Fun in the Son, SouthPadre Island

July 10-14, 2017

Group leader Handbook

Hey group leader!

We are so excited for you and your group to join us at FITS Padre! This year is a brand new year for this camp with LOTS of new things and a new direction for camp. Please read through this entire handbook as lots is new this year! We can’t wait to spend time with you during this amazing week!

See ya soon!

Your FITS Padre Planning Team

Quick Reference Guide

Youth Conference MinistriesRegistration Questions or Issues?

1200 Mountain Creek Rd, Suite 350Contact Del Francescon-YCM Office

Chattanooga TN

423-624-2495

Questions about Camp? Contact your Director:

JR Cochran-806-535-4817 or

FITS Padre 2017 Lineup

Evening Speaker: Joby Martin

Musician:Jason Johnson Band

About the week

Housing:

This year camp is having lots of amazing changes. Our housing and camp venue have moved! We will be staying at the Schlitterbahn resort on South Padre Island! This resort is an amazing place for groups. With beautiful rooms furnished with furniture made from Texas tree’s, this hotel is an amazing upgrade for FITS Padre. We will also have allour camp activities on the resort grounds. Our morning and evening meetings will happen in the Hibuscus room, which is their beautiful ballroom onsite. We will also eat a few meals on their beautiful rooftop venue that overlooks the ocean, have access to the indoor and outdoor parks all week and also have the luxury of their incredible beach access. Each group will house 4 to a room and many groups will receive a suite that can house up to 10. These suites will be great gathering spots for family time throughout the week. We know this is a big change, but it feels like such a good and healthy change. Our hope is for FITS to go from feeling like a conference, to feeling like a camp. This venue change will facilitate warm, welcoming, casual, authentic, family interactions among churches. We could not be more excited.

Registration and Check in:

As you may have already noticed, camp starts a day later this year. So you will now arrive on Monday, July 10th. Check-in will begin at 3pm. Once you arrive at Schlitterbahn, the team leader will be greeted by one of our Amazing work crew team members and will be shown the way to the Bastrop room where the Check-in process will take place. There you will be receive your room assignments and room keys as well as camp swag and instructions of what’s to come for the evening. From there you can get your kiddos and head to your rooms and get ready for camp!

Rec:

Another change will be that rec will not be near as much of an emphasis as it has been in the past. We will still have a volleyball tourney on Tuesday. It will be 6 on 6 and is always a huge hit! On Wednesday afternoon, we are going to have “park day”. This will be the day that camp is invited to spend time together utilizing the amazing waterpark. Of course groups are still welcome to use the beach access, but the camp focus for that afternoon will be the park. On Thursday, our rec will be a sandcastle building contest. There will be a big prize for this one! Our hope is that groups will get really creative with this and have a great time! Rec is meant to be a catalyst for your group to work together and have a fun and shared experience. We are hoping this change will facilitate that for your group!

Family Time:

You will see a time on your schedule for your group to have Family Time. This is a time that is designated for your group to share with one another what the Lord is doing in their lives. This time tends to be the most impactful time for groups. You can have your family time wherever best fits your group. Most groups will have a large suite for their group to meet in regularly. If you group is larger, we will reserve a meeting room for you to gather in. This is some of the sweetest time of camp.

Seminars:

You will notice that our morning meetings now have seminars instead of a speaker. We are so excited about this change. We have asked 3 amazing speakers to come a lead a one day seminar. Each student will get an armband that is one of 3 colors. These are their seminar groups. These groups will stay together all week and will rotate through their morning seminars. This is also where small groups will happen as each seminar will have breakout discussion times. The seminar leader will help facilitate this because you and your leaders won’t be there…And here’s why. During the student seminars, we will be gathering all leaders for a leader seminar/leader meeting. Our speaker is going to be giving us some amazing encouragement and training time each day during this time. This will also replace our previously scheduled evening leader meeting. So you will also get update and announcements about camp as well as have time to gather your team for instruction and encouragement. We love this new addition!

What to Bring:

1

  • Bibles, pens, journals
  • pillow, toiletries
  • Bathing suit and towel
  • Clothing for hot and cold temps
  • Hat, sun block, good tennis shoes
  • Spending money
  • Travel cash
  • Jacket or raincoat
  • Small First Aid kit per group
  • Guitar for group time if desired
  • Trash Bag for dirty clothes
  • A fun outfit for our FITS FIESTA on our first night of camp! Ole’!

1

  • Sunglasses
  • Insect repellent

What NOT to Bring:

1

  • Valubles
  • Drugs
  • Tobacco products
  • Weapons of any kind
  • Firecrackers
  • iPods/Nintendo DSs etc
  • Laser pointers

1

Daily Schedule

Monday

3:00 pm Registration and Check-In at Schlitterbahn

5:30 pmFITS Fiesta in Sea4ever for campers (work crew will be there)

5:30 pm Leader Meeting in Bastrop Room

6:30 pm Dinner in Sea4ever

7:30 pm Evening Meeting in Hibiscus Room

9:00 pm Family Time

11:30 pmHotel quiet hours begin

Tuesday/Thursday

7:00 am Sunrise worship at Sea4ever (optional)

7:45-8:15 amBreakfast (outside of hibiscus room)

9:00 amMorning Meeting in hibiscus room

10:00am Quiet Times around the hotel (do not go back to rooms)

10:30am Seminars in hibiscus room for campers/leader meeting in bastrop

12:00 pmLunch (we’ll let you know each day where lunch will be.)

