The last thing a camp director wants on opening day is a pouring rain. If that wasn’t enough, there was a dangling electric wire not more than six feet above the ground. The insulation was gone leaving a naked wire, a tragedy in the making.  This plus such hazards as raw sewage across the path leading to some of the children’s cabins caused Dave King to ask me one day if I would join him in prayer asking the LORD to provide us with camp property of our own. The state park facilities which we had been renting had not been a priority with state officials and were in obvious need of serious upgrades. Dave’s request to join him in prayer was certainly timely, but my first reaction, even though I told him I would, was that sounds like a lot of work. Little did I know that when the LORD answered that prayer the rest of my life would be impacted and with unbelievable work for me and many others.

After enlisting several men we thought would be interested, we agreed to contact them and begin to pray for the LORD’S provision. In Isaiah 65:24 we read “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer: and while they are still speaking, I will hear.”, and that is exactly what happened. Several days later I was on the phone with Mrs. Mary Decker who was the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) director for the city of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Her husband Bruce was the CEF state director for Tennessee. She told me that Bruce was resigning from his position with CEF as he felt he was better qualified to work with his hands than doing administrative work. My response was to inform her as to the agreement Dave and I had to pray for camp property and see if Bruce would also be interested. When she heard that she got very excited and asked me if I had heard of the property that Dr. Hackman had available for developing a camp ministry. When I told her that I had never heard of Dr. Hackman, she said he had offered the property to an evangelist in Texas who would be delighted to have the property so he could sell it and build a camp in Texas. That was not acceptable to Dr. Hackman as he wanted a camp in middle Tennessee.  The property was then offered to the national headquarters of CEF and then to the state CEF officials. Both entities turned down the offer of free acreage to develop a CHRISTian camp stating they had neither the finances nor the man power for such a project. It was at this point that Mrs. Decker introduced us to Dr. Hackman. At a meeting in the home of Jack Weatherford, we “checked out” Dr. Hackman, a dear brother in the LORD, as to his biblical position and he did the same with us. We then discussed our purpose and goal for a camp ministry and all present were in accord and we were ready to move ahead. Br. Hackman, Bob, asked how much acreage we needed and I responded we could do with less but a hundred acres would be great. “I’ve already given it to the LORD so all we need to do is draw up the legal paper work and don’t put me on the board as I am just a baby CHRISTian”, was his response. He had been saved a little over a year, having come to CHRIST through the influence of his young daughter who had been saved at a CEF Good News Club. We accepted his offer of a camp site but rejected his suggestion of being too young in the LORD to serve on the new Horton Haven CHRISTian Camp board of directors. His GODly influence has blessed all of us over the years until he recently retired from the camp board due to his declining health.

White Water, Wisconsin, was the location of the first CHRISTian Camping Conference (CCI) that I ever attended. Uncertain of the value and concerned about the distance, I prayed and wrestled with the idea for some time before being convinced it was of the LORD that I go. It would become obvious that the outcome of this CCI conference would have a tremendous impact on the future ministry of Horton Haven CHRISTian Camp. Bud and Bernice Schapp, whom I met at the White Water conference, had been on the staff of Lake Geneva Youth Camp for several years and felt the LORD would have them move and serve elsewhere. Most of Bud’s duties at Lake Geneva were custodial and he felt he could best be used in construction and that was what we needed.  It was a cold winter morning several weeks after the Whitewater conference that Bud called stating that he and his wife were in Nashville in their small travel trailer and he wanted to see the new camp property. Even though he was told there was nothing there to see, he prevailed and we walked over the frozen acreage that in the mind and will of GOD that was to become HORTON HAVEN CHRISTIAN CAMP.

Bud and Bernice returned a few weeks later and set up housekeeping in their little camper which would be their home for several years. Bud began immediately on the first building having only his own carpenter’s hand tools. A few weeks into the project he called and said, “I’ve got to have a wheel barrow, I just can’t go on without one”. There was absolutely no money available for such a purchase, camp resources or personal, nevertheless I told Bud to come to Nashville and we will get a wheelbarrow. As we pulled out of my drive way, I stopped to pick up my mail. JEHOVAH JIREH, THE LORD DOES PROVIDE. There was a check to Horton Haven Camp in the amount of $500. Not only does GOD provide, but His timing is perfect. Of course, we did not buy a $500 wheelbarrow. From that day till this, the LORD has been the faithful provider for His expanding ministry at Horton Haven CHRISTian Camp. We enjoyed the ministry of the Schapps, Bud in construction, Bernice serving in the kitchen and later they were joined by their son Wayne and his family who served along-side Bud and Bernice.

We announced a week of camp for the summer of 1976 even though our first building was still under construction, the building that now serves as the office with the attached restrooms and showers. Over the years that first building has served as kitchen, chapel, our only recreation facility and the unfinished restrooms were originally used as dormitories. We had teens that first year and when we realized a week before camp started that we would halve no running water, no electricity on site and no inside plumbing, we quickly renamed the week of camp a “Wilderness Work Camp” and work we did. The teens, as well as the rest of us, did some of the hardest work any of us have ever done and under a very hot sun that summer. The second year offered only a few more conveniences. We were still using the “health department” approved out houses and had improvised a shower with a garden hose running through the woods to a box like structure where we were able to shower in our bathing suits. As strange as it may seem, we did have hot and cold running water. The only problem was that during a shower it would switch from hot to cold as the garden hose was lying partially in the shade and then again in sunny spots. Though the improvements were minimal, we were moving in the right direction.

