The camp week ends. The work of loving students keeps going.
There are Wednesday nights to prepare for, volunteers to encourage, parents with questions and teenagers figuring out what faith looks like in the middle of their actual lives. The adults walking beside them need support in those ordinary weeks, too.
BigStuf™ Leader Labs now extends beyond the summer with a year-round Leader Lab subscription for youth leaders, adult volunteers and parents. Announced in October 2026, the new offer brings research-informed context, practical resources and a training experience into the months between camp weeks.
More support for the people who keep showing up
We want students to encounter Jesus and take a lived faith home. That work continues through the people who know their names, remember their questions and show up again the next week.
Youth pastors carry the bigger picture. Volunteers build relationships one conversation at a time. Parents make room for faith in the daily life of a family. Each role needs something a little different. None of them should have to figure everything out alone.
Year-round Leader Lab resources give those adults material they can use in a team meeting, a conversation with a teenager or a quieter moment of preparation. The aim is to support faithful, thoughtful presence throughout the year.
A rhythm you can bring into normal ministry life
The annual subscription costs $149 per year, billed annually, and includes three kinds of support:
- Monthly Culture Intelligence Brief: research-informed context about the culture young people are growing up in.
- Weekly Curated Resource Drop: practical material tailored to youth leaders, adult volunteers and parents.
- Annual Leader Training Experience: a curated training experience to help leaders put ideas into practice.
Those resources do not all need to become another meeting. A brief can sharpen one conversation. A resource can help a volunteer prepare. A facilitator guide can give a team a focused way to work through something together.
Start with a sample that fits your role
You can explore three free sample PDFs before deciding whether the subscription fits. Choose the situation closest to the work you are doing now.
Put it into practice
Which conversation is on your mind?
I lead students or support a volunteer team
From Chaperone to Mentor looks at building trust and developing a dependable mentoring relationship. Read it with one question in mind: what does a student experience when we show up consistently?
I am a parent trying to lead honestly at home
Refuse to Confuse Honesty with Weakness explores the demands of parenting and offers questions and practical steps to bring home. Choose one prompt to talk through rather than turning the whole resource into a family assignment.
Our team needs a conversation about conviction and love
Love Without Condoning is a sample facilitator guide for a 60–90 minute session on holding conviction and unconditional love together. Preview the full guide and choose a time when your team can engage with care.
Leader Labs at camp is still part of the week
If you know Leader Labs from BigStuf™, those morning sessions are still included with your camp registration at no additional cost. Youth pastors and adult leaders gather for teaching, encouragement and ministry-focused conversations while their students are at camp.
For the adults who spend much of camp keeping track of rooms, meals and their students, Leader Labs makes space to be a learner again. You can sit with other leaders, hear teaching aimed at the work you do and give your own questions some attention.
The conversations also connect churches. You are alongside adults who know what it takes to bring a group away and then keep serving them at home. That time to learn and connect is part of how BigStuf™ supports the people who make the week possible for students.
Leader Lab Session 1 brings leaders together around camp updates, the vision for the week and essential group information. It is required for leaders, including returning teams. The remaining sessions are optional opportunities to learn, connect and take practical ideas home.
That means the adults have their own part of the camp experience, alongside worship and the time they spend with their students. We want you to leave encouraged and better supported for the ministry waiting at home.
The new year-round subscription is a separate offer. Attending camp does not automatically enroll your church in it, and the subscription does not replace camp registration.
That distinction gives leaders a clear choice: the support built into your camp week, ongoing resources through the year, or both.
Take one idea into this week
Put it into practice
A simple way to use your first resource
- Choose the sample closest to a question your team or family is already asking.
- Read it before your next conversation, and mark one idea you want to discuss.
- Ask another adult what the idea would look like in your setting.
- Choose one action and a date to check back in.
You do not need to use every resource at once. Start where support would make a difference this week.
Visit Leader Labs to explore the full offer and sample library. When you are ready, the page links to BigStuf™’s Athalon portal, where you can sign in or create an account to subscribe.
We are grateful for the adults who keep making room for teenagers to be known, ask questions and grow in faith. We want to keep showing up for you, too.
