Nat Belz ('70) Now in Heaven

Nathaniel Belz, 70, died Thursday, March 30, 2023 with his family, neighbors, and friends around him after a five-month battle with cancer. Nat was a 1970 Cono grad.   Read Nat's obituary.  

There's Still Time to Register! & Who's Coming

 

Register HERE

Cono Reunion

in just 30 days.

Familiar

Last Names

of Those Attending

(60+ So Far)

 

 Wilson

Ward

Underwood

Uhlenhopp

Santel

Roskamp

Reinkoester

Minich (Calhoun)

Miller

Kaufmann

Janda

Hight

Greentree (Hand)

Gienapp

Gardner

Dupee

Donnelly

Deutschmann

Denning

Cross

Chaney

Belz

Barnett (Roskamp)

Albee (Deutschmann)

Donate op Cono serving young people.

Designate for Ridge Haven Cono.

 

Mailing address for checks written out to:

RH Cono, 215 Ridge Haven Road, Brevard, NC 28712

Our Contact Information
Ridge Haven Cono (www.ridgehaven.org)
215 Ridge Haven Road
Brevard, NC 28712
828-702-9510

School's Open

 

These 21 students are in the Stam Library, taking in the daily news as part of their study. Twelve students are part of a home school cooperative, the other are full-time students under primary teacher Rebecca Gojda (pictured below). For a full description go to cono.org Here's Rebecca Gojda (below), one of six staff members. Becca is a licensed Iowa 6-12th grade teacher. She was born and raised in and around Augusta, Georgia. She has been a faithful and exciting part of our summer team at Cono for the last four summers and became a Walker resident last August 2020 after graduating from the University of Georgia in May 2020. Letter from the Director:   It has been wonderful “watching” the Lord revive Cono here in the Midwest. I would love to tell you sometime how we feel the Lord literally forced us here and how now we could not be more excited. Saying “excited” says a lot since in the last year we have two grandchildren born near us in North Carolina! It’s been hard being away, but so worth it.   Ridge Haven had been considering opening another campus out West (I actually had my eye on the Colorado Mountains and a camp there) but the Lord had other plans, as Cono came on our radar. I have known about Cono and I was a recipient of its ministry when I worked both at Covenant College on Lookout Mountain, and Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. Then my wife Paige reminded me that she came to the Lord at a church camp in Iowa. She is from Rochester, Minnesota. Next, our President of our Board was born and raised in South Dakota and reminded me of his love for the Midwest… so it seemed the Lord had all the “pieces” of the puzzle already in place.   We love it here. We love the people. We also see firsthand the huge need. We want to be part of the transition that the small farmers are going through, and we pray that the Lord will allow us to be part of a renewal. Churches all over the country are losing youth right and left, and it is even more acute here where the churches are small. And the school system is challenged, as it is everywhere. “But God!” It’s my favorite phrase in the Bible as it assures me “but God” is working. As we know, the Lord has a plan and He always has His remnant being prepared and preserved. Our pilot program is a hybrid of homeschooling with regular classroom instruction – so that families are involved – but we also have teachers. So many homes these days have both parents working, and many homes are single parents who can neither afford private school nor have the ability to homeschool. I firmly believe that we must go after our young people full force. Currently we are losing them, and we cannot continue to sit back and let that happen. Ten years ago, we complained that we were losing our kids and their faith when they went off to college… then we realized how few high school kids were in church, and now you hardly find any junior high kids attending. In our communities around Cono, there are simply no youth groups at all.   So along with having camp, retreats, and restarting the small school here at Cono, we started a youth group each week by opening up our gym. We consistently get 15-20 kids. This year we are also having youth group on Saturdays. Youth groups were important with my three kids growing up. Having a slghtly older young adult to be able to speak into our kids’ lives was amazing and helpful. Just having a safe and controlled space for them to hang out was so important. I hope that the churches in the area will begin to see the benefits and fruit of such youth ministry, but for now, Cono can fill the void. It has been neat to see kids coming from three different school districts and four different churches around Cono… plus we have several kids who have never stepped foot in a church…   I am just excited with a new year ahead of us. The summer was so great and now we get to build on that. There are certainly a lot of obstacles for sure. Satan and his minions certainly don’t want us here, “but God.” We barely made it during the pandemic. It was so hard and so there were so many unknowns. Yet, the Lord allowed us to stay open at both locations (North Carolina and Cono) without missing a week. We had some really small weeks, but the ministry continued. God indeed provided and through it all we were able to restart the school. And this summer was our best ever at both campuses. So the Lord has “restored the years the locust have eaten.”   Wallace Anderson Ridge Haven Camp and Retreat Center Brevard NC – Cono IA Donate online HERE to keep Cono serving young people. Designate for Ridge Haven Cono.   Mailing address for checks written out to: RH Cono, 215 Ridge Haven Road, Brevard, NC 28712 Donate op Cono serving young people. Designate for Ridge Haven Cono.   Mailing address for checks written out to: RH Cono, 215 Ridge Haven Road, Brevard, NC 28712

