August Email Newsletter 2024

2024 summer camp comes to an end. What a great summer we have had. Another record breaking summer with 2,719 campers in 12 weeks of camp. We have had 1,008 from our supporting churches, 1,360 from non-supporting churches and 351 registered with no church affiliation.

We had some very large camps this year including our JOY Camp. We had 73 accept Christ and was baptized this summer at camp. Last Chance Camp had the most of all sessions with 23. Praise the Lord. We also had an increase in our volunteer faculty this year with 520 volunteers.

This summer campers deepened their faith and strengthen their relationship with God through activities and programs like Bible study & Worship.

We have so many people to thank for making this years summer camp a successful summer camp program. From Event Coordinators, to faculty and the many who financially supported us for this summer. Below you will hear from each of our directors to share about this summer from their perspective.

I also want to thank all of our year around staff for the sacrifice and commitment you made to serve this summer. Our year around staff has worked around the clock for 12 weeks to serve, lead their teams and make a huge impact for this summer.

Gary Baker, Executive Director

garybaker@hangingrock.org

From the Program Director:

Hey y’all! As I wrap up my second year over programming all I can say is Hallelujah! In my two summers I have seen so many lives changed & we gained 391 campers since 2023 ending the 2024 summer with 2719 campers! It is a blessing to be in this role of being behind the scenes from scheduling rec to late night games & serving alongside the Event Coordinators.

We had an awesome summer of many different activities from ziplining at night for High School Main, to a 4th of July carnival for Junior High Main & many nights swims every week. Both 3rd /4th Main and 5th/ 6th Main did scavenger hunts throughout the property to match our theme for the summer. We had an absolute blast with all of our recreational activities whether that was fishing at the pond or going down the zipline.

Our theme this summer was “Searching” coming from James 1:5. We are all searching for something & we all have questions. Our goal this summer was to help campers realize we all have questions and the answers to our questions come from Jesus. He is the one we should be searching for.

I cannot express my gratitude enough for the Event Coordinators that took time to plan & time out of their life to lead a week of camp. I am so thankful for the summer staff that gave up their summer to work at camp to extend the kingdom of God. I am so grateful for the many volunteers that worked this summer whether in the kitchen, doing maintenance, or being faculty for camp. Thank you for the continued support of this ministry. It truly is a blessing to be the Program Director here.

caitlinbaer@hangingrock.org

From the Associate Director,

Wow, wow, wow! What an amazing summer! Trying to wrap my head around the number of meals we served this summer is mind boggling. With 2,719 campers, plus hundreds of volunteers, and 35 staff members, you can imagine what that number would be. In the coming weeks I will tally the total for some camper favorite items and put into perspective just how much food we go through in a summer.

This was my 9th summer here at Hanging Rock, and my 4th in the kitchen. Each year has brought on its own unique set of challenges, and this year was no different! Power going out right before meal service, dishwasher breaking down at the start of a meal, the guy who orders food (by the way I order the food) not ordering the right stuff and having to make last minute switches, to running two serving lines, my staff in the kitchen took everything in stride and rocked it this summer! I couldn't do even a third of what I do without their hard work and dedication! A huge thanks goes to my breakfast cook, Angel Cunningham, and my dinner cook, Kelsey Hatcher, for leading the charge at their meals. Another huge thank you to Teresa Lees, Neema Chacha and Emily Collins for being kitchen assistants this summer. They were the right hand to the cooks and always lending a helping hand. Final huge thanks go to the dishwashers! Fynlee Beedle, Nevaeh Lees, Emma Lees, and Claire Miller. These young people did a job most do not want to do, and they all did it with a smile on their face and a great attitude.

I remind my staff that we play one of the most important roles in helping people establish and strengthen their relationship with Jesus. Most have a hard time connecting the two but, when we provide our guests with a quality meal, they are not distracted by being hungry. They aren't distracted by wondering where their next meal might come from. They know, at camp, they are going to get 3 hot meals a day, and that helps them not be distracted and focus on the teaching and preaching that is going on. So, we might not actually be the ones baptizing the campers on closeout day, but we played a huge part in helping them get to that point with the food we serve! That is why I love what I do! Thank you to all of you for your support and prayers this summer, and one final thanks to my staff for an amazing time!

Todd Blair

toddblair@hangingrock.org

We are making progress. We have $132,000 on hand for this project so far plus concrete and site work donated is another $100,000. Meaning we still need to raise $323,000 plus furnishings. We really appreciate the churches that used Hanging Rock as their mission for VBS to support the dining hall and the offerings we got from some of our camps as well. We hope everyone that attended this summer understands the importance of adding more space to our dining hall, with another record breaking summer of 2,719 our current ding hall is just too small. Below you will see pictures of an overcrowded space. Please be in prayer as to how you can help. Thanks to all the churches that used Hanging Rock for your VBS missions to support the dining hall addition.