Looking Back: Pastor Jeff Root '09 Reflects on HoneyRock

Reflections from a camper, summer staffer, and current summer pastor.

By HoneyRock Center for Leadership Development

November 12^th, 2021

It was late. The sun had set hours ago, and darkness had filled the woods, where seven HoneyRock residential campers were asleep in their tents. But Jeff Root, the eighth camper, was awake.

His counselor, Chris Tofilon no doubt exhausted from the day, came to check on his charges one last time before turning in for the night himself. When he found Root awake, he asked him an unexpected question: “Do you want to look at the stars?”

“We had this conversation, and I don’t know how long it was, it might’ve just been five minutes,” recalled Root. “To me, it felt like two hours long. As a 13- or 14-year-old kid, I was just talking about life, and he was telling me about Jesus. That night was formational for me.”

Twenty-three years later, Root, who is now lead pastor at Glen Ellyn Covenant Church, came back to HoneyRock to serve for two weeks as the summer pastor. In addition to leading devotionals and mentoring counselors this past summer, he also found time to reflect on the ways in which HoneyRock shaped him.

People talk about ‘thin places,’ where heaven and earth feel really close, and HoneyRock has been that for me.

The People

Looking back, Root said HoneyRock’s counselors were hugely influential. For example, Tofilon, who shared the gospel around the waning embers of the campfire that night in 1998 became a lifelong mentor and friend. Years later, he came to Root’s football games at Wheaton. Root visited him twice after he became a missionary in Mexico. It was Tofilon who showed Root the power of one-on-one discipleship.

But Tofilon wasn’t the only counselor that made a mark on Root’s life. In fact, Root remembers the names of all his counselors. He even remembers counselors who weren’t his own, especially David Walford who now coaches the Wheaton College Cross Country Team.

In 2000, Root said he came to camp with a chip on his shoulder. As a big kid for his age who excelled in sports like football and wrestling, Root said he didn’t always use his strength and size in the best ways. In fact, in search of attention, he’d become somewhat of a bully at home.

As the camp session was coming to a close, Walford strode up to him and apologized. “What?” Root remembers asking. “I wanted to say I’m sorry,” Walford repeated. “When you first came here, I thought you were a big jerk. I know kids like you, but throughout the session I’ve seen you grow.”

That apology marked a pivotal moment in Root’s life. “He couldn’t have even known it, but I wanted to be the kind of person that someone like that would say, ‘Oh, I see this in you—that you aren’t a big jerk of a guy.’”

Over five summers as a camper, Root became increasingly sure that he wanted to spend his college summers pouring into kids like his counselors had for him. In 2005 and 2006, Root came back and worked as a counselor and boat driver and made lifelong connections with fellow staffers.

The Place Set Apart

In addition to the people, Root said that the place itself is special.

Whenever Root first pulls up to Three Lakes, Wisconsin and gets out of his car, he takes a deep breath.

“It’s sacred air,” he said. “People talk about ‘thin places,’ where heaven and earth feel really close, and HoneyRock has been that for me.”

As a kid, HoneyRock marked a departure from the distractions of school, sports, and dynamics with friends and family. It was a place where contemplation was encouraged.

“There’s an understanding that you’re going to reflect on your life—your past, your present, your future, and how God intersects with those things,” he said. “At HoneyRock you’re going, there’s a lot going on, you’re learning new skills, you’re doing all of these things, but—and maybe this is just my personal experience—but HoneyRock is the first place where I learned to just stop and set aside time to reflect,” Root said.

In fact, Root, who has always aspired to be a journaler, started the practice at HoneyRock.

In the summer of 2007, Root, then a rising junior, was working at HoneyRock as a counselor. During Morning Watch (or quiet time) one day, he was wrestling with thoughts about the future. He remembers writing a prayer in his journal, asking God for wisdom about what vocational path to take. Although he didn’t immediately find clarity about his calling, he did jot down “youth pastor” as a possibility. Later, he worked for a decade as a youth pastor before becoming his church’s head pastor in 2019.

In some ways, this past summer, offered a sense of coming full circle, Root said.

In 2021, Root served for two weeks as the pastor for summer staff, where his role was three-fold: preach Sunday at HoneyRock church, give staff devotionals, and be present for the counselors and staff.

“It’s interesting. A lot of people might think that as camp pastor, you’re there to speak to the campers. But you’re not at HoneyRock. At HoneyRock, you’re here for the staff—to pour into them so they can pour into the campers."

Looking Back: Pastor Jeff Root '09 Reflects on HoneyRock

Up at HoneyRock with his wife and three kids away from the distractions of suburban Chicago life, Root said he had multiple conversations with college-aged kids about the very same questions he wrestled with more than a dozen years ago. What should I do in the future? What’s next? What does faithfulness look like?

“For me, it felt like a mercy and grace to be up there as a pastor and I felt really humbled to be up there and to even be asked and given the opportunity,” Root said.