The original board members had decided on the name Horton Haven assuming that the use of Horton would be an advantage in identifying us with the near-by Henry Horton State Park. This has been both a help and on occasion a draw back. The word Haven suggests a safe place, a shelter or a place offering favorable conditions. This has certainly been true in the lives of thousands who have been blessed of GOD as they have entered the safe harbor of Horton Haven. The Word CHRISTian states who we are and our purpose for being. It can all be summed up in the following: “To create a camp environment where people come to know and follow JESUS CHRIST”. In the early years the bulk of the teaching for the boys and girls was done by Dave King and John Phelan, the reason being that we could not afford to invite guest speakers to come and teach the Word. As the LORD was pleased to bless over the years, the facilities have been expanded and the LORD has added to our Horton Haven family many who have willingly given of their time, talents and resources. To recount the many who have shared over the years would be an impossible task and would certainly leave some folks out. However, just to mention a few seems in order. In the early days we had no mechanized equipment; that did not stop Mr. Robert Lines, the father of Mary Lo Main of Shelbyville, Tennessee. He would drive out to camp three or four days a week and work six or more hours bent over clipping unwanted weeds and brush. Incidentally, he was 85 years old and would only stop at noon and eat the lunch he had brought from home.

Part Two:  GOD’S Provision for Construction and Improvements:

Over the years, buildings were added and some modified as needs changed. One particularly difficult period was doing a high mortgage interest rate during the seventies.  At one time we were paying $100 a week in interest payments on a $35,000 loan. From that time forward, by the mercy of the LORD and the generosity of HIS people we have been able to avoid debt and thus use our resources more efficiently. After Bud and Bernice retired and Wayne and his family moved back to New York, the LORD brought on board Kelton and Sharon Meyer. Sharon took over the kitchen duties as Kelton with his many skills assisted with construction and maintenance. Fred Forrester from North Carolina served several years and the blessings he received included his bride, Cheryl Frasher, whom he met at Horton Haven. From the humble beginning of 15 campers, we have seen weekly camper attendance grow to 105 campers per week plus staff. Each year many campers come to know the Savior while others grow in CHRIST. Though we have seen disappointments, we praise the LORD for many changed lives.

Personally, I find great joy in conducting tours of the camp campus pointing out all that GOD has done and HIS faithful provision over more than 30 years. GOD has used many people to bring us where we are today. Taking the kitchen as an example, the original five position coffee maker came through a brother in Alabama. The commercial mixer was provided by a retired missionary. The Brazier oven was donated by a ladies group that saved several years to purchase it. The Hobart commercial dish washer was the result of loved ones who received an inheritance and purposed to bless the camp ministry with what was entrusted to them. Other blessings in the kitchen are the walk-in cooler and the walk-in freezer. That is just a sampling of some of the blessings in the kitchen. As we walk across the camp grounds we see far more than a wheelbarrow, we now have three pickup trucks, a van, a John Deere tractor, a Case backhoe and frontend loader, a four wheel utility vehicle, golf cart and much more. Ten cabins with new beds and mattresses are available for campers to enjoy along with excellent upgraded showers and toilet facilities.

Over the years we have seen the LORD’S provision in a number of building projects. After our initial construction of the original bathhouse/multipurpose building and several cabins, our first major outlay was when we enlarged the bath house and added a cabin in 1991.  This was done with a gift from a foundation. We then stepped out in faith and began construction on the kitchen/dining hall in 1991. Of course, there was an overrun from the original estimate, but the LORD was faithful as HE always is and when we served our first meal the entire amount of $187,958 had been provided.  When we started construction on the lodge, it was by far a larger project than any of us had dared to dream. When completed in 1997 at a cost of $307,896, we had a beautiful facility with 13 rooms each one with a private bath and an A/C unit. Additionally, there is a “Great Room”, and an infirmary with 2 rooms for isolating campers, laundry facilities, a conference room and much more. Surely the LORD even to this point had done more than we could ever have imagined.

The swimming pool was next in 1999. Again, the funds were not available when we started.  The LORD tested us but proved HIMSELF faithful and the entire cost of $114,533 was paid in full before the first camper put a toe in the debt free pool. It was a blessing the first year the pool was available to see Dave Main, a Horton Haven director, baptize a camper at our annual Labor Day Mid-South Bible Conference. To GOD be the glory! With all the funds used up a new challenge was faced when the health inspector informed us that a building would have to be made to house the chemical pumps and equipment. Only $2500 was needed but when you don’t have it, that is still a big need. At that very moment, the LORD was speaking to a recently widowed lady who mailed a check to the camp for the amount needed, almost to the penny. That is what we refer to as a Divine coincidence.

The LORD was not finished and neither were we.