ARKANSAS CONFERENCE 2008 JOURNAL
THANK YOU
• Thank you for your prayers.
• Thank you for faithfully paying your New Church Apportionment line item in full, and increasing the
2008 apportionment line by $4,500.
• Thank you for your financial generosity in the Catch the Vision offering each spring.
• On behalf of the 30 new churches that will be formed over the next ten years, the 25 new multi-
campus ministries, the new mission churches, the new adult professions of faith that will be witnessed,
the new adult baptisms, the pre-Christians who will hear the Gospel preached, the forgiveness that
will be received, the “lost sheep” of Arkansas who will be saved - on their behalf - Thank you for
supporting this new strategic initiative!
Bob Crossman
Minister of New Church Starts and Congregational Advancement
†††
OUTDOOR MINISTRIES COMMITTEE
Our two conference facilities and three district camps continue to provide opportunities for worship, study,
meditation, recreation, fellowship, and personal retreat in settings that uniquely afford participants an
experience of God through the great outdoors. We use all of the resources we have to provide children, youth,
and adults at every stage of spiritual formation a pathway to deeper discipleship. The personal witness of laity
and clergy alike affirms that a call to deeper discipleship as well as to full-time Christian service has often
occurred on hillsides, by the lakeside, and through mountaintop experiences. These can happen best when we
intentionally seek to encounter God in a remote setting, far away from the routines and relationships that
characterize our daily lives.
As a committee, our work in 2007 was focused on providing training to our own members and to members
of the Boards of each of our facilities. Our retreat at Mt. Eagle in March of 2007 welcomed Kevin Witt from
the General Board of Discipleship as facilitator. He helped us explore the following:
• 7 Foundations of UM Camp and Retreat Ministries
• Key responsibilities of Highly Effective Boards
• Organizing, Recruitment and Orientation
• Funding a Strong Future
• Separate Incorporation – Important Considerations
Our work in the remainder of the year was focused on implementing what we learned on our retreat.
We likewise moved toward compliance with our recently adopted standards. For clarification of the
standards and to assist with implementation, we cross-referenced our list with the accreditation handbook for
the American Camp Association, and purchased a copy of the manual for each site. We then sent representatives
from our committee to each of our facilities for a site visit to establish a benchmark that will be reviewed in the
coming years.
Our strategic missional goals for 2008 are as follows:
Our Vision is to be “A ministry where God’s people are afforded the windows, doors and pathways to more
fully experience God’s love, mercy and grace through a broad range of (outdoor) settings and
activities.”
Our Mission is” “to provide opportunities to make disciples for Jesus Christ by providing a means for their
growth and development through a wide variety of facilities and programs.”
Goal 1 – Increase people participating in outdoor ministries
Goal 2–– Involvement by pastors and church leadership
Goal 3 – Improve quality of facilities and programming
We likewise hope to offer a one day training for camp directors and volunteers in all dimensions of camp
and retreat ministries in the spring of 2008. In order to make the training as easily accessible as possible, the
training will be offered on two different days and in different geographical locations. Our goal is to offer our
best to God and to others in God’s name.
Submitted by David Fleming, Chair OMC
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