Greetings Mountain T.O.P. Community,
The term “fluid reality” is being used to describe our lives as we learn to adapt to a global pandemic. What is the reality today may not be so tomorrow. This is an unsettling truth but as people of faith, we cling even more tightly to the promise that God is with us in this season.
We are deeply committed to the health and safety of our local community, our staff, and the churches who are traveling from across the country to serve with us. Our plan right now is still to host participants this summer. This will continue to be our plan until we are forced to cancel completely. We have made several modifications to our programs that are listed below. Our staff team continues to have conversations about health and safety protocols that will be implemented this summer.
We are delaying the start of our summer and therefore canceling Week 1 (June 7-13) and Week 2 (June 14-20).
We are adding an additional week, Week 8, (July 26 - August 1) to our summer.
For those churches whose week has been canceled, you may register for one of the following options:
Week 4: June 28 - July 4
Week 5: July 5 - 11
Week 7: July 19 - 25
Week 8: July 26 - August 1
We will only be using Camp Cumberland Pines. We will not be using Camp Baker Mountain. While we are consolidating to one camp, our goal is to have no more than our 75% capacity with housing. We want to have some margin within our facilities.
Since we are consolidating into one camp, we are slightly over our desired camp capacity during Week 3 (June 21 - 28) or Week 6 (July 12-18). If you have the ability to move to a smaller week, we would encourage you to do so.
For Youth Summer Ministry (YSM), we will not be mixing churches into Youth Renewal Groups (YRGs). Churches will stay together for their service experience and form their teams accordingly. All meals and spiritual life programming will be done together as a camp community.
Since all churches are staying together, the logistics around Service Project and Day Camp will need some evaluation because we traditionally depend on the camp community to balance the details of vehicles. Now we will creatively adapt and need churches to balance the details within their own group.
Service Project: The desired size for a team is still 6-8 people. If your group is between the typical threshold (example: 10 people), you can consider having 1 large group or breaking up into 2 smaller groups. We understand that this decision will primarily be made based on the church’s resources. Additionally, if a group needs to take 2 vehicles to a worksite, we are allowing that.
Day Camp: We are still asking that groups who committed to bringing 12 or 15-passenger vans to please do that. If your group only had a few people signed up for Day Camp and could provide a 7-passenger van to accommodate a small YRG and a few Day Camp children, we will accept that, too. Remember, Day Camp participants must be rising 9th graders or older.
For churches who require Safe Sanctuary but are moving to a different week - since we are no longer mixing churches up for Youth Renewal Groups, you may choose any week you would like to move to since your church will be serving together.
The new deadline for electronic rosters and Adult Self-Screening forms is now May 15.
Refund Policy
If your church or MTOP is forced to cancel, we have an adjusted refund policy with a few options.
Your church is in a financial position that allows MTOP to keep all payments made and continue serving the families of the Cumberland Plateau. No refund is requested.
MTOP keeps your deposit and second payment ($165/person, for most churches). Your remaining payments are refunded or waived. This is a 60% refund.
MTOP keeps your deposit and second payment ($165/person, for most churches) and credits any remaining payments made to your summer 2021 trip.
Any changes that your group needs to make can be coordinated by emailing Rachael as soon as possible.
Thank you for your patience, your understanding, and your commitment to Mountain T.O.P.’s mission. We are so grateful for the work you are doing in coordinating your mission teams, especially with these new changes. Your partnership means to much to us and we can’t wait to see you soon!
The Mountain T.O.P. Staff