Most of us would agree that camp is one of the most powerful settings for meaningful impact in the lives of every person involved, including campers, staff, adult leaders, and even parents. We’ve seen that time and again. We didn’t invent the life-changing power of friendships or the impact of meaningful adventures, but these things have been given to us in an undiluted mix that’s difficult to find anywhere else.

However, just as we’ve seen camp be incredibly powerful, we’ve also seen it miss the mark with way too many people. The right counselor working with the right program to connect with the right camper in the right way is a miracle. But if we’re honest, we often miss one or more pieces of that formula.

One way to remedy that is to build a small, very specialized team that is uniquely suited to make just one thing excellent, because to paraphrase a statement often attributed to Margaret Mead, we should “never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.”

In 1960, four college freshmen — Ezell Blair, David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil — found themselves in a North Carolina college dorm room telling stories, sharing frustrations, and asking questions. The conversation started with McNeil describing a recent trip to New York, where he was served with the same respect as any other customer. He then turned the subject to his experience in North Carolina and asked friends, “Are you satisfied with things the way they are?” As the conversation continued they began to focus on the lunch counter at the local Woolworth. It was typical for its time with Black- and White-only sections obvious and enforced. According to later interviews, their conversation ended with a simple commitment: “Tomorrow we sit.”

The next day, February 1, they met on campus and walked about 15 minutes together to F. W. Woolworth. They purchased toothpaste and other small items at the Black-only counter before sitting in the White-only lunch section where they politely ordered coffee. They were refused service but remained seated until the store closed.

The next morning the Greensboro Four had grown to 20. By day five their number had grown to 300, and by day seven the Woolworth counter dominated the local news cycle. Within weeks television and newspapers spread the story nationwide, and within two months (less than most camp seasons) sit-ins had spread to more than 70 cities across the South.

No doubt a lot of people had asked, “Are you satisfied with things the way they are?” before, just like a lot of camp directors have asked, “Why do our programs sometimes miss the mark?” But this time was different. This time their question supercharged a movement.

There were at least four things these courageous young men did by accident that we can do on purpose.

1. Find the Right Target

The Greensboro Four acted at the exact moment the country was ready. The Montgomery Bus Protest of 1955 had set a precedent for nonviolent protest. People were primed to find where they could make a difference, and this spirit had filtered down to college campuses with a growing surge toward youth activism. In other words, people were inspired, and people were ready to act. Victor Hugo said that there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come, and it’s our job as camp leaders to identify the idea for our camp right now.

One way to do that is to listen to your counselors, and carefully thought-through surveys are a great way to do that. Imagine a survey sent to last year’s staff that includes questions such as:

“What is the one thing that, if you did it well this summer, would make you feel like your investment at camp was worth it?”

“Are there any specific skills or areas where you needed more training or support?”

“What is the most important opportunity you think we missed last summer?”

You could even borrow the Greensboro Four’s question: “Are you satisfied with the way things are?” and follow up with “What should we consider doing differently?”

You’ll likely get a few answers that are tough to hear, and you’ll also hear from a few encouragers, because some people are just trained to say nice things. Your job is to look past these for the individuals who invest a little time in offering great responses and then to look for patterns.

Now here’s the good news: once you identify the patterns, the right idea, you’re half done with step two!

2. Find the Right People

Each of the Greensboro Four had connections and mentors in the Black church who played an important role in the broader Civil Rights Movement. Ministers provided spiritual guidance that they then tied closely to community organization. Church leaders acted as mentors and advocates for social change, helping many civil rights leaders to develop their framework for peaceful activism. Additionally, each of the four came from stable home environments and began their efforts in the context of a socially activated community at NC Agricultural and Technical State University, which was the largest historically Black university in the country.

The point is that they were well prepared to lead. These weren’t just four guys; they were four guys who brought everything others had invested in them into their new leadership roles. So by beginning with those who gave thoughtful survey responses, filtering for their interest in the right idea at the right time, and then adding the filter of mentor-rich backgrounds, you are off to a good start on finding your camp leaders. You might then also add other filters that you have found helpful in the past. For example, some of our hardest-working staff come from homes with family businesses. This may be because they have seen their parents do whatever job needed doing to build the business, and it’s a filter we sometimes add.

You are looking for people who are hungry to build whatever camp quality you are trying to improve. For example, say your surveys show that improving camper safety is the right idea at the right time for your camp. Then you are looking for people who look you in the eye and get a little more animated when they describe their experiences with keeping campers safe.

