Summer Staff: Serve God, See Lives Changed, Leave Transformed
Recently, we got a chance to chat with some of our 2024 summer staff and, once again, feel like we hit the jackpot.
Tinayeshe Manyika wasn’t planning on working at Mount Hermon this summer. In fact, he only learned about Mount Hermon this year. Raised in Charlotte, NC by his parents who serve as missionaries to the United States from Zimbabwe, Tinayeshe is currently a resident of Nashville. He’s pursuing a music career in Music City and gaining a large online audience. However, he felt the Lord leading him to serve at a camp this summer and began a good old fashioned Google search.
When he learned that this camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains was searching for a youth worship leader for the summer, he applied right away. Although he may be new to Mount Hermon, he finds his faith roots in Christian camping. “I came to know the Lord at a camp called Windy Gap in 7th grade,” Tinayeshe explained. “Now, as an adult, being able to set that environment and set the space for people to say ‘yes’ to the Lord, it’s just really cool.”
We also had the privilege of meeting with one of the lead counselors at Redwood Camp, Reagan (Mango) Johnson. Unlike Tinayeshe, Reagan is a Mount Hermon summer staff veteran. In her four summers on staff, Reagan has worn many different hats across various programs. After working as a guide for the Mount Hermon Adventures team, in Day Camp as a counselor, leading fellow counselors in the one-on-one program, and as a lead for Redwood Camp, Reagan has this to say about being on summer staff, “It’s an honor to get to share Jesus with these kids for a week. To show them what it looks like to be a young adult who follows Jesus and to watch them open up and have more questions throughout the week.”
Of course, the summer staff have an enormous impact on the campers they interact with, but they are also transformed through the community they live in with one another. “Living and working at Mount Hermon for the past couple years has been so valuable for me,” said Reagan. “Living in community with other people my age who are also following Jesus has been so important in growing my faith. This is my last summer, since I’m getting married and moving on, but I feel like I have established really good habits and experienced so much spiritual growth through my time here.”
Abigail Gustafson joined us for her second summer this year, after having an amazing first summer serving as a lifeguard in 2023. For her, the decision to come to Mount Hermon came when she was finishing her first year of college and craving an adventure beyond the rural Arizona town she was raised in. What she found at Mount Hermon on summer staff was a gift beyond what she would’ve guessed, “Your first summer, you are a transformed person, through Christ, by being on summer staff. I hold that in my heart now.”
This summer, her family was very supportive of her returning to work here for the summer after seeing how transformative the experience was. “When I’m at Mount Hermon I am truly myself and I am full. My family says ‘you should stay there forever’!” Abigail shared. She loves the community and support that she receives from being on summer staff, “There’s always people there that will make sure you feel loved and you feel Jesus. Our schedule is full of all the things you need and, when you’re feeling wrung out, there are our beautiful staff counselors who are there to support you.”
Indeed, Mount Hermon ministers to all ages and stages year-round through our various ministries, but one of our most important ministries might be to the two-hundred plus summer staff that come to work and live in community each summer and experience a life-changing opportunity to be poured out and serve in Jesus’ name.
Summer at Mount Hermon just wouldn’t be possible without this incredible group and we couldn’t be happier that they chose to join the ranks for their life-changing adventure on summer staff.
