If you attended Falls Creek as a youth, you will remember the excitement building in your heart as you anticipated being at Falls Creek. The first week of Falls Creek summer youth encampment is already in the books—ours and Heaven’s.
The first week of camp is an exciting week at Falls Creek for a number of reasons. As they have for nearly 100 years, young people have the opportunity to hear the Gospel message and to respond to the call of Jesus on their lives. What is more exciting than someone getting saved at Falls Creek? Not much!
Jesus is recorded in Luke 15:10 saying, “I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.” Heaven is excited about young people’s salvation, and we should be as well. If salvation of young people doesn’t build a fire of excitement in your soul, as the old time evangelists used to say, “Your wood must be wet!” Salvation is exciting!
This week, there are plans on June 11 to dedicate three buildings: the Sports Pavilion Complex, the Kannady Family Lodge and the Jordan Welcome Center. With the dedication of these buildings, it is thrilling to see that we are drawing near to completing Phase One of the Falls Creek Centennial Campaign. After the dedication on the 11th, drop by any Thursday during camp and tour the Jordan Welcome Center. You must see this building to appreciate its beauty and utility for the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center. In the future, the Welcome Center will be a hub of activity year round. The Kannady Family Lodge is in use now and has been updated in a beautiful and useful way. The Sports Pavilion Complex is also in use for the first time and gives the added protection to attendees in the event of threatening weather.
We are approaching the 100th anniversary of the beginning of Falls Creek. In 2017, we will celebrate that anniversary. That’s just two more years, how exciting! Since the opening of the R.A. Young Tabernacle in 2007, 51,000 young people have heard God’s call in this hallowed place. Of that number, 17,000 have answered the call to salvation, and 8,000 have answered the call to ministry. More people have surrendered their lives to missions at Falls Creek than any other place on the face of the earth. That’s certainly a stirring thought! Imagine the excitement of many hundreds more being added to those historic numbers this year!
Construction has stopped for the summer on the other two major building projects. But the crews will be back after the camps end to complete the Thompson Family Lodge and the Mathena Family Event Center by the end of the year. While we have those buildings paid for, the rooms must be furnished and that is where we need your help today.
Because of the Downing $2.3 million matching fund, your gift of any size will be doubled, which means $1 becomes $2 and $10,000 becomes $20,000. Consider sponsoring a room in the Thompson Family Lodge as a three-year pledge today and make the most of your donation dollars with the Downing matching fund’s doubling influence. Your gifts to the Centennial Campaign are not about the buildings, but about the lives of people who are eternally changed in those buildings. The most exciting thing that will happen at Falls Creek in the buildings under construction is that more people can be saved. Amen to that!
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.
