New Pool Videos

This past weekend there was a small gathering of former male staff members out at Camp. During this time, the new pool was an object of everyone's affection. The new pool is a pretty big deal for Camp. It is the first real big Camp construction project since the boys bathhouse was built over 10 years ago. While we were out there I took the opportunity to take some videos of the new pool and had a few different people talk about some of the things that the new pool will mean to the Campers, and how this new pool will affect Camp. It was a little windy on this day, so it may be hard to hear at times, but I think you will be able to get a pretty good look at the pool.


This first video has Camp Director Ty Ford showing off the new pool and talking about some of things that makes him excited about the new pool.




This next video has Matt Wickes showing off some of the features of the new pool. Matt will be spending his second summer as the Program Director this summer.


The final video is of David Ward talking about the pool and about Camp. David was on staff for many, many years, and served as the Camp Director for around 10 years in the 1990's and 2000's. This pool his being named after him in his honor.

David was the last person to swim in the old pool. We tried really hard to convince him that he needed to swim in the muddy, nasty water that is in the new pool right now so that he could claim that he was the first to swim in the new pool. Surprisingly, he declined.

As you can tell, everyone is very excited about this pool. It is going to be such a blessing for the campers who spend a week or two with at Camp. It is also going to be a place where many new lives are born, where campers are going to commit themselves to Christ and be baptized.

Fundraising has already begun and so far, we have raised $75,613! To have the new pool ready for the upcoming summer the Board of Directors have decided to obtain a loan for the remaining funds needed to begin construction in January. In order to stay on track with other plans for the camp it is important that CDR pay off this loan within two years. Accomplishing these plans cannot happen without support from those who know and love the mission of this camp. You can help make this happen! Please prayerfully consider making a donation, large or small, towards this project as you will be blessing the lives of thousands of young people. You may send in a one-time donations by check, credit card online, or set up an automatic withdrawal through your bank account or by a monthly credit card charge. All donations are tax-deductible.

Its an exciting time at Camp right now, and in a little over 2 months campers will coming through the gates to enjoy all Camp has to offer. Please pray as preparations are being made for this summer.

Hail, Dear Ol' Deer Run,
Sparky

Prayer Requests

Brett and Kelly (Womack) Finley of Tomball, TX
My husband Brett was diagnosed with cancer Jan. 7, 2010. He just turned 50 the day before. We don't know the primary cancer, but he has secondary tumors in his liver and abdominal lymphnodes plus a tumor that was removed from his spine on Jan 8th. He went through 2 weeks of radiation on his back and just yesterday had his second round of chemo. Because we don't have a primary cancer we don't have a true prognosis. Our prayer is that the chemo will completely eradicate the tumors and he will be cancer free.

Pray for the new pool fundraising that is in progress. Camp is hoping to have the pool paid off in full as soon as possible so that the next set of improvements can become the focus. In the next post I will have several videos of the new pool as it approaches completion.

If you have something that you would like to see added to the prayer list, please email your request to cdralumni@gmail.com .

Hail, Dear Ol' Deer Run,
Sparky

Prayer Request

Here are the prayer requests for the week.

Brett and Kelly (Womack) Finley of Tomball, TX
My husband Brett was diagnosed with cancer Jan. 7, 2010. He just turned 50 the day before. We don't know the primary cancer, but he has secondary tumors in his liver and abdominal lymphnodes plus a tumor that was removed from his spine on Jan 8th. He went through 2 weeks of radiation on his back and just yesterday had his second round of chemo. Because we don't have a primary cancer we don't have a true prognosis. Our prayer is that the chemo will completely eradicate the tumors and he will be cancer free.

Continue to pray for the upcoming summer of Camp. There has been a lot of work put in so far in preparation for this summer, but there is so much more to do. The pool is nearing completion, which is very exciting. Pray for safety for the groups that come to Camp for retreats, and that they have a rewarding experience.

If you have any thing you would like posted on the weekly Prayer Request Post please send it to cdralumni@gmail.com .

Hail, Dear Ol' Deer Run,
Sparky

Alumni Spotlight...Terri Lee

Its Alumni Spotlight time. Terri Lee worked at Camp from 2000-2003. She had the task of introducing many young kids to Camp by being the PeeWee Mama in 2003.

CDR Alumni: What brought you to Camp Deer Run as a staff member? How did you find out about camp?
Terri Lee: I found out through my Honor Symposium roommate Kyla Diles. She convinced me to leave Georgia after my senior year of high school to work at CDR - one of the best decisions ever!

CDR Alumni: Share a favorite memory from your time at CDR.
Terri Lee: I guess one of my favorite memories would be of my late nights cleaning up the canteen. I know that sounds wierd but I valued that time to think about what the day held, what kids I got to talk to, how all of the staff's efforts were changing kids lives/attitudes/outlooks. Another memory that stands out is the first time I watched Cross Devo. We had practiced it as staff members, but when that first performance happened - it was completely inspiring.

