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Danielle Sullivan
Property SpecialistDanielle Sullivan
Danielle grew up attending and volunteering at a summer camp in Kansas City. Whether it was working in the kitchen or the snack shop, if she could be there, she was! This was a place she saw discipleship happen in a unique and special atmosphere and developed a desire to be a part of something similar long term.
Having a love of traveling and hearing people’s stories, Danielle gets to meet and talk with people from all over while exploring new camp locations or returning to many of the same hotels, conference centers or universities year after year. She also enjoys geeking out over excel spreadsheets full of data and camp details.
After graduating from Mississippi College, Danielle began working with Student Life for Kids camp in the summer of 2001. She began full time in 2004 in the production department, coordinating videos for camp and Bible Study. In 2008 she moved to the Events team and into her current role. She loves coffee, chocolate, finding a good deal, the Kansas Jayhawks and spending time with her family. She is married to Wes, a Student Minister at The Church at Brook Hills and has 3 children: (twins) Malakai and Amiya & Nora Layne.
Gabe Cyrus
Event DirectorGabe Cyrus
Gabe surrendered his life to Jesus at camp in 2012, he had no idea how prevalent a role camp would play in his life, but God did. Gabe attended camp for four summers and worked for five — each of which were used by God to teach him more about himself and, more importantly, Himself. When the opportunity came his way to serve in camp ministry full time, Gabe jumped at it!
Gabe is grateful to be part of a ministry that focuses so heavily on discipleship. Personally, Gabe has never felt more like he am doing what he was made to do than when he is actively engaged in discipling others and being discipled. Gabe is excited to travel this summer and walk this journey of discipleship with his team and the churches that make their way to camp!
Gabe graduated with a Social Work major and Biblical Studies minor from Cedarville University. He graduated this past May from Southeastern University with a Masters in Social Work. Gabe loves using these clinical skills to serve the church! Every free moment is filled with volleyball and Chick-fil-A — what more could one possibly need?
Hailea Packard
Event SpecialistHailea Packard
Hailea was born and raised in Orlando, Florida and moved to Virginia when she was 18 for college. Hailea met the Lord when she was 15 working a VBS and then began attending Student Life as a camper soon after. She fell in love with camp ministry during her freshman year of college and realized then that if she could work camp for the rest of her life, she would.
Hailea loves talking to people! Her job provides the opportunity to daily communicate with student pastors and youth leaders. Hailea enjoys utilizing her communication & people skills in getting to both serve and know Student Pastors. Hailea loves to serve the church behind the scenes because it, “Takes me out of my comfort zone.” She believes even inputting info into our system is Kingdom work, and loves being a part of something much bigger than herself.
Hailea just graduated from Liberty University (go Flames) with a bachelor’s degree in Family and Child Development. She has been working seasonally for Student Life since 2015 serving in 4 different roles. This is her first year working full-time with Student Life & she loves it! Hailea loves psychology, corgis, scary movies, youth ministry, and being with people “a latte!” (She also may be obsessed with coffee…maybe).
Jared Shingleton
DirectorJared Shingleton
Jared came to the Student Life team to be the Director in 2021 after serving in the local church for the past 12 years. He is a student pastor at heart and loves pouring into the lives of the next generation and their leaders. It was through serving on a mission trip in Brazil as a teenager that he came to know the Lord and felt a call to pursue vocational ministry.
Since Jared grew up as the son of a student camp and conference director, you could say camp ministry is in his blood. With that he brings both experience and a passion for producing and planning large scale ministry events–like camp. In addition to planning and taking his own students to camp every summer, Jared has served in various leadership roles at the parachurch level to help produce premiere church experiences.
Golfing, hunting and riding motorcycles are just a few things Jared enjoys when he isn’t spending quality time with his wife, Emily and their three children: Shiloh Kate, Judah Wells, and Noa Grace. Jared enjoys eating any and everything spicy, including the five hottest peppers in the world. He studied Ministry Leadership at Williamson Christian College which he enjoys putting into practice with the teams he leads.
