20 Year Celebration
We put the call out for months, inviting people to come and share in the celebration of 20 years of ministry with us. What even is the ministry without the people? What even is the place without the people? Our staff would unanimously agree, after God and His work here at WM, it’s the people who make Whisper Mountain special! So celebrating with as many as could come seemed like the best idea for this twentieth year!
The Saturday of Labor Day weekend was possibly the hottest and gnatstiest day of the whole summer. At least that’s what it felt like! The days leading up to and after the celebration seemed pretty nice with slight breezes. But the day of the celebration — oh no…nothing but heat and gnats! So if you couldn’t come, you dodged that bullet! But if you were one of the 130-150 people that did come, we hope you felt the good kind of warmth from the connection of being together and enjoying some outdoor fun at WM!
For those who may have never actually been up to camp, we offered trolly rides of our grounds with a little history thrown in for fun!
To add to the festivities, we had some local bluegrass musicians (also campers!) and worship music from locals & past staff. We are so grateful they were willing to use their talents with us! (sorry there aren’t better pics guys!)
Every year we make a banner from summer camp pictures to put at our booth at a mission’s conference we are a part of! Well, we thought it would be fun to put all those banners up to see all the years of camp in our “Hall of Summers” tent! Pictures through the years are always so fun!
We had beautiful people come early to smoke/pull chicken and prepare other food to offer a free lunch to all who came! Yes, WM Bars and Becky Brownies made an appearance!! We also offered cotton candy (sort of…machine probs), popcorn, and had the local Frozen ParadICE truck come out so we could offer free Italian Ice to everyone who came too! The perfect refreshment on such a hot day!
Of course we had to have fun for the kids! We rented a big obstacle course bounce house (thank you jumpers! super great service!). Big and little kids had some good fun!
We also had Mugs with Manny (using a selfie cam!), we opened the zip line (thank you summer staff!!), we presented the new fieldhouse as the next piece of the WM story (Lord willing), asked people to commemorate the beginning of this by signing rocks that will be put in the foundation of the building, and we heard from Marty and worshipped together!
Getting to have fun and celebrate and remember what God has done to faithfully sustain, provide, and use the ministry of Whisper Mountain Camp was a real gift to us as staff. We feel entirely grateful for all the Lord has done in and through us in this twenty years. We are grateful to everyone who came from near and far to be part of this moment in our history. We are grateful to all who helped make the celebration possible by preparing, cooking, setting up, problem solving, and serving in all the ways maybe only God saw!
The beauty of Whisper Mountain is God orchestrating people together in such a way that He is able to do His work through them and in them, and all is clearly for His glory alone! Connecting with our God , Connecting with the people — this is everything!
May He continue to sustain, provide, and find use for Whisper Mountain as He continues to draw people to Himself as they Escape the Noise. Encounter the Whisper.®
