what’s the catch?

Fishing for people, stories, and musings ‘round the Mountain.

September 18, 2023

I have been a camper for 4 years, worked on Summer Staff for 3, and am now in my 4th month of working full time for Mountain T.O.P. and explaining what we do here is one of the hardest parts. Explaining a job at Mountain T.O.P. is an even more daunting task. Here’s how it normally goes

So you do construction?

No, trust me they do not want me in charge of the construction.

So do you guys do archery, do you go swimming?

I would shoot my own eye out. I also do not want to be in charge of youths going swimming.

What do you do during the year? How do you have a job if it's not the summer? Are they making you live in a camper cabin?

A lot of things, we are open all year, and no Mom they are not making me live in a camper cabin.

This year I am an AmeriCorps member serving at Mountain T.O.P. and my official title is Recruiter and Resource Educator. I wear a lot of different hats bt one of my focuses is volunteer education. My goal is to provide information and resources to our volunteer base to promote education of the complexity of poverty in Appalachia and integrate housing advocacy into Mountain T.O.P. 's mission.

This summer I passed around materials and spoke to our participants about how poverty is a break in relationships, lack of material resources being merely a symptom of a much wider system breakdown. We can all be in poverty, and the relationships that are being broken down can be put in 4 categories. Relationship with God, with ourselves, with others, and with creation (Poverty: Now What We Think?).

All of these breakdowns are poverty so we are all in poverty in some way - a poverty of spiritual intimacy, a poverty of being, a poverty of community, and a poverty of stewardship.

This same structure of thought can be applied to our 4 needs. Physical, social, emotional, and spiritual. Mountain T.O.P. has been focusing on what can seem like a new-age concept of ‘social determinants of health’ for almost 50 years. We are not just here for the wheelchair ramp. But for the marginalized, the oppressed and the forgotten. A wheelchair ramp can fix a lot but investing in a community that has been exploited for decades is a lot more.

Our housing mission is only one block in a complex, ever growing jenga tower of components of poverty. If someone has an unsafe house, this is a breakdown of their relationship with creation because their resources are not being adequately utilized. In Appalachia specifically there was a historical and repeated breakdown of the relationship with others because they have been exploited and abused for generations. This is why surface level charity will not alleviate poverty. It takes intentional re-investment in the relationships of Appalachia to begin achieving a flourishing Plateau.

I leave you with some reflection.

“and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” - Isaiah 58:10

What ways are you in poverty?

What mending of those relationships can you do?

What mending of the relationship system around you do you feel called to?

How have you seen broken relationships being mended in your Mountain T.O.P. journey?

Sources:

• “Poverty: Now What We Think? Helping Without Hurting: Week 1”. Gospel Link. https://www.gospel.link/helping-without-hurting-poverty.html

• Mayo, Nathan. “A Framework for Flourishing: a Synopsis of When Helping Hurts.” True Charity, 5 May 2021. https://www.truecharity.us/helping-without-hurting-a-look-at-when-helping-hurts/

August 9, 2023

Starting our third week and finishing up our last week with campers was a roof, bathroom renovation, and new living room flooring for a super nice family who has been involved with Mountain T.O.P. for years. Ms. P used to work on our kitchen staff, and her son is a former day camp kid while her daughter is a current day camp kid. They were so fun to interact with, and they even put on their own Mountain T.O.P. name tags on so everyone in the group knew their names.

Week three, I had a big group working on major home repair projects all week long, and one of the two groups installed a new tin roof and shower with the help of the awesome Dan Eby. Week six, we came back with another awesome group to put down new flooring in the living room and bathroom, as well as put in a brand-new toilet to keep the P’s new flooring safe from water.

The P’s were so appreciative to work with the groups, and as we capped off the project finishing the trim, they came up and gave us baseball cards and a few stuffed animals which left the group with the biggest collective smile I have ever seen.

August 3, 2023

My second week I worked in the home of three former Day Camp kids who have grown up into super funny and really sweet teenagers. When I first was at the H’s house to do prep work for my upcoming project, the three girls followed me around staring at me and didn’t say a single word while I took measurements of the floors.

