Why Cherokee Retreat Center?

It occurs to me, as I finish these blogs, that some of you may be wondering: why, when there is so much need in the world, are they focusing on making our own PCUSA retreat center nicer? Why aren't those people out clothing the naked or feeding the hungry? (Go ahead: admit it!)

So I thought I'd take a few minutes to brief you on recent events at Cherokee Retreat Center (CRC).

This facility was - and still is - designed to provide both a summer camp experience and a retreat for all members of the Cherokee Presbytery (which includes FPC and about 39 other churches). In addition, it's also there for those outside the Presbytery who are seeking a faith-based Christian camp or retreat experience. Currently, CRC provides summer camp for over 500 children aged 2nd grade through college. It also currently serves as a facility for several small and large groups. This summer CRC will provide a day camp for families who need childcare during the summer months.

In the past, the government of our church has financially supported CRC with over $100,000 as part of the Presbytery's annual budget. The camp has been responsible for the remaining 80% of it's own operating budget and has annually met that responsibility. This year (2009), the Presbytery has had to cut it's financial support of CRC by almost 70% and is only able to provide $50K to the center leaving more than a $50K gap in income.

Obviously, CRC will not be able to continue in operation, until that gap is closed. In order to close that gap, they must increase revenue. In order to increase revenue, they must be more competitive in the camp and facility rental business. In order to be more competitive, their site, buildings, programs and activities must be improved.

After nearly 50 years of barely scraping by - with little or no support for it's staff of TWO - CRC has to get themselves operating without our Presbytery's long-term financial support.

The folks at CRC say it best: CRC’s unique purpose is to provide an environment where people of all ages can retreat from the secular world, grow in authentic Christian faith, be transformed by the Spirit and return to transform the world of their daily lives."

In essence, without places like CRC, there might not be Mexico Missions - because CRC is where those who lead the Mexico Mission go to take refuge, to dream, to strengthen themselves to lead.

Without CRC, there could be kids who NEVER get to go to camp. Because of the support of our Presbytery, Camp Cherokee (a division of CRC) has been able to keep its camp costs to nearly 1/3 of the price of most sleep away camps.

Without places like CRC, there might not be youth who grow up to travel to Russia - because without a Christian camping experience, they might never have learned that they could bond with strangers over a common cause.

Without places like CRC, would there be a place that families could commit to mission work together? Where kids, as young as 6 can learn how to contribute and how to serve.

Maybe the question, instead of "why Cherokee Retreat Center," might be "why NOT Cherokee Retreat Center?"

Read the posts below to learn more about our most recent mission week at CRC.

Posted by Becky Jordan

God's Great Surprises (Monday)

I knew it might not be the best of starts when I arrived at Camp Cherokee already close to "really, really tired." It had been quite a long week involving big projects at work and at home and, to be honest, I was wishing that our Suburban were headed for Disney World or the Grand Canyon.

It's never been my nature to be excited about work. Spa days? Absolutely! Ladies Night Out? Uh-huh. Movie Night with my family in my pjs? I am ALL ABOUT IT. Contrary to popular opinion, I don't get all that excited about work.

Our God knows this about me. The beautiful thing is that HE changes my ho-hum-it-sounded-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time attitude as soon as we arrive! Suddenly, as we round the corner of camp, dipping into another pot hole and spot the crew that's been expecting us, my spirit is lifted. And no matter how many times I've done this "mission thing," I am still surprised by the way that the Holy Spirit prepares my heart.

Last night, I was tucking two of our little ones into bed. As usual, I helped them with their nighttime routines - including nighttime prayers. As an afterthought, I offered to pray with two others who eagerly accepted the invitation to praise God for our first day. Quietly. Just the two of us. As I closed their bedroom door, one of those precious children jumped out of bed, hugged my neck, wept tears of appreciation and said: "no one's ever prayed with us before." And I am surprised by the Holy Spirit. Again.

I have discovered that this is the beauty of mission work, for me. In a world that is so predictable... work, soccer, homework, work, laundry, pets, mail, work, cutting grass, work... there are few surprises anymore.

But not this week. Not at Cherokee Retreat Center. Not with snow on the way. Or the amazing Joe Garrett, roofer, who's here to help. The expert carpenter father/son - Max and Jeff Vanderlip - team who have decided to take on every transition/threshold issue in the lodge! Or three teenagers (Jessica Gamble, Gino Arocena, Andrew from Heritage) who are learning how to lay ceramic tile, as I write. Or the fantastic team of Lily-Kate and Kelly - 10 and 13 year olds - who have literally scrubbed every piece of trim in Parker until it looks like it's all been freshly painted! Or even six year old James MacPherson who surprises me constantly with his passion (and precision) for paint. Or Richard "Rooster" Hunter who is now on his eighth hour of pressure washing even as the temperature drops steadily.

We are out here with our palm branches, FPC. We hope you will join us this week. You won't want to miss (I know I don't) what awesome surprises God has in store for tomorrow!

Posted by Becky Jordan

Soul Train (Tuesday)

Today we had some new folks show up for their day of work and nearly all of them asked me the same question: "did y'all get a lot done yesterday?"

I had to pause and ask myself... did we? It seemed that we were a bit, shall I say, sluggish. Slow moving. Compared to our list of projects, my honest answer really was: "no, I don't think we got very much done yesterday."

Working on a mission trip is comparable to driving a steam train. If I took all these folks and turned them into train cars, I'd have to shovel in a lot of coal to get the fire started. And then someone would have to come along beside me, take that throttle by both hands, push it forward with some serious effort and eventually, our train cars might lurch forward. Once. Or twice. Or four times. Until our momentum began to move our wheels forward.

Even after we got ourselves going at a decent pace - because we are sooooooo long, and hauling sooooo much weight - it could take a full day before we were able to look backward and see some good distance travelled. It might take a few days before we could say, "hey! we've gone over 100 miles!"

On the up side, have you ever seen a "full steam ahead" steam train? They FLY! Their wheels click and clack with a fast rhythm that sounds like the beat of a great song. The wind blowing around those train cars whip the surrounding leaves about in a near frenzy. If you happen to be standing along side of the tracks, that same wind can take your breath away and ignite a sense of adventure in your soul. (I happen to think long haul trains running at full speed are really cool.)

Mission work at Cherokee Retreat Center is heading toward that click/clack rhythm. The leaves about our "soul train" are starting to rustle and we're just now getting into our groove. I can tell that our hearts are stirring toward a common objective and our group is bonding. Slowly, we are beginning to see the distance we have travelled in our ever shrinking list of things to do.

I think God promises us those same mission/soul train perks. Sometimes it's hard to get our selves motivated to do what's right. Or moving in a direction that feels like we're connected - as a people with a purpose. Or going far enough along the journey that we can see where we've been as compared to where we are today.

But isn't it exciting when our spirits, our souls, our minds and our bodies really get going? Find a mission train and hop on! It's quite a ride!!!

Posted by Becky Jordan

Action Jesus (Wednesday)

This morning I did our devotional. I was following Judie Ebert's AWESOME Easter egg devotional so I must say, I was a little intimidated.

I told our group that I had discovered two very important things late last night: 1) that my midnight hour study skills were not quite what they used to be and 2) that the words "Jesus went" or "He went" were repeated over 99 times in the New Testament Gospels ALONE. The significance being that even though Jesus travelled a mere 30 or so miles from his home, he was not a "home body." He did not sit around on the sofa waiting for someone to say: "Yo, Jesus. Could you think about going with me?" Nope! He lept up off that proverbial sofa and led the way.

Several years ago, when I was ordained as a Deacon at FPC, my sweet friend Beth Crary gave me an action figure Jesus. And while it may seem a bit disrespectful, to me it only represented the idea that our Savior was a Man of Action. He went... and went... and went some more. And ultimately, over his 33 year life, he ended up travelling (according to some scholars) well over 25,000 miles.

I brought Action Jesus with me to CRC. And I shared him with our crew. Ultimately, we are all called to be Action figures for Jesus. I am so proud of those who are here being just that.

Posted by Becky Jordan

A Long Day's Journey Into Night (Thursday)

Today was a great day despite the growing exhustion of our group. Tonight our eyes got a little bigger than our hands, so to speak, and we took on a few more projects than were originally schedued.

Isn't that so human? Instead of pausing, instead of taking a step back to reflect, we saw ourselves as running ahead of schedule and decided: hey! we can tear out (not one, but) two bathrooms, tile them, drywall them, purchase and put together new cabinetry, install sinks AND add trim in - oh, little less than 1/2 day! (What were we thinking?!)

When it was time to stop for dinner, I confess: I did not want to disuade any of our workers. I mean, after all, our "train" has hit full stride. There's no reason to stop? Do you know how long it might take us to get going again?

But then I entered the dining room and saw the banquet set before us.

Carol McBride had taken some of her afternoon to prepare a Seder Meal. For 25 people. Complete with all the necessary dishes, responsive readings, "wine," etc. Suddenly, I realized it was Maundy Thursday - an evening that our Lord spent with his friends.

For the next hour, I watched while the children poured "wine" for one another, while they helped wash each others' hands (instead of feet), while we all tried "bitter herbs" and horseradish, while we chuckled at the silly side comments, while we passed around our special colored eggs. Did it matter that the trim wasn't getting painted?

Aren't we humans funny. We get so busy DOING that we fail to PAUSE. I know I am guilty of this sin on a weekly basis.

Thanks to Carol, we paused for a few hours tonight.

Then

we got back to work...

and some of us never went to bed.

Posted by Becky Jordan

Thursday Post Update

I confess: I panicked last night. I lost faith. I got worried.

I sent an email to everyone I could think of to say: HELP! We need you. I posted a message on Facebook. I asked FPC to send an email to the congregation. Literally probably 500 folks could have received my desperate plea. I was afraid that we were going to be leaving our sweet friends at Camp Cherokee in worse shape than when we arrived. I was afraid we wouldn't get it ALL done.

But that was before Joe Garrett arrived. And Richard Hunter started putting together cabinetry. And Gracie McBride started making labels. And Kathleen McBride delivered toilet paper. And Jessica Gamble decided to finish the tile. And Joe Jordan, John Nunez, Anna Gamble and Sidney Hunter put all the picnic tables back in place.

That was before I got the email at 2:15am that said: the bathrooms are DONE.

That was before Good Friday.

It's All Good (Friday)

We woke this morning to more impending rain.

And our smallest crew of the week

After my desperate email to the "outside world," I wondered whether there might be a bus of folks arriving to help. I hurriedly dressed, brushed my teeth and stepped lightly to the Lodge worrying not about how the list would get accomplished (I was so sure the Calvary was on it's way), but more about how to open the morning devotional.

I thought about the fact that it was Good Friday and what that meant to us, as Christians. That Jesus died on the cross; that he died to who He was - as a human - in order to save those He loved - us. I thought about what it meant to die to who WE are. And posed that question to the group.

"How did YOU die to who YOU are and/or what YOU wanted this week? How did YOU die to serve someone else?"

Anna said: "I really wanted to go somewhere fun for Spring Break. But I came here instead."

Joe said: "I really, really didn't want to move the picnic tables at 10:00pm last night. But we did it together."

Carol said: "I really wanted to be a the lake yesterday afternoon during our free time. I've never seen the lake from here. But I needed to prepare our Seder meal. And I didn't have time."

Trevor said: "I HATE painting. And I painted for three straight days."

Jessica said: "At one point, I really wanted to THROW AWAY ALL the ceramic tile. But I knew that we needed to get that project done. I died to the ceramic tile."

I was so proud that they got it. That nearly everyone mentioned how they had chosen to die to their own desire(s) in order to accommodate the greater good.

Then, as if on cue, Mickey Gamble showed up. "Here they are," I thought, "The Calvary!" And not one other person arrived. Mickey Gamble, "I don't even know if he's a member of our church," was the only one who came.

Suddenly, I had to die - right there - to all my expectations. Man, that is so hard for me. Because I have pretty high expectations. And letting them go is my absolute most difficult growth area. Here was our LORD stretching ME right where I needed it.

My friends, by 1:00PM (two hours ahead of schedule), we were DONE! I could not believe it. This tiny, exhausted team was sitting down to lunch and the ONLY thing we had left to do was load the trailer with our supplies. I tell you: I wept.

I could not stop the tears from stinging my eyes. I told them all how worried I had been about our abilities... but that clearly, God knew (even though I had insisted otherwise) that all we needed... was Mickey Gamble. A Calvary of One. Our encouragement for the day.

God knew that we had already been covered in prayer by our faithful family and friends at home. We had been covered in blessings by those who's faithful work had put us into much better position than I originally realized. And today - on Good Friday - we were covered by the blood of the Lamb, by HIS energy, by HIS strength, by HIS abilities according to HIS expectations.

It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was done. Over 60 projects, 250 man hours plus, a year's worth of work completed in five days.

I laughed as I climbed into our car, ready to head home. It's all good, I thought.

It's ALL Good Friday.

Posted by Becky Jordan

Cristo es el cimiento (Christ is the Foundation)

This is the report on the Men's Mexico Mission trip to Monterrey Mexico in April 2008. Each year the Senior High Youth go to Mexico to build houses in some very poor sections of Monterrey. In April, a mens team goes and pours the slabs and lays the first row of blocks in preparation for the Senior High trip.

Every trip to Monterrey for the mens team is its own unique adventure. This year we were building in a new location for the first time in 9 years, so we knew from the beginning that it would be challenging. Our trust, however, is in God to lead us through the trials and difficulties that we knew we would face.

Our team of 12 (Rem Bennett, Erroll Eckford, Sam Henderson, Allen Hirons, Bryan Musolf, Rolando Perez, Bob Petersen, Bob Sabin, Tom Steele, Howard Swinford, Mark Thompson, and Brian Wright)was all set to go. Mostly hardened veterans of many trips to pour slabs, but with two rookies to initiate(Sam and Bryan). We had our tools, our work clothes, our passports, our Spanish/English dictionaries, and our sunscreen.

As always, our good friend of many years and many mission trips, Marcos Diaz was there to help us in ways too numerous to mention and to be our guardian angel in Monterrey. We literally could not do this trip without him.

The first challenge was that two of our men discovered at the last minute that their passports had expired. If we had been driving across the border we think they could have gone with just a birth certificate, but if you are flying you can't even board the airplane unless you have a passport that is valid for six months beyond your trip. So. our team of 12 suddenly became a team of 10.

Howard and Brian left on Friday morning to get a head start. Saturday morning they went out to Garcia and located a lumber yard to buy the lumber for the forms. Once it was delivered, they needed a safe place to store it until Monday. We ended up storing it on the roof of Veronica's store. She is our contact in Garcia and helped us select the families we are building for. Once the the lumber was stored, they went by each site to see the progress in tearing down and moving the existing structures. Although some were ready, others still needed a little help in getting ready.




The weather was a very nice 100 degrees ( or in that vicinity). April in Monterrey can be very changeable. Some years it is very pleasant and some years it is downright hot. Dry heat or not, 100 is brutal. We know that when the kids go in June it is just as hot or hotter, but they are a lot younger than we are!

The location where we were pouring the six slabs is on the outskirts of Garcia, which is northwest of Monterrey. It takes about an hour to drive from the Hotel 88, but the traffic is not too bad if you go early enough so the drive is not too stressful.

Each morning we have a devotion at the job site before we start to work.


Errol Eckford did Monday's devotion and he chose the story of Gideon defeating the Midianites from Judges Chapter 7. Basically, God tells Gideon that he has too many men ( 'In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength saved her') and to send some home. Well, Gideon goes from 32,000 down to 300. We didn't have that big a reduction in numbers, but we certainly understood the message that it is through God's power that we accomplish his purpose, not through our own.

Before we started work, there was one more task to accomplish. One of our rookies forgot to bring his work gloves, so we had bought some very attractive pink gloves at Home Depot on Sunday and we made the presentation to him.


We split into two teams and started the work of preparing the form boards for the slabs.


Sometimes we get some help from the homeowners!



In the past, we have built on lots that were considerably wider than the 6 meter width of these ( 19' 6" or so). We had resized the house size to fit on the narrower lots, but because we were building right up to the lot lines ( and in most cases right up to existing walls), the job was definitely more difficult. Also, several of the lots had considerable slope to them which makes for a much deeper slab on one side than the approximate 4" depth we like. We solved that by buying several loads of gravel/sand mix. It is much cheaper that concrete and allowed us to even out the slabs.

Another problem that we have not encountered before was that several of the homeowners wanted indoor toilets so plumbing drain lines had to put in before the slab was poured. Installing these pipes is the responsibility of the homeowner and some of them put them too high which would have made the slab even deeper. So, we had to get them to lower the pipe.



We actually only worked a half day on Monday. Of course, a half day is from 7:30 in the morning till 7:30 in the evening! We were beat, but everybody worked hard and had a great attitude and the forms were ready. We usually go out for dinner, but since we didn't even get back to the hotel until 8:30 we opted for pizza delivery from Domino's. Actually, pretty good and we saved the leftovers for lunch on Tuesday.

Mark Thompson did Tuesday morning's devotion. He based it on the idea that when life is hectic and full of monumental challenges ( like,how are we going to get these slabs poured with only 10 men?) that we should 'simply' lean on God. These are the simplicities of God that Mark shared with us. I believe in God. I believe He loves me. I believe He has a perfect plan. I believe He is righteous, pure, and good. I believe that I have no clue what tomorrow will bring, but thank goodness I believe in a God that does. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in Heaven. I believe in God's angels. I believe in the Bible. I believe in prayer. and I believe, at times, that is all God wants us to do -- simply believe. It was a great reminder of what our faith should be.

Tuesday is concrete day and the question of the day is whether the concrete trucks will show up on time. Although they were supposed to start at 8:00 am and they didn't start arriving until 9:00 am (this is Mexico after all) nobody complained.







They came pretty regularly for the first five trucks (about 1 truck per slab), but there was about a two hour break between trucks 5 and 6.

We took this opportunity to rest and to play.






Since we had started the sixth slab with truck 5, we had a real problem. We normally pour the back of the slab first and get it up to its finished height and then move forward. If the next truck comes within 20 minutes of so, it is no problem to merge the old pour and the new pour, but in two hours concrete has pretty much set and pouring fresh concrete next to two hour old concrete doesn't work very well. So, before the first concrete set, the guys pulled all the concrete down to about 2" and then we poured the fresh stuff on top of the old stuff.

One of the difficulties that the new lots presented was in finishing the concrete. We used a combination of a screed board and bull float to get the slabs as smooth as possible. Because most of the lots had one or two existing walls bounding them, we were not able to work from the sides and this makes it hard to get smooth slabs.





Tuesday was a short day. We only worked till about 4:30 pm.

Tom Steele did Wednesday's devotion based on two elements of the Lord's prayer. The first is the petition to '.. give us this day our daily bread'. In our affluence we don't often think of this, but for these people living in the dust with a packing box as a roof, give us this day our daily bread is deeply significant. Look at this picture and think about living there.



The second element is ' ..thy will be done' a reminder to us to do the will of God, to feed the sheep. By providing basic, yet suitable, shelter we are vastly improving the lives of those we touch, not for our own sake but to glorify God. A copy of the Spanish language Lord's prayer was given to each team to place in the foundation blocks of each home to symbolize that we are doing this work to fulfill the will of God.

Wednesday is block day. We lay the first row of blocks for the house so that when the Senior Highs come in June, they are ready to start building walls. The challenge of the day is getting the block lines square and level. Although it sounds easy, it always seems to take longer than we expect. Since none of us are professional masons, we have to be retrained each year to understand the difference between 'perfect' and 'good enough' when it comes to block walls.




During the course of the day we got two loads of block delivered which had to be unloaded by hand at each job site.



We laid the last blocks about 5:30 PM. A great feeling to be finished!

This year we had our own T-shirts for the team and we brought extras to give to the homeowners. The T-shirt design (which was wonderfully done by Jason Laiche who is on staff with the Youth Ministry) was based on the concept that Christ is the foundation of our lives and that we were building foundations for these homes. We each signed each shirt and presented it to the homeowner and took a bunch of pictures. As you can see, a lot of smiling faces!









We flew home on Thursday with a great feeling of accomplishment and a renewed understanding of the fact that God is with us at all times and it is through His power that we are able to glorify Him in all that we do.

Unlike other blogs, the next several postings are done in sequential order.  Start here and read down for subsequent days and postings.