SITE DEVELOPMENT NEWS & IMPROVEMENT UPDATE

God is Good!  All the Time!  The Conference Grounds ministry has been blessed agian this year by our campers and supporting families.  Even in these tough economic times we have been blessed with over $55,000 in site development gifts since the beginning of the year!  These gifts have been used to reduce our debt on the six cottages, pastors cottage, and staff cottage that have been built.  We have also paid off all our bank loans due to personal loans we have received from our supporting families.  We ahve been blessed and hopefully the new cottages have and will continue to be a blessing to our cottage families adn the many retreats and Bible study groups that have used them during the fall, winter, and spring seasons!  If you have been blessed by the Grounds, please consider a gift to support the Grounds family ministry.  A blessing that will give back for generations to come!

COTTAGE UPDATE
We are grateful to have six new cottages and that of the six, three are paid for!  The cottages have been a blessing to our cottage families during the summer seaon and to the many youth retreats, Bible study groups, scrapbooking outings, family getaways and so much more during the fall, winter and spring seasons (we were booked 85% of the time on weekends).  The Board of Directors is considering the possibility of removing Retreat and Fellowship cottages and replacing them with new duplex cottages (4 units) which have been approved by the DEQ and Grand Haven Township.  This would add two additional cottages to rent year round and help cover the construction costs and pay off the debt from our curret cottages (personal loans from campers).  Please keep the Board of Directors in your prayers as they have many decisions to make regarding the best path to follow for the Grounds ministry.

STAFF HOUSING UPDATE
Our college age girls staff would like to thank everyone who dontated to make the first staff housing possible!  They enjoyed the additional room, air conditioning, and amenities that were provided for them. (The guys are wondering when their cottage will be built.)  The staff cottage is also being used for retreats, scrapbooking parties, youth groups, and families looking to get away together.  We have approval by the township to build three more cotttages and hopefully as the funds become available we will be able to build a staff cottage for the guys and expand our staff and ministry opportunities!