The Rev. James Schleif, who has led United Church Camps Inc. for the past four years, will retire Dec. 4, the UCCI board announced last week. UCCI is a sister corporation of the Wisconsin Conference.
“Jim has served in this role courageously, faithfully, and diligently,” Conference Minister Franz Rigert said. Jim guided UCCI through severe financial challenges and placed the organization on a more stable footing by better aligning staffing needs and resources and developing strong managing directors at UCCI’s three ministry sites. “Jim has been a champion fundraiser and, while his primary focus was to establish a sustainable vision for Moon Beach, Cedar Valley and Daycholah Center, he was hands on in many ways throughout a critical chapter,” Franz said.
Three years ago, Jim was a key player when the Wisconsin Conference agreed to a substantial investment in Daycholah Center that included moving the Conference headquarters from the former Trost Center in DeForest to Spring Grove Lodge on the Daycholah Campus.
In an email, Jim said: “When I reflect on the growth within UCCI over the last five years, I am very pleased with how we have developed solid, stable leadership and staff teams at each of our sites while significantly reducing administrative staffing costs. . . . And we have made significant positive progress on the road to financial stability while investing in our site facility improvement as well.”
Jim will be succeeded as UCCI executive director by Jaime Craig, who now serves as managing director of Daycholah Center. She will continue in that role part time. At Daycholah, Jaime has developed for-profit programming designed to support the camp’s traditional faith formation initiatives and retreats.
Franz said the Conference board of directors and staff are eager to “partner forward” with UCCI under Jaime’s leadership.
“We in the Wisconsin Conference remain so fortunate to have three Outdoor Ministry gems at a time when many church camps across the country have been sold,” he said.
Jim will continue to serve as pastor of First Congregational UCC in Port Washington.
You can honor Jim Schleif’s ministry by contributing to The Spark Continues campaign, which provides unrestricted support to UCCI.