The “Bitter Enders” club was organized originally for a serious purpose. However, in due time, the club became more a form of recreation than a program of constructive work.
The idea originated with W.D. Moorer. Fred McCaulley says, “Moorer was a man who believed in staying with a thing until he saw it through to a finish. He started the ‘Bitter Enders’ to enlist people in a program of study which would carry them right on through until the end of the encampment.” (Sights & Sounds of Falls Creek by J.M. Gaskin)
McCaulley remembers when Jim H. Fisher, a Shawnee banker, was engaged in what was purported to be a fundraising program for improvement on the assembly grounds. Benches on which the “Bitter Enders” were seated had been previously wired and connected to a heavy-duty battery. At the proper moment, to bring the gag to a climax, Fisher said, “I will give $1,000—how many of you will join me?” Then the button was pushed and everyone stood up! (Sights & Sounds of Falls Creek by J.M. Gaskin)
This year, the construction phase of the Falls Creek Centennial Campaign is coming to an end. Each month, we get closer to our goal of $4.7 million. The campaign thermometer now is over the $3.18 million mark. Now is the important push to see Phase I of the campaign completed. The Jordan Welcome Center, Thompson Family Lodge and Mathena Family Event Center buildings are almost completed, but the buildings need to be furnished before they are ready for use next year.
By 2017, it is very possible to have the remaining debt eliminated for the R.A. Young Tabernacle and all these new buildings paid for completely. Your help is needed now more than ever. I want to ask, like the Shawnee banker, “How many of you will join me?” There isn’t an electric button, though, to motivate such immediate agreement the same way the banker did, but there are certainly great motivations and opportunities to give to the campaign.
If you sponsor one of the unsponsored remaining seats in the R.A. Young Tabernacle at $500, the Downing matching fund will match your gift dollar for dollar. With all the remaining seats sold, the goal would be near. There are also 50 sponsorship opportunities in the Thompson Family Lodge for furnishing rooms at $10,000 a room. Again, with the Downing matching money, your gift’s effectiveness doubles. Making payments over a few years is an option, as well.
Your investment in the Falls Creek Centennial Campaign will reap eternal benefits for the new Christians who are saved in a seat you sponsor. This summer, there were 4,651 total decisions; 1,938 were professions of faith. Currently, 80,000 people attend Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center all year. With the completion of the new buildings, the new attendance norm is projected to be more than 120,000 a year. The result of your gift will be more missionaries in the field, and more ministers in the pulpit. That should push anyone’s button to give!
Contact me for more information about your gift for the Falls Creek Centennial Campaign at 405/516-4868, mharkey@bgco.org, or toll free at 800/690-6933.