CDR Alumni: How did your time at CDR impact your life?
Terri Lee: I have friends that I travel six hours to see! I keep up with almost all of my fellow staffers through blogs. I missed out on camp as a kid but CDR showed me how much fun it was to be a Christian ... also how much fun it was to play in a nasty creek :)

CDR Alumni: Tell us everything you would like people to know about your life since camp. What do you do for a living, are you married, do you have kids, etc.
Terri Lee: I am the Media Relations Coordinator for the Searcy Police Department in Arkansas. I work part-time at the local hospital and like to take pictures for fun. I have my own house that I love working on. I spend a lot of time traveling to Georgia visiting my family - and I try to get to Texas once a summer to see my old camp buddies (and their kids) :)

Here are a few pictures of Terri during her time working at Camp.
This a recent picture of Terri and her two favorite girls...her neices Kayden and Brecken.

Thanks Terri for your work out at Camp and for taking the time for sharing some of your story with us.

If you are reading this blog and haven't filled out the Alumni Spotlight Survey, I encourage you to do so. I am trying to put up an Alumni Spotlight post every week. And please send pictures as well. Also, a reminder that every Sunday I will post prayer requests. If you have something you would like the Camp Deer Run family to pray about, send that request to cdralumni@gmail.com.

Hail Dear Ol' Deer Run,

Sparky

Prayer Requests

Here is the first post in what I hope will become a very successful and important series of posts on this blog. Every week I will take all of the prayer requests that I get and put them in a "Prayer Requests" post. We all know the power of prayer, and have all experienced what God is capable of. Thoughout the week if you have a prayer request you can email me the request at cdralumni@gmail.com .

This request is from Brett and Kelly (Womack) Finley of Tomball, TX.

My husband Brett was diagnosed with cancer Jan. 7, 2010. He just turned 50 the day before. We don't know the primary cancer, but he has secondary tumors in his liver and abdominal lymphnodes plus a tumor that was removed from his spine on Jan 8th. He went through 2 weeks of radiation on his back and just yesterday had his second round of chemo. Because we don't have a primary cancer we don't have a true prognosis. Our prayer is that the chemo will completely eradicate the tumors and he will be cancer free.

Also pray for the work that is going on at Camp right now. There is a lot of construction going on with the new pool and just keep praying for that work and the fundraising efforts that Camp is doing for the pool.

Pray for the Camp staff this summer. Ty Ford, the Camp Director, is going through the process of hiring the staff right now. Pray that God will bring out Godly college students who will do an amazing job this summer.

Talking to God

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests."

Ephesians 6:18

Think about all the time campers and staff spend in prayer during their time a Camp. A prayer is said at flag devo to start the day. Prayers are said before each meal. During Group and Cabin Bibles there are usually multiple prayers offered. All campers and staff members are encouraged to spend time in prayer during Quiet Time. Multiple prayers are said during both Hymn time and Worship. A prayer is offered to end each night devo, which signals the end of the camp day. During two week sessions, the second Sunday night is focused on prayer, highlighted with All Night Prayer.

One of the goals of Camp Deer Run is to give young people a place to go and develop a deep relationship with God. If you have ever been to Camp then you realize that there is no better place to do that than there. Campers and staff are both challenged to work on their prayer life while at Camp, and being able to do that in God's beauty is a wonderful blessing.

Prayer is such an important focus of Camp, and I would like that to carry over to this blog. One of the goals of this blog is to bring together Camp Deer Run Alumni and try to create a little bit of community where we can share thoughts, ideas, and memories with each other. To add on to that, this is also a great place to be able to share prayer requests, praises, and anything else that we may want to take to God. I am going to start a weekly Prayer Request post that will list any request that I recieve during the week. I will usually try to do this on Sundays. There is no better way to come together as a community than by praying for each other.

Any time you have something you want others to pray about, email it to me at cdralumni@gmail.com . I will gather all prayer requests and post them in a prayer post. I hope that this is something we can really get going and be able to support each other through prayer. It will also be a great way to keep everybody up to date with things to pray about Camp for. Spread the word about this blog and let anyone you know who may be interested. Thanks for the support. I will post the first prayer request list this Sunday. God Bless!

Its time to get to know another Deer Runner in an "Alumni Spotlight".

Melinda Hillis was a camper from 1977-1979 and was on staff from 1981-1984.

CDR Alumni: What brought you to Camp Deer Run as a camper or staff member? How did you find out about camp?
Melinda: I attended Camp Wildwood when I lived in Arkansas and wanted to go to camp when I moved to Texas. Some other people in my youth group in Plano had attended Camp Deer Run and had really enjoyed it so I went along. I loved it!! The staff really showed that you could be a teenager and follow Christ. I wanted so much to be a part of the Deer Run staff when I was old enough. During my freshman year at Harding, E.H. Smith was there looking for staff members and I signed up. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I was a counselor, worked in the canteen, and headed up one of the first Peeweetawas Day Camps.

CDR Alumni: Share a favorite memory from your time at CDR.
Melinda: My favorite memories are outcamping. You really got close to the people in your cooking group. Once, during Group Bible, we went back to fix lunch and got lost. We ended up miles from camp and had to call Papaw to come get up! I also know that outcamping impacted the campers. Many of them did things they never thought they could do. They learned a lot about themselves through that experience.

