February - March 2024

 

Dear Friends,

 

     As the weather begins to warm up, we are beginning our outdoor preparations for this summer’s activities. Camps are just right around the corner, and we are getting excited about seeing everyone again! Our Staff and City of Refuge men work very hard in getting the property in shape for our Camp & Retreat season. 

     We are currently working on several projects here on the Church and Ranch property. We would like to upgrade the sleeping arrangements in the camp dorms this year. Most of the mattresses that we have in the dorms are called “bunkies”. They have a hard board on the bottom like a built-in box spring, but the foam part is only about 5 inches thick. This works pretty good for young, “lightweights”, but it can be uncomfortable for us “more mature” ones, if you know what I mean!!! Now, I would like to give everyone a “be tough, it’s camp” speech, but if I’m honest, a good night’s sleep is important at camp - for campers and counsellors! It helps keep campers awake during the services and it might save some adults a chiropractor bill! Replacing these mattresses would be extremely expensive (approx $25,000) and we would also lose the support board that is built in to the bunkie mattresses. We believe the best option is going to be adding a gel memory foam pad to each bunkie mattress and enclosing each one with a mattress protector. We can get this done for around $10,000. This is still a lot of money, but it is quite a bit less than the replacement option and we believe that it will also be more effective.

     Another project that was necessary for us to get done was re-working our drainage system on the property. Many of you who have been here know how our property sits on a significant slope. Several of our drainage ditches needed re-dug and we had to install some extra culverts and concrete barriers. This project cost about $8,500. 

     We definitely do not want to sound like we are begging or complaining in any way! God will provide and take care of these needs as He always does. Several people in recent days, however, have asked me if we had any special projects going on and that they were interested in helping; so, I thought I would let you all know what was going on currently, and if the Lord would lead you to help with some of these extra expenses, it would be a great blessing! 

     Please continue to pray for our City of Refuge ministry as we have had a significant increase in residents over the last three months. We have 14 men residing in the dorms who have come to get their lives on track and be discipled in developing a strong personal walk with the Lord! We stress to them that this is the key to being able to overcome destructive addictions and most importantly, to live a life that’s pleasing to the Lord! Please especially pray for a few men who will be finishing the Phase 1 program soon and will be making important decisions on where the Lord is leading them!

    We would like to invite you all to our upcoming Camp Meeting, May 27-30. We do provide free motel rooms for senior pastors and their wives for the meeting; please call ASAP if you would like to make reservations as there are a limited number of rooms in our local motel. When those are full, we will begin using motels in Muskogee and McAlester, which are both about 30 min away.

      Thank You once again for your faithful support of Calvary Baptist Ministries! We count you as friends and fellow laborers in the Ministry!

 

In Christ,                                                                                                 

 

 

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