Lacy Pauley
Event DirectorLacy Pauley
Lacy grew up attending Student Life camp all throughout high school. She ended up giving her life to Christ at camp when she was a junior in high school. After coming to know Jesus, Lacy fell in love with serving the Church. As soon as she got college, she knew God wanted her to partner with Student Life Camp, giving her summers to serve the Church.
As an Event Director, Lacy’s summers are dedicated to traveling across the country serving churches, in the offseason, she works hard to prepare the best camp experience possible. She loves creating an environment for students to see God fully and believes God has given her a creative spirit to help others encounter Jesus. For Lacy, the best part of her job is seeing youth groups leave camp unified by the Holy Spirit.
Lacy graduated from Liberty University (go flames) with a degree in Counseling. She served 3 summers on the road as seasonal staff. Last year was her first summer as an Event Director for Student Life for Kids and now she will lead a youth camp team. Lacy loves her husband, Nathan, going to concerts (a lot…like, a lot), French bulldogs, and a nice aesthetically pleasing coffee shop.
Melissa Nicholson
Event SpecialistMelissa Nicholson
Melissa has always loved details and organizing. School supply shopping was a favorite activity each year (and was really the only kind of shopping she enjoyed). A combination of that love of administration and a calling to ministry and discipleship in college was the perfect setup for what she gets to do every day at Student Life.
For the past ten years, Melissa has coordinated the community projects for Mission Camp participants as they go and serve each week in the summer. Getting to talk with churches about their student’s desire to serve, and placing them in a setting to stretch these muscles is so rewarding to her. As an Event Specialist, she serves through camp preparations, behind the scenes details, and communication directly with churches. It is a joy to be a part of serving the local church in this capacity, especially when coordinating logistics is a favorite past-time.
Melissa received her undergraduate degree from The University of TN, Chattanooga in 2000 and a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 2005. After spending 3 summers with Lifeway through Centrifuge during seminary, and another couple years in ministry within the local church, Birmingham and Student Life became “home” in the fall of 2006. She is married to Josh, and has two children, Levi and Lydia.
Sarah Beth Shepard
Event SpecialistSarah Beth Shepard
Sarah Beth went to Student Life Camp with her youth group and always wondered who the people with the nametags and worked behind the scenes were. In college, she began to feel a calling to support and enable ministry and found a home to do that here at Student Life.
Sarah Beth’s position allows her to combine her detailed and process-driven mind with her deep-rooted belief in the role of the local Church. Day to day, she helps prepare staff training, meets with our Advisory Board, and works on the details of Mission Camp. She loves that, at Mission Camp, students are able to realize serving and opportunities to share the Gospel can happen anywhere. She hopes that a light bulb goes off, that there are nursing homes, apartment complexes, food banks, etc. in their own hometowns and God has called them to be ministers of the Gospel there every day.
Sarah Beth graduated from Auburn University in 2013 where she studied Agricultural Communications and Public Relations (cue the cow jokes). She began seasonal employment with Student Life in 2010 and joined the full-time staff in 2013. Sarah Beth and her husband Billy live in Birmingham, AL. Together they love serving in the Student Ministry at their church, hosting dinner nights with friends, and keeping up with their toddler son, Beau.
Sarah Preston
Event SpecialistSarah Preston
Sarah grew up a little bit of everywhere in North Carolina (like 6 different towns everywhere) before she joined the SL4K team in Nashville. Growing up a PK meant a lot of moving and a lot of restarts. Because of that, she got to make friends all over the state and see the local church in a multitude of perspectives. Some of Sarah’s favorite childhood memories were centered around going to a local camp (think “The Parent Trap”). During those weeks of the summer, Sarah saw how having fun and knowing Jesus could go hand in hand. Little did she know that the Lord was going to use those incredible weeks of fun to cultivate my love and passion for serving kids, students, and ministers.
Sarah was always the one who had fun organizing her desk, redecorating her room and helping plan events around school and church, but it wasn’t until college that she realized her love for those things could collide with her love for the local church. What she loves most about her position as an Event Specialist is that no day looks the same other than the opportunity to serve the local church!
