July 8, 2013 Dr. John Seaman: This spring I asked Dr. Larry McKain, - - PDF document

• Dr. John Seaman: This spring I asked Dr. Larry McKain, who has been a member of our District

Advisory Board, and current pastor of Lansing South, to serve as the leader of a Review Committee to study Indian Lake Nazarene Camp. Larry spent numbers of hours this spring, listening and asking questions of numbers of people involved with Indian Lake. What you may not know is that he is a spiritual product of a Nazarene Camp, on the Iowa District. A district that once had thriving childrens and youth camps. With 1200 – 1500 people attending Family Camp Week-end in the 1960s, 70’s and 80’s. He has been spiritually shaped by Nazarene camps. In 1999, Dr. McKain founded the non-profit coaching consulting ministry called New Church

• Specialties. He wrote the curriculum and launched a training system for church leaders called New

Church University, which has been translated into Spanish and over 5,000 church leaders have attended. He has an undergraduate double degree in business administration & religion from Mid-America Nazarene University, a masters from Nazarene Theological Seminary, and a doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary in church development. During his 12 years with New Church Specialties, Dr. McKain travelled throughout the United States, working in partnership with over 50 Nazarene Districts, many of whom operated camps. In the past 10 years, he has seen districts where camps have flourished and districts where camps have closed. Because of his background, I’ve asked him to serve as the Chairman of the Indian Lake Interim Governing Board. But before he comes to lead the presentation about Indian Lake, the District Advisory Board has asked David Downs, our Board Secretary to make a recommendation to the Assembly.

• Rev. David Downs: After careful review this spring, on May 9th, with the approval of General

Superintendent J.K. Warrick and the District Advisory Board, Dr. John Seaman, our District Superintendent declared Indian Lake Nazarene Camp in crisis. The District Advisory Board voted to appoint Larry McKain as the new ILNC Governing Board Chairman and authorized Dr. Seaman and

• Dr. McKain to assemble a new Board for District Assembly approval. I make a motion we approve

the members of the Interim Governing Board that have been assembled and have begun working. District Assembly Approved the Governing Board

Written Excerpts from the Indian Lake Nazarene Camp District Assembly Presentation July 8, 2013

• Dr. Larry McKain: Thank you Dr. Warrick, Dr. Seaman, members and friends of the Michigan

District Assembly, for the confidence and trust you have placed in all of us as an Interim Governing Board to serve you and the interests of Indian Lake Nazarene Camp & Conference Center.

• Dr. Seaman has done a stellar job of assembling a top-notch board to lead us through this
• crisis. It is such a privilege to work with them. I can assure you that everyone on the Interim Board

wants to help turn the camp around as fast as we can, so we can move the camp out of crisis and back to normal, healthy operations. I want to begin first of all, by thanking Paul & Carol Carasez, for what they have taught me personally about the camp, for their support, and the heart they have had to serve Indian Lake Nazarene Camp. The issues the Interim Board are now addressing began long before they arrived, and their work over the past 10 years for our District will not be forgotten. And to them as a servant-leader couple, we owe a great debt of gratitude. They have resigned their roles in recent days and we are currently working together on a succession strategy. When I think of Paul & Carol, I think of the Apostle Paul’s words of gratitude to the Thessalonian Church in chapter 1, verses 2-3. He writes, “We always thank God for you…We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” For Paul and Carol, its always been about serving our children and youth. Another person I want to recognize as we begin is Myra Richardson. She serves as our Governing Board Secretary. Only Jesus knows the dozens and dozens of hours Myra has given to the camp just in the past month. We have easily processed now a 1,000 pieces of communication about Indian Lake and if it seems like through this report that we are making any progress, in large part, it is because of Myra Richardson. As we go through this presentation today, we are committed to full communication with you… and that includes lots of listening on our part. In Luke 2:46-47, we learn the secret of how Jesus grew and found favor with God and man. The Bible says when Jesus was just 12 years old, and was in the temple, he was sitting among the teachers, two things: 1) he listened and 2) he asked questions. So as we give this presentation today, you have been provided with blank sheets of paper. If you have a question that comes to your mind that you’d like to ask, please write it down. Our goal today is to have every question answered so everyone in this room can become an Ambassador, a raving fan of Indian Lake Nazarene Camp before you leave. At the end of our presentation today, we have set aside some time to answer your questions. An incredibly gifted team of leaders began working together last month to lead Indian Lake Nazarene Camp into some of her best days ever. Indian Lake has faced some hard days before. She may face some hard days in the near future. But a growing number of us believe that Indian Lake Nazarene Camp can and will become one of the finest Christian camps in America. Why do we believe this? Because Indian Lake is the story of God at work…and the people of the Michigan District at work…touching the lives of children and youth. Because this camp is really…about our commitment to kids. In the book, Called Unto Holiness, there is quote from the founder of Nazarene Theological

