Welcome to Living My Faith, a weekly show that celebrates the everyday believers who are walking with Jesus not just on Sundays, but in every area of their lives. From relationships and parenting to health, habits, and home, our guests share how they keep their faith at the center of it all. Hosted in Jacksonville, Florida and supported by Christ-centered partners, Living My Faith is a space where real life meets real faith. Today our host, Morgan Yonge, spoke with Joleen Steel.
Joleen Steel
Owner of Camping Stick Kids
Website Address: https://campingstickkids.org/
Short company description:
Camping Stick Kids exists to equip parents and leaders to share the gospel with children so they can share Christ with their peers. In 2015 our CEO received The John Avery Whittaker award from Focus on the Family. That award catapulted the ministry into new opportunities to share the Gospel with more children and families. We now have churches in both the USA and Canada using our resources for their camps and kids ministries. Also, we have a partnership with Trail Life USA that has enabled us to reach thousands of boys for Christ. We are grateful to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the work He is doing through the Camping Stick Kids ministry.
Can you share a moment or experience that significantly deepened or shaped your faith journey?
Kids camps and youth camps were an integral part of my growing up years. I’ll never forget the year I turned seventeen. Our speaker that week of camp challenged us to lay our future at the foot of the cross. The worship and prayer and submission to the Lord impacted me so strongly. That is when I knew God was in charge and that I could trust His plans for my life. I submitted my desire to be a speaker and leader to him and have continued to walk in that submission.
In what ways do you actively live out your faith in your daily life — at work, home, or in your community?
Active faith for me looks like walking in the power of God and not in my own insecurities. Only through Him can I serve weekly at church on the prayer team and as a leader in our Women’s Ministry. Writing, traveling, and speaking for Camping Stick Kids keeps me connected to the Lord as I absolutely can not do any of that without Him. I’ve tried and it didn’t turn out well. When I get distracted by me I forget what I learned at camp when I was seventeen. He’s in charge.
What encouragement or scripture has been especially meaningful to you in this season, and why?
Proverbs 3:5 Commit your ways to the Lord, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Psalm 37:5 Commit your ways to the Lord, trust in Him and He will act. Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait for the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint.
What advice would you give to someone who’s struggling to live out their faith or looking to grow spiritually?
I know it sound simple but there’s an old Sunday school song that tells me what to do. “Read your Bible, pray every day. Pray every day. Pray every day Read your Bible, pray every day and you’ll grow, grow, grow.” We seem to look for some magic fix to our spiritual growth, but it’s truly about putting yourself in the presence of God, even when you don’t feel like it, and asking Him to speak to you through His word and through prayer. Yes, we should go to church and be involved in small groups and Bible study, but those things are secondary to falling on our face before almighty God in worship and need.
Transcript:
Morgan:
Welcome back to another episode of Living My Faith, where we highlight those who are making Kingdom impact. I’m Morgan Yonge, joined today by Joleen Steel with Camping Stick Kids. Joleen, thank you for joining us.
Joleen:
Hi. I’m so happy to be here.
Morgan:
Camping Stick Kids is very exciting, and I definitely want to get into that. But first, how are you living your faith?
Joleen:
That’s such a great question. When I saw that question, I had to stop and think about it, because there are so many ways to answer it. You could say you’re spending time in the Word and praying. But for me, living my faith means actively pursuing the gifts that God has given me.
Part of that is writing curriculum and creating art, which you can see in the background. It’s really about helping pursue the idea that children need to know how to love God, obey His Word, and explore the world He has created. We want kids to know all three of those things: how to love Him, how to obey Him, and how to get outside. Kids need more time outside, and our resources encourage that.
Morgan:
It’s beautiful that you’re leveraging your time, talent, and treasure for the Kingdom. Tell me about Camping Stick Kids. How did you get involved? How did you get started? Show me everything.
Joleen:
We’re in year eleven. For anyone starting a nonprofit or Christian ministry, my advice would be this: just keep at it. Unless God closes the door and tells you to stop, don’t stop.
My dad was awarded the John Avery Whittaker Award by Focus on the Family in 2015, and that gave us the courage to step forward with things that were on both his heart and mine.
He attended many state fairs, and in Canada they call them exhibitions, handing out 48-inch hiking sticks with the Gospel message attached using colored beads. He handed out thousands of those sticks.
Joleen:
The problem came when missions and state fairs didn’t want the sticks given to children because they were afraid kids would use them as weapons. We realized we had to find another way to reach children, because evangelizing children has always been both my father’s heart and mine.
We began writing a curriculum poem that walks children through the five big questions of the Gospel story. Our newest book highlights this and is called The Big Five: A Gospel Story. Children walk through the story of Matt and his friends over five days at camp.
The book is full of resources for families, including devotions, activities, YouTube videos, DIY projects, and more. Children explore questions like: What is heaven and why do I want to go there? What is sin and why does it matter? What is forgiveness and how do I receive it? Who is Jesus and what has He done for me? What is growth and how do I do it?
Joleen:
When we think about intentional discipleship pathways for children and families, we use the books, the hiking sticks, and online resources to reach families. We’re also developing a new podcast specifically for kids ministry leaders, and we’re still in the early stages of creating it.
Morgan:
That is so exciting. It’s beautiful how you’re creating integrated discipleship in homes. It makes it tangible, understandable, and kinesthetic for kids. I love it. I was about to ask what you’re most excited about, and that podcast is definitely it.
Joleen:
We already have one podcast called The Camping Stick Kids Podcast. You can find it on all platforms. We’re hosted on Podbean, but it’s available everywhere. That podcast includes skits and fun content that correlates with five episodes for each of our three books.
We initially planned to do five episodes per book and stop there. But we realized many children’s ministries are struggling with needs we can help address. So the new podcast will be specifically for kids ministry leaders.
Joleen:
Kids ministry leaders are often parents, but they can also be church leaders, missionaries, or leaders abroad. We’ve identified five key felt needs. One is engagement and family participation. Kids may attend inconsistently, and parents can be under-engaged.
Our resources bring parents alongside children through books, hiking sticks, and opportunities to go outside. Another felt need is depth of spiritual formation. I grew up in church and knew all the Bible stories, but my spiritual formation grew when I was allowed to ask hard questions.
Questions like: Do I really believe in Jesus? Why should I believe in God? Why would I want to go to heaven? These questions are sometimes avoided because leaders aren’t always equipped to answer them. Our resources help address those questions.
Morgan:
I’m listening. Give me the executive brief.
Joleen:
Another major felt need is volunteer retention and leadership gaps. A lack of trained adults limits ministry impact. We want to explore how current leaders can recruit, train, and retain volunteers.
We also address relational and cultural barriers. Technology can be helpful, but it often distracts children from going outside, playing, and learning resilience. We want kids exploring God’s world, getting dirty, falling down, and getting back up again.
The final felt need is structural and value challenges within church culture. Kids ministry is not always treated as mission critical. We want to help churches rethink that. If we don’t raise the next generation, someone else will.
We should be intentional about developing discipleship pathways so children and families can love God, obey His Word, and explore the world He has created.
Morgan:
That is so beautiful and exciting. Thank you so much for your time and for sharing with us today.
Joleen:
Thank you so much. It was wonderful to be with you, Morgan.
Morgan:
Thank you. And viewers, thank you for tuning in to another episode. If you’d like more information about Camping Stick Kids, head over to LivingMyFaith.com, and we have it there. We’ll see you next time on Living My Faith.
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