Dear Faithful Supporters,
It is hard to believe we are already three months into 2024!
For those who do not receive our Mailchimp updates, we had a great Winter Retreat with Evangelist Dwight Smith. It is a time for the young people to be reinvigorated spiritually with strong preaching and good Christian fellowship. We even received a skiff of snow this year before everyone departed. God is good!
We have had several churches contact us to present the camp ministry and to consider taking my family on for monthly support. Our meetings have taken us to churches in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and we have an upcoming trip scheduled to Virginia. What a blessing it is to connect with the churches, and we simply want to be an encouragement to the pastors and their church families. It has also helped us understand the needs of the churches, and how to pray for each one better.
Our home church began supporting us at the beginning of the year, and we have received several love offerings. This support would represent approximately 7% of what we would need to be full time for the camp ministry. In faith I’ve decided to start taking off a day a week starting in April to work solely on camp related things. There is much to do! Continue praying for God to provide for us as we keep stepping forward in faith. I have constantly been challenged recently in my personal devotions and in the preaching of others to move forward in faith. No turning back!
We were able to make the sixth payment on the 39 acres we are under contract to purchase at the beginning of this year. We are ahead of schedule, and this leaves $67,200 remaining to pay it off in full.
Pastor Cumberland began working on trenching and running wiring for the boy’s cabins, and we have purchased insulation for one of the boy’s cabins. When the electric is completely upgraded and we insulate the cabins, we will be able to house more boys during the Winter Retreat. The insulation costs $1,300 per cabin, and we will need to put a finish material over it which will probably cost $1,000. We would like to be able to start with four cabins as God provides the funds.
We are excited about our upcoming Ladies’ Retreat and Summer Camps! Mrs. Merribeth Thompson is our Ladies Retreat Speaker, and we have Evangelist Joe Mueller and Pastor Billy Ingram returning for Junior and Teen Camp. You can register online or by mailing in your registration form.
We have a workday scheduled for May 11 to prepare for the Ladies’ Retreat. We may announce other dates for workdays also. Please let us know if you would be interested in helping, and we will make sure you receive an invitation. We have painting, cleaning, weed eating, and general brush cutting work to perform.
Thank you to each one that lifts Wildwood up before the throne of grace. Recently I read, “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22. Through God’s sustaining power we will see mighty things accomplished in 2024!
Looking unto Jesus,
Joel Marshall