Spiritual Life philosophy

We desire to expose our participants to a variety of worship styles because we value the beauty of connecting with the Lord in different ways. Built into our daily schedule are four times to worship, either individually, in a small group, or as a whole community. Each day starts with an individual devotional time with material provided, during the day a staff member will lead a small group discussion on-site with the Youth Renewal Group (YRG), and each evening ends with a time of sharing and a time of corporate worship. Churches will also an opportunity to meet together for a time of discussion and reflection once a week during free time.

Service Project

The scope of our service projects includes construction, painting, and yard work. However, doing home repair is about more than building a porch or clearing a yard. It’s about the accessibility that is gained when a family now has a safe way to enter and exit their home. It’s about how that entryway will serve as a much more significant entryway into a healthier, more sustainable, and more socially connected lifestyle. It’s about providing youth the opportunity to learn about power tools and the power of social connection. We know that so many of the aspects of our personal health can be traced back to the health of our homes. From social connection, mental health, or physical accessibility, the quality of our homes has a significant impact on our lives.

Day Camp

Building resilience, exploring community, reading, growing in healthy lives, playing, learning about Jesus—this sums up a week of Day Camp. Five days of Day Camp broadens horizons, brightens futures, and builds hope in youth ages 6-11 from Grundy County.

Day Camp is intentional about pairing Youth Summer Ministry participants with the Day Camp children, giving the YSM participants the opportunity to grow in their leadership and mentorship skills, and making sure our younger children have individualized attention. For this reason, we require that YSM participants to be rising 9th graders or older.

community Formation

Participants in either Day Camp or Service Project spend the camp week in Youth Renewal Groups (YRGs), which are essentially their "work groups." Youth Renewal Groups are created on Sunday of the camp week by placing members from all different churches together. YRGs provide a place where different geographic and faith backgrounds are represented. These groups are a place where individuals can be fully themselves, without maintaining the weight of any established social expectations that may be present with their original group. Days out on the work site or with Day Camp children are spent in these groups, but the entire camp community comes together each evening for dinner, worship, activities, and free time. Mixing up with other churches affords youth the opportunity to encounter new people and challenges throughout the week; this is often cited as one of the most meaningful parts of "the Mountain T.O.P. experience."

If your group absolutely would not like to split up, please let Jacey know! We are able to make accommodations for some groups to stay with one another if necessary due to church policy, etc.

getting started

Looking for more information and resources? Check out our 2024 Registration Packet - it includes plenty of information about the program details, financial guidelines, payment deadlines, and how to register!

You can also reach out to Analiese to schedule a meeting and talk more in-depth about a trip to the mountain!

Connect

Dates

SUMMER 2024:

Week 1: June 9 - 15

Week 2: June 16-22

Week 3: July 23rd - 29th - Registration for this week is CLOSED

Week 4: June 30 - July 6 - Service Project ONLY this week, no Day Camp

Week 5: July 7 - 13 - Service Project CAPACITY, Day Camp spots still available

Week 6: July 14 - 20

SUMMER ALUMNI CAMP: July 3 - 7

Prices

PARTICIPANT FEES:

• Returning church: $405 per participant

• New church: $385 per participant

• Church, regardless of new or returning, coming Week 4: $325 per participant

• Our prices are staying constant for this summer, but our fee schedule has changed. Please review the new outline in the 2024 Registration Guide. Contact Jacey with any questions.

DISCOUNTS:

• Haven’t been to Mountain T.O.P. in a while? Talk to us during registration about your pricing!

• All churches, regardless of payment method, receive a discount for one free Contact Person. Churches may also have one Clergy Person attend for free.

registration information

As you begin planning a trip to Youth Summer Missions, we highly encourage to utilize our 2024 YSM Registration Guide.

• Registration will open in two waves at the beginning of October.

  • Priority Registration opening September 27th, 2023 at 10 AM CST

    • Priority registration is only available for churches who came the most recent summer season

  • General Registration opening October 4th, 2023 at 10 AM CST

• Once a registration is received, the Contact Person will be invoiced for the deposit amount. 

  • We highly suggest collecting these deposits from participants in advance to encourage financial investment in the trip and avoid drops later in the year. 

• We encourage groups to register conservatively, then add more participants as they confirm them and as space allows. 

• If a church or Mountain T.O.P. is forced to cancel any of our programs due to COVID-19 or any other health crisis, churches will receive a 100% refund. 

• The financial guidelines have been developed in order to operate responsibly and make decisions as far as staffing, open facilities, food purchasing, etc., in a timely manner. This fee includes all meals, lodging, project materials, programming, and camp staffing.

Registration Guide

Haven’t registered yet? Start by reviewing this guide!

Contact Person Resource Guide

Find the 2024 Contact Person Resource Guide here. While this is not every single piece of information needed for planning a trip, it should cover a large portion of getting started. Please reach out to Jacey with any questions upon registration!

Team Training materials

Training your team for the Mountain T.O.P. experience is absolutely crucial. We honor those we are serving when we choose to invest in learning who they are, what their context is, and what assets they bring to the table. Promoting the dignity of all people is of utmost importance to us. Our training materials are being updated for our Summer of 2024 participants and will be released by late October in order to give teams enough time to plan out their sessions. We recommend having training in the Spring.

Camp Assignments

Week at a Glance

Your camp assignments and directors will be announced further into the Spring when we have the majority of the registrations and can begin assigning to our different camp locations. Day Camp is only offered at our Cumberland Pines camp location, so if you have Day Camp participants you will not be able to be at Baker Mountain.

Here is a general overview of what a camp week looks like! Most of the times listed next to the activities are subject to change, so it is always best to ask or rely on what your Summer Staff is directing the camp community to do. However, this might help when packing, planning, or just to help you wrap your head around what all we do in the summer!