This week our guest blogger is Rachael Jorstad. Rachael worked with Mountain T.O.P. from 2013 - 2021 on summer staff and support staff. She recently finished her Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt Divinity School. Inspired by her time on staff, Rachael is passionate about spiritual formation and cares about creating spaces for people to encounter God.
A Reflection on Cultivation
I spent a couple of days with the summer staff in the early days of training. This year I found myself saying something along the lines of “this isn’t just about your job, this is a life lesson!” more often than in previous years. Of course, this idea that the training one receives at Mountain T.O.P. will go with you into the world has always been true. For generations, we’ve had training sessions about communication and leadership that stretch beyond the context of leading a Major Group meeting or providing instructions to a YRG. The skill of “clarifying and confirming” or giving balanced feedback or ending a conversation with a clear next step are ingrained in the vernacular of those who have gone through staff training, regardless of what decade you served. For some reason, this year, it was all striking me differently.
In a conversation about camp week logistics, we talked about stewarding important relationships, knowing the why, and pivoting when unexpected circumstances arise. These aren’t just survival strategies for running a camp week. These are skills that will be used in all varieties of personal and professional settings.
“In a conversation about preparing and preaching a sermon, we talked about the different sources of wisdom from which we can draw. We pull wisdom from scripture and our faith traditions, as well as from experiences—both our lived experience and the experiences of others—and reasoning. Understanding how to pull from multiple sources of wisdom is not limited to sermon creation but is important in how we form our worldviews and theology. ”
In a conversation about the worships the summer staff would be creating and leading, we talked about the different kinds of people who would be represented in their camp community. For example, a camp community will include teenagers, older adults, folks who are new in their faith and folks who are mature in their faith. A community will contain folks who are grieving, folks who come from places of privilege, and folks who come from marginalized communities. This was a reminder that the groups we’re working with are rarely monoliths. Instead they’re full of diverse perspectives and experiences and we have the opportunity to be sensitive to that.
The things we learn in staff training go beyond the few months we spend on the Mountain. These lessons permeate our personal and professional lives. They inspire our spiritual formation and social identity. In my own experience, Mountain T.O.P. taught me how to be a better human and relate to other humans better. It was my experience as a summer staffer and I still see it in the way summer staffers are being trained.
Or, to put it in terms of the 2023 theme: Mountain T.O.P. is a place of cultivation.
As a young person, Mountain T.O.P. cultivated a sense of curiosity about what life was like for other people in other parts of the country. My horizons were broadened as I met people from across the country in my YRG and interacted with the homeowners we were working with. As a kid from a small town, it was important to encounter diversity and expand my worldview.
As a young adult, it cultivated a sense of confidence. Summer staff members are given a lot of responsibility and that gift of leadership allowed me to find my voice, grow in my strengths, (un)gracefully navigate conflict, and trust myself and what I could offer to others.
As a young professional, it cultivated a sense of passion. I care deeply about creating spaces where people can encounter God, explore their faith and their questions, and get their hands dirty for the sake of transformation. I credit my work at Mountain T.O.P. for being the place where I could discern that passion.
I have been and continue to be cultivated by the community of Mountain T.O.P. What has Mountain T.O.P. cultivated in you? And, if you are a summer staff alum, what is a life lesson that you learned during your time on staff?