by Matt Graybill, Executive Director
Challenge Course at Pine Lake
Last month, a small group of middle school-aged boys came to Pine Lake to participate in a team-building session on the challenge course. We began with warm-up games and gradually moved into more physical challenges on the elements. I was astonished at how quickly they jumped in and accomplished their goals.
After each of the four elements, we paused to debrief through open-ended questions. Their self-reflection was deeper and more insightful than most groups. One young man said, “Sometimes you go through things that are difficult, but you have to keep moving forward.” Another added, “My teammate was falling, so I had to steady and catch him.”
Why was I so surprised by their success and responses?
You see, I was aware these boys came from difficult backgrounds. Subconsciously, I had expected the session to be quite difficult to facilitate. I was guarded and ready to be a “hard-nosed” facilitator, ready to push for rule compliance and prod for engagement. But that’s not what they needed. And that’s not what they gave.
In just two hours, these young men set goals, encountered communication breakdowns, struggled to work together—and then overcame those struggles on their own by refocusing, listening, and leaning on one another. At the end of our time together, I felt like I was the one who learned the most. What was the foundational element of their success?
Vulnerability.
Patrick Lencioni, in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, writes that the first and most foundational dysfunction is the absence of trust. “The fear of being vulnerable prevents team members from building trust with each other.” These boys had already worked through the first and hardest piece: the willingness to be vulnerable. There was no posturing. No pretending. They were only themselves. As we walked to the first challenge, and along the way, they began to share pieces of their stories of homelessness, loss, and trauma. That’s not usually something you share with someone within the first 10 minutes of meeting someone, but I felt closer to these guys because of their honesty.
2025 Summer Staff
Over the past year, we’ve been preparing and building a summer staff team to serve over 300 campers this summer. And over the past two weeks of training and campers arriving, we have witnessed this team connect with one another on a deep level. Any team must have the courage to be vulnerable—to share not only our personal and collective highs, but also our lows, and to lean on one another when we’re not at 100%. Praise God for bringing these 2025 staff together and their courage to share this experience together.
And Scripture also reminds us about the importance of teams:
- “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.” – Ecclesiastes 4:9 10
- “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.” – Galatians 6:2
Please pray for our 2025 summer staff team. That we would continue to be a community that builds on trust in our relationships with others—fueled by Christ-centered vulnerability and the purpose of carrying the message of Christ forward!