Seminary, Dr. Hugh C. Benner. In it, he talks about the importance of investing in and paying attention to future generations. This is what Hugh Benner wrote, “It takes but one generation, ignoring or distorting the spirit and basic issues, to change for all the future…the course of any spiritual enterprise.” That’s why every new generation must be reached…every new generation must be touched…every new generation must be trained. Indian Lake Nazarene Camp has been a tool in the hands of God…to help make that happen. Across the past 86 years, there have been some incredible accomplishments in the development of our camp. On August 18, 1926, two acres at the point, 3 small cottages, a small boat house, a half- burned out hotel, and about 30 acres of open field were bought by a small group of visionary Nazarenes…for $7,000. No electricity, the ground covered with briars and weeds. No road. But the Nazarene founders of this camp had a vision. And from the very beginning, it was really about, not just themselves, but the next generation. Impacting…training future generations. I have the privilege of pastoring Lansing South Church of the Nazarene, a church that began in 1932, when the camp was just five years old. Cal Kring is one of two living members we have, his parents were charter members. Cal was saved at Indian Lake Boys Camp in the late 1930’s. The spiritual impact, the generational legacy that Indian Lake has created, not only for Cal personally, but for every one of his children, and his grandchildren who are now coming to camp here….We can’t put a dollar value on that kind of legacy, on that kind of spiritual, generational impact. That same spiritual impact has been true for hundreds of families. And there have been thousands of boys and girls and young people whose lives God has touched on these grounds… From the beginning…this camp has always been about young people…about building the next generation…training the next generation. In everything we do, we must never forget, Indian Lake exists ultimately for God to spiritually touch young people. And when God uses us to reach young people and they love it, we reach their parents. And they reach their friends. And then we have dozens of raving fans and they start telling their friends about this wonderful camp environment, telling people… “you’ve just got to come to Indian Lake and experience it.” As an Interim Governing Board, we believe this 10-12 million dollar asset (including the private community that has grown up around Indian Lake Nazarene Camp) is too valuable of a spiritual resource for us to ignore or neglect. Indian Lake Nazarene Camp can, will and must thrive. And we as your Governing Board are committed to doing whatever is necessary to make that happen. So let’s talk about our strategic focus for the coming 3-5 years. Our Board has begun developing a Three-Part, Get Well Strategy. That includes A Get Well Promotions Strategy, A Get Well Operations Strategy, and a Get Well Financial Strategy. We want to talk about the first two and then introduce you to Steve Butler, who will talk about the third. Let’s first talk about our Get Well Promotions Strategy. This is our first important area of change for the future. Every Michigan District church must become a supporter of Indian Lake Nazarene Camp. We must do whatever is necessary to make every pastor, every youth pastor, every

