WILL CHESTER

A Story Featuring a Summer HoneyRock Pastor

By HoneyRock Center for Leadership Development

June 27^th, 2022

Keep an eye out for upcoming stories featuring our HoneyRock pastors over the next few months! As HoneyRock continues to grow in year-round programming, we hope to partner with pastors who are willing to volunteer in both the summer and the school year months.

Interested in serving HoneyRock in this way? Email leah.wolf@wheaton.edu.

WHO IS A HONEYROCK PASTOR?

"Camp pastors volunteer their time here to serve all members of the HoneyRock community. They offer pastoral support for our staff members and campers alike. Throughout the summer, camp pastors guide our summer community through vocational training and necessary discipleship, equipping those to serve at HoneyRock & the greater mission of the church."

Ashley Paige Kiley, Camp Programs Director

THE CHESTER FAMILY

Will, '10, came to faith at a Christian summer camp in Michigan prior to his 7th grade school year. At his summer camp counselor’s encouragement, he went home and bought a bible and began attending youth group at a local church near his house. He was discipled at that church and learned what it meant to follow Jesus, but it was a process that began at camp under the influence of college student who showed Will what it looked like to be a man of God. Will attended Wheaton College and served as a counselor at HoneyRock alongside his future-wife, Ema, '10, who also led backpacking and Passage trips. Will and Ema got married and spent four more summers serving in camp ministry at a Christian camp in Maine. Now, Will serves as a deacon and Youth & College Pastor at Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, IL. Ema works part-time as a mental health counselor. They have two kids who love coming to camp--Gabe (5) and Elodie (2).

The Chester family came up to HoneyRock for a week in June during summer staff training. Along with duties such as devotionals and Sunday church, Will helped lead a week of worship and prayer focused on the Holy Spirit.

Will, center, and his fellow counselors- "the McJacks".

Will ( eft) and other summer staff pose for a photo before setting off on a canoe trip.

WE ASKED WILL A FEW QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS TIME AT HONEYROCK AND THIS IS WHAT HE HAD TO SAY...

How did you get connected with HoneyRock?

W: My wife and I are both HoneyRock alumni. We did SLS in 2007, and then she came back and led wilderness trips another summer and then led two passage trips. That was 15 years ago. Now I have the privilege of leading a youth group in Wheaton and Ashley Paige Kiley [HoneyRock’s Camp Programs Director] is one of my best volunteers. We've worked together for the last six years as she's led her group of girls all the way from sixth grade to now their senior year. She let me know of the opportunity to be a HoneyRock Pastor, and now I'm here!

What made you want to serve as a volunteer in this position?

W: One, it’s just such a beautiful setting in a beautiful place. Two, it's really fun to come up here during counselor training because I get to spend a lot of time with college students. And it's fun to be able to talk about the Bible with people that very quickly are going to turn around and apply those things as they work with campers. And so that, I think, creates an urgency to all of the training in ministry that I do. And it's fun to prepare them for that because I've been a counselor before and in camp ministry-and I'm excited and passionate about the ministry that they're about to enter into.

Will leads a staff devotional in the "Devo Circle" on the relationship between obedience and love.

Why do you think the role of camp pastor is so important during summers at HoneyRock?

W: I've been doing camp ministry, and then youth ministry for 10 plus years. So one thing is being able to provide some outside perspective and encouragement to counselors, where some of these counseling can feel scary to them. I can provide some encouragement, saying. "you really can do this!" Another part of what I'm here for is what Ashley Paige Kiley calls Holy Spirit Week. And so an important part of what I am doing specifically this week is training counselors to rely on the Holy Spirit, leading them in times of worship where they can receive the healing ministry of the Holy Spirit. And as they receive, they can also learn how to give that to others.

Can you tell us what your past week has looked like as a HoneyRock pastor?

W: On Sunday I preached and officiated for our Sunday morning church service, and that evening led a staff training session on how to pray for others and how to listen to the Holy Spirit. Then on Monday night we had a healing worship service. That one focused on receiving the healing ministry of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Wednesday night we had a worship service where we gathered on our knees around the cross and prayed for the coming campers. I also led devotionals three mornings throughout the week.

A lot of what else I do is learning counselor’s names, hanging out with them at meals, and having one on one’s. Those are really fun conversations. Some of them are light and fun, while some of them are really theological. Somebody asked me what I think about infant baptism yesterday and we spent the whole lunch talking about it. Other conversations are really practical and vocational, you know, somebody saying something like I think I might want to go into ministry, can I talk to you about that?

What is your favorite part of pastoring the summer community at HoneyRock?

W: I have a few favorites. I really enjoy that I get to do a lot of ministry with Ema, my wife. She's a therapist and licensed mental health counselor, so she was able to jump in on some of the Mental Health First Aid staff training this morning. It's really neat that we get to do ministry together. Another great aspect of being here is that my kids love all of the time they get to spend outside. They spend all day at the beach. And there's usually another professor that has kids in a similar age group at this point in the summer. This year we're hanging out with Dr. Sosa’s family- he’s a New Testament professor teaching Wheaton students up here right now. My son has become best friends with his kids. And that's great to watch. I really enjoy spending time with my family in such a beautiful setting.

Will sets off in a canoe with some summer staff from the lagoon. They canoed from HoneyRock to Eagle River, completing the first portion of a 54 mile canoe race that staff can partake in during training.

We are so grateful for the Chester Family and their partnership in ministry with us. Will and Ema, thank you! From prayer services and devotionals to canoeing and sharing meals, we loved having you here for the week. Come back again!