Meet the Summer Staff: Cassidy Carbonneau

Cassidy Carbonneau is a lovely part of our Summer Program Team, using her talents as our worship leader!

What can you tell us about your program role?
Cassidy will be the worship leader for camp this summer! She’ll be in charge of putting together a team, preparing the songs, and leading camp in worship. “I want to create a culture of raw, authentic worship during the different camps,” she says.
She will also be the LIT (leader-in-training) co-head with Carissa Wiens (you’ll meet Carissa later :) ).
How did you get connected with Charis?
Cassidy didn’t plan on coming to Charis! She actually applied to be an LIT (leader-in-training) at a different camp where her friends were going. Since Darren Duncalfe, the Executive Director of Charis Camp, was her pastor for most of her life, she asked him if he would be her pastoral reference for her LIT application. “He was like, ‘Totally! But if, for whatever reason, it doesn’t work out, come to Charis! We’d love to have you and we have an LIT program.’ For whatever reason, the other camp never got my application, so I ended up going to Charis.”

How has camp impacted your life?
“I was 16 or 17 when I first came to camp, and at that point I was starting to understand what it means to have your own faith—exploring that for the first time.The theme [for that year] was “Really Wild and Truly Free” and Galatians 5:1 stuck with me ever since: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” I never had even heard of freedom in Christ. Hearing that and understanding what that looks like was a huge pivotal point for me. I finally understood what Jesus was all about.”

What is your favorite camp memory?
“It was my first LIT year during the night game and it was my birthday the next day. We were running around on the field. I remember two campers coming up to me and were like, ‘It’s your birthday! Happy birthday!’ That was so sweet—these little ten year olds care so much. The night games have actually been some of my favorite memories.”

Why did you choose to be here this summer?
“I never even considered not coming to camp this summer. Especially after last year, being on program, having a different role—it felt right. Camp worship is my pinnacle moment—I love it so much. It’s so cool seeing the progression over the week as campers get excited about what they’re singing. Kids will be bouncing around and dancing and screaming and it’s so fun.”

How has God challenged you recently?
“God has been challenging me to listen, to be okay with just sitting. I feel like I always have to be doing something in order to be connecting with Jesus, when sometimes He just wants us to sit in His presence and listen to Him. When it comes to leading worship, I’ve been challenged in being attentive to the Spirit and how He wants to use worship this summer, how He wants to interact with it. Also, He’s been challenging me to trust Him because it’s getting close to summer and I still don’t have a full worship team.”
On that note (shameless plug), Cassidy is still in need of a drummer, a bassist, and a lead guitar player. If you know anyone who might be interested in joining the camp worship team, please contact Cassidy at ccassidycarbonneau@gmail.com .

What are your plans for the future?
“I am planning on doing early childhood education [in the fall]. It’s funny because when I took this year off, I thought I would never go back to school—there’s no way you could get me to go back. And now I’m doing it by choice. It feels like the right timing and the right program, so I’m excited.”

We are thrilled to have Cassidy and her talents on the team again this year!

If you would like to support Cassidy as she serves at camp and prepares to head off to school in the fall, donate here!

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