Welcome to the defender podcast, a resource to help mobilize and equip the body of Christ to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children. This podcast is a ministry of Lifeline Children Services, and I'm your host, Herbie Newell.

Hi there. Welcome back to the Defender Podcast. This is Rick Morton. Today is April 10, 2024. As I said last week, we're in the throes of spring here.

And, although, looking outside the studio here today, it didn't look very springy. It's kinda kinda little dark, kinda little dreary, and that's kinda what happens. You know, April showers bring May flowers. Right? So, but today, I'm again joined by Ann Maura Hinton. We've had the good fortune and, and and the, you know, the Lord's blessing to be able to talk with her on 2 occasions back to back. Just to remind you, if you didn't hear last week's episode or you're not familiar with Ann Maura she is the director of our Bridge Educational Services here at Lifeline. And so we're gonna get a chance today to talk a little bit about something that we do as a part of our bridge program called Camp Empower. And, we'll get in and talk a little bit about what Camp Empower is and give you the details of that in just a second. But, but first, just wanna say welcome.

And and so we're gonna just have a little bit of a conversation today, talk about, you know, kinda what Camp Empower is, where it's going on. We're gonna talk a little bit about how your church can get engaged in that and and about, you know, maybe even some, some hopes for the future about where we're going with Camp Empower So but before we get there, we're gonna have our promo today, which is about, say it with me, Camp Empower.

Camp Empower.

Right? So summer camp has been a staple in the lives of children for generations. We wanna expand the opportunity for children to experience camp, through Camp Empower. Camp Empower is a trauma informed day camp designed to serve children with academic, relational, and emotional differences in a fun camp environment. Camp Empower uses hands on tools and techniques from trained staff to help children implement social, emotional, and cognitive development skills.

It's also designed to equip parents and caregivers as well as the campers. You can see our show notes for more information or, to even to register for a Camp Empower event. Or, if you would like to help make Camp Empower possible, you can make camp accessible for some campers through scholarships, when you partner with us. You can visit lifelinechild.org/donate to learn more about becoming a monthly donor. And one of the things that, that your monthly support of Lifeline can do is is help make it possible, for kids to, you know, to attend, Camp Empower.

And and so, Ann Maura Hinton, welcome back.

Yeah. Thanks. It's good to be back.

If we, you know, folks need to be reminded, Ann Maura is a certified cognitive developmental therapist. It sounds really impressive.

What does that mean?

I don't know, but it sounds really impressive. She has both an undergraduate degree and a master's degree in special education. Her master's degree comes from the University of Tennessee. That is still a point of contention that hasn't been resolved

since last week. Roll tide. But we'll just, we'll we'll just leave that there. She is the wife of Robbie, who is amazing and awesome and, one of my favorite people. And, she is a mom to 3 kids that she adores and loves spending time with.

And she is absolutely the right person to lead Bridge Educational Services and has brought so much to the lives of children and families that are living with learning differences and that experience the world differently and kids that have kiddos that have come from hard places. And so, Camp Empower is kind of her brainchild. This is her baby, right, like, of a lot of things that we do. I know this is near and dear to your heart. And so Yeah.

Welcome. Yeah. Let's talk about Camp Empower a little bit.

Yeah. Camp's been around now. I think, well, here with Lifeline for about 6 years.

Yeah.

And so it's been it's been fun to see. And now even see some of our campers and some of our buddies just, you know, grow. . You know? And, yeah, see see him 6 years later.

It's really fun.

Well, and, you know, and we've and when we'll get into talking about we're gonna break it down and talk about, you know, camp and what it is and all that. But one of the things I wanna say before we even start is we've, like, we've continued to see camp evolve. And it's it's continued to become and that's that's really been, you know, just the Lord's grace to us to be able to be a part of that and witness it and have an opportunity to do that. And so there are some fun things that are on the horizon. There are some things that God's up to in the future, and and, you know, we wanna kinda, you know, maybe crack that open just a little bit today.

But before we get there, just for folks that have no idea what Camp Empower is other than what they just heard in the promo, tell us about it.

Yeah. Well, camp is it's meant to be fun. And, you know, if you heard last week's podcast, we talked a lot about play, you know, and what what that looks like. And so we really want to, just just, you know, use that and in a fun way to to help strengthen kids academically, socially, and emotionally. And so and we believe that that's possible.

And so the kids, what happens is the kids are our campers. Kids, I keep calling kids, but they're campers. They are buddied up with a buddy, that is an older, you know, high school or college. We've used interns. We've had, oh, so many different buddies, you know, over the years that have been apart.