I never thought I would’ve been able to get the girls to talk to me, but luckily as I kept showing up (whether it be with a group of 15 to 19-year-olds or not), they finally opened up to me. The friendship I was able to build with them serves as a constant reminder of why I have had all of these early mornings and late nights, as well as the need to meet all of the four needs.

Although I took a group in to meet the physical need of fixing holes in bedrooms, hallways, the living room, and the kitchen by putting brand new vinyl plank flooring, the social, emotional, and spiritual needs that were met that week have impacted me more than bedroom floors that no longer have holes in them could ever impact those girls.

Their willingness to hop in and help the group work, their willingness to jump in on the inside jokes with the group, and their determination to make people smile throughout the day made the frustrations of working on their home go away. The H’s show us why we do what we do here at Mountain T.O.P. and I will be forever thankful for being able to work with them!

cultivating safer homes, Part 1 of 4

For the next four posts, we are taking a deep dive into the four Major Home Repair projects from this summer. Each week, our blogger is Devin Rutt. Devin is the service project intern on support staff this summer and supervised all four projects as his main job focus. Devin spent two prior summers on summer staff as a service project ministry coordinator in 2019 and a service project manager in 2021. He is a student at Middle Tennessee State University studying construction management with an emphasis in land development and residential building.

This summer I have had the privilege to once again live my everyday life atop the Cumberland Plateau alleviating substandard housing in Grundy County. While blessed with the natural beauty of southern pines, waterfalls, and overlooks onto expansive views into the valley below, in 2023 Grundy has found itself considered economically “distressed” by the State of Tennessee and ranks in the bottom 10 percent in the Index Value Rank of all counties in the United States. According to the Housing Assistance Council, a higher percentage of both homeowners and renters alike in Grundy are “cost burdened” by their homes than the national average.

Ever since I started coming to Mountain T.O.P. as a camper in 2016, I have recognized that despite all the exploitation of human and natural resources, combined with the disregard by the vast majority of our society, Appalachia has some of the most genuine, hardworking, and kindest people I have ever met. This summer those amazing characteristics that have stuck with me for the past eight years, including two prior summers on summer staff and this summer on support staff, have been exemplified through my partnership work with the homeowners of Grundy and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Housing Preservation Grant.

The four families I have worked with over the past seven weeks have exemplified how to cultivate generosity, passion, rest, care, and belonging with each interaction they have had with myself, other staff members, and the campers I have brought along with me to repair roofs, floors, and bathrooms this summer.

My first week with campers this summer, I took a group out to Mrs. F’s home to replace her roof. She has been working with Mountain T.O.P. for years and is a great exemplification of the importance of meeting all four needs. Although we went out specifically to meet the physical need and replace her roof, through conversations with Mrs. F about her past, her family, and how Mountain T.O.P. has given her a hand up not a handout throughout the years, the importance of intentionally meeting the spiritual, social, and emotional needs and not just the physical need was emphasized.

It was so cool to see a group of 13 to 17-year-old kids work so hard on the roof laying down underlayment, installing purlins, and putting up brand new black tin, as well as taking turns going inside to sit down and chat with Mrs. F and hear the many stories she has accumulated through life.

One night the week this project was worked on when I was hanging around Camp Cumberland Pines listening in on a community sharing time, one of the group members shared that through their time working with Mrs. F, the interactions with her really impacted them and would continue to stick with them as they traveled down into the valley below. This project went so well, and with the group of hard workers led by one of our awesome board members, we finished the entire roof in only two days!

summer 2023

Youth Summer Ministry participants are starting to blanket the counties of Grundy, Marion, Sequatchie, White, Warren, Van Buren, and Bledsoe in our little pocket of Appalachian Tennessee, cultivating grace along the way. Grace is the one time experience of doing some yardwork or Kool sealing a mobile home roof or knowing your children are enriched through social connectedness. The grace-upon-grace-upon-grace is the long term effect of experiencing healthier days at home, growing a sense of community belonging, or embracing supportive life-long relationships. Grace-upon-grace is the stuff made out of our faith, knowing that we are participating in God’s plan for all of creation to flourish now and long after the trip is over. 

