MARCH 31- 24 HOURS WITH THE GUYS

One of our favorite weekends of the year at Hidden Acres is our 24 hours with the guys retreat. This past weekend, over 350 men and sons came to camp with their trucks loaded down with bows and guns, anxious to hit the range to get in some early spring target practice. At the end of the weekend, men leave refreshed in their spirits and bodies from their time away from work and routine obligations of life.

This weekend is by far the best evangelistic tool we can offer to our churches to reach men for Jesus Christ. Over the years, more adult men have accepted Christ during this weekend than all of the other weekends combined. Men come, because they have a common interest in hunting and fishing activities, but throughout the weekend, the gospel is preached 5 times; and the men and sons do respond to Terry Baxter's messages. It is a real joy to be apart of this weekend.

This past weekend, one of the highlights for me personally was seeing a 17 year old boy, kneeling up front of the chapel with a group of men praying with him to receive Christ. Earlier in the day, a 45 year old father accepted Christ also. After the retreat was over, I looked over the evaluation forms, and many more men made commitments to rededicate their lives to Christ.

We were challenged more than once through the messages to share our faith; to be bold. Randy Larson, one of our speakers, took a poll of how we had accepted Christ, and the overwhelming majority raised their hands to say that a friend or a family member led them to Christ; it wasn't church, or an evangelist, or the preacher, or VBS, but a friend. Men walked away from the weekend with a renewed purpose to share Christ in all seasons.

One of the neatest things that has happened from this retreat is the spawning of other retreats similar to our 24 hours, at other camps; in the next month their will be a retreat in Wisconsin, in NW Iowa and in Alaska that mirrors our 24 hours event; representatives from different places have come to Hidden Acres to look over our model and then have gone home and replicated it either at another camp or at the church.

It is our prayer, that Hidden Acres will play a vital part in the spiritual development of men of all ages that come to camp; we have 6 different men's ministry events planned over the year, praying that we can offer enough different activities to attract a wide variety of men. Our August Jamboree will be full of golf, biking, fishing, shooting, and great preaching.

Pray with us as we minister to these men. We know that life in the trenches is tough, with many temptations that can trip up men and boys; we want to be apart of growing strong, Spirit filled men that can be effecive leaders back in the local church.