But they come the buddies come. They come and get trained. They're trained, in our approaches and our tools and strategies. They come and they're matched with a camper. So it's 1 on 1.

And then the the the campers rotate through stations. Camp is runs from 9 to 1:30.

Usually is the time frame. We serve kids that are ages 7 to 12 as campers. We've had junior campers. We've had campers come back and be junior buddies.

You have an alumni program.

We have alumni program. And, they come back, but they rotate through these groups and the groups are like a movement group. So we're we're, like, if you really wanna get into, like, how movement develops the brain. Mhmm. So that's what that's what we're doing.

We're using certain movements to to really help kids to, learn, you know, the how to integrate certain reflexes if you wanna get in the science side of things. Then we have a brain game group, you know, where we play brain games and we talk about the brain. We talk about how we learn. We talk about the excitement that can come with learning. And then we have a nurture group.

A nurture group is where we're gonna talk about a lot of social emotional skills. We're gonna we're gonna be talking about, you know, that bully in your brain

Mhmm.

And, you know, and how God sees you compared to how that bully sees you. We're gonna do lots of activities, a lot of hands on activities. We're gonna talk about ways to to calm ourselves by ourselves. That's kind of a motto for camp is to calm ourselves by ourselves and what that looks like. And then, we have a sensory room.

Sensory room is always the favorite. And so, I mean, we're you might be playing in shaving cream looking for whatever, you know, some item and and everybody wants to go the sensory room, and we're making fidgets. And we're talking about those zones of regulations. And we're just a lot of practical tools

Yeah.

To just to help in a fun way because we know if we practice these things when we are, in an okay regulated space, and then alongside of someone, you know, with that connection, then we're going to be able to hopefully, you know, help that brain to develop so that later on when they are in those moments, you know, then they'll be able to recall some of these tools and strategies and use them. So

Well, you know, a couple of things about Camp Empower that I, you know, that I love. First of all, is Camp Empower is for kids that a traditional camp environment might not be appropriate for.

Oh, yeah.

And, you know, and so we do, all of us, you know, love looking back on those experiences of, you know, of going to summer camp and and being around, you know, our friends and making memories and all those kinds of things. And and quite honestly, and I I know there are moms and dads that are out there listening to us that, they probably haven't felt comfortable in in sending their kids to a traditional day camp or or an overnight camp or, you know, a, you know, a student life or a centrifuge or a lot of other kind of things that, you know, that that that we might normally do because of some of those challenges and some of those differences that their, you know, their children are experiencing. And and so Camp Empower is designed for those kiddos.

Yeah. Exactly.

And and so we're, like, that's that's who Camp Empower is about. Yeah. And and so I think, you know, maybe talk a little bit about the parent side of Camp Empower. What, you know, what's the what's this meant to do both in in providing an opportunity for our kids, but also

Mhmm.

About, like, what's it meant to do for us?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, like, some of the feedback that we received early on in camp was, you know, parents would come up to us and say, hey. You know, my child's coming home, you know, doing magic mustache breathing. Or my child's talking about walking, you know, through water beads, you know, in his bare feet, you know, and and and talking about regulations and things.

And so, and we were like, that's great. And they're like, but now what do we do when they get home with all this material and all this, you know, things? And so, and we love that they're doing this here, but now what? Right? And so we integrated and started a parent program that goes alongside of camp.

So we have a a a parent training night, we call it. Every parents come in and we actually run the parents through camp.

That's awesome.

Because it get they get to see, hey, what their kids are learning, but also, hey, how does this help me?

Right.

You know, to be able to parent my my child who might be a little sensitive, who needs magic mustache, you know, and,

I was doing the magic mustache over here at Ann Maura As we were talking. I was a little triggered by what she

said. Yeah. So that's kind of fun. And, like, one of the one of the things that we do, and we have to actually it it feels awkward. To, you know, hang out with their child that day.

And then, you know, that gives that that parent, that child a chance to see their parent releasing them or giving them that opportunity. And then also we look, you know, we look at the camper at that point and say, hey, is it okay if we give you a high 5 or a fist bump or an elbow bump today?

Mhmm.

And, and so they have a chance, this interaction with their parent, with their buddy to have a voice Yep. In what's gonna happen that day. So we're it's constantly scripted, so that we are, like, encouraging that connection between the parent and and their their camper as well too.

And I think, you know, on both sides. 1, you know, as a parent who, may have, you know, thinking about sending your child to camp, may put a knot in the pit of your stomach because you're, you know, you're worried that, wow, I don't know if my child can handle that. I don't know if

Right.

the Sensory environment or if the social environment is appropriate. I don't know. You know, what if a meltdown happens? What if well, guess what? This is designed for that.

