Dear Staff, 

Young Life camping is more than a summer highlight — it’s a year-round strategy. As summer wraps up, our focus shifts to school-season camping, where even more kids have the chance to get away from their everyday life, even if it’s just for a weekend. With a shorter time commitment and a lower cost, weekend camp makes it possible for more students to experience the fun of camp, hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, and make life-changing decisions to follow him.  

Need a reminder about why school-season camp matters? Read this story from a Young Life leader. 

So, let’s go! Here’s what you need to know about camp this month …  

Marketing Your School-Season Camp Trips 

It’s that time of year to start selling your fall/winter weekend camp. Here are some strategies to make sure everyone knows about your weekend trip and how to encourage kids to sign up.

Weekend Camp Program and Discipleship Resources 

If you are on the A Team for a fall/winter weekend we have speaker videos, weekend work crew devotionals, and Spotify playlists from camp. Use these plug-and-play resources to save time when planning for your weekend camp. 

WyldLife: Create a Seven-Year Camping Vision 

Imagine the sixth graders you’ll meet this year. They’ll get to experience WyldLife for the first time — the fun, friends, and the opportunity to know Jesus. Some of them might go to camp next summer, where they’ll experience the same things away from the distractions of everyday life. Now imagine those sixth graders as graduating seniors. How will they describe their camping experience in WyldLife and Young Life? Will they say camp was the same summer after summer? Or will they say they stopped going to camp because they’d already “been there, done that?”

If we want camp to be an effective tool for introducing adolescents to Jesus Christ and helping them grow in their faith, we need to think strategically about a kid’s potential seven-year camp journey.  

Three veteran WyldLife staff share their camp strategies …

Travel 

As you make plans for getting to and from camp (both for school season camping and summer 2026), make sure you know all the ins and outs of Young Life’s transportation guidelines. Check out:   

Summer 2026 Camp Spots — What's Next? 

Thanks for requesting your summer 2026 camp spots. Currently, regions, divisions, and camps are working through your requests to sort out where areas will camp. You will find out your area’s camp spots on October 16, so watch for your trips in YL Connect and for your camp contract(s).   

Camps will send your initial reservation (IR) contract to your area’s camping responsible party through DocuSign. Want to see who your camping responsible party is? In YL Connect, go to your mission unit home page, and on the mission unit related tab you’ll see who is listed for your area. See how. If you want to change who receives your area’s camp IR contracts, reach out to your region and they can make a change.  Check out the Staff Resources Camping Page to view the full Summer 2026 timeline!  

Summer Registration Pages:   

Just as we have in previous years, Camping will create your 2026 summer camp trip registration pages in YL Connect for you. Be sure to wait for these registration pages — don't create your own! After October 16, you’ll be able to edit and publish that page. Here’s how.  

Summer Staff Applications are Open! 

Last summer, we had over 1,785 summer staff at camp! That’s an 8.85% increase from summer 2024! The summer staff application is now open for 2026. Share the summer staff website with potential candidates and watch for recommendation requests in your email.  

Updates to U.S. Health and Consent Forms 

We’re making updates to Young Life’s U.S. Health and Consent Forms. Beginning in early 2026, the 6007 and 1717 forms will be combined into one form in YL Connect. This single, year-round form will replace separate summer and school-season versions, making it easier to access and complete. Please note the online 6007 Health and Consent form will not be available when summer camp spots are released next month, as we’ll be carefully testing and preparing the new system to ensure a smooth launch.  

For upcoming school-season trips:  

Stay tuned to Day Zero and the Health, Consent, and Release Form page on Staff Resources for the latest updates. 

Thank you for investing in kids, year-round, so they can meet Jesus and go deeper in their faith.  

View previous issues and all our camping resources on Staff Resources.      

FYI – This newsletter is sent to all current U.S. Field staff, camp managers, and camping admin managers. Do you know of a volunteer who would like to be added to this communication? Just have them sign up, and we’ll be sure include them.