Join us over the next six weeks here on our camp blog to experience Youth Summer Ministry though images and stories!

camp Week 6

During this final week of Youth Summer Ministry, we are sharing a few testimonials from across the summer.

camp Week 5

This week’s blogger is Julie Keel, Program Director at Mountain T.O.P. Julie works part time in the areas of recruiting and housing advocacy and is convinced that accessible and affordable housing is part of the flourishing life found in Jesus Christ here on this earth.

Earlier this summer Grundy County, the location of camp Cumberland Pines and the main office of Mountain T.O.P., moved off of the Appalachian Regional Commission’s list of distressed counties. For around 50 years Grundy County has been in the top 10% of economically challenged counties in the United States, touting higher rates of poverty, lower household incomes, and higher unemployment. Mountain T.O.P. has been in operation for a majority of that time.

The focus of Mountain T.O.P.’s long term outcomes is a reduction in poverty. While that has been hard to see, the last decade has brought a significant drop in the overall poverty rate, around 10 points in the last 10 years. That is significant and definitely something to celebrate!

It is hard to notice these community indicators shifting in the day-to-day grind of helping families who have nowhere else to turn in making their homes accessible and affordable…and all of the other related drivers of health. It takes a heavy lift to turn around decades of disinvestment that created the situation in which poverty blossomed on our little pocket of Appalachia.

But that’s what I see when I pass by a Youth Renewal Group hard at work or hear stories of the Day Camp field trip to the local farm. I see it when my neighbors post about their bike ride on the Mountain Goat Trail or when I sit in cross collaborative meetings about the intersection of housing, public transportation, and early childhood education. This is just a short list of how I see the making-things-whole power of Jesus Christ moving around me.

And while a decade of hard work across all sectors is paying off, I am still struck by the work to be done to reverse the historical disinvestment of our area. Though our child poverty rate has dropped 12 points in the same 10 year period, it is still hovering more than 6 points above our overall poverty rate. I still feel audaciously passionate about the large amount of investment that is necessary to sustain our trajectory and confident that we are a place to receive that investment in any shape, form, or fashion it may take.

As Mountain T.O.P. is over here doing its normal thing it has been doing for decades, will you pray for us? Will you pray for our local leaders who have dedicated their lives and livelihoods to the vision of a flourishing place? Will you pray for those who have power and privilege, inside and outside of this area, to recognize how far we can make their investment go? Will you pray for wisdom for those of us who regularly think and plan and innovate about some of the most difficult social concerns of this area?

Will you pray with me?

camp Week 4

This week our guest blogger is Hallie Marie McErlaine. Hallie Marie is a Mountain T.O.P Summer Staff Alumni, after serving as a Service Project Ministry Coordinator, Program Manager, and Director from 2019-2021. She currently works as an elementary school teacher in Decatur, Georgia and is a professional doodler.

Cultivating Belonging (in a Weird Wonderful Way)

“Can I draw on your arm?”

That question directed at a 15 year-old-girl in my Youth Renewal Group (YRG) became a catalyst of a bigger movement across the Mountain T.O.P. camp community last week. I had noticed this girl sitting by herself at our work site and grabbed the Sharpie clipped onto my name tag. The other members of my YRG quickly requested their own doodles. I had no idea that drawing a worm wearing a cowboy hat could make an impact, but as the day wore on, I saw how happy these Sharpie worm doodles made my YRG. When we got back to camp, they proudly showed off their forearms to the Summer Staff, who also asked for their own worm doodles. Soon, students I’d never met before appeared, asking me to draw a worm on their arms. I got to learn their names and where they were from and what they did that day. Whenever I noticed someone standing in the margins, I’d ask if I could draw on a worm on their arm.

Eventually, I heard questions like, “What’s with the worms?” “What do they mean?” or “Why worms?”

At the moment, I would reply by simply saying the worms make people happy and I like drawing them. However now as I write this, I’ve reflected more on my awesome week at camp and the 2023 theme of “Cultivate.”

Cultivation is the preparation and nourishment of land for gardening. An essential part of that preparation is fertilization, which ironically, worms provide. According to Sarah Johnson, a PhD Researcher in Environmental Science at King's College in London, “Ecologists consider earthworms “keystone species” because of how much they influence the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil.”

