SEEKER

    Seekers are open to spiritual things and investigating them further. Their big need is to come into relationship with God. They need to listen for His voice, know His goodness, and practice being God’s sons. A win for them is time alone with God and being open minded about spiritual realities

  • RECEIVER

    Receivers have acknowledged their need for Jesus, but need reps following Him and His ways. Their big need is to practice active trust in God. They need to listen for God, believe He is speaking, and then act in obedience. Wins for them could look like getting baptized, praying out loud, worshipping freely or repenting from sin.

  • FOLLOWER

    Followers are actively living a life modeled after Jesus. They need to humbly spread the love of God and push themselves into greater degrees of obedience and trust. They can help you with your job as a Trip Captain and should have big hearts for seekers and receivers.

  • PRODUCER

    Producers model a high degree of obedience to Christ and are actively reproducing their faith in others. The biggest need for a producer is to keep reproducing their faith in others. This mostly looks like seeking, receiving and following the will of God, day-by-day.