Category Archives: camp ministry

New Total for Camp Rhino – Over $80,000 Now

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This past week my family was privileged to be a part of Worth Baptist Church’s missions conference in Fort Worth, TX.  Pastor Tyler Gillit, his staff, and church people put on a spectacular conference.  The Saturday night Foreign Food Festival was unbelievable.  I’ve never seen so much involvement in a dinner like that, and I’ve definitely never tasted so many wonderful tasting foreign dishes in one evening.   Throughout the entire conference we were blown away by the encouragement and kindness of everyone.

On Sunday evening of the conference, Worth Baptist really was a blessing to our family, and one of the things that really stuck out was the offering they gave to help with Camp Rhino.  The generously gave $2460 to help buy property and take us past a pretty big hurdle.

We’ve broken the $80,000 mark and the new total of funds given or committed is $81,188.  Another $18,812 will take us to our $100,000 goal.  Praise the Lord.

Just shy of $79,000 for Camp Rhino

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First Baptist Church of Judson, TX and Pastor Tim Smith recently decided to partner with our family.  It’s always an honor when a church chooses our family to be their representatives in South Africa.

First Baptist also surprised us this month by sending an extra $1500 for Camp Rhino. With this great offering our total is now at $78,728.00.  With exactly 4 months left with our furlough, we’re excited about where we are.

Please be praying for our children’s visas.  We are hoping to get them back in the next week or so, but nothing is guaranteed.  If we do get them back, we’ll go ahead and pay for our return tickets that are being held which have us leaving January 10th.

One more $1000 from Dundalk, MD

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On Sunday, August 27th, I dropped into Calvary Baptist Church in Dundalk, MD to visit Pastor Stacey Shiflett and his family.  It had been many years since I saw the Shiflett’s.  It was through him that I made my first visit to South Africa back in 2003.  I don’t believe I would be a missionary to South Africa now if it wasn’t for this family.

It was encouraging to see the great ministry going on at Calvary and how the Lord is using this family from the “South” to reach folks in Maryland.  It was an exciting atmosphere in Dundalk where there is definitely a need for the Gospel.

Pastor Shiflett gave me an opportunity to present our ministry, and immediately afterwards, the church voted to give $1000 for Camp Rhino.  What a blessing!  With that donation, we are now over $77,000.

 

Kentucky & Missouri

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Today and tomorrow, I am traveling with my son Luke to present our ministry to a church in Gilbertsville, KY and then to report back to a supporting church in Poplar Bluff, MO.  Following the evening service in Poplar Bluff, we will head back to Georgia in order to escape the Monday eclipse travelers.   I always look forward to meeting new people and reconnecting with others as we travel to churches.  Thank you for your prayers as we travel.

Please continue to pray also for our fund raising efforts for Camp Rhino.  We are only $26,000 short of our $100,000 goal.

A special thanks to Bill Goins and the folks who help with his ministry at Calvary Stand Print Ministry. This ministry sends out our monthly prayer letters, and are also available to help with many other printing needs.  Brother Goins sent me this picture of the folks at Lupton Drive Baptist Church in Chattanooga, TN helping stuff our prayer letters.  We couldn’t do what we do without the helps hands of people from all over.

 

The Wilds

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When deciding to start Camp Rhino, I knew there would be an enormous learning curve heading into that area of ministry.  Since our arrival to the States, I’ve tried to visit different camps and meet with their directors in order to gain as much knowledge as I could about camp ministry.

Last month, when visiting Wolf Mountain Camp in California, I was privileged to meet Evangelist Mark Herbster who “just happened” to be there as their main speaker.   Mark also works at The Wilds Camp in North Carolina during the summers and insisted I come for a visit.  This past week Mark arranged for me to visit during their last week of summer camp.  He also put me in contact with key people at the Wilds that were a great help.  I had one-on-one meetings with their Presidents, their Camps Abroad Director, their Retreat Coordinator, their Food Services Manager, and their Program Director.  After two days of being able to meet with their people, attend their services, meal times, games, and activities, I really came away with a wealth of knowledge.

I’m really blown away by the people I’ve been able to come in contact with since deciding to start Camp Rhino.  The Lord has placed key individuals in my path that have been overwhelmingly helpful.

$2000 for Camp Rhino from Ohio

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Sunday morning I reported back to a faithful supporter, and Sunday evening I presented our ministry in a new church.  Both churches surprised me when they each gave $1000 for Camp Rhino.

Calvary Chapel Baptist Church in Minster, OH has faithfully supported my family since 2001.  I enjoyed seeing Pastor Robert Warnick, and the Assistant Pastor Cory McGuire and all the great people of Calvary Chapel.

In Eaton, OH, I caught up with some old friends, Andrew and Jaclyn Stensaas.  Amy and I met them when we were in college together at Crown many years ago.  Pastor Andrew and his family are doing a great good there at First Baptist.