children’s pastor on our District, an Indian Lake raving fan. If they are not, we must change the environment so they discover that Indian Lake offers such great spiritual benefits, their church kids are missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime if they don’t get engaged here. In our Promotions Strategy, every person who steps on these grounds…we must have an intentional plan in place to develop them as an Indian Lake Ambassador. Indian Lake must be our first option for camps and, conferences and retreats. We must perfect our metrics and we must begin to measure key success indicators for the camp…like % of churches involved in sending campers, camp occupancy rate, total number of conference and retreat users, number of first time retreaters, total number of campers, total number of first-time campers, total number of outside camp clients and partners who rent our facilities (which is a critical future revenue issue), total number of lots in our new development sold, total number of boat slip users, total number of R.V. users, profit & loss of the dining hall, profit & loss of the snack bar, total number of individual donors, total number of church donors, % of leaseholders who participate as volunteers, % of leaseholders with accounts paid in full and up to date, which we believe needs to be 100%. In our Get Well Promotions Strategy, we must make the Indian Lake Nazarene Camp environment so attractive, that every child, young person, and adult that comes here WANTS to spread the word for us. We must build, not just customers and clients, we must build raving fans. To help involve every church, including smaller churches, we’ve started a process for helping bi- vocational pastors who do not have housing, to be able to attend our Family Camp. We want every pastor on our District here at Indian Lake during Family Camp. We need to pray together. We need to grow together. We need to dream together. We need to listen to God together. That’s why we are starting the Indian Lake Small Church Pastor’s Initiative. I’d like to introduce you to Deanna Butler. Deanna, would you please stand? This is Deanna Butler, who has agreed to help us lead this initiative. A big thank you also goes to Chapman Memorial Church and Pastor Dave Downs, who is committed to helping us as well. If you’re a bi-vocational pastor, or a small church pastor without housing here, if you will simply tell us, we will find you a place to stay. If you have to work and can’t come till the week-end, we want to help you. We want you here. We need you here. And as a pastor, you need to be here for the nourishment of your own soul. Now in addition to reaching out to the people of our own district, the Governing Board is putting together a new Indian Lake Camp Marketing Task Force, led by Nancy Smith. Nancy, would you please stand? If you have skills and abilities in marketing or sales and you are willing to help us, would you please see Nancy Smith? We believe God is going to raise up a top-notch Marketing Task Force to help us reach a whole new group of clients and partner organizations. We’ve got to love our camp. The number of campers has been dwindling because as churches, we have not paid attention to our Promotions Strategy. To break even with our camp budget, we need 650 campers a summer. Here’s the good news. How many of you would love to see the majority of our financial problems go away? If we all simply become ambassadors for the camp like we should be, working together, we can change our future. Indian Lake Nazarene Camp is a 300 bed facility. We have 12 weeks during the summer. We must work together, every Michigan Nazarene, to help fill these beds with kids who need to be touched by Jesus! If we had just a 1,000 campers a summer on these grounds, many of our financial

challenges would begin to disappear. That’s why our 3 year vision is for a 1,000 campers. In 2014, we are aiming for 650, which is break even. In 2015 we are aiming for 800 and in 2016, we believe God is going to help us hit a 1,000 campers for the season. That’s our goal. We are committed, both to the quality of our camps and the number of our campers going up. For this to happen over the next 3 years, every one of us must pray for kids, we must help find kids, and we must help send those kids to camp…A thousand of them, every summer. That’s an overview

• f our Get Well Promotions Strategy.

Let’s also talk for a minute about our Get Well Operations Strategy. Indian Lake Nazarene Camp must become known for its exceptional customer service, with every client and partner we

• serve. In the future, we are going to have to raise and spend money to improve customer service.

We aim to shorten the response time when you call the office. Over the coming months, we aim to expand office hours with trained volunteers, answering the phone five days a week, plus Saturday morning during the summer. We as a Board understand the importance of our Snack Bar to the community. Because it is

• ur social hub, we are studying the feasibly of expanding its operational hours during the summer,

especially on week-ends. In addition to our staff, as Indian Lake thrives, we must have dozens and dozens of volunteers in operations to help us serve the children and youth God is going to send us. We have begun some exciting discussions with Dave Downs, pastor of Chapman Memorial about the possibility of planting an evangelistic church on the campground for 14-16 weeks every

• summer. Where Christian R.V. ers from across the state, could reach out to their unsaved friends

and neighbors and invite them to Indian Lake for a week-end. Have fun all day on Saturday and then take them to Campground Church on Sunday where they can hear the gospel and be impacted by the love of Jesus. We should be getting people saved on Sunday’s here at Indian Lake all summer

• long. Reaching out, loving and touching R.Vers who need Jesus.

