Inn Director's Blog

Visits to Pastors

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

This past week I traveled from Rensselaer, NY to Wappinger Falls, NY visiting pastors and churches. In all, I visited 35 churches! My goal was to ask for prayer requests and pray with the Pastor. A group of our staff do our best to get together each week and pray for the pastors we have visited. I also provided each pastor/church with information about future conferences and updates of what is happening at Word of Life. I met one pastor in Averill Park who shared that his wife and her family came to Word of Life when she was three and while hiking with her family, got lost in the woods. Our staff, including Jack Wyrtzen, helped search until she was found. A couple of years later, she trusted Christ at the age of six as a camper at the Ranch. I also had thr privilege of attending prayer meeting on Wednesday night at First Baptist Church in Rhinebeck. What a great ministry and kind welcoming people. I talked with a lady who attended our Single Mom's & Kid's Conference this past spring. She and here daughter were so blessed and while here, they heard about our STC staff. Her daugher applied to serve at the Ranch this past summer and spent the summer serving in the kitchen. She can't wait to return this summer! It is so encouraging to be out on the road!

Chalet Renovations

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

We are thrilled to begin renovating two of the Chalets. These accommodations have long been a favorite especially with the views of Schroon Lake. Our staff are working on the two with rooms 169-171 and 172-174. Here is a "before" picture...

Inn Renovation Projects

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Harry's Book Signing

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

We had an awesome meeting last Tuesday featuring one of our founding directors, Harry Bollback. Harry shared about the lives of several people who were used of God over the years at Word of Life. Each of these people had the joy of “watering” seeds that had been planted by others. Some of the people he talked about included Walter Oliver (the first host of the Word of Life Inn), Chris Williams (caretaker of the Inn and discipler of young men), Leon Dillinger (one of the young men who was discipled by Chris Williams and has served for 52 years as a missionary in Irian Jaya/West Papua), Ernie Lough (grandfather of Don Lough, Jr.). When the meeting ended, Harry was available to sign copies of When the Arrow Flies, the book he wrote that chronicles their years of missionary service in the jungles of Brazil.

Pastor's Bed & Breakfast

Sat, 01 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Berean Bible Church - Greene, NY

Elder Retreat Update

Thank you for praying for our elder retreat at Word of Life retreat center!!!

Schroon Lake is a beautiful place to get away for study, discussion, and prayer.We bonded through some fun activities including swimming and tennis. We believe that fun and laughter is healthy, and that it is important not to take ourselves too seriously! We also attended some excellent classes at the Institute, and had lunch with Ryan Gardner and his girlfriend Jackie. If you are looking for a place to send your son or daughter for some top-notch Bible training, we highly recommend WOL!

Perhaps you are wondering:

“What did you guys discuss on your retreat?”

Here’s a snapshot of our discussion sessions:

We began with a season of prayer and praise to God.
Had an in-depth study of Titus 1. After seeing God’s incredibly high character standards for church leaders, we were extremely motivated to live worthy of our calling. We have no choice but to live and proclaim God’s Word!
We read and discussed three powerful articles dealing with personal and church health. We agreed that if we focus on our personal and corporate health, God will take care of our growth.
Book discussion—we got some great ideas from this study!
Goals & dreams assessment—we listed successes and failures since our last retreat, and gave praise to God for the great work He is doing at Berean!
Plans for expansion and outreach–we discussed options and have some exiting ideas that need further research.
We drove to a beach in Vermont for our final session where we prayed for each of you by name before taking communion together.

It was a fun, challenging, and motivating week.

Thank you for giving us the privilege of serving here at BBC!

Faithful Men Conference Update

Sat, 01 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Faithful Men Conference - 290 guests! Charles and Trevor were used of God tonight, two men responded to the Gospel invitation! A number of guys came forward to ask God to help them get to the place they need to be before Him. Awesome! We just had about 30 guys take part in our annual Polar Bear Swim at 7:00 this morning!

Faithful Men Conference - April 30 - May 2, 2010

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0400

We are in final preparations for our annual conference. Among many things, please pray for the following throughout the weekend…

1.   Safety in traveling to and from the conference.
2.   Life change and impact for unsaved and spiritually needy guests, we’re at 285 with no room at the Inn.
3.   Charles Ware – guest speaker and Trevor Morgan – guest musician, Mike Calhoun & Randy Rudy teaching seminars on Sunday morning
4.   Staff – Customer Service, Front Desk, Culinary Services, Operation Services, Housekeeping, Grounds, Tech, Bookstore and Program
5.   Volunteer group working on the roof of the auditorium and the Conference Center 400 building.
6.   Father & Son Retreat at the BI, Rob Phillips is speaking and most all of the requests apply to that retreat as well…full house for them with a waiting list!

I’ve listed the schedule and activities below. Stop up if you have a chance! Thank you for committing all of this to prayer!

Mike

Law Enforcement Conference 2010

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Law Enforcement Conference 2010 - We had an impactful weekend with Burl and Don. Both men though very different in vocation, personality and style of presentation were used of God to encourage those who attended. Many of the people at the conference shared their appreciation for all that we do to have their conference for them. Jack and others have been a great source of encouragement in planning this conference. We had several new people who are making plans to return and bring others. One of the highlights was a presentation on Saturday night by three officers who were involved in a shooting in November. They covered the technical aspects, the investigation, etc. etc. They all three talked about the sovereignty of God throughout the whole experience. Here are a couple of email messages we’ve received since the conference ended. Our ministry team from the BI did a great job caring for the kids from newborn through teens. We also had three IDP guys teach the older kids. They were very much appreciated by the kids and parents and from what I hear, they had a great time too! We look forward to seeing some of these folks back this summer at the Inn and FCG and kids at camp. Two of the men who were here shared that they are working on getting their sons to the BI. I’ll be giving their numbers to the admissions people to make that personal connection.