A Shared Vision

To the Knox Creek Founders Club, thank you!

While the vision for Knox Creek may have started in the passenger seat of Papa's Tahoe, the dream took shape in the halls of Northview High School, through the adventures of a 1995 Suburban with oversized subwoofers, and on that one trip to the seminary in New Orleans.

When the world brushed off the dreams of a wide-eyed teenage boy too young to earn a driver's license, you believed. The call of camp grabbed your heart, and my dream became our vision. You listened as I rambled on about where we would build cabins, the activities we would have, and how God would one day use a farm to reach thousands of kids with the Joy of the Gospel.

In 2020, when God made it clear the time was now, you didn't ask for a business plan, raise concerns about our donor pipeline, or get distracted by pesky details like zoning or building permits. You showed up and helped build the camp we had talked about for so long, no questions asked.

Through countless midnight meetings, work weekends, and a few stuck trucks, you served behind the scenes, making room for young people you might never meet. You've cleared more trees, set more posts, filled more dumpsters, and spent more evenings trying to rid the pond of beavers than we can count.

Even when the world said camp would never happen and the mountain seemed too tall to climb, you followed God into the future. All while bringing an extra lawnmower, that one last extension cord, and a Ryobi drill set.

While some of our hairlines have changed, our vision has remained the same: to build a camp for the local church, where young people can discover the Joy of the Gospel.

I could not be more grateful that the friends who listened to me blabber in the lunchroom were the ones standing next to me as we celebrated Pioneer Camp's Grand Opening.

But as the story of Knox Creek has grown, so has our circle. Along the way, others believed in the vision and walked through the trenches with us. It took an army, and we could not be more thankful for the friendships forged and the ministry Knox Creek has become.

Many of you were unable to be with us in person last Saturday, but we know you were with us in spirit.

We would not be here without your help.

We would not be here without that one time you loaded a skid steer on a trailer that wasn't rated for its weight, and then drove it from Westminster to Walhalla.

We would not be here without that one time you dropped everything and rushed to the farm because our delivery came early, and 20 mattresses were sitting in the driveway with rain in the forecast.

We would not be here without that one time you proved that you do not, in fact, have to take apart bunk beds before you lower them over the second-story banister.

We would not be here without that one time you rewired the tractor's electrical harness because mice had chewed through the wires.

We would not be here without that one time we ran out of lumber, so you started felling pine trees and fashioning fence posts to finish the job.

We would not be here without that one time you stayed awake until 2:30 in the morning to finish the floors in the cabin.

We would not be here without the countless hours you invested in Knox Creek so that young people could discover the Joy of the Gospel.

Thank you for believing in Knox Creek when we had nothing but a vision, joining when we didn't know where we were going, and serving when we didn't know if we would ever make it happen. You will forever be part of our family and our story.

You can find the full list of those who served Knox Creek in our founding year on our website.

God is at work where the Blue Ridge yawns His greatness!

Thank you for being the hands and feet that made this dream a reality.

And yes, that is us at Senior Prom 2009.