Why I Still Support Cono

 Mary Anna and I still love to support Cono because kids are still the focus. This is a picture of the day camp kids during the month of June. Praise the Lord for each one of these young souls, hanging out on the rock that I climbed as a kid over 60 years ago. And THANK YOU to those are already supporting. - Andrew Belz

And I loved this one I got from Cono, with this caption:

"Day campers learning what a testimony is..."

and workers still volunteering...

Ed and Linda Comers building a pallet shelf for the campus. They are one couple

of several traveling volunteers who come to help.

This is our first summer having eight full time Camp Summer Interns (CSI) at Cono for all eleven weeks of this summer's day camp and full camp. Here are the interns at Colfax Center PCA Church's 150th Anniversary, also with Wallace and Paige Anderson, and J Abels, a friend of Cono.

 

School will be opening for a second straight year in the fall.

Donate online HERE to keep Cono serving young people.

Designate for Ridge Haven Cono.

 

Mailing address for checks written out to:

RH Cono, 215 Ridge Haven Road, Brevard, NC 28712

The Cono Reunion has been rescheduled for the Summer of 2022

 Due primarily to lack of registrations, the Cono Reunion has been rescheduled until the summer of 2022, probably in later June or early July. We hope for renewed attendance then – in a year when we're not coming off Covid, and perhaps when people are more free to travel for a reunion. If you know of someone who should see this email, please feel free to forward it to them. Thanks for your interest and support, and we apologize for any inconvenience! Write us at friendsofcono@gmail.org.

Camps are in full swing this summer.

You can always give to support

young people at Cono.

This is our first summer having eight full time counselors at Cono for all eleven weeks. School will be opening for a second straight year in the fall.

Donate online HERE to keep Cono serving young people.

Designate for Ridge Haven Cono.

 

Mailing address for checks written out to:

RH Cono, 215 Ridge Haven Road, Brevard, NC 28712

Share this email with others and encourage them to register and come.

Our Contact Information
Ridge Haven Cono (www.ridgehaven.org)
215 Ridge Haven Road
Brevard, NC 28712
828-702-9510

