One Legacy of HoneyRock by Guest Blogger Bill McGee

Bill McGee--HoneyRock Executive Council Member

I
spent the summer of 1965 in the Summer Leadership School at HoneyRock.  It was a
summer of learning and growing and fellowshiping and being mentored in the
richest tradition of Christian outdoor education.  As much as I valued my
summer experience at HoneyRock at the completion of that summer, it wasn’t
until the years following that I came to a full understanding and appreciation
of the depth of my HoneyRock experience.  As I reflected on my experience in
SLS (and the people who directed that experience), I came to realize that it
was not only in the comprehensive knowledge of camp programming, but in the
philosophy of Christian Outdoor Education it engendered in me, that I was prepared
to be a teacher and leader.  Following is a case in point:

The
next summer (1966) following SLS, I accepted a position as camp counselor and
canoeing instructor at a Christian residential camp in upstate New York.  Following
that summer, it was somewhat of a shock to me to be asked by the directors of
that camp to consider being Camp Program Director the next summer.  Without question,
it was the range and depth of camp programming knowledge instilled in me at
HoneyRock, coupled with the philosophy of Christian Outdoor Education, that
enabled me to step into and effectively serve there as Camp Program Director for
two years, as well as other positions in camp administration over the years.  In
addition, HoneyRock has played a part in shaping the lives of my four children,
all of whom are HoneyRock alumni.

One
other thing I will mention, and who knows but what it may be the most important
of all:  Having lost my dad at age 12, it was a great blessing to me to be mentored
by men like Harv Chrouser, Willis Gale, Don Church, Bud Williams, Paul Hert,
and Clarence Boettcher.  These were men who imparted wisdom and knowledge not
just by instruction, but by demonstration  Their sweat fell to the ground right
alongside mine in the work we shared in that summer at HoneyRock so many years
ago.