Sponsor and Group Leader Requirements
BCBA Sponsor Requirements
Churches must send (1) adult, same gender, sponsor for every (10) student campers. Sponsors are to be at least 18* years of age, are required to be housed with their campers, and are expected to assist in the camp activities. The Adult Sponsor is an encourager, disciplinarian, bunkhouse supervisor, and your Church Group Leader might ask for other help, such as being the church group discussion leader.
1) A Criminal Background Check must be performed on all BCBA Sponsor Candidates.
Background Checks
2) Texas State Youth Camp Law now prohibits BCBA from accepting potential sponsors with a felony convictions of any kind.
3) All BCBA Sponsor Candidates are required to take a State of Texas approved Child Protection Course must be taken and passed with a score of 80 or higher
*Since our Youth Campers go up to age 18, Youth Camp Sponsors are required to be at least 21 years of age.
BCBA Group Leader Requirements
All BCBA Group Leaders have the same requirements as the BCBA Sponsors listed above. As the group leader from your church, you have 5 basic responsibilities:
1) CALL A MEETING to explain to your group how to register for camp online. Help those who might need help. It’s very user friendly for most kids, but some of the parents will be confused and need some “adult” guidance. In the end, it’s going to be their credit card or check used, so the parents will need to be involved.
2) Towards the end of their online registration, they’ll be instructed to print a copy of their BCBA Camper Registration Form and give it to you. You will need to forward their Camper Registration Forms to the camp’s Post Office Box by June 1 if they are to get their 10% Early bird Discount and a free camp T-Shirt upon arrival at camp. If they chose to pay by check, you’ll need to forward that check also.
3) You’ll notice that all of your adult campers will be giving you an extra form: the BCBA Sponsor Approval Form. This form requires your signature guaranteeing to us that you have performed a Criminal Background Check, you found no felony convictions therein, and you are guaranteeing that you have a current State of Texas approved Child Protection Training Course certificate on file for this Sponsor.
4) Nothing to do here at #4. Just a thought for you: This process will work best for all of us if you are able to encourage your group to handle their financial responsibilities online by debit or credit card by June 1. For the financial security of our campers, we have a remote, secure site handling their sensitive personal information. If your church has a card, you might seek approval to collect the cash or check from the camper and use the church’s card to register them.
5) At www.bigcountrycamp.com click on “Summer Camps”. You’ll find the State Approved Child Protection Course there. This test must be administered by a church official (as the Group Leader, you can administer this test). You must sign a Certificate of Completion and have this, along with a copy of a current (less than a year old) Criminal Background Check, with you at the camp locked in your vehicle. Do not forward these documents to our office. But be sure these documents are at the camp during your stay.
BCBA CAMPER REGISTRATION AFTER JUNE 1.
It’s not likely that all of your campers will get registered by June 1 in spite of the 10% discount offer or their t-shirt upon arrival offer, simply because they didn’t know they would be able to come to camp in time. However, these campers will still be able to come to camp AND get a free camp t-shirt. It will have to be mailed to your church later, though (within 45 days). All 2012 BCBA campers who want to “sign up for camp” after June 1 must do so online (no 10% discount available, no exceptions) Since BCBA has a limited number of beds, forward their BCBA Camper Registration Form hard copies to us ASAP along with their deposit (if they didn’t already pay by credit card) to secure their spot.
PLEASE NOTE: Although we allowed 700 at our camp three different times last summer, we will only allow a maximum of 600 campers this summer. However, if you have parents that insist on registering the old “handwriting, manual way”, all of the required forms are on our website under that same “Summer Camps” button.
You’ll see the “Offline BCBA Camper Registration Form”. Download it and give it to them to fill out manually and return to you with their check. Forward it to us ASAP. If we get it by June 1, the camper can still get his t-shirt upon arrival at camp. You’ll also see the “Offline BCBA Registration Roster” there. this only for the Group Leaders that do not choose to use our online registration at all.
Please explain to everyone not using our online registration: They’re not eligible to receive the 10% discount since they are not using our online registrations and they are not having someone else register them online. (However, if you simply copy their information for them into our online registration form and submit it, they are eligible for the discount)