Sitting by Mark Belz

Sitting  -  a meditation by Mark Belz, Cono Class of 1961  - __________________________ The government has issued guidelines intended to stem the spread of the coronavirus, including staying home. That means that like millions of others I’m sitting a whole lot more than usual. And it’s frustrating, knowing that there’s a war going on out there. Doctors, nurses and paramedics are square in the middle of it, risking their lives, but I must stay home. The experts say that I can best help beat this pandemic by just sitting, and in that way be a key player. I have a crucial role to play. Perhaps they could paraphrase John Milton’s famous line: “They also serve who only sit and wait.” The word “sitting” can indicate indifference, laziness or indolence. In such contexts it is negative—I am doing nothing when I should be doing something. But in our coronavirus context, it’s the reverse. I am doing something by doing nothing. Sitting may be right, or sitting may be wrong. It depends on the context. It depends on the who, what, why, where and when of the sitting. Genesis 18 is a story about a man, Abraham, who was sitting: “And the Lord appeared to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day.” It sounds like it was in the summertime, probably midday or after. I picture it as one of those hot July days we experience in St. Louis. I remember the late Jack Buck calling some of those afternoon Cardinals games, and when the Cards hadn’t scored any runs and the game would be in the eighth inning or so, he’d quote an old country song: “Well, there ain’t nothin’ shakin’ but the leaves on the trees. And they wouldn’t be a-shakin’ if it wasn’t for the breeze.” Abraham was just sitting there. Nothing happening. Maybe the Oaks of Mamre’s leaves were shaking, but otherwise it was dead still. And it was, so to speak, late innings. It had been a quarter century since he had pulled up stakes in Ur, his hometown, about 1000 miles away. He had moved here because the Lord had told him to, promising him that there “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing…in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” God had also promised him that he and his wife Sarah would have a son, and by that means make him into that great nation, even a “multitude” of nations. And the Lord had been very specific about that child: he would be born to Sarah, not to another woman, and he was to be named “Isaac.” Abraham was 75 years old when he had left Ur; he was now closing in on 100. For 24 years he had lived in a tent, wandering about in an unfamiliar land. He had no permanent home. He had become a nomad, a Bedouin. Nothing that the Lord had promised him in Ur or in four appearances to Abraham since that time had come true. Most of all, Sarah had never become pregnant, and now she was past child-bearing years. As Abraham sat at the door of his tent on that hot day, things looked pretty grim. Nuthin’ shakin’. Yet there he sat. Abraham had entertained some doubts along the way. He had laughed at the prospect of Sarah’s becoming pregnant at age 90. He had thought he might be killed in Egypt before any of the promises were fulfilled and thus lied to protect himself; he had proposed that Eliezer of Damascus might be considered his heir rather than his own son; he had substituted Hagar for Sarah in order to manufacture the heir. In these ways he was trying to nudge the promise along toward fulfillment, but his machinations hadn’t worked. Indeed, the Egypt lie had brought trouble to Pharaoh and to Abraham’s own household. The Hagar pregnancy had produced domestic strife. Apparently anything he could do wasn’t going to make a difference. The ball was in God’s court now, and actually always had been. He recognized that. So there he sat. Abraham could have given up. He could have pulled up stakes once again (this time literally) and returned to Ur, his hometown. But if he ever entertained that thought, he must have dismissed it because he never acted on it. He stayed put. My father, Max Belz, in his early adult life, owned a couple of grain and lumber businesses in central Iowa in partnership with his father. The two Grundy County businesses were flourishing, and Dad loved it. He and Mom built a beautiful new home for our growing family in the small town of Holland. But the Lord interfered by calling Dad into the ministry. Being fully convinced of that call, Dad and Mom sold the businesses, together with the new house, and moved to eastern Iowa where Dad became student supply pastor for a couple of tiny rural churches. Dad warmed up to the community, but not all the community warmed up to him. In fact, there was outright opposition from some families in the area. It surfaced in Spring, 1951, when my older sister Julie, older brother Joel and I were students at the one-room schoolhouse in that township, operated by Iowa’s public school system. Some of the not-so-friendly neighbor children attended there too. We typically walked to and from school, but one spring day Julie decided to ride her new Western Flyer bicycle. It was a girl’s bike, but we all took turns riding it because it was the only one in the family. Julie parked the bike near some bushes outside the building. When we came out after school, she went to retrieve it and burst into tears. A member of the opposition had jack-knifed the tires; the Western Flyer was rendered a disabled vehicle. Julie wheeled the flat-tired thing home, sobbing all the way. We all three sobbed our way into the living room and told Dad and Mom what had happened. We also told them that we wanted to move back to Holland. I remember Dad and Mom listening sympathetically to this plea. I think they had half a mind to move back too, but Dad said “Wait a minute.” He and Mom went off into the kitchen where they could discuss the matter out of our hearing, and shortly returned. Dad came over to Julie, hugged her, and said to us, over her shoulder, “We’re staying.”  The Apostle Paul said that Abraham did not waver in his faith, thus obtaining righteousness before God. True enough, he lied in Egypt to save his skin, he suggested that Eliezer would make a suitable heir, he invented his own heir by fathering Ishmael, he laughed at the thought of Sarah’s pregnancy. But he did not leave. He hung in there. Almost 100 years old, and he’s still there, sitting by the door of his tent in the heat of the day. Waiting for God to do what God had promised to do. Sitting, of course, is not always the right posture. When God told Abraham to leave Ur and move to Canaan, it would have been wrong to sit. Nor is mere “sitting” of value. A right sitting occurs when you come to the end of your ideas and resources, or when year after year goes by and you don’t see your prayers being answered, but you nevertheless have that basic assurance that God is on the throne and that he will not let you down. It’s a resting, a repose, a time for contemplating once again what his great promises are, a time for giving glory to God simply because you know that he will keep his word. I think Abraham was sitting there that day expectantly. Not necessarily that he thought something big was going to happen on that particular day, but that at some point, that big thing would happen. That’s why he stuck around, in a sense, to see how the whole thing would play out, because he knew it would play out. God would see to that, and when the moment came, Abraham would be ready for it. I believe that’s why the author tells us that when Abraham saw Three Visitors approaching his tent that day, he “ran from the tent door to meet them.” Ninety-nine years old, but boy, was he excited! He had more than an inkling as to what this was about, and Who it was that was coming to his tent. This is what he had been expecting. Abraham’s sitting was voluntary. My sitting out the coronavirus epidemic is not; our governor just today signed a “stay at home” order until the pestilence has passed. But as I sit, I want to sit like Abraham sat. This doesn’t have to be down time. It can be, as Abraham’s was, a time for growing strong in my faith, a time for perhaps once again searching out the Word of God to take hold of the great promises of God for us and our families, for his Church, a time for taking these promises to heart, being fully convinced that God is able to do what he has promised.                                                                  – Mark Belz, Cono Class of 1961