Yes. Like, we're we're we're saying that's not that's not not only not, you know Yeah. That out of bounds, that's like inbounds.

That's That's part of it.

That's part of it. Yeah. That's why we're here.

We're expecting the kids to get triggered Yeah. In a in a hopefully, a fun way. I say that, you know, we're expecting because we want to be able to walk through with them what it looks like to calm themselves

Yes.

And to regulate. And so, like, we do have this tent room. I didn't mention that. Our tent room is kind of our quiet room. It's our calming corner, if you wanna call it.

I don't like the word corner, to be honest with you. But Yeah. It's a calm a place to go to come. And there's pillows. There's books.

There's coloring, there's blocks, there's Legos, and there's games. And that's an area, but we really wanna work to help their kids to know how to regulate once their lids have been flipped.

Right.

And so and of course, we've got some stories. But our our our goal is to really to not call the parent.

Yeah.

Yeah. And and we we we want to do what we can to to walk alongside, to partner with you, to help your child to learn to calm themselves by themselves.

Yeah. And and so, you know, the idea here is and and, again, you know, you're sending our kids to, you know, regular traditional camp environments. You know that they're gonna be, you know, probably music and lights and

Right.

You know, weird sensations and and textures and all kinds of things that are gonna be challenges for them. And and and the truth is, they're going to be those things that can't empower, but they're purposive.

Mhmm.

Like, they're well thought out about what texture but then how are we how are we helping them to know how to regulate their feelings and their emotions. Yeah. And and and doing that within the safety and security of a trained staff.

Right.

But also a buddy that's, like, right there with them and present. And, you know, it's it's it's a pretty it's a pretty incredible thing. And and and so, you know, as you said, we've been at this at Lifeline for about 6 years. You had a form of camp empower before that even, but but there's some things that have kinda grown up over time

Yes.

About Camp Empower And one of those things is is that it used to just happen here in Birmingham.

Mhmm.

And now, you've kinda taken the show on the road. Yeah. And so, Camp Empower is kinda out there in different places. Why don't you explain maybe talk about where Camp Empower is gonna be this summer Mhmm. But then also about what the whole reason is for why we're getting out of our you know, kind of out of our hometown and and beginning to spread camp and power in other places.

Yeah. So camp this summer is gonna be in, 3 different locations. We have a location in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at Battle Creek Church, which is, just a really great opportunity because we're going that direction. You know? And we have one in Columbus, Georgia, and then we also are hosting 1 in, Asheville, North Carolina at Biltmore Church.

Yeah.

And so, so, yeah, we're really excited about it. And really the the the reasoning behind that is it it comes back to who Lifeline is. Lifeline, you know, is meant to, we're here to what? To equip the body of Christ to manifest the gospel to vulnerable children. And so, our goal really is that equipping.

You know, we we hear at Lifeline hear a lot about, okay, like, what can we do? You know, what's the next thing? We we we you've given us a lot of knowledge and we have but now what? And like, what does that look like within my church? And how do I serve these families?

And so this is just a very practical tool, that we are hoping to to help to equip the church to be able to know how to work with children who come from vulnerable situations.

So so what we wanna do is we want to begin and we have begun to to work cooperatively with churches around the country for them to host a Camp Empower with us, with our team. And so we're coming alongside to do the training, provide the support. We we kinda provide everything, and it's sort of a turnkey experience, except you have to bring leadership folks to the table, and you have to bring the buddies and You know, the people that that that kinda help make camp happen.

Right? But we'll we'll train you. We'll give you the schedule. And not only that, we'll be right there with you, and and we'll kinda, you know, as as doctor Purvis used to say, we'll do hand over hand practice with you. Right?

Like, we'll Yeah.

That's right.

We'll be right there to make sure that everything's everything is is, you know, done well and safely and all the things that are necessary. But the goal is that we wanna do Camp Empower with you and and train your team to do that so that you can do Camp Empower next year by yourself.

Absolutely.

And and that you can continue to serve kids with learning differences and kids that have come from hard places, every summer, using the model for Camp Empower. And and I think, you know, our our big, hairy, audacious goal in all this is that that we we would love to see churches that become more open, more friendly places, to kids and families that that have, you know, some really profound differences.

Mhmm.

And, you know, and I think just being blunt, our our experience has been, in, you know, in in talking to our families and and and my I'll say my experience, Denise's experience, our experience as a family has been that sometimes church is the hardest place for us to go in our in our whole week.