I observed worm doodles cultivating a sense of belonging across the camp community. They drew in people outside of my YRG, Major Group, or church; people standing on the margins received a worm doodle. Seeing a huge smile light up across someone’s face as they showed off the doodle that made them feel known was powerful to watch.

In our daybreak devotion on Friday, we were challenged to cultivate belonging by creating what you crave. That statement was perfect closure to explain what spread through our camp community, because the worm doodles were my way of cultivating what I craved. When I was asked to be an adult for a week of Youth Summer Ministry at Mountain T.O.P., I was a little nervous. I still get worried about not knowing anyone or anxious about meeting new people. However, Mountain T.O.P. is a safe place to be the most outgoing version of yourself and I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone, because I crave community. I crave connection. I crave feeling like I belong.

camp Week 3

This week our guest blogger is Emma Crandall, who was a camper during Week 1. Emma was on summer staff at Mountain T.O.P. from 2015-2017, filled in for a week or two at a time during the summers 2018-2021, and has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2022. She is a teacher, having taught third grade for five years and moving to teach Kindergarten this upcoming school year. Also, she is a newly certified yoga instructor. She has been on various mission trips and passionate about service to others for as long as she can remember. She hopes to see you around on the mountain sometime!

Cultivating Relationships

I shared with my church group that I traveled with down to Mountain T.O.P. a few weeks ago that the Mountain T.O.P. ministry holds a very big piece of my heart. I have been involved with the ministry in many ways - from being a teenage camper, to working on Summer Staff, to returning to help “part-time” on Summer Staff, to now being an adult camper and serving on the Board of Directors. As I reflect on the week I spent as a camper there (during week 1 of the summer), I keep coming back to an idea in line with this summer’s theme: cultivating relationships. Anyone who has been to Mountain T.O.P. knows this is an important value to the ministry and is a large reason the ministry has been successful for nearly 50 years.

There are many relationships I feel were cultivated during just the one week I spent at camp in early June. First, the relationships I made while on Summer Staff. The friendships I made with my coworkers during those summers are extremely important to me and have been lasting friendships since even my first summer working on staff eight years ago. Going to camp gives me a chance to reconnect with friends in person that I typically only get to talk to on the phone throughout the rest of the year. I also get to reconnect with people from various church groups who return to camp year after year as adult campers that I first met while working on Summer Staff. I am a big believer in connecting with people of various backgrounds and experiences. This is one way that I believe people, not just myself, get to do that! Another way people cultivate relationships at Mountain T.O.P. is through working together in their YRG (youth renewal group) throughout the week. Coincidentally, I had a lot of mutual acquaintances with people I served with in my YRG this year. We also had a great mix of church groups - one of us was from Illinois, one from Iowa, two from separate churches in Tennessee, and two from Florida. As in a typical YRG experience, we were a lot closer at the end of our week of service than the beginning. We have also found ways to stay in touch now that we are back in our own communities.

As I mentioned before, the success of Mountain T.O.P.’s ministry heavily relies on cultivated and nourished relationships. Through staying involved with the ministry prior to and now as a member of the Board of Directors, some of the relationships I have most enjoyed cultivating are with the current Summer Staff. It filled my heart with pride and joy, truly, to watch our staff “do their thing” during our camp week. They handled challenges with grace, were effective leaders and facilitators, and delivered powerful programming to help all of us campers grow in our faiths. I know for a fact that they were also inspiring to the next group of potential leaders, as many of the people in my church group showed interest in being on Summer Staff in the future. Finally, the relationships that Mountain T.O.P. has cultivated in the community and with homeowners might be my favorite. Listening to other members of the week 1 camp community share about their positive experiences throughout the week and the impact Mountain T.O.P. has had in the area was so powerful. Also, getting to connect with the homeowners my group was blessed to work with during the week was such a joyous experience.

I will leave you with this quote to reflect on:

“Take something you love, tell people about it, bring people together who share your love, and help make it better. Ultimately, you’ll have more of whatever you love for yourself and the world.” -Julius Schwartz

More images from Week 3…

camp Week 2

This week our guest blogger is Rachael Jorstad. Rachael worked with Mountain T.O.P. from 2013 - 2021 on summer staff and support staff. She recently finished her Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt Divinity School. Inspired by her time on staff, Rachael is passionate about spiritual formation and cares about creating spaces for people to encounter God.

