During a Workcamps or Week of Hope mission trip, lives are transformed, and when you serve on staff you become a part of God becoming real in people’s lives. There are three different ways you can join the staff at Group Mission Trips: Volunteer positions, Leadership positions, and Summer Staff positions. Here’s a brief overview of each opportunity. To learn more, click the tabs above for detailed descriptions of all positions.
(Please contact us before applying)
Setup Crew Member: This person helps out during the week BEFORE the mission trip. Works under the direction of the Setup Director. Assists in delivering materials, preparing work sites, verifying directions from the lodging facility, and preparing the residents and work-sites. Construction knowledge is a plus. Several Setup Crew members may be needed at each setup.
During the mission trip week:
Cafeteria Host: Creates a welcoming and pleasant atmosphere in the cafeteria by helping the cook staff organize the cafeteria, decorating, and interacting with the campers during meal times. Establishes a friendship with the cooks and acts as a liaison between campers and cook staff. Organizes the lunch line, coordinating volunteers to assist. Sets aside food for the staff lunches. Requires friendliness and organization-creativity is a plus!
Office Team Member: Provides excellent customer service to campers and staff who need assistance in the office. Assists Office Manager with registration on Sunday. Maintains daily office operations, maintains office supplies and forms, answers phones properly and relays information immediately to the appropriate people.
Program Team Member: Travels to work sites daily to take digital photos of participants and residents following Group’s photo guidelines. Assists MC and Program Manager in the coordination of materials, helpers, lights and props for each program. Helps maintain the gym or auditorium and helps set up/tear down program equipment and props. Photography experience is a must. Program Team Members are strongly encouraged to bring a vehicle to camp for their own use.
Site Coach: Assists camp participants with questions and problems at work sites. Offers encouragement and suggestions to crews. Helps make decisions on substitution of materials. Takes daily site reports. Assists in the tool room and materials room. Assists with material pickups and deliveries. Must have construction experience or handyman knowledge and good people skills. Several Site Coaches needed at each camp. Site Coaches are strongly encouraged to bring a vehicle to camp for their own use.
Facility Team Member: Establishes a partnership with the custodial staff at the camp facility. Ensures the restrooms, shower areas, and cafeteria are kept clean and supplied. Must be willing to accomplish basic custodial duties to provide a friendly, clean, environment for campers.
Worship Leader: Leads music by musical instrument and voice, encouraging campers to sing during evening programs. Must learn the designated camp songs and be able to teach them to others. Works with the MC to select songs for each program from the music list. Works with the Program Manager to lead rehearsals of individuals and/or groups who will be helping with the music during the programs.
Hospitality Team Member: Serve alongside the Summer Staff to provide the best experience possible to all participants. Duties include coordinating participants for meal preparation and service, organizing hospitality tasks, visiting project sites to take photos and encourage campers, and helping Summer Staff wherever needed.
Supervises 15-20 other staff members in mission trip operations. Diplomatic in all relations with staff and 400+ campers, local agencies and lodging facility staff, volunteers, local authorities, and news organizations. Maintains the highest concern for the safety, welfare, and best interests of the mission trip as a whole. A clear decision-maker following Group Missions Trips guidelines, values, and training. Excellent communications and leadership skills required.
Supervises 2-4 other staff members in preparing the community for the arrival of the campers. Works closely with local Cosponsor staff (agencies/churches/volunteers), materials suppliers, and lodging facility personnel. Knowledge of construction materials and good communication skills required. Requires good organizational skills, initiative, and flexibility.
Works closely with the program team, Director, and other staff, to ensure the highest quality in presentation of faith-building and entertaining programs. Required to memorize, learn, and follow prepared program script. Selects and trains participant performers for evening programs. Maintains flow of presentations. Must be enthusiastic and relatable when performing before an audience of 400-500, in some cases under less than ideal environmental circumstances. Shows an ability to improvise when necessary, and maintain Group Missions Trips core values and philosophy.
Our Summer Staff are vital to the success of Group Mission Trips. Every year we hire approximately 100 Summer Staff to be a part of our amazing team and facilitate the details of mission trips across the country where youth encounter Jesus. It doesn’t get much better than that!