In May of 2019, Sarah graduated from Campbell University (GO CAMELS! — yes, you read that right, their mascot is a camel) where she majored in business marketing and minored in Christian studies. In the summers of 2018 and 2019, Sarah worked for SL and SL4K as a hospitality coordinator and office director. During her junior year of college, she studied abroad in London and lived there for 3 months. Some of Sarah’s favorite things to do are travel, run, cook and take way too long in Bath and Body Works smelling candles.
Tanner Brack
Event SpecialistTanner Brack
Tanner is a proud Texan (surprise, surprise) from a northeast Texas town called Mount Pleasant. Despite being one of those dreaded PK’s, he not only grew to love Christ, but also His Church.
Tanner’s position sends him across the country during the summer, leading a team of college students to serve Student Pastors in their mission of making disciples. Throughout the year you’ll catch him answering phone calls, creating recreation games, and helping with the interviewing and hiring process for summer staff. One of Tanner’s favorite parts of his job is getting to know and serve Student Pastors.
Tanner graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2015 with a B.A. in Biblical Studies. He began seasonal employment with Student Life in 2013 and joined the full-time staff in 2016. He enjoys Little Debbie snacks, Dr. Pepper, board games, and is the biggest baseball fan in the office.
Anna Archer
Event SpecialistAnna Archer
Anna grew up attending Student Life camps with her youth group. Realizing what a spiritually impactful experience summer camp can be, she applied and served 2 summers on the Student Life office team. She fell in love with the administrative side of ministry and working in the details to ultimately see The Kingdom proclaimed. She felt called back to the Student Life team full-time in 2021 to continue the work she loves to do.
Anna is the most extroverted introvert you will ever meet. While spreadsheets and documents make her happy, she also very much enjoys being on the ground floor of serving churches as they prepare for camp and developing relationships along the way. Her role allows her the privilege of personally communicating with churches and watching what The Lord is doing through student ministries across the nation, while also handling the nitty gritty data details that allow her introverted side to thrive.
Anna has a degree in communications and lives in Birmingham with her husband and their 2 daughters. She enjoys reading, usually more than one book at a time, and impatiently waits for the Olympic Games to cycle back around. Go Team USA! She’s never said no to a bowl of popcorn and is always up for iced coffee.
2021 Theme
No one wants to be afraid, to feel anxious, or nervous. We believe the lies and fears that the enemy seeks to instill in our lives. We walk into our schools, turn on the news, or talk to our friends, and leave feeling unsteady. But fear does not have to be the defining characteristic of our lives. The voice of the enemy does not have to overpower the voice of our Victor, Jesus. Jesus has erased the need for all fear and blocks out the sometimes overwhelming voice of the enemy. At Student Life Camp 2021, students will learn that while the opponent is great, our God is greater. He was and is a God of kept promises, who has good plans for us. He is our stronghold in the midst of weakness, taking our hands in the face of uncertainty, and pushing us toward courage, pushing us to take heart.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
Every camp strives to keep God’s Word center stage through daily worship, Life Group Bible studies and church group time.
REC CAMP
Students rotate through group bonding games within their Life Groups, paving the way for relationship building that fosters meaningful discussions during Life Group Bible Study time.
MISSION CAMP
Groups get outside their comfort zones by pouring into the local community each day in service projects. We facilitate mission sites and provide the necessary supplies.
BEACH CAMP
In addition to worship, groups have freedom to soak up the beach sun and surf and participate in local area attractions.
FLEX Camp
In addition to worship, groups have the flexibility to enjoy local area attractions including outdoor adventure parks, and water parks.
PROGRAM ONLY
Program Only is available at Beach Camp and Flex Camp. This option includes all worship services and Life Group Bible Study materials, but where you sleep and eat is up to you.
Still Have Questions?
Chat with a team member and let us know how we can help you find the camp that fits your group. Check out our InfoPack to see all the Student Life Camp details in one, printer-friendly spot.