Camp Barakel News and Events

Father Son

2013-01-21T13:23:00Z

Bring your son or grandson to Father Son retreat next year. You never know what memories you will make.

New Fire Equipment

2012-09-10T15:40:00Z

We are retiring our 1957 brushfire truck (which has served us well since 1972) and replacing it with a new unit that can be placed in the back of a pickup truck. Living in the woods has taught us to be prepared for forest fires, and we trust this new piece of apparatus will serve us well. We don't ever want to use this new equipment in a fire situation, but we also want to be ready to respond. Lee Brown (green shirt and glasses) has coordinated our emergency response to fires since 1999. Now he has handed that responsibility to Mike Alchin (blue shirt).

Barakel News Spring 2012

2012-04-19T04:00:00Z

Read the latest Barakel News for Spring 2012.

Fire in Maintenance Area

2011-12-06T00:51:00Z

Tonight a fire in our maintenance area destroyed a shed and all the firewood in it. But there is much to praise God for: no one was injured, the fire did not spread to any adjacent buildings or equipment, recent rains kept the surrounding areas from catching fire, and both the staff men and the Fairview Fire Department responded quickly. We have lost 40 cords of firewood (one cord is four feet wide, four feet tall, and eight feet long) which represents many hours of labor, and many dollars of savings off of heating fuel. Tonight we are just grateful for everyone's safety.

This is how the woodshed looked in August.

Lee Brown

2010-11-03T20:36:00Z

PRAYER REQUEST

Lee and Eleanor Brown serve as Resident Missionary Staff at Camp Barakel.

They joined staff as singles in the mid 1970s, married in 1978, and have faithfully served full time since then.

Lee is in the hospital with subacute endocarditis (inflammation caused by infection in the heart) and this Monday (November 8) will have his mitral valve replaced.

This means open heart surgery, and the final decision about whether he will get a mechanical valve or a pig valve will be made after the surgeon has his chest open.

Lee and Eleanor (“Petie”) welcome your prayers. Petie wrote in a recent email “We know that God has it all under His control and we are grateful. We will rest in His perfect will for us and especially Lee. We are at peace about the situation. Thanks for your prayers.”

Lee says if they give him a pig valve he will eat pork right away to make the valve feel at home. The Browns give permission to pass along this message. We will post a note giving some results from the surgery on this web page and our Facebook page.

Liz Wideman

2010-07-16T23:00:00Z

Elizabeth was born in December of 1937, and publicly confessed Jesus Christ as her Savior at a summer camp in 1950, when she was 12 years old. Today she is with her beloved Jesus face-to-face. She married Howard Wideman in 1957, and in 1969 they moved (with their five children) to Camp Barakel. Together they served as Resident Missionary Staff until their retirement in 2000. Hundreds and hundreds of people knew Liz as the East Side Camp cook, many of them referring to her as “Mama Liz.” She battled cancer for the last 10 years, and began resting from the battle today, July 16. For funeral arrangements see the above link. Cards or letters may be sent to Howard in care of Barakel's address: PO Box 159, Fairview, MI 48621-0159

For Viewing/Funeral details and obituary click here.

Dr. Jim Grier at Summer Staff Workshop

2010-06-14T12:59:00Z

Dr. Jim Grier came and taught two sessions in our Summer Staff Workshop. He enlarged our appreciation for the grand story of God's redemption. The recordings and his notes are available on our Chapel Podcast page.

New Generator

2010-06-11T22:22:00Z

Today we set our new electrical generator in place. A few weeks ago a fellow gave us a nice diesel generator to run the lights, walk-in cooler and freezer, and the water well on West Side. We thank the Lord for His provision through this family.

In July of 1959 Uncle Johnnie published this story in the Camp Barakel Smoke Signals:

“LeRoi” GETS FIRST WORKOUT

Many of you have known about our big emergency electric generator. It has been a long job getting everything set up for operation but some weeks ago this was completed. It generates enough electricity for the whole camp (chapel is not in on the current.)

Last Friday, a severe electrical storm knocked off our “juice” in camp and what a wonderful thing it was to be able to go and start the generator and stand back and see everything move right along as though no emergency existed!

You see, all our refrigeration, all our water supply and all the lights are cut off when the electric power is off. Since it was 11:00 pm before Consumers Power was able to supply us with electricity, you can imagine what conditions would have existed with all the water supply cut off, lights, etc. Our camp program moved right along as usual! Old LeRoi really did his job well. (It is a LeRoi motor.)

Set-Apart Girl Weekend audio

2010-05-25T12:22:00Z

Audio is available from the Set-Apart Girl Weekend sessions on our Chapel Podcasts page.

Added podcasts from 1998-2006

2010-03-27T23:02:00Z

Thanks to David W for sending digitized versions of chapel messages from Mens Retreats and some other camp events from 1998-2006. We have added these to our Chapel Podcasts page. We trust you will be blessed hearing messages from Tom Harmon and Dan Cummings.