3. Make the Group Smaller

Remember, you are going to focus on just one target.

My father used to say that running a camp was like running a small city with mostly college students as your town employees. Even a small camp has a huge list of needed competencies, so most of us have moved to larger senior staff teams to help. We need 22-year-old veterans to run our CIT programs and evening activity schedules. Those “veterans” need next-step opportunities in their camp journeys. If we are serious about helping our staff grow, then we have to help them to move from leading campers to leading peers. Most of us enjoy being a part of that, but this project requires a smaller team focused on just one thing: improving camper safety.

You are looking for a few people who are self-motivated and so committed to improving safety that they’re ready to fully pledge themselves to the vision. Franklin McCain later described the Greensboro Four as having a “collective conviction.” The purpose of the survey and the filters is to find the group who shares an urgency about that one goal. The Greensboro Four had complete confidence in each other; each one would stay at that lunch counter no matter what happened. They knew that just one of them stepping out of the script, by lashing out or pushing back, would make everyone’s effort useless. Your camp team is going to require the same fortitude, so keep it to a small, trustworthy group.

4. Make It Simple

Anyone could have sat at the Woolworth’s lunch counter. There was no start-up cost and really no need to train anyone. Of course remaining peaceful in the face of violent opposition takes both character and training, but the character bit should be covered by steps two and three.

The point is that anyone could see how to do it, and seeing is the right word, because the Greensboro protests were rich in supercharged images. Just one or two photographs of college students sitting calmly at a counter while others yelled and mocked told the story of that protest and of the larger, national problem.

So if your idea is exceptional camper safety (which, by the way, also improves staff safety), and your audience is other counselors, how can you make that visible? Perhaps by telling stories at staff meetings or having your team give pins or stickers to counselors they see doing a great job. Your team will surely come up with some effective ways to make your aim visual, but they may need more help to make it simple.

One way we try making camper safety simple is through use of a weekly gatekeeper form. Once a week we take three minutes to complete a short survey with the following three questions:

Have you seen any campers alone with other campers or staff this week?

Have you seen any campers or staff members in a conversation together that they clearly did not want you to hear?

Is there anything else we should be aware of?

It’s simple. It takes just three minutes, and it becomes a weekly reminder of an incredibly important job function. It also reminds our counselors that camper safety is everyone’s responsibility.

Whatever the right idea for your camp is, it’s your job to make it simple and visual.

So the last question is, what is your small team supposed to do? Lead from within. They should be regular counselors who model behavior for the rest of the group. They will tell the first stories at staff meetings and remind their friends why this work is so important. Their most crucial role is to be part of the larger staff, just like the Greensboro Four’s role was to sit with everyone else who was sitting.

A few years ago I had a director friend ask if I thought we could start a national movement by pushing some behavior or trend at camp. I immediately thought of the yo-yo. Each of our camps had about 2,500 campers and 300 staff per summer, and I think the answer is yes. If we sent 5,600 young people back to their hometowns (mostly in the Southeast) who thought the yo-yo was the coolest thing they’d ever seen, then I think we could move the market. It would take a lot of work. We’d need to begin yo-yo lessons during staff training, and probably before training even started. We’d need to give yo-yos to our campers and maybe sell replacement strings and upgrades in our camp store. We’d need to add instructional classes and competitions (think head-to-head yo’ off’s, “Devil Went Down to Georgia” style) to our programs, send follow-up videos to campers, and maybe even convince Duncan or Yomega yo-yo brands to join for some joint marketing. Most importantly, our year-round team would need to commit to having a yo-yo in their hands every day. If we were serious and gave ourselves three years, I think we could make every 5th-grade teacher hate us and bring the yo-yo back. But that’s probably not a mission that could inspire any of us to invest our whole lives in. I think we could help people have some fun. I think we could sell a lot of yo-yos — and I think there are more important things to spend our time on, such as community building, character, or next-level safety protocols.

That’s the key — just a few people who think something is worth investing everything in.

Photos courtesy of Outpost Summer Camps, Poway, CA

Adam Boyd, DMin, and his wife, Ann, are on the director staff at Merri-Mac for Girls (Black Mountain, North Carolina). He is the author of Jonathan Edwards, Beauty, and Younger Evangelicals and currently serves on the ACA Board.