That's right.

You know, with with kiddos that are, you know, that are coming from, you know, like having a struggle, coming from a hard place, dealing with, you know, with social emotional kinds of,

you know, issues. And so what this really does is it it gives you a way to provide outreach and comfort to those families, but it also gives you a way to really have kind of a transformative moment for your church Mhmm. To be able to step out and engage proactively those things that that maybe sometimes we struggle to figure out how to do.

Right. Yeah. I was telling, you earlier, like, you know, the feedback that we've gotten even from our buddies, you know, over the years has been, we've had parents come back to us who whose children have been buddies and and have just said, hey. Thank you. You know, you have really equipped them to be better babysitters, to be better teachers.

We've had we've had folks come back and say, hey, I'm going to go into social work now because, of my experience at Camp Empower and, as a buddy. And so it's just really neat to see our buddies and the connection that a lot of our campers make with their buddies. Mhmm. I mean, I have families come back that have been campers that have said, hey. My my, my camper keeps the letter that my buddy the buddy the their campers buddies wrote to them.

And, they keep that by their bed with their pitcher. And that's been like 2 or 3 years. So there's this relationship component that is developed. And that's what we want for our churches.

We want that community. You know, we wanna we want that to happen and see that. So it it's really it is a neat thing to see, you know, happen.

Yeah. And it's you know, I when when we talk about Camp Empower and I know we talked, you know, a little bit more about the power play on our our last show, and and we, we talked about some of those things that we even do through Bridge and through, you know, through the other things that we do in, you know, tutoring and and, in our our other engagement with, with kids and families. But I almost think of Camp Empower as, like, either, like, the jumping off place or the booster shot. Right? Like, you like, you could get a you can get a big dose of of what the things are that we do in Bridge by spending 3 or 4 days, you know, engaged in Camp Empower.

And and it's it's a great way also to kind of help families to be able to see the vision of what's possible

Mhmm.

With that ongoing work and and, you know, engaging

Right.

Their kids in, you know, in the Mhmm. Cognitive fitness and Yeah. And social emotional learning kinds of things that we try to we try to engage them in.

Yeah. Yeah. That's that's that's that's huge. I mean, just to see, you know, just, again, raising that awareness and then of what, you know, what the brain can do Yeah. You know, and how we can change.

And that it's possible we're not stuck in that. And we you know, a lot of our families, again, that come to us, they haven't they can't go to different camps, or there's a fear about camps. And and a lot of it, they're just frustrated. And so it is that offering of that hope that we hope that that bridge from frustration to hope. And but also just seeing, hey, it is possible through through through play or through these things.

And so yeah. So it it's just yeah. It really is neat. And it does give us a chance also as those that are, you know, part of camp to have these conversations with the parents. Mhmm.

You know, it opens that door to be able to say, hey. This is what I saw. Yeah. You know, is this what you're seeing at home? And you might wanna be able to just, you know, hey, do you need a screening?

Right. You know? Right. You know, do we wanna set up a screening so we can dive a little bit deeper? Or, you know, do you do you need a resource for a counselor?

Or, you know, how about that parent coaching? I mean, you know, so it does give it opens up that door for those conversations to happen.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think I mean, you you said it beautifully. I mean, I think it's it's the it's taking that, you know, kind of almost resignation of hopelessness that it's like, hey, this is just the way it is. And and one of those things that we sometimes like that, it feels like a big loss, just to be honest with you, to to take things like summer camp off the, you know, off off the the the the list of options or the things that your kids are gonna experience because you just don't think that that's possible.

And and so to have the opportunity to be able to do that is hopeful, but then when you actually see kids get into camp and the things that they're able to do and experience and, and even the difference it makes just in that little short term. Right. It really does open a window to say, you know, like, what else? Right. What else is possible?

And we just believe a lot's possible. Right. And and so yeah. So Yeah. Alright.

So, Ann Maura, if there's somebody sitting out there

Mhmm.

And, and and we'll kinda do this 2 part. So one, they're sitting out there and they're saying, okay. I wanna get my child involved in Camp Empower this summer, but I don't live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I don't live in, you know, in in where

Asheville, Georgia.

Asheville Asheville, North Carolina or in Columbus, Georgia. What I do? Like, how how can I that didn't that's not close to me?

Yeah. Right. Yeah. I mean, there's a couple different things. You're welcome to join us in those locations.

Each of those locations, each of those churches have said, hey. We we're we're we're are opening our door up, not for the whole camp, but Yeah. We have enough slots here that we would love to offer that opportunity to folks from out of town. And then we'll work with you. I mean, these churches are great.

