New Year greetings from the hills of West Virginia! We look forward to what God has in store for Wildwood in the year 2025.
The Winter Retreat closed out our 2024 season December 26-28. Sometimes we second guess whether it is a crucial event being so close to Christmas and New Year’s Day. The responses during the preaching and an impromptu testimony time afterwards revealed how much the young people needed it. Austin Brownlee did a superb job preaching and connected well with the young people.
Our upcoming schedule for 2025 is as follows:
Work Week – April 21-26
Ladies Retreat – May 16-17
Junior Camp – July 7-11
Teen Camp – July 14-18
Men’s Retreat – Sept. 12-13
Winter Retreat – December 29-31
We have a work week scheduled this year for those that are interested in participating. There will be a variety of maintenance, painting, and cleanup tasks to be performed. If you plan to come for part or all of the week, please contact us so we can make arrangements for lodging and food for those that help.
I am thankful to be able to spend more time in the ministry. I am back to working just four days a week with my secular work, using Mondays to work on camp related things. We had another church take on our family for support in January which is a blessing. This past month we had over a foot of snow for weeks and some sub-zero temperatures. During this time I worked on administrative things…inside. I also kept a path plowed up the driveway to check on water lines and heaters.
Our pastor and church took up special love offerings over Christmas for the property purchase. We were able to make the next two payments, which brings the balance owed down to $52,800. This is nothing short of a miracle as we are only a year-and-a-half into the contract! God is so good, and His people have been very sacrificial.
Thank you for your prayers for this upcoming year. During my recent personal devotions I was again reminded of the importance the church has in ministering to young people. Matthew 18:3 says, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Verse 5 says, “And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.” Verse 10 says, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones.” The ministry of reaching young people is one of the most important ministries a church has. We are very grateful to play a role in aiding your local church in its ministry to young people.
With Gratitude,
Joel Marshall
