Word of life the island

When we left Vermont 2 weeks ago, we were planning to go across upstate New York, visit some friends in the 1000 Islands area with a final destination of Niagara Falls, then head back home from Niagara Falls.  Our thoughts were to stop by Schroon Lake for a couple of days before heading on toward the 1000 Islands area.

The reason we wanted to go by Schroon Lake was to see the international headquarters and camps of Word of Life ministries.  We met a couple, Jim and Peggy Herndon, when we lived in Lakeland in 1980-81.  They had completed the Bible Institute at Word of Life in Schroon Lake and were heading to be full time missionaries to Argentina.  We began to support them at that time and have continued for the last 35 years.  Word of Life initially began in 1940 as a weekly evangelistic radio show in New York City by evangelist Jack Wyrtzen.  Jack also held rallies around New York City in various venues.  His ministry grew rapidly and flourished.  One weekend, he filled Madison Square Gardens on two consecutive nights.  On another weekend in the 40’s, he held a rally in Yankee Stadium.  After WWll, He was approached by two sisters who owned an island in the middle of Schroon Lake and suggested he consider purchasing the island to start a camp for teenagers there.  The rest is history.

Schroon Lake is in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York.

Notice the island in Schroon Lake that is now called the “Word of Life Island.”

The camp ministry of Word of Life blossomed.  Kids from New York flooded here to the island and lives were changed.  The ministry in Schroon Lake grew.  About 1950, the ministry expanded to Brazil and this ministry also blossomed under the direction of Harry Bollback.  Harry was initially a musician for the ministry in New York.  At the present time, WOL is in 70 countries with an emphasis on camps for kids and teenagers, weekly Bible Clubs in local churches, and Bible Institutes all over the world.  There are 1400 full time WOL missionaries.  The ministry in Schroon lake has grown and includes:

The “island” is used for summer camps for high schoolers.  About 300-350  campers come here each week for 8 weeks in the summer.  This was the first property purchased by WOL in Schroon Lake.

The “ranch” is a camp for elementary and middle school aged kids.  It is centered around a western theme.  It also runs for 8 weeks in the summer.  This camp is also open for “snow camp” in the winter for several weekends.  It also holds about 350 kids each week for 8 weeks in the summer.

There is a rodeo at the ranch every Friiday night all summer.   The rodeo is the culmination of the kid’s week at camp and is also open to the public to attend.

There is a lakefront Inn and Family Lodge with a nice conference center.  Notice in this picture of the sign at the Inn—you can see the boat house of the island in the background, across the lake.

There is also a family campground.  The campground has a meeting hall on the property.  The campground and Inn are designed to minister to FAMILIES.  During the summer, they have two speakers each week.  The speakers have simultaneous meetings for adults at the Inn and Campground in the mornings while the kids are ministered to by a literal army of high school and college students.  There are activities available all afternoon for both adults and kids.  The activities at the Inn and Campground are in addition to what is happening simultaneously at the camps!  Joanna, daughter of Jim and Peggy Herndon, works here in the International Ministries office.  She was born and raised in Argentina and gave us a tour of all the WOL properties here in Schroon Lake.  It was a blessing to see her and get to know her better.

The campsites are set in a nice shady grove of white pine trees.

The  headquarters office is in an old school just a few miles away.

Lastly, the Bible Institute here covers about 75 acres.  It is a two year program with about 250 students in each class.

So when we got here—-it was interesting to find out first hand all that is going on here.  The Inn, campground, island, ranch, headquarters office and bible institute.  There are about 500 students at the bible institute, 700 or so campers, families at the Inn and campground and then an army of around 500 high school and college students ministering to all these campers and kids.  In addition to all these people, there are about 75 volunteers that work here for varying lengths of time, some staying all summer.

Our original intentions were to stay two nights and move on toward the Thousand Islands region of NY and then to Niagara Falls.  After the first day, we started feeling like we wanted to stay longer.  The conference speakers were awesome so we cancelled our plans and stayed.    After another couple of days, we felt led to stay here and volunteer for an additional week.  Last week, Celia was used to man a welcome/security gate at the Bible Institute.  She worked here rain or shine and trust me, no one could sneak through this check point.

Does this look like a tough Border Control agent to you?

I was used to work on a grounds crew on the ranch and Bible Institute property.    I always admired these cool zero radius lawn mowers.

Mowing was the easy work.  We built a fence in soil full of rocks, weeded beds, raked and raked the track and just cleaned up all around the property.  Our crew was a group made up of myself and four 20- 25 year old fellows.  I was not going to let these young bucks outwork me.  It was a great week and yes,  I am on Celebrex for a few days 🙂

The highlight of our 2 weeks here was a chance to see Ken and Joni Eareckson Tada speak at the Bible Institute.  She inspired everyone to be grateful in spite of any circumstances in our lives.  Her story is absolutely amazing.  It was such a blessing to be challenged by Joni.

Weather???    It was perfect.  We slept with the windows open and under blankets.  Glorious!

Food??  The first week, we ate some in our motorhome with some meals at the campground dining room.  During our week of volunteering, our meals were provided at the ranch/Bible Institute dining room.  It was crazy busy with workers and counsellors plus 350 campers.

Friends??   We fast made friends with other volunteers and staff.  The volunteers are from all over the US and Canada and many have been coming here each summer for many years.  We said good-bye to them last night at their campfire.

Another bonus while we were in NY was a visit with another missionary couple that we have known for 30+ years.  Jim and Laura Jean Propst have served in Africa with AIM since the early 80’s and are home on furlow.  Laura Jean’s family has a cabin on  nearby Lake George.  We had the blessing of spending an afternoon with them.

These lakes are amazingly beautiful.  I took this picture while on a boat ride on Schroon lake.

Also, what a great way to relax.  Celia loved to put her tired border patrol feet in this cool water after a long day of standing on asphalt.  These adirondack chairs in the Adirondack Mountains is only appropriate!

Overall—these last two weeks were a perfect way to end this 4 month dream trip.  We may end up coming back here to volunteer in some way next year.

This morning—our eyes popped open early and off we went toward our new home, Dothan, AL!!!  You will hear from me one more time in the next few days to summarize our thoughts on motorhome life.  It’s really great.