“Summer staff is absolutely the best job ever. It has allowed me to serve God in amazing ways, and while serving Him I get to grow in His amazing love. Summer Staff has taught me leadership, patience, and other life skills, but most importantly it has taught me how to be a better servant of others and for Christ.” ~Austin Greco
“Summer Staff has pushed my boundaries as a leader and as a follower of Christ. The relationships God blessed me with this summer have challenged my faith and caused me to count down the days until next summer!” ~Cat Willms
“Summer Staff is an indescribable experience that has the ability to breathe new air into your life. You have to work absurdly hard, but you quickly learn that God works even harder!” ~Hailey Schroeder
Application
Interviews
There are three interviews in our process:
If we desire to offer you a position, a national criminal background check and driving record report will be conducted before a potential offer.
Each year we have over 400 new applications for Summer Staff. We also have our amazing veteran Summer Staff that come back. On average those 400 applicants are interviewing for about 60 positions. It’s competitive! Do your best. Do not take any step of this process for granted, because it’s all being evaluated.
WEEK OF HOPE
You and one other same-gendered Summer Staffer travel from training (in a Group Mission Trips rented minivan filled with all of your supplies) to one of 19 locations across the country (typically larger cities). There, you will run your mission trip location for 100 participants for seven consecutive weeks of camp. Each week 100 new participants will attend your location to do community service. You’ll have approximately a day and a half off between mission trips to visit the local community that you’ll call home for the summer. Also, each week you’ll have two volunteers come to your location to be led by you and work alongside of you to make the week happen.
Program Leader
Helpful Skills: Speaking in front of large groups, youth ministry-minded, extremely strong leadership, interpersonal, communication and organizational skills.
This person will be the MC of the morning and evening programs (we provide all of the material to present). They also order all of the food through Sysco, manage the kitchen, and maintain the relationship with our lodging facility (typically a church or small school), and serve participants and volunteer staff while completing all other mission trip functions.
Project Leader
Helpful Skills: Planning community service and outreach projects, extremely strong leadership, interpersonal, communication and organizational skills.
This person coordinates projects with local partner organization, organizes camper assignments, daily visits each service project site to check progress and take photos, and serves participants and volunteer staff while completing all other mission trip functions.
WORKCAMPS
You and three other Summer Staffers travel from training in a Group Mission Trips rented car and a Ryder Truck filled with all of your supplies for 3-4 mission trip locations across the country. At each location, you’ll help facilitate a mission trip for up to 450 participants, where they come to do home repair. Between mission trips you have a few days to travel to your next location. Each mission trip will have leadership staff (Setup Director, Director, and MC) who will serve alongside your crew to lead the mission trip. There are also approximately 11 volunteer staff that will be led by you and help you complete the necessary functions in your area.
Crew Manager
Helpful Skills: Computer applications, logistical thinking and food service.
This person uses our Crew Assigning Database to organize the assignment of participants into work-site crews, coordinates transportation to work-sites, maintains and upgrades assignments and re-assignments in the database, takes daily progress reports and oversees the Cafeteria Host volunteer and logistics in the cafeteria.
Materials Manager
Helpful Skills: Basic construction and home repair knowledge, budgeting and project management experience
This person coordinates the work and materials being done on the work-sites, leads a team of volunteer Site Coaches, makes materials deliveries throughout the day, oversees daily materials ordering and staging and manages the materials budget.
Office Manager
Helpful Skills: Customer service, office work, organization and people friendliness.
This person oversees registration and room assigning, manages bookkeeping and financials, maintains the Workcamps Office, oversees the Office Team Member and Facility Team Member volunteers, and builds relationships with lodging facility staff.
Program Manager
Helpful Skills: Multimedia production including lights, sounds, presentation software, and photography.
This person operates lights, sound and multimedia equipment for morning and evening programs, works with MC to ensure top-quality programs, leads the volunteer Program Team Member and coordinates daily photography assignments and slideshows.
If at any time you have questions about our Summer Staff opportunities, email Stacie Windel, our Staffing Supervisor at swindel@groupmissiontrips.com.