With the $2000 from Sunday, we are now over $73,000 in total for Camp Rhino.   Praise the Lord.

 

Marriage Retreat

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Our home church hosted a marriage retreat this past week in Atlanta, GA.  They booked a hotel and conference center for the retreat only about 30 minutes away from the church.  After all our traveling it was nice to have the retreat so close.

I’m glad to know we have a Pastor and church staff that cares enough about about the our lay and missionaries families enough to invest in our marriages. You can check my blog for divorce attorneys.  I was really challenged to care for and be more tender toward my wife.  Coincidently, I have been listening to two audio books on marriage that went along very well with this conference.  If Only He Knew and From this Day Forward were really helpful.  Needless to say, I have a lot of changes I need to make in order to be a better husband.  I encourage you, take time to learn how to be a better spouse. I thing I do know despite my many mistakes, I’m married to the most amazing person I have ever known.

Please continue to pray for my meetings.  I fly out to Ohio today to present my ministry in a new church and report back to a faithful supporter.  When I get back on Monday, I’ll be driving to the Wilds Camp from Atlanta to check out their ministry for a couple of days in preparation for starting Camp Rhino.

Breaking the $70,000 Mark for Camp Rhino

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On Sunday and Monday of last week, July 23-24, I had an opportunity to preach at the Summer Family Bible School hosted by Liberty Baptist Church in San Jose, California with Pastor Stan Smith.  This is the church where my good friends Ross and Sue Pyle now work. They previously were missionaries with us in South Africa.  Each night  from Sunday to Thursday, the church took up an offering to help with Camp Rhino.  By the end of the week, over $5,000 was given to help with the camp.  With this incredibly generous offering, we have now broken the $70,000 mark for money donated or committed to purchase property in South Africa next year.  It’s hard to believe we’ve come this far.  Only $30,000 more to meet our original goal of $100,000.  Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support.

Wolf Mountain Camp in Grass Valley, CA

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I want to first apologize for the duplicate emails that occasionally come out.  I’m trying to fix that on my blog and will hopefully have that squared away this week.

Amy and I arrived back from our trip to California late Tuesday night.  We had a great time visiting three churches and spending time with dear friends who worked with us in South Africa.  Through a mutual friend, we were also able to get connected to the ministry of Wolf Mountain Camp.  After a 3 hour drive from San Jose, we met up with Director Jon Moore who graciously took time out of his busy camp schedule to pour into our lives all things camp ministry.

His emphasis on building relationships and doing certain things well really aided in our thinking about the ministry of Camp Rhino.  It’s hard to explain how helpful the hours we spent at Wolf Mountain were.  I’m grateful as well to have one more camp expert added to my list of emergency contacts for when we dive head first into camp ministry next year.

Here are just a few of the many insights he gave during out time with him:

  • Our camp is a facility that implements a philosophy.
  • We do food as much as we do preaching & we want to do both well.
  • The process of camp just takes time to work.
  • A good counselor is one who speaks from a platform of example with the motivation of love.

If you are anywhere near the Sacramento or North California area, I encourage you to check out Wolf Mountain Camp for yourself.  They are definitely serving a needy area of our country.

Before I sign off, I would like to recommend a book that Jon gave me before leaving the camp last week.  It’s entitled “The Value of Camp” by Walt Brock.  It was a joy reading and gave me ideas and insights concerning camp ministry that I hadn’t even thought about. Click on the link to find out how to get your own copy.

Update from San Jose, California

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We’ve been in the San Jose and Sacramento, CA area since Friday of last week.  Ross & Sue Pyle, former missionaries to South Africa, made it possible for us to be in this part of the world.  They have graciously opened their home in San Jose to Amy and I and have been wonderful hosts.  The Pyle family are great friends of our who we first met and worked with in South Africa.  I’m not so secretly trying to get them to come back to South Africa soon to help us with Camp Rhino:) .   They really are great people to be around, and we have thoroughly enjoyed our time with them.

Tomorrow, we will have the opportunity to present our ministry in their church where they are working in the Christian school ministry.  It’s encouraging to see the work their church is doing.  There truly is a need of more Bible preaching churches in California.

Last week, when we left Fort Bluff Camp, Director Dave Sekura handed me an offering that the campers had taken up for Camp Rhino over the past two weeks for $444.  He also gave us a special offering specifically from the camp for $500.  Not only did they go out of their way and gave of themselves to help us learn about camp ministry this summer, they also gave financially.   We we were blown away.

After camp, a good friend of mine, Pastor Andy Wallace of Hendrix Road Baptist Church in Florence, AL, called as well to let me know that their church voted to send us $500 for Camp Rhino.  With six months to go before we head back to the field, it’s exciting to see our goals met for the Camp.

We are truly humbled by the people God has placed in our path to make Camp Rhino a reality. I can’t thank you enough for all the prayers and sacrificial gifts.  You all truly are a great blessing.