Programs for boys 10-14
DG is the boys' wing of Adventure Life Academy. We offer year-round programming starting at $92 / mo.
Signature Programs
Level One
Summit Seekers
Summit Seekers is DG's Level 1 program designed to give boys access to their inner world of emotions by teaching them powerful relational and spiritual tools. Sessions take place on local Redding hiking trails. New! Transportation is now included!
Level Two
TEAM EDITION
TEAM EDITION is DG's Level 2 program designed to put to test the new relational skills and spiritual tools from Summit Seekers through team challenges. Sessions combine the best of outdoor adventures as well as field trips to cool places, and service projects that include woodworking and engineering. Our activities teach the boys about God's character in practical ways in their real-life.
Level Three
Leader Lab
Leader Lab is DG's apprenticeship and entrepreneruail track where the boys get to encounter God is the workplace of many cool business leaders from around town.
About DG's Programs
DG offers Christ-centered discipleship programs for boys to equip them with social/emotional skill and spiritual tools for life. Our adventures are filled with games, movement, and active talks that help boys discover more about who they are inside, how to relate to God and others, and what a faith-filled life looks like beyond the walls of the church.
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We primarily focus on the age group of 10-14 in our programs to help boys this age make a successful transition form boyhood into young adulthood while being surrounded by male mentors that can help him navigate the 'separation' and 'independence' stage with grace and wisdom.
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Our programs at DG are designed to give the boys an introduction to powerful social & emotional tools they can use for life to better relate to themselves, God, and others. Throughout our many sessions, they will discover new ways of solving problems with the Holy Spirit and build a foundation of inter-personal life skills, such as working through fear, setting boundaries, identifying their needs, setting goals for their life, recognizing their strengths, breaking 'lies' off their self-image, & talking with God.
Program FAQs
All session information will be emailed to you at the start of each season as well as weekly with details about what to wear & bring.
Payment & Registration
After selecting the group you would like to join, you will be directed to our registration form on the webpage. Once completed, you will be able to set up the payment option that best suits you.
Season Schedule
Our 'Master Season Schedule' is emailed to parents before the start of each season with Google Maps links of where we will be and move around to within our session. Drop-off and pick-up is always at our meeting place outside the Shasta Mall.
Post-Session Engagement
Every participant gets a handwritten note from the leaders, as well as photos on our digital weekly recap page. This is one of the most important parts of our porgram. We expect families to make this page available to their son 1X a week.
Commitment Policy
We ask that all participants make a commitment to the program and their group. Trust grows immensely when all hikers engage consistently. When boys miss out, it hurts the confidence and progress of our work with them. Session benefits are cumulative.
Weather Info
We do not cancel sessions for mild weather conditions. Doing outdoor activities in the rain is fun! We only cancel if the weather poses a real threat to our participants, ie: hail, lightning, pouring rain, extreme cold/heat.
What to Bring to Sessions
We email details about upcoming sessions several days before each session. You will always know what you need to bring. When outdoors hiking, you are expected to pack a light backpack with water & a snack. We ask that you wear weather appropriate clothes and comfortable hiking shoes.
We believe in the power of storytelling & doing physical activations to engage boys where they learn best - through their bodies & imaginations. Concepts are taught through first-hand stories by the leaders and followed up with a game or activity that physically reinforces the idea. We seek to make their faith relevant & powerful, connecting what they believe to real-life applications so they understand on a deep level how important and practical their faith is in life situations, relationships, their future careers, and for their own personal health.
Our Method
Core Values
Our goal is for each boy to know that who they are inside is good & valuable. It's important that they feel loved, seen, heard and known, not just for their contribution to the group, but for who they are and who God made them to be
Courage
We have the courage and everything we need inside of us to conquer challenges, overcome fears, and bring peace to unresolved issues. We can always find the courage we need to break through barriers and find true freedom.
Willpower
Willpower helps us to stay committed to our tasks in life especially as difficulties arise. Expanding our willpower helps us finish things we begin and pushes us forward in life with momentum so we can feel good about ourselves.
Honor
We honor and respect each other in all our differences of personalities, giftings, and characteristics. We celebrate the individual to bring out the best in them. We show our appreciation for each other with our words and actions.
Love
Love is important and everybody needs to feel loved. Love is not just a feeling, it's an action. Love means bringing connection to our family, our city and the nations. As we learn to love ourselves, we can better love the people around us.
Identity
Building self-esteem helps grow our self-confidence, which is important so that we can be proud of ourselves and go after our dreams. As we get know ourselves, we can learn to love how we're made and believe we can achieve big things in life.
Purity
When we know that who we are inside is good, we make choices that make us feel good. When we are mindful of our goodness, we take good care of our body, mind, and soul by doing, speaking, and thinking good things.
SEL & How We Handle Conflict
There are a lot of interpretations and applications for the term SEL. For us, SEL is simply a language of connection. 'Social' refers to how a person relates to others & 'emotional' refers to how a person relates to themselves. We add a third component, which is the Holy Spirit. It is important in our sessions that the boys shape their understanding of who they are directly through the eyes of the Father.
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Our practical application of SEL can be observed in the conversations we have with the boys, the questions we ask them, the listening we give them, and the responses we encourage them to share. When someone comes to us with a problem, we reflect to them their feelings & needs and empower them to find their own solutions with God.
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The foundation of our SEL tools are based on a number of teachings by Danny Silk of Keep Your Love On and Barry & Lori Byrne of Nothing Hidden Ministries, to name a few. We practice compassionate, Christ-centered listening and teach the boys to relate to one another with empathy, patience, kindness, accountability and integrity.
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Since our primary focus is to disciple our boys, we are committed to helping them overcome frustrations, agitations, fears, and at times aggression. We are not punishment focused, though we emphasize loving accountability to self, God and others as a standard for behavior. We show forgiveness in helping boys deal with their mistakes with honor, giving them a chance to show repentance and improve their behavior.
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When a challenging situation comes up, we go the extra mile to work alongside parents to help participants conquer behavior challenges. However, we do not condone violence and will remove participants who refuse to confront and change aggressive behavior.
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We believe that inside every child is a powerful light and we are dedicated to helping each child shine by teaching them the language of connection.
