Student Life Kids Camp Christian Summer Camps
Student Life Kids Camp Christian Summer Camps
Since God’s Word is both relevant and instructive for the challenges 3rd through 6th graders face today, it informs everything we do. Student Life Kids Camp wants to support your year-round ministry with a week away from distractions where your kids can focus on Jesus and strengthen their spiritual foundation.
We believe discipleship best occurs within the context of the local church. Relationships formed at camp between kids and their leaders serve as a catalyst to discipleship that continues long after camp ends. We would be honored to have the opportunity to partner with your group to make Jesus known in the lives of your kids.
Hailea was born and raised in Orlando, Florida and moved to Virginia when she was 18 for college. Hailea met the Lord when she was 15 working a VBS and then began attending Student Life as a camper soon after. She fell in love with camp ministry during her freshman year of college and realized then that if she could work camp for the rest of her life, she would.
Hailea loves talking to people! Her job provides the opportunity to daily communicate with student pastors and youth leaders. Hailea enjoys utilizing her communication & people skills in getting to both serve and know Student Pastors. Hailea loves to serve the church behind the scenes because it, “Takes me out of my comfort zone.” She believes even inputting info into our system is Kingdom work, and loves being a part of something much bigger than herself.
Hailea just graduated from Liberty University (go Flames) with a bachelor’s degree in Family and Child Development. She has been working seasonally for Student Life since 2015 serving in 4 different roles. This is her first year working full-time with Student Life & she loves it! Hailea loves psychology, corgis, scary movies, youth ministry, and being with people “a latte!” (She also may be obsessed with coffee…maybe).
Jared came to the Student Life team to be the Director in 2021 after serving in the local church for the past 12 years. He is a student pastor at heart and loves pouring into the lives of the next generation and their leaders. It was through serving on a mission trip in Brazil as a teenager that he came to know the Lord and felt a call to pursue vocational ministry.
Since Jared grew up as the son of a student camp and conference director, you could say camp ministry is in his blood. With that he brings both experience and a passion for producing and planning large scale ministry events–like camp. In addition to planning and taking his own students to camp every summer, Jared has served in various leadership roles at the parachurch level to help produce premiere church experiences.
Golfing, hunting and riding motorcycles are just a few things Jared enjoys when he isn’t spending quality time with his wife, Emily and their three children: Shiloh Kate, Judah Wells, and Noa Grace. Jared enjoys eating any and everything spicy, including the five hottest peppers in the world. He studied Ministry Leadership at Williamson Christian College which he enjoys putting into practice with the teams he leads.
Melissa has always loved details and organizing. School supply shopping was a favorite activity each year (and was really the only kind of shopping she enjoyed). A combination of that love of administration and a calling to ministry and discipleship in college was the perfect setup for what she gets to do every day at Student Life.
As an Event Specialist, Melissa works closely with our Camp Pastors and Worship Leaders, as well as SL/Worship planning and booking. She gets to be the travel agent on the team and helps organize the logistics of summer staff hiring and many other fun responsibilities to get camp out the door in May!
Melissa received her undergraduate degree from The University of TN, Chattanooga in 2000 and a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 2005. She has been with Lifeway for 15 years and lives in Helena, AL with her husband, Josh, and two children, Levi and Lydia.
Sarah grew up a little bit of everywhere in North Carolina (like 6 different towns everywhere) before she joined the SL4K team in Nashville. Growing up a PK meant a lot of moving and a lot of restarts. Because of that, she got to make friends all over the state and see the local church in a multitude of perspectives. Some of Sarah’s favorite childhood memories were centered around going to a local camp (think “The Parent Trap”). During those weeks of the summer, Sarah saw how having fun and knowing Jesus could go hand in hand. Little did she know that the Lord was going to use those incredible weeks of fun to cultivate my love and passion for serving kids, students, and ministers.
Sarah was always the one who had fun organizing her desk, redecorating her room and helping plan events around school and church, but it wasn’t until college that she realized her love for those things could collide with her love for the local church. What she loves most about her position as an Event Specialist is that no day looks the same other than the opportunity to serve the local church!
This past May of 2019, Sarah graduated from Campbell University (GO CAMELS! — yes, you read that right, their mascot is a camel) where she majored in business marketing and minored in Christian studies. In the summers of 2018 and 2019, Sarah worked for SL and SL4K as a hospitality coordinator and office director. During her junior year of college, she studied abroad in London and lived there for 3 months. Some of Sarah’s favorite things to do are travel, run, cook and take way too long in Bath and Body Works smelling candles.
