November 2009 Archives

Glorieta's Rooms and Systems Manager Robert Suggs made this turkey for the staff and volunteer's Thanksgiving celebration meal.

This photo was provided by Glorieta Summer Camps Manager, Becky Suggs.

"The Snow Man" Glorieta Recreation Intern Chase McKeown adjusts a snow machine on the snow tubing hill in preparation for the opening of snow tubing season.

This post provided by Glorieta Intern Mindy Cook

Exciting things have been happening at Ridgecrest Conference Center.  Here staff and volunteers are working to paint our Spilman Auditorium.

Photograph provided by Randy Bagamary at Ridgecrest Conference Center

This past month we hosted a brand new event at Ridgecrest, Youth2Christ - The Urban Connection. It was a weekend event aimed at urban youth and was attended by over 200 youth and adults. From all accounts, it was a successful event. Everyone had a great time and more importantly, lives were changed by the Holy Spirit.

Plans are already under way for next year's event and details should be up on our website soon. In the meantime, please take a couple of minutes and watch the video below to experience a little of this year's event. You'll even get to enjoy a great Kirk Franklin soundtrack!

The Baptist Convention of New Mexico kicked off their State Convention at Glorieta with a missions banquet prepared by Glorieta’s Executive Chef, Danny Hernandez, and his staff and served by Glorieta staff and volunteers. Thus began three days of what Glorieta Director Hal Hill termed, “a sweet spirit of fellowship.” The Baptist Convention of New Mexico and Glorieta have a long history tracing back to Glorieta’s founding when BCNM put money on the land where the conference center now sits in hopes of convincing the Southern Baptist Convention that northern New Mexico was the right place for the western conference center they were planning to build.

The State Convention featured addresses by Baptist Convention of New Mexico President Bruce Kirby, Executive Director Dr. Joseph Bunce and Michael Dean of Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Ft. Worth TX. Special music was provided by the New Mexico Singing Churchmen. Hal Hill said that both the messages and the worship were significant to the convention and that he felt that Glorieta provided the perfect location for both the formal and informal fellowship of the convention. Glorieta provides a unique experience for guests in the way that the campus brings people together in their day-to-day activities. Thus, Convention guests gained the benefits of attending the Convention sessions as well as the face time that is so important to ministering effectively as the body of Christ.

This post was written by Glorieta Intern Mindy Cook.

Devotional Passage: Luke 9:57-62 
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62

My Dad grew up in Ruby, South Carolina. There were many times I heard him talk about holding onto a plow and walking behind a mule to prepare the family garden. Dad always related a basic principle of plowing to today’s devotional passage: a backward-looking plowman cannot expect to produce a straight furrow.

In the same way, there can be no turning back in our service to Jesus. There is no place for procrastination, indecision, or excuses. The job at hand demands our full concentration and dedicated service.

I know I have plowed a few crooked rows at times. For whatever reason, I’ve taken my eyes off what is involved in following Jesus, and I’ve made excuses for my less-than-stellar plowing.

Perhaps that’s why Jesus urges us to keep our heads up and our eyes straight ahead. Only when our focus is on the Author and Finisher of our faith can we become all He wants us to be.

Father, keep my chin up, eyes on You, and furrows straight in heaven’s direction today.

©Fall 2008 Open Windows devotional guide. Used by permission. For information about Open Windows, go online: www.lifeway.com/magazines