I mean, they're they're they're willing to help resource out whatever you might need to make that happen. The other, the other possibility is, hey, does your church wanna host a camp in power? Do you wanna initiate that? You know? And if you do, let me know soon.

But but yes. Or even if that's a thought, if you wanna know a little bit more about what that looks like and how that make that happen, I'd love to have that conversation. Feel free just to email me, and we'll get that set up.

Absolutely. And you can you can just email either just directly the info at lifelinechild.org. It'll make its way to Ann Maura, or you can look in the show notes, and we'll have information about how to contact her and and and ways that that she can be found. But but, yeah, truly, it it's not it's not a hard thing to be able to get started, and we have not yet started making plans fully for 2025. And so there's still room there's still room to be able to even consider for next year and, you know, going forward.

But our, you know, our our hope in this is to to just kind of be, you know, godly Johnny Appleseeds to to just plant these things all over the country. And, and we'd love to be able to grow in that. We'd love to we'd love to be able to

Yes.

You know, to to expand that. And, and and there are, you know, some keys to that, but one of those is getting, you know, getting good churches involved and and getting people in it that believe in it. I think, you know, I think the other thing just, you know, as we as we kind of wind in and close is, as as we think about the the potential for Camp Empower, One of the things I want to make sure we do is we invite folks and say, if you're if you're kind of indecisive

Right.

Like, there's there's no way I mean, if you can get to Tulsa, if you can get to Columbus, if you can, you know, if you can get to Asheville, North Carolina, nobody's gonna turn you away. Please let us know you're coming

Don't just show up.

That's right.

But, but I know Ann Maura and and her team would love to host you and and be able to give you a little bit of a view. Also, there's some things we've got some camp videos and some things like that that that can be shared with you to help you to know a little bit more about what camp is. But, Ann Maura as we as we kinda wind down close, any last thing you want folks to know or think about or remember, about Camp Empower this summer?

Yeah. You know, I it, it's interesting, Rick, that you say that because one of the I read this morning something that said, I see God in stories. Mhmm. Right? And that's, to me, camp in power is where I get to see God

Yeah.

Work out. And I'll get teary eyed. Sorry. Magic mustache.

Magic mustache.

But I mean, over the years, I get to see God in camp and power Yeah. Through the stories of not only the campers, but also the buddies and the families. Yeah. So that's been that's been super encouraging and, you know, just thankful.

Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. I when you say that, I'm I'm sitting here and and we're we're actually have a gonna get to hang out a little bit with our friend Steven Curtis Chapman tonight. And I'm thinking about the song Fingerprints of God, you know, and like

Really make me cry now.

Being able to, like, really honestly, but but, like, being able to see God's handiwork and being able to see the, really, just the the specialness and and how kids that that may struggle, that may have differences, that may, that may not be like everybody else, that they're created in the image of God and worthy of dignity and and and are loved by God more than than we can ever imagine. And camp is one of those places where you, like, you just get to see that float to the surface in ways that are just beautiful and amazing. And, yeah. And so, if you're, if you're thinking about it, I'm gonna tell you, don't just think about it. Respond to it.

Shoot us an email, you know, check us out, come to one of the campsites. Let's let's talk about getting your church involved because, God is using Camp Empower in some incredible, incredible ways.

Yeah. Thanks, Rick.

Yeah. Thank you.

Excited about it. Well Hope to see you at camp.

Absolutely. And, come join us at camp, and, come join us back next week here on the Defender Podcast. We'll be continuing to talk about ways that, that the father has, enabled us and has given us opportunity to be able to serve orphan and vulnerable children and vulnerable families in ways that build the body of Christ, but but in ways that that really show the heart of our father. And, and so for that, we are incredibly thankful. We're thankful you've joined us.

We're thankful that you listen. We're thankful if you would go and rate us or comment on us or like us or follow us or all those kind of things where you find podcasts and we're thankful to be on the journey with you. So I'm Rick Wharton and, and we'll see you here next week for the Defender Podcast.

Thanks for listening to the Defender Podcast. If you enjoy making this podcast a part of your weekly routine, we'd love for you to take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the Defender podcast to make it easier for more people to find. For more information on how you and your church can partner with Lifeline, visit us at lifelinechild.org. If you want to connect with me, please visit herbynewell.com. Follow us at lifeline on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter by searching for Lifeline Child.

You can email us directly at info at lifelinechild.org. Beloved, will you allow god to use the gospel through you to impact the life of a child? Please contact us because we are here to defend the fatherless. We'll see you again next week for the Defender podcast.