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
