The DPF Peace Intern Program provides a paid position ($3,000 grant for the 12-week program) where DPF takes care of all the scheduling and pays for all of the travel arrangements. It is a life changing experience!
DPF Peace Interns spend the summer serving as Ambassadors for Peace and Justice. In addition to serving on Program Staff at Church Camps throughout the United States and Canada, the 2026 Peace Interns will also have alternative service weeks where they work with Disciples Justice Ministry groups, Local Congregational Partners, and/or Ecumenical Peace Organizations to develop specific, pre-defined projects.
Learn more and apply at: disciplespeace.org/apply
Meet YOMC Coordinator Holly Gage!
Holly has been serving as the Youth Ministry Coordinator since October of 2019, and is really, REALLY, excited to be moving towards what feels like her first season of “normal” camp at Kaleo since accepting the role! She has been active with Kamp Kaleo and Youth/Outdoor Ministries since her own middle school years, and active as a counselor (predominantly with Faith and Fine Arts, where — fun fact– she has now led or co-led all four core elements) since 2008! When she’s not engaged in the business of youth ministry, Holly is a mom to Griffen, and also a lunch lady with Lincoln Public Schools, moving around to different assignments each day, often running into campers, staff, volunteers, and other camp- connected folks on her daily sojourn…
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Hebrews 13:2
When I was in confirmation class many years ago, I don’t recall especially that there was an assignment around choosing a “life verse” or any such similar activity. I could not begin to guess when this particular verse came into my consciousness, even. What I do know is that when it did, it came around repeatedly, and insistently. In that way that the Holy Spirit will nudge us towards what we need to learn, this verse has followed me, or perhaps like a will-o-the-wisp, I have followed it. It is such a simple instruction, and yet a bold one. Almost a dare. What courage it takes to practice radical hospitality, to be a refuge for those traveling through the wilderness in the literal or metaphorical sense. We have to choose someone else’s comfort (not to the point of harm, but still) above our own.
My understanding of this verse has deepened over the years. In a desert existence, hospitality was quite entirely the difference between life and death. Someone traveling through the unforgiving landscape would rely on the kindness of those whose tents they traveled by for shelter, water, sustenance. To refuse someone such succor was tantamount to a death sentence. Of course, it references Abraham and the strangers in Genesis.
Offering safety to travelers, to strangers, to foreigners in your land is a theme on repeat throughout the scriptures. It was true thousands of years ago and it is still true today that all of us will be, at some point, in need of the mercy and welcome of others. Beyond scriptural context, we know that many who still live in such environments, many who still live the same way that we lived thousands of years ago continue to adhere to these practices as a matter of course. People of many faiths and cultures, from Bedouins to Benedictines to Buddhists adhere to the tenets of welcome as a moral pillar.
Over the weekend, I witnessed youth who were deeply familiar with the welcoming principle of Kamp Kaleo enthusiastically embrace newcomers to that place with great hospitality. In every way you hope for as a leader and mentor for young people, they practiced what had been modeled and preached to them. In less than an hour, you would have been hard-pressed to discern which of them had been “living in the tent” and which were the “strangers” They raised questions together about how to be a Light in the world, how to create more welcome, more acceptance, more Love, more gentleness in a world which is in desperate need of it. They give me hope, and they are a reminder to all of us that we have a duty to entertain strangers in our midst, for each of them is the Child of God, and indeed, as holy as angels among us.
Greetings in the Name of Christ!
In Nebraska we have the privilege of serving churches in two denominations, across a wide geographic area, with wonderfully diverse congregations and realities. We believe the best way to serve people is to ask folks what they need and desire. With that in mind, this survey has been created to capture a snapshot of your congregation in its current reality.
We invite you to answer this survey as a way of providing insight into the programming, resources, and assets your congregation has, and the constituents your churches serve; likewise, we hope it will provide an opportunity for you to share with YOMC and the Youth Ministry Coordinator the needs and desires of your congregation for youth ministry in Nebraska.