1-5:00pmRecreation (volleyball tourney) and free time

6:30 pm Dinner at Sea4ever

7:15 pm Evening Meeting in hibiscus room

9:00 pmFamily Time

11:30 pm Hotel quiet hours begin

Wednesday

7:00 am Sunrise worship at Sea4ever (optional)

7:45-8:15 amBreakfast (outside of hibiscus room)

9:00 am Morning Meeting in hibiscus room

10:00am Quiet Times around the hotel (do not go back to rooms)

10:30am Seminars in hibiscus room for campers/leader meeting in bastrop

12:00 pm Lunch at Palapa

1-5:00pmALL CAMP PARK DAY!!!

6:00 pm Dinner on your own

8:00pm Evening Meeting in hibiscus room

9:00 pmFamily Time

11:30 pmHotel quiet hours begin

Thursday

7:00 am Sunrise worship at Sea4ever (optional)

7:45-8:15 amBreakfast (outside of hibiscus room)

9:00 am Morning Meeting in hibiscus room

10:00am Quiet Times around the hotel (do not go back to rooms)

10:30am Seminars in hibiscus room for campers/leader meeting in bastrop

12:00 pm Lunch (we’ll let you know each day where lunch will be.)

1-5:00pmRecreation (sandcastle building) and free time

6:30 pm Dinner at Sea4ever

7:15 pm Evening Meeting in hibiscus room

9:00 pmFamily Time

11:30 pm Hotel quiet hours begin

Friday-Check out is Friday morning.

YCM’sGroup Leader Checklist

  • Pray! Pray! Pray!
  • Send deposit of $100 per person to YCM
  • Secure adult counselors (1 adult male/female for every 6 male/female students)
  • Organize transportation to/from camp
  • Contact Josh Maddin with any questions you may have about camp (small groups, recreation, housing etc.)
  • Collect completed Medical Release Forms and make a photocopy; one copy will be submitted to YCM and you will keep one

YCM Rules/Guidelines

  • At no time should boys be in a girl’s hotel rooms or vice versa
  • Attendance at all meetings is required
  • Your (wristband/lanyard..) is your meal ticket. Wear it at all times!
  • Obey the conference curfew
  • Damage done to the dorm properties and the meeting rooms is the responsibility of the group and/or persons involved
  • Firecrackers, alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, drugs, and weapons of any kind are forbidden
  • Do NOT remove or rearrange your furniture
  • Please do not knock out screens, lean out, or drop things from your windows
  • Campers are not allowed to go around on the island without a counselor

YCM Discipline

It is our hope that discipline and security will be the least discussed topic for the week.

For that to happen, we need to agree on a few ideas: GOOD ORDER IS A MUST FOR A GOOD CONFERENCE. Considering the fact that we have several hundred high school students in one place, one of the primary responsibilities of all counselors is to help maintain order. A counselor within the local group should first initiate correcting anyone who is being disruptive. However, sometimes other counselors are the only adult around. Do not hesitate to assist should the need arise.

YCM Sexual Misconduct Policy

We live with an increased awareness of human rights. It is in that spirit that certain guidelines have been established in order to assure that everyone’s rights are protected, as well as the reputation of Youth Conference Ministries (YCM).

  1. At no time will counselors be in compromising situations with kids
  2. There should be absolutely NO physical contact that can be interpreted as sexual advances made toward any camper or any conference participant
  3. Adult counselors should not walk unaccompanied at night with campers of the opposite sex
  4. Adult counselors should not involve themselves in in-depth counseling with campers of the opposite sex in secluded areas
  5. These guidelines state clearly that there should be no inappropriate sexual conduct between counselor and campers, counselors and counselors, and campers and campers
  6. When adult counselors are notified of inappropriate conduct by anyone, they must immediately report it to TGE/FITS conference directors. Since the person in question may be a minor, state laws will be followed

Clothing/Swimsuit Policy

Our desire for FITS is to uplift and glorify God at all times. This includes our dress. It has been brought to our attention by you, the leaders, for the past couple of years that there has been inappropriate dress by counselors and students. This camp is for Christians and non-Christians, so we are not requiringa policyfor the students, but we strongly encourage you as the leader of your group to communicate with your group regarding awareness and appropriateness of their attire on the beach and at the Convention Center. The responsibility for addressing issues that arise from your own students ultimately resides with the head leader from each group. That being said, we would strongly recommend that issues with individual kids be dealt with by same-gender leaders.

ADDRESSES

Schlitterbahn Resort

100 Padre Blvd, South Padre Island, TX 78597

1