10 Questions with SpringHill Camps Retreats Director, Eric Woods

Have you ever wondered what it's like to program retreats for thousands of middle and high school students each year? 

Have you ever been curious as to what it takes to become one of the speakers who headlines those type of events?

Recently, Youth Speaker's Coach interviewed the Retreats Director at SpringHill Camps, Eric Woods.

Here is what he had to say:

How did you get connected with SpringHill Camps?

As a high school student, my youth pastor took a small group of student leaders for some intense discipleship and training. It was where I first was challenged to listen for God, and where I distinctly remember hearing from him for the first time. It’s where I was baptized, and where I baptized my wife. And later, as a campus minister, we brought hundreds of college students here every fall for a retreat. 

Now, I’m here helping facilitate those kinds of life-changing experiences for about 30,000 guests every year. Wow.

What are the top 3 tips you would give to youth pastors who are trying to improve their communication skills with students?

Practice. It’s probably the single most important thing you can do. Speak every chance you get: offer to do breakout sessions at retreats, fill in for the pastor on holidays, and address community groups. The more you speak, the better you’ll get at it.

Listen voraciously.  Listen to great speakers, to their timing, their voice, and their pace. But you should also listen to lousy speakers; you’ll learn a lot from them too.

Seek feedback. Most people just getting started at speaking don’t recognize the little things they’re doing that distract from their message. Ask people what they noticed about your delivery and your content. If you’re only getting kudos, you’re asking the wrong people.

What has changed in student ministry over the last 20 years that youth pastors and speakers need to take into consideration when speaking to youth?

We’re not starting from a common place. You used to be able to assume that students knew what the Bible said and believed it was authoritative. But we’re living in a post-Christian world, where these assumptions mean we will miss connecting with the students who need our message the most. 

Brock Morgan’s new book, Youth Ministry in a Post-Christian World, will open your eyes to this new reality.

How has SpringHill altered their approach to programming with students over the last 15 years?

The core of our teaching at summer camp still happens around the campfire, in the context of the small group and personal, loving and caring relationships. We don’t hire speakers. We tell stories from stage and then equip our counselors to share their own stories of God at work in their lives. It’s powerful.

The biggest change has been in our pre-teen retreat series. We recognized that in the context of a 40-hour retreat, where we weren’t providing trained counselors (they were volunteers coming with the churches), we needed a speaker to hit home the content from the stage. There’s a whole new world of speakers rising up who understand the mind of a pre-teen and how to communicate with them.

What are the 3 characteristics that make for a great youth speaker?

Connecting with students is the most important. I can usually judge the spiritual impact of a weekend retreat by how many kids are lined up after a session to talk with the speaker. The longer the line, the more they’re being affected by the word.

Flexibility is a close second. I want our speakers to come prepared, but I also know that some of the best moments at camp have come when a speaker changed course based on the needs of the particular group of students who happened to be there that weekend.

Genuineness. Students see through canned stories. A speaker who hasn’t spent time with students off the stage in twenty years will seem stale and out of touch to students. It doesn’t matter what he says, no one is listening anymore.

What makes SpringHill Camps unique among all of the other camps available to students across the United States?

We make our own snow. Seriously. On a recent tour of our property, one of our guests said he almost “fell out of the van” when I said that. And it’s the integration of that kind of crazy fun you can’t have in your own backyard and the content that’s coming from stage that’s truly life-transforming. The message doesn’t end when a student leaves the auditorium… it’s only just beginning as he laughs and plays alongside his youth pastor and the adult leaders from his church.

How does a youth pastor or youth communicator become a speaker with a camp like SpringHill? Advice?

It’s important to remember that your first paid speaking gig is probably not going to be at my camp. The stakes are just too high for me to put most people on stage without a track record. That said, I’m looking for five things: you to show up pretty high on a Google search, references from people I know and trust (not your senior pastor), a statement of faith, a video of you speaking in front of the largest group of students you can muster, and that you know something about us. You can read more about these five things on my blog post How to get me to hire you… as a speaker.

How does SpringHill Camp deliver coaching and feedback to the speakers on the speaking roster?

I’m pretty up front with what I’m looking for in a speaker. About 4 to six weeks before an event, I’ll send a packet that describes the theme, what the content of each session will be, and what I’m expecting from each message.

Some things require a face-to-face conversation, like how we’ll handle the invitation on Saturday night, and how you should (or shouldn’t) talk about the books and t-shirts your trying to sell.

Besides that, I’m usually in the green room after each session, so my speakers know right away if I have any concerns or advice.

What is the "secret weapon" of communicating to students?

Honestly? You have to have something to say. If you go up there and aren’t passionate about your message, if you’re telling stories from twenty years ago, and if you stammer through your application, you won’t be coming back.

Some of the greatest preachers in history stood at a pulpit and read a manuscript. If you can pull that off with passion, go for it. But most of us will do better to speak from our well-prepared hearts.

What do you specifically pray for the students who will attend your retreats this year?

I pray three things: that they would be moved closer to God, that their relationships with the students and adult leaders they see every week would be strengthened, and that they would be changed in some way. Everything we do is designed around making those three things happen, but we know (John 15:5) that apart from God we can do nothing.

Eric Woods is the Retreats Director at SpringHill Camps, one of the largest Christian camps in the country. Before he joined the world of retreats and camping, he was a campus minister with a large, non-denominational campus ministry serving Central Michigan University.

SpringHill Camps is a non-profit Christian camp and retreat ministry with locations in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Their mission is to create life-impacting experiences that enable young people to know and to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ.