SWBCA NEWSLETTER
GPBA & WOBA April 2021 SWBCA NEWSLETTER
SOUTHWEST BAPTIST CHURCHES ASSEMBLY
visit our website or call for more information and group pricing.
Telephone: 580-846-5784
email: office@swbcassembly.com
14730 Hwy 44 Lone Wolf, Oklahoma 73655
WHO WE ARE
Southwest Baptist Churches Assembly is a Christian campground facility owned by two Baptist Associations of local churches. Our mission is to have a safe environment to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and give believers an opportunity to grow in their relationship with Him.
We accomplish our mission by providing a facility for large and small groups to meet for weeklong camp events, as well as for shorter retreats or meetings. The entire campground may be rented or a single cabin with sleeping and cooking accommodations may be rented for church, group, and family events.
In keeping with our mission all groups must agree with our Statement of Faith and code of conduct.
The camp is owned by the churches of Great Plains Baptist Association and Western Oklahoma Baptist Association
HISTORY OF SWBCA
The immediate purpose was to provide a camp for that summer. The far-reaching purpose, however, was to give Southwestern Oklahoma a Baptist encampment that could serve the district. The first two years (1945-1946) recorded over 500 in attendance each year.
From 1945 to1951, they rented property for camp from Quartz Mountain State Park. Then in 1952, the camp was incorporated and began a long-term lease on the current property, which was purchased in 1984.
Currently approximately 2,000 campers are on the property annually.
ADOPT A CABIN OR PROJECT AT CAMP
Altus Reformed Baptist Church adopted the staff cabins and have been working hard on the remodel
FBC Sayre sent a group to help paint the dining hall
FBC Sayre Men are rebuilding the bridge
Father's Day Offering
The SWBCA Board of Directors voted to ask our churches to receive a Fathers’ Day Offering for the operational support of the campground. Each church is encouraged to participate by providing the special offering envelopes and promoting this time of giving. If every church member would contribute just $5, our operational budget for the entire year would be met!
Thank you for planning ahead to participate this year. Envelopes and posters will be sent to your church in early May. Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions.
Director of Missions for WOBA
As you probably know by now, there are really big things happening at Southwest Baptist Assembly. Our two Associations, Great Plains and Western Oklahoma, have caught a renewed vision for the camp and its ministry possibilities. We are addressing some of the much-needed projects in three ways. First, we have implemented the Adopt-a-Cabin program. We have asked our churches to simply Adopt-a-Cabin. All of the cabins need renovation, updating, and refreshing. A church may decide to repaint the interior of a cabin, or replace the flooring in a dorm, or install new exterior doors or windows, or purchase some new furniture for one of the staff rooms. Every one of these projects is desperately needed. Thankfully, all the cabins at the camp have been adopted, but not all the projects have been adopted. One church decided to come and replace the old bridge – the new one is spectacular. Another repainted the cafeteria and installed wainscoting on the walls, which helped the appearance and acoustics of the cafeteria immensely. Another church has volunteered to come down and do some landscaping. Our Caretaker shared with me today that the list of projects is still very long. Two very important projects need to be addressed before camps this Summer. We need to spray insulation foam on the ceiling of the Tabernacle to mitigate the incredible heat inside the Tabernacle during the summer, and we need to paint the Tabernacle inside and out, a job for a good paint crew with a spray rig! We need to get this done to enable us to install our new video and audio system. We are moving to large screen TVs and away from the projection system. The camp Board voted to fund this project immediately and plans are well underway.
Second, we have asked our member churches to receive an annual Father’s Day offering. Each year we receive a Mother’s Day Offering, so why not a Father’s Day Offering? This offering has incredible implications for our camp. Think of it this way, if every member of a Southern Baptist church gave just $5 on Father’s Day for the Southwest Baptist Assembly Campground, and we know that some will give much, much more, we would be able to replace worn out equipment, do some deferred maintenance, and develop our site for great things in the future. Let’s do the math – there are roughly 20,000 Southern Baptist Church members in our two Associations. If each one gave just $5, then we would raise $100,000 in just this one offering! That would be about a 70% raise in the operational budget of our camp. Can you imagine what that would feel like? Right now, we only do the projects that we can afford, but in the future, we will be able to do the projects that we want to get done.
Lastly, we are committed to a Capital Fund Raising Program to help us fund massive projects like fixing our swimming pool and bringing it up to code, constructing a new dormitory or two, building a new Cafeteria or cafetorium, and adding new recreational activities to the camp. We know we need to renovate or replace the Tabernacle and install some infrastructure to accommodate our new ventures as well. Presently, we are at the phase of the program where we are investigating the costs, but we anticipate that we will have some exciting news for you in the very near future. The Capital Fund Raising Project will be very different from our normal funding for the camp, We hope our member churches continue to give monthly or annually to the camp, as they have in the past, but we also hope that our individual church members catch the vision of giving to this future campaign to pave the way for the future in the big projects before us.
We are so grateful to you all. Bro. Danny and I are excited about the churches of our two Associations partnering together to do more than we could ever do by ourselves. We appreciate your support, your gifts, your work, and your prayers. Let’s pray for a great Summer of ministry at Southwest Baptist Assembly!
Dr. Terry Rials
Director of Missions of Western Oklahoma Baptist Association
(405) 570-1542