You will remember back in June I asked you to pray for the work of our camps. Camping is one of the centers of our worship, learning, formation and coming to faith. It is challenging and exciting work…please continue to pray and celebrate these important places in the lives of many campers and staff.
Jeff Dyer has written an account of the summer to share with you here.
Warmly,
In Christ,
Jeremy Bell
Thirsty at the Well
Jeff Dyer, Executive Director
There’s an old story about a woman who meets a man at the town well.* She travels there under the cover of the mid day sun, hiding her shame from the other women of the town because her life was tangled in sin and her story was heading towards death. At the well, she discovers a man who knows her and loves her and then this man offers this woman’s thirsty soul living water. This one simple encounter transforms this ‘hider’ into a woman who rushes away to tell the whole village about her new friend: and the whole village runs to the well to meet the ‘giver’. This is a remarkable story of one human fully encountering The divine.
At Gull Lake Camp & Retreat Center, our story is the same as this woman’s: we are a thirsty people who’ve happened upon One at the well who can quench our thirst. And now, no longer parched, we rush out to those around us to tell of the one whom we’ve discovered. Our story telling, leads people to The Well.
Over the year, the ‘town well’ or Gull Lake has been undergoing a transformation of its own. We’ve expanded our Main Lodge from 9,000 to 27,000 square feet. We’ve knocked down 7 buildings and started 3 more. We’ve turned mud into grass and as I write this article, 115 youth from 7 churches are turning the $100,000 they’ve raised into two new cabin clusters that will sleep 100 more campers and retreat guests. This has been a year unlike any other in our history. From my vantage point, the ‘town well’s’ never looked so good and it has all been done so that more who are thirsty will come to the water and drink, finding an eternal well, the spring of Life.
I cannot say enough about the change and there’s no way to share all that’s happened. Over 600 campers were welcomed to belong to this community, invited to believe with us and challenged to become participants in the Kingdom. Another 100 people were given the opportunities to take on the responsibility of leadership. It’s always a remarkable community that forms at Gull Lake Camp. This was our 87th year of ministry and we served our 34,000 camper.
Thank you for joining us in prayer on this incredible journey.
*See John 4