The 143 slots we have at Indian Lake R.V. Land should be full every week-end and stay full. We have established an RV Task Force, led by Brian Fredrick and Ken McNulty, whose primary responsibilities are to raise the quality and summer livability of our R.V. Park. This Saturday, our R.V. Task Force will be removing a trailer that does not meet community

• standards. We want every person who walks on these grounds to be a raving fan of the quality and

sharpness of both our R.V. Park and private community…and tell people how great it is to come here! We have established a Leaseholder’s Task Force, led by Wes Bittenbender, to listen to and address every concern our Leaseholder’s have. We need every leaseholder to be a volunteer, to be in love with the mission of Indian Lake Nazarene Camp and to serve to make our camp a success. We had 125 people who attended the Annual Leaseholder’s meeting just a few weeks ago, and we are so appreciative the vast majority of our Leaseholders understand, Indian Lake is first and foremost, NOT a private retirement community. It is a spiritual change community for kids, all summer long. We so appreciate of Wes Bittenbender’s service to the camp. He leads a Leaseholder’s Board that serves 183 leaseholding families who live here, either seasonal or full time. If you are a

leaseholder at Indian Lake and you’re here today…would you please stand? Let’s express our appreciation to these wonderful people who are a volunteer core of our camp. I know its true…our leaseholders are among the finest people in the world…they are joining us…and we are going to love the kids God puts on these grounds, accept the kids God puts on these grounds, serve the kids God puts on these grounds, and embrace all of the disruptions that a 1,000 kids being here during the summer…is going to bring. Lastly, we have established a Camps Task Force, led by Yolanda Oliver and Travis Myers to improve the operations and working relationships of our Michigan District camps. We are so appreciative of their leadership. There is a lot more we could talk about related to our Get Well Promotions Strategy and Our Get Well Operations Strategy, but in just the first month, our Board feels we are beginning to make real progress. But we also have some financial realities we must contend with. Introduction of Steve Butler So let’s talk about our Get Well Financial Strategy. I want to introduce you to the Chairman of

• ur newly established Finance Committee, Mr. Steve Butler, who understands accounting. Steve

recently retired as the Chief Financial Officer for the Food Nutrition Service, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC. In this position, Steve was responsible for overseeing the budget, accounting, and financial systems management of over $100 billion dollars. He has served as Director for Financial Reporting and Analysis for the Department of Defense and was responsible for their financial statements reflecting $1.7 trillion dollars in assets. He has spoken at a variety of management conferences and had management responsibilities that included the oversight of $12.5 billion dollars in Army civilian pay. In his career, he also served as Director of Resource Management for the Louisville District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; During the later part of his career, he was promoted to the equivalent rank of a 2 star general as a Senior Service Executive for the Federal Government. He has also served as the Finance and Accounting Officer for the Corps of Engineers, in Washington, D.C., and also Facilities Resource Manager, for the Smithsonian Institute, the world’s largest museum and research complex, located in Washington. Steve holds a degree from the University of Indiana, and 3 masters degrees, including an an M.B.A. from Webster University. He is a Certified Government Financial Manager. Steve understands accounting. He is married to the former Deanna Allen of Lansing, MI, who grew up here at Indian Lake. Steve has come here for a number of years, his children grew up here attending camp, and he loves Indian Lake. He recently retired from government service and, September to May, is a professor of finance and accounting at Olivet. In May, June, July and August he lives here at the lake. And he is an Indian Lake leaseholder. Since the last week of May when we recruited Steve to the Board, he has spent countless hours as our new Finance Committee Chairman. The Interim Governing Board felt one of the most important parts of today for the Assembly was a presentation to be made by Steve, sharing with all of us what he has learned over the past month about Indian Lake finances. Would you please welcome him as he comes to make our Get Well Financial Strategy presentation.

