Lessons from leaders of a 5-year-old and 90-year-old camp
Pursuing the same mission
over time is not equivalent to doing the same thing over and over again. —Ron Mackey
90-year-old camp Ron
Long before mission statements were a thing, our founder at Deerfoot Lodge pursued an idea to build godly men in a Christ-centered community through wilderness camping. Here we are, 90 years later, carrying out the same exact mission. Personally, after 15 years as executive director, the mission fire burns hotter today than the day I first started. I’m far more focused, passionate and energized by our mission than I was 10 years ago. Here is what I’ve learned is required to keep going with an unchanging mission.
1. Proactive leadership: Pursuing the same mission over time is not equivalent to doing the same thing over and over again. Like paddling a canoe in a swiſt current, keeping on-mission requires constant adjustments. Increasing mission effectiveness relies on alert and proactive leadership that is ready to change in order to become increasingly effective. We’re not busy trying to keep things the same; we’re busy trying to go deeper and wider with our impact.
2. ‘Fire in the belly’: It’s hard to differentiate between Deerfoot’s mission and my own. I would lean into the mission to build godly men even if I weren’t the executive director of Deerfoot. That wasn’t always the case, but as I learn more about our times and the rising challenges for boys and young men, my leadership engine revs to become as effective as we can to build godly men.
3. Sharing: Tis is the easy part, because gen- uine mission passion is impossible to contain. Plus, it is contagious. It starts with the board and me, and it spreads through our organiza- tion. Our staff, campers, donors and families become carriers of our mission. I can’t carry it all by myself, so I actively “infect” others. Tis generates enthusiasm for the cause, as well as engagement in the efforts.
4. Saying no: We say no to many good oppor- tunities because of our sharp mission focus; a clear mission permits us to say no to good things.
5. Embrace change: When we reached capac- ity limits at our camp, our mission passion fueled our courage to wade into the deep end of the faith pool to build a new camp from scratch. And, yes, though it’s different than the original in many ways, the mission is exactly the same.
Dudley Grady Jr. is a proud native and resident of New Orleans. He is one of the founding members and camp director of RESET Ministries. He has served in youth ministry since 2012 and mentors young men in the community. In addition to his role at RESET, he is the manager of student services for the New Orleans public school district. He received his bachelor’s from Xavier University of LA and his master’s from LSU. To learn more about RESET, visit
www.resetcamps.org
Ron Mackey is executive director at Deerfoot Lodge, a Christian wilderness camp for boys with the mission to build godly men. Deerfoot has operated for 90 years in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, and recently launched a second camp in North Carolina. Ron is an ordained minister who resides in Albany, New York.
February/March 2020
www.ccca.org 51
Photos courtesy of Deerfoot Lodge
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