Cultivation: A Reflection

I spent a couple of days with the summer staff in the early days of training. This year I found myself saying something along the lines of “this isn’t just about your job, this is a life lesson!” more often than in previous years. Of course, this idea that the training one receives at Mountain T.O.P. will go with you into the world has always been true. For generations, we’ve had training sessions about communication and leadership that stretch beyond the context of leading a Major Group meeting or providing instructions to a YRG. The skill of “clarifying and confirming” or giving balanced feedback or ending a conversation with a clear next step are ingrained in the vernacular of those who have gone through staff training, regardless of what decade you served. For some reason, this year, it was all striking me differently.

In a conversation about camp week logistics, we talked about stewarding important relationships, knowing the why, and pivoting when unexpected circumstances arise. These aren’t just survival strategies for running a camp week. These are skills that will be used in all varieties of personal and professional settings.

In a conversation about the worships the summer staff would be creating and leading, we talked about the different kinds of people who would be represented in their camp community. For example, a camp community will include teenagers, older adults, folks who are new in their faith and folks who are mature in their faith. A community will contain folks who are grieving, folks who come from places of privilege, and folks who come from marginalized communities. This was a reminder that the groups we’re working with are rarely monoliths. Instead they’re full of diverse perspectives and experiences and we have the opportunity to be sensitive to that.

The things we learn in staff training go beyond the few months we spend on the Mountain. These lessons permeate our personal and professional lives. They inspire our spiritual formation and social identity. In my own experience, Mountain T.O.P. taught me how to be a better human and relate to other humans better. It was my experience as a summer staffer and I still see it in the way summer staffers are being trained.

Or, to put it in terms of the 2023 theme: Mountain T.O.P. is a place of cultivation.

As a young person, Mountain T.O.P. cultivated a sense of curiosity about what life was like for other people in other parts of the country. My horizons were broadened as I met people from across the country in my YRG and interacted with the homeowners we were working with. As a kid from a small town, it was important to encounter diversity and expand my worldview.

As a young adult, it cultivated a sense of confidence. Summer staff members are given a lot of responsibility and that gift of leadership allowed me to find my voice, grow in my strengths, (un)gracefully navigate conflict, and trust myself and what I could offer to others.

As a young professional, it cultivated a sense of passion. I care deeply about creating spaces where people can encounter God, explore their faith and their questions, and get their hands dirty for the sake of transformation. I credit my work at Mountain T.O.P. for being the place where I could discern that passion.

I have been and continue to be cultivated by the community of Mountain T.O.P. What has Mountain T.O.P. cultivated in you? And, if you are a summer staff alum, what is a life lesson that you learned during your time on staff?

camp Week 1

summer 2022

camp Week 6

Before. After.

Week 6 has begun and we are ready for the amazing things that are going to happen this week!

Week 5

We are loving front yard day camp!! A lot of volunteers in this YRG are first time Mountain TOPPERS!

The YRGs above are from First Presbyterian Church of Whippany, these 2 groups are working on grant funded Major Home Repair Projects all week long!

MIDSUMMER CELEBRATION!!

Mike was commissioned as Mountain T.O.P.’s New Executive Director by our Board of Directors at Midsummer!

Week 4

Volunteers worked with Ms. A to build a wheelchair ramp and replace her roof! Volunteers put a new roof on Ms. A’s home in just 2 and 1/2 days! (Pictured above)

Baker staff worked on a staff project all week their site had puppies!!

The YRG below is from Brandywine Community Church check out the vibrant color on that ramp!

The kiddo below is our youngest Day Camp Participant she is 1 years old!! Front Yard Day Camp is for all ages!

The groups below are from East End UMC out of Nashville, TN!

We have 3 Major Groups of all Service Project YRG’s!

Camp Week 3

Camp Week 2!

CAMP WEEK 1!

Summer Staff Training

The staff had their first pre camp! Pre camp is an important time for staffs to prepare and get ready for the camp week. Hallie Marie & Steven’s staff have campers arrive today!! We are so excited for this first camp week and every camp week after!

Staff training was so successful! Thank you to every person who volunteered their time and talents to pour into our summer staff!