Steve Butler’s Presentation

• Dr. Larry McKain: As you can see, there are multiple issues the Interim Board faces as we move
• forward. One of the critical issues is a governance model that allows our Governing Board the

authority to make the necessary changes we need to make to secure a healthy future for the camp. We need the help of the Assembly to do this. We are currently governed by what our legal counsel describes as an outdated Constitution and Bylaws, written during a time that never envisioned a multi-million dollar Camp & Conference Center wrapped around a private community. To govern during this time of crisis, the Interim Board needs the authority to change what is now called, “The Constitution and Bylaws of the District Center Board of the Michigan District Church

• f the Nazarene.” We need a motion to set aside the District Assembly approval component of Article

IX in the Bylaws. We wish to amend Article IX to read as follows, “These by-laws may be amended at any regular or special meeting of the Governing Board by a two-thirds vote of members, present and voting.” This adjustment will allow the Interim Governing Board to make needed revisions and constitutional changes that our legal counsel has suggested we need to make for a healthy future. District Assembly Approved the Article IX Change The kinds of issues and changes we need to make are filled with delicateness and difficulty. We want to answer every question you have. We have built an “internal” district website to facilitate better communication among pastors, church leaders and the camp. The web address is www.onecml.org. Because we are ONE Church with Many Locations. If you will write out the question you have, we are committed to answering every one of them. We may not get everything right the first time, so please be patient with us. Most of us have other full-time assignments so we really need your understanding, your support and your prayers. Steve and Larry received and answered written questions from the Assembly floor. Its not easy to build an environment for sacrificial giving when we’re in the middle of a business meeting, talking about constitutional changes we need to make and trying to answer all kinds of questions we didn’t know about or anticipate. But the best thing for us to do…is to always go to the Bible…and listen to what God says to us. (2 Corinthians 8:1-7 selected) Call People’s Attention to the “I Love Our Camp” Cards & Ask For Commitment You will notice the cards say, Michigan District, I love our camp campaign. We want you to know that 100% of every dollar you give to the I Love Our Camp Campaign will go directly into an Indian Lake restricted account. We have raised $25,000 already from our Governing Board. We’re vested. If we can get these funds by the end of August, here is what we plan to do with the money: Out of first $35,000 we raise, we will use this amount to fund the remaining monies needed to connect the water/sewer to the unconnected dorm. When this happens, this will free up full use of 112 more beds on the campground that we can put children and youth in all summer long.

We will use the remaining contributions to reduce the current outstanding balance of the Waterfront and Road Development loan. We will be coming back to you every year, until our long-term debt is

• retired. Every dollar we raise reduces our indebtedness and helps us move forward.

After applying our contributions, by September, we plan to refinance the remaining balance of

• ur debt to a lower interest rate. This will result in significant monthly savings to the camp and save

us thousands of dollars in interest. On this card, we need you to do 3 things.

• 1. Become an Ambassador for Indian Lake. Make a commitment today that you will help us

send 1, 2, 3 or more children and youth to camp this coming year. If you help us identify the children and youth, God will help you find the money. It’s that important to Him. If you know the names of young people that you believe should have a life-changing experience at camp, would you please write their names down? Pray for them. Contact them. Tell them about Indian Lake. We need you to be an Ambassador for Indian Lake Nazarene Camp.

• 2. We need you to become an Indian Lake Nazarene Camp donor. Some of you can give

large gifts, others smaller gifts. But everyone can do something. We need, not equal gifts but equal sacrifice.

• 3. Appreciation Reception. We will be holding an Appreciation Reception on Friday evening

after the evening service for all of those who have been past who have supported the camp with your gifts, your time volunteering, or your prayers. We are inviting everyone interested in ILNC to come, meet the Governing Board personally and learn more about our future. Prayer for the Lord’s guidance and direction.