By Jim Vitale
Joey is returning to staff for the 2025 summer camp season!! This will be his eighth year on staff.
Let’s get to know him a little better!
Without silly songs and hilarious skits, camp just wouldn’t be camp. And so it is that every camp must have its emcee. Ours is the sensational, witty, and jocular Joey Martin.
Joey is in his seventh year on staff here at Camp Mount Luther and in that time he has made quite a name for himself. For many of our campers, camp simply wouldn’t be camp without one of Joey’s silly songs or long, rambling jokes (“there is no punchline!”). While Joey has spent most of his tenure as a cabin leader, this year we put Joey’s experience to use as a program leader working as a jack-of-all-trades to keep camp running smoothly. Joey works behind the scenes crafting schedules and planning for all-camp activities as well as center-stage leading murder mysteries, jumping in here and there to help cabin groups, and emceeing things like all-camp campfires and the family camp talent show.
Like many who join summer staff, however, Joey never really intended to work here. He was a camper sporadically during middle school and attends the same church as executive director Chad Hershberger. He remembers walking through the Degenstein Center as a student at Susquehanna University during a job fair and being surprised to find Chad there on the hunt for summer camp leaders. They recognized each other (from church) and Chad suggested Joey consider working on summer staff; and Joey agreed!
Joey has a flare for the theatrical. When he’s not working at camp, he can sometimes be found treading the boards at local playhouses, most recently in the RiverStage Community Theater’s production of Oliver! And it’s clear his theatrical life and his camp life have influenced each other. Joey recalls one of his favorite memories as a camp leader last year planning and running an all-camp murder mystery. Reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap or Murder on the Orient Express, the campers came to dinner to find a beloved trophy they had won earlier in the week was stolen. Each group was assigned a role to play and one of the campers had been secretly given the role of thief. Joey hid puzzles around camp whose answers provided clues to the mystery. Each clue subsequently eliminated a suspect until the thief was found and the trophy was recovered.
It’s not hard to imagine Joey, at the climax of these sensational events, swinging his arm in a wide arc, leaning forward, and pointing at the thief with a loud, staccato “j’accuse!”.
Joey’s proclivity toward the dramatic is more than just about theater. It’s also about creating an engaging environment where campers can see God, each other, creation, and themselves in new ways. Joey believes camp is important because “it gives kids a way to see that church can be more than just people showing up on Sunday, singing a bunch of hymns with an organ. It can be different!” And with Joey, it certainly is! In the best of ways, Joey brings entertainment, excitement, and enthusiasm to the faith lives of all who come to Camp Mount Luther. And it has clearly influenced the lives of our campers for the better!