Presbytery of Coastal Carolina

Kirkwood Camp and Conference Center – July 22, 2008

Well it is the third week of July and for some summer is half over. For others it has a lot of long hot days to go. Both of those sound like “glass half empty” types of statements so here is a “glass half full statement” – summer has been great so far and I’m looking forward to what God has planned for the remainder of the season. Well a few days ago I walked around the camp and thought back to what Camp Kirkwood looked like last year, what a change in just 12 short months. Jerome and his staff along with some very important help from others have made some wonderful progress in a very short period of time.

First of all, there is this sign that now graces the camp entrance. The Friends of Kirkwood are to be thanked for this donation, it is a great way to welcome people to the camp. Presbytery Staff traveled to camp last week for our monthly meeting and were impressed by the changes that have taken place. The camp suffered with broken water pipes and malfunctioning pool pumps over the last few weeks but everything is operational now and hopefully it will stay that way throughout the remainder of the summer.

Through donations and the hard work of staff we now have a sound system, TV monitor and electrically controlled screen in the dining hall – still no internet service. The kitchen has an “A” rating from the Pender County Health department and all our equipment is operational.

Staff has done some painting on the benches in the Vesper area – carpenter bees were eating themselves silly on that wood several months ago. It seems that they don’t like paint. They also did some painting up in the pool area to reduce the number of bees that were in residence there.

By the way, we are not using the kiddy pool this year. It seems that this pool only has one drain and this is against state regulations so we decided to just keep it empty. There has been some discussion about filling it with sand and putting a cement top on it. That is something for the next director to tackle!

In case I didn’t show you this picture earlier, here is the new dock that staff put in this past spring. Again the “Friends” group provided some financial assistance and manpower to get this job done. The Camp now has some extra fishing rods so you might want to schedule some time on that dock in the near future.

There are always some great pictures to be taken wherever you go at camp. I always like to get one showing the Dining Hall from a point down by the lake.

I hope that your church or other organization has scheduled an outing at Kirkwood this summer or fall. It is truly worth the trip and it gives everybody a chance to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and enjoy God’s creation as a community of faith. The pool will be open until the end of September so don’t forget to call Ann, our camp registrar, and ask about making a reservation. You’ll probably have to wait until after Labor Day – I think that Sundays are all taken from now until the holiday weekend.

When you leave, please read the back of our “Welcome Sign”

May God be with you as I leave you and may you find new ways to experience the Lord’s peace and preparation through the ministries of your church and the Presbytery.

In God’s Love,

Bob