BREAKING NEWS!!
Dear Partners & Friends of HYC,
potential [puh-ten-shuhl] - having the capacity to become or develop into something in the future.
If you're a Detroit Lions fan, you hear a lot about potential at this time of the season. There is "potential" for the Lions to do great things this year.
That's what this letter is all about - "potential."
I need you to understand this clearly from the beginning. NOTHING you are about to read is "for sure." NOTHING is certain. NOTHING has been signed, certified or transferred. It's al "potential."
The Baptist State Convention of Michigan (BSCM) owns the Bambi Lake Retreat and Conference Center where HYC ran our summer ministries this year. It was an obvious and clear blessing from the Lord that He so quickly opened the doors at Bambi Lake and allowed us to minister to young people this summer just as we've done for the prior 60+ years at our previous location in the Upper Peninsula.
Now, we believe the Lord may be opening yet another door for the continuation, growth, and reach of HYC to go beyond anything we imagined. The BSCM has talked with us about the "potential" purchase of Bambi Lake by BWEA/HYC.
The BSCM Executive Committee that oversees the Bambi Lake facilities voted unanimously to offer the property to HYC. There are many more details to follow, but please know that the proposed price for the entire property and all its contents is miraculously and generously fair.
This proposed sale still needs final approval at the statewide level of BSCM so it will be brought to their entire group of pastors, representing over 300 churches, on November 2nd. It is the belief from the leader of the Executive Committee that the voting on this will pass and the offer to HYC will become official.
Because of these discussions and the "potential" for HYC to call Bambi Lake our permanent ministry home, our Board has agreed ot the "potential" purchase of Bambi Lake. We have begun to seek out a "potential" loan for the property and have discussed possible fundraising strategies. If this were to go through it would open the door for a much larger ministry base for HYC to be a part of, filled with al sorts of "potential."
Instead of running just two months out of the year, our ministry would begin to run a minimum of 9 months, offering an expanded schedule of activities for al ages. HYC would become a primary, centrally located gathering place for Adult Retreats, Pastor Conferences, Reunions, Leadership Training, Group Rentals, Church Staff Retreats, and so much more.
While some months I ask you for help financially for certain projects or building improvements, this month I ask first and foremost for your prayers...specifically for the following:
1. The BSCM meeting scheduled for early November. Some of those gathered that day will have a hard time relinquishing a property into which they've personally invested so much. We certainly know (and are extra sensitive to) that feeling. We didn't expect (or initiate) the discussions that have led to this point and want to be sure we lovingly and graciously take whatever the next steps may be.
2. Following what God wants, not what we want - if God's not in it, we really want no part of it. The past year l've lived under the motto of "Go until God says no." Honestly, I've prayed in the past year and a half that God would say "no." Last Labor Day weekend at our previous location, Ileft a meeting and thought as I left, "Well, God...that was a good run."
Less than a month later He said "no" to my no, which was very disturbing to me at the time. And while ti may appear that this is the direction God wants us to go currently, He may still say "no" to this opportunity. If He were to say that, keep in mind we've been blessed with more than we ever deserved the past 60 years at HYC.
3. The part you might be able to play in "potentially" making a second Miracle happen. If God did it before, He can doit again. In I Samuel 17 David says to Saul before he is to go fight Goliath, "the same God who delivered me from the lion and the bear will deliver me from this Philistine."
The same God who directed us in 1973 to fund and construct a Miracle Building worth over 3 million dollars in the middle of the Hiawatha National Forest can and wil direct us as needed in 2023 to launch the next generation of ministry in Roscommon..."potentially"!!!
Please pray!
Sincerely,
Craig
