From July 10-14th, I was on staff as a small group leader at the University of Oklahoma's Camp Crimson experience. And I cannot think of a better introduction to this topic other than the job was everything it cracked up to be and much, much more.
On July 12th I got my campers. There was one thing I told them from the get go-
"Some of you may have been Sooner born, Sooner bred. Some of you, OU may not have been your first choice, second choice or even third. OU wasn't on the map for me until April of my senior year. I guarantee you though, that by the end of this camp you will fall in love with OU -- and I want to thank you ahead of time for letting me be a part of that journey."
Which, in retrospect, wasn't the right choice of words.
Camp is very different from the small group leader side – Camp Crimson’s standard of excitement, energy and enthusiasm is set by us. And we have to maintain that level of energy for nearly 50 hours straight.
With over 620 campers, not everyone there was immediately buying into what was going on -- people were nervous. College is a big transition. And Camp Crimson can be, at first, very intimidating.
Within the first 12 hours, I already felt like I was running on "E". I was drained, exhausted, and impatient. In my mind, if all 620+ of them weren't chanting Boomer Sooner 24/7 there was room for improvement (an exaggeration, but still).
I was talking with other campers outside of my family, and I wanted to see more excitement than what I was getting, more energy, more enthusiasm --
To put it simply, I wanted everybody to have as hoarse a voice as me.
But then a perspective change hit.
James 1:2-4 came to mind near the end of the day. It goes a little something like this --
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
I stayed up for awhile thinking it through, trying to figure out how that applied to me.
That's when it hit me. It didn’t.
OU is great. I love OU, I want to get all that I can out of it in the three years I have left, and I want to encourage the class of 2016 to do the same. But OU, for students, is temporary. It's four years out of a full, healthy 80 years of life.
Right now, every incoming freshman is facing one of the biggest transitions of their life. It's big, it's scary, and it's a challenge that will force them to make some big, scary choices. The choices they make during their freshman year will influence the patterns of success and happiness for the rest of their adult life.
Dramatic, but for those of you who have been there, you know it's true.
My mission changed: I realized now that I was part of God's plan to equip these new Sooners with what they needed – which in most cases, was something more substantial than a new way to chant “Ellison”.
It was no longer,
"What can I give my campers to prep them for OU?" but it was-
"What can I give my campers that will do them the best good?"
I realized I had answered my own question thirty minutes earlier, in the form of a late night tweet.
"You can't make someone love OU as much as you do. But you can love them, and that impacts their life in unprecedented ways.
If any of my campers happen to be reading this blog, I want you to know this: I care about you. Not because of anything you said or did (though there were some very memorable moments with a few of you that are branded into my mind) but because I once had small group leaders too- and I know the impact they have.
I think Zac Stevens nailed it during training when he said (and I paraphrase--)
"Some of your campers may get involved in organizations you're in. Some you may see a lot. Some may not respond to your emails. But to them, you will always be, firstly and fore-mostly, their small group leader."
As camp crimson progressed, the campers became as wild and pumped as I was -- they were all excited to be Sooners. One of my girls, Jenna Hinckfoot, said she was already gunning for a small group leader spot next year. And I'd like to think that's because of the impact I had on them in two short days.
And because of that, I want to be a part of your lives. There is so much I still want to teach you, but more importantly, there is so much I want to learn from you.
So, that being said, I would like to change the first words I said to my campers. Maybe they won't all be reading it, but you are -- and perhaps you can find something in in my words that God wanted you to find.
Some of you may be excited to be here. Some of you, this transition terrifies you, and you may be carrying baggage -- no one is coming in a clean slate, and that's okay. Baggage isn't a burden; it's a reminder of where we came from. I guarantee you though, that if you give this new experience a chance -- if you are intentional, seek out opportunity, and let nothing hold you back -- Camp Crimson, and this first year of college, will be the ride of your life. I can only hope I will be fortunate enough to be with you for at least part of your Sooner journey during the next four years.
And thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me be part of your journey these past few days. You've impacted me more than I can express through one blog post.
Thank you for letting me welcome you to your new home -- I think you all are going to like it here.
Nathan Robertson
(p.s. -- Shout out to a camper by the name of Mark. I talked to you only in brief moments, but people were chanting your name all week, so you must be great. We're glad to have you here.)
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