Donate online HERE to keep Cono serving young people. Designate for Ridge Haven Cono.  Mailing address for checks written out to: RH Cono, 215 Ridge Haven Road, Brevard, NC 28712

A Hopeful Word from Ridge Haven Cono

We waste our quarantine if we think that

“beating” quarantine means staying alive

rather than cherishing Christ.

 

Satan’s and God’s designs in our quarantine are not the same. Satan designs to destroy our love for Christ. God designs to deepen our love for Christ. Quarantine does not win if we die. It wins if we fail to cherish Christ. God’s design is to wean us off the breast of the world and feast us on the sufficiency of Christ. It is meant to help us say and feel, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8) and to know that therefore, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

 

— adaptation of chap. 6 of “Don’t Waste Your Cancer” by Dr. John Piper (Crossway), using the word quarantine for cancer

Today at Ridge Haven Cono

Dear Friends, 
 
While the normal everyday ministry looks different right now, we are excited to have discovered the ministry potential of utilizing social media to provide focused encouragement to our Ridge Haven community.
 
We've been connecting with campers virtually by hosting live online camp sessions for families at home. These sessions include games, worship, and a message from “Uncle” Pastor Archie Moore. (If you have a moment, check out our YouTube channel!) We are grateful for the opportunities to bring hope and joy as so many are experiencing fear and loneliness.

An exciting virtual offering for our campers is the introduction of video “jam sessions” for kids interested in playing music together. These sessions will be led by our staff member Wesley, who's been a camp leader at Cono, started playing guitar as a summer worker and now leads worship at his college campus ministry. From his own experience he sees the value of introducing campers early to how music can minister to others.

We are grateful for the signs pointing to our campus ministry resuming soon—we know that gathering in Christian community will mean all the more after this season of isolation. In fact, please pray with us that our churches will once again become the center of family life—rather than school and sports. To support this opportunity for priority shifts within our church families, we are making Ridge Haven available to the needs of church youth groups in any way we can. Hopefully this time of crisis will bring us back to what is really important, our kids and their spiritual growth.
 
In the meantime, we are pleased that we have been able to maintain our full-time staff. We've been hard at work on all the many maintenance projects that kept being pushed the back-burner. 

As you can imagine, this has also been a challenging time financially in the wake of losing the entire spring retreat season. It has been a focused effort to make it work – we have taken pay cuts, put a spending freeze on non-essential items, and cut costs wherever possible. If you are able to give a gift to support us during this time, we would be incredibly grateful.
 