CDR Alumni: How did your time at CDR impact your life?
Melinda: CDR still influences me today. I have memories and friends that I will have forever. I am a stronger Christian and a better person because of the experiences that I had at CDR.

CDR Alumni: Tell us everything you would like people to know about your life since camp. What do you do for a living, are you married, do you have kids, etc.
Melinda: I graduated from Harding University in 1984. I married Jim Troxel and we live in a suburb of St. Louis. I am a 4th grade teacher with the Fort Zumwalt School district.

CDR Alumni: Please tell us more about your family, names, ages, anything you would like to share.
Melinda: I have 2 daughters, Kayla is 20 and Kendall is 15.

Melinda also sent in some great pictures of her time at Camp.

Thank you Melinda for taking the time to send in your information and these great pictures.

As always I encourage everyone to take a little bit of time to fill out your Alumni Spotlight Survey so that we can spotlight as many Alumni as possible. If you have already sent in a survey, I would love for you to send in some pictures if you have any while you were at Camp and your life now. You can send them to cdralumni@gmail.com .

A Day At Camp

What's a typical day at Camp like these days? I'm glad you asked. This post is going to answer that question for you. Many of the daily activities have been the same for a very long time. This is the Nashamie Group schedule.

6:45--What a great way to start off the day. All of Camp comes together each morning to listen to some scripture, sing a song, and say a prayer. The boys stand on the boys side of the road, and the girls stand on the girls side. After the devo the group leaders will announce what the day is (Indian Day, Killi Olympics, Sadie Hawkins, etc.) and the staff will come forward and sing the song for that day. After that, all campers and staff with a birthday that day will have a special version of "Happy Birthday" sung to them. Then some campers are selected to lead Camp in the daily cheer of "I feel healthy, I feel happy, I feel terrific, alright!!"
7:00--Camp improvement. This is when the campers take time to clean their cabin, and clean their assigned spot around Camp.
7:30--Breakfast. Pretty self explanatory.
8:00--Group Bible. This is a special time of the day when the group leader takes all the campers in his group for an hour long lesson. Sometimes the group will go out in the woods, other times they will stay around Camp and do some sort of application. This is a very powerful time that really helps the campers grow closer to God.
9:00--Group Activity. This is often times the highlight of the day. All campers and counselors get together to participate in that day's activity...competing in Killi Olympics, girls chasing boys for Sadie Hawkins, chasing the Indian, or playing a mean game of Capture the Flag.
10:30--Canteen. Lots of cokes and candy are consumed during canteen. Canteen is always a great time for campers and staff members to be able to hang out and spend time together. Also this is a great chance to get a little bit of a rest before taking part in the next activity.
11:00--Swimming/Crafts. The boys get to go hang out in the pool, and the girls go to the Crafts Hall to get crafty.
12:00--Lunch. Again, this is pretty self explanatory.
12:30--Cabin Bible. Another part of the day where campers are able to spend time in God's word and in prayer. The counselor of the cabin is in charge of presenting some lesson to the cabin. With only 10 campers in each cabin, Cabin Bible is often a much more intimate time of study.
1:00--Swim/Crafts. This time the girls get to go to the pool while the boys go to the Crafts Hall and get crafty.
2:00--Canteen. Same as above.
2:30--Cabin Activity. This is when the cabin does something together. During this time each cabin will have a day set aside to go do the swing, and another day to ride horses. On days when neither are scheduled, you can usually find a cabin playing in the creek, or out hunting for critters.
4:15--Quiet Time. This is a remarkable time at Camp. This is time set aside for each camper and staff member to spend a little bit of alone time with God. You can walk through Camp at this time and see campers reading their Bibles and saying prayers to God.
4:30--Hymn Time. Many peoples favorite part of Camp. It is so powerful to be able to sit in the RecHall and sing with 160 campers and 45 staff members praises to our God.
5:30--Supper.
6:00--Ball Games. The campers and staff split up into teams and play softball, some form of volleyball (Knuk'Em is a favorite of the young ones), or basketball. Softball is always one of the favorites, especially when a ball gets hit "In the Pines".
7:15--Quick Dip. No better way to cool off from an intense ball game than by jumping in the pool for 15 minutes. The girls get to go first, and then the boys.
8:00--Worship. Another time when all of Camp comes together to worship God. This is a wonderful way to start winding down, focusing on God and listening to the message that one of the staff members brings that night.
8:45--Canteen.
9:15--Night Games. Pull Apart, Three Deep, Still the Bacon, Mingle. These are just a few of the night games that are played each night. Its always fun to run around on one of the ball fields when it is nice and dark outside.
9:45--Night Devo. The perfect way to end the day. The whole group gets together in the middle of a ball field with no lights on and stars shining above. Three or four songs are sung, and the group leader will have some final thoughts for the day and share a closing devotional followed by the group night song and a prayer.
10:30--Lights Out. Time to go to bed so that you can do it all over again the next day.

All the groups do the same activities, just in a different order. The schedule is modified on Tuesdays and Thursdays to accommodate cookouts and Cross Devo.

This was just a quick look at the daily workings of Camp, and later on I will discuss the different days that are celebrated at Camp. Until next time. God Bless!