To continue partnering with Ridge Haven Cono:

Give online at www.ridgehaven.org/donations
Call us at (828) 862-3916
Mail a gift to 215 Ridge Haven Rd. Brevard, NC 28712

We also ask that you join us in prayer for our summer camping season. As expected, some adult groups have chosen to postpone their events. We are now eager to see how this opens up the ability for us to host even more youth groups. As mentioned above, we think that this season is providing an opportunity for the church to regain her place in the center of Christian life.

Lastly, please read the amazing letter (above) we received  from a camper recently – it gave us such a boost.

In the unknown, we are finding rest in what is known! We are in our good heavenly Father’s hands and each passing day is part of His perfect plan. May He use this to restore His church.

Gratefully, 

Wallace Anderson   
Email: wallace@ridgehaven.org | Cell: 828-577-7295  
www.ridgehaven.org | www.facebook.com/ridgehaven

Donate online HERE to keep Cono serving young people.

Designate for Ridge Haven Cono

Mailing address for checks written out to:

RH Cono, 215 Ridge Haven Road, Brevard, NC 28712

Ridge Haven Ministries Prayer Partners

"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

                                  1 Corinthians 15:56-58

Ridge Haven ministries prayer partners:

On this Resurrection weekend, we find ourselves almost overwhelmed by a plague that no one expected. We are shaken, yet too we know our Lord is on the throne, that He purchased life for us by His death and resurrection - eternal life for His Own. 'We know our Savior lives, so we can face tomorrow.' And the next day after that.

You are one of the prayer warriors for our Ridge Haven ministries. We have all committed to lift this ministry to the graces of our Heavenly Father. We certainly need to go before the Father with our prayers:

1. Wisdom for Director Wallace Anderson and RH staff as they try to make plans for Summer, for wise plans for the best case, the worst case, and partial fulfillment of the camp season. Including both for Brevard and Cono. Pray for a quick resolution for this danger.

2. Protection from this virus for our faithful staff and their families. Precautions are being made, but, as we all are aware, this virus can strike anywhere.

3. For generous financial partners, that the financial needs of our staff and our ministry will be met. It is possible that the only income will come from donations for the near future.

4. Obviously, we pray for our churches, ministries, families, neighbors, nation, world. That the Lord would bring His sacred Revival to our nation and around the world, and for the defeat of Satan and his forces of darkness.

His Word is true, He is faithful.

In Christ, our victor,

ANDY

for the Board

-- 

J. Andrew White

423.943.3903 (c)

Ridge Haven Ministries Prayer List February 2020

Greetings in the Name above all names, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Here is a brief list for your prayer focus for Ridge Haven Ministries:

- The Ridge Haven Board has its stated meeting, Monday March 9 to Wednesday March 11, 2020 at our Brevard facility. Pray for the full agenda, including committees and interaction with Wallace and staff. Pray too for the process of nominations for our new Board members. Please also join our brothers and sisters in the PCA in praying for the selection of our next Stated Clerk.

- Pray for the Lord to continue to bless the staff requirements for our Summer ministries, including counselors and CSI workers.

- Pray for the new permanent staff for both campuses, including now a full time person for Iowa, Becca Gojda.

- Pray for the important development needs of Ridge Haven ministries. Pray for Wallace and staff as they seek to inform, challenge and ask for new financial partners, and to encourage those who have been so faithful in their support.

- Pray for the Brevard ministries as they continue to see expansion in retreats, conferences and camps. Applicants are filling up the schedule already!

-Pray for Cono ministries, including camps for this Summer. Because of the unique campus facilities at Cono, pray for new, creative ways to serve the Kingdom with possibilities of day camps, home school groups. short term studies, athletics.

- Pray for Jesus Christ's wonderful Name to be lifted up in all our activities, both big and small, broad and narrow, short-term and long-term.

[For more particulars and up to date plans and needs, go to ridgehaven.org.]

Thank you for your commitment to pray for Ridge Haven ministries. Your prayers are a foundation for blessings of our gracious God.

Kept safe, called to serve, rejoicing in the future!

ANDY WHITE for the RH Board

-- 

J. Andrew White

423.943.3903 (c)

Artist: Eric Enstrom