A Letter from the Presidents

   Greetings to all our Dale County Gideon Camp members.  November is here, and there are many exciting service opportunities in our near future.  As always, we had our camp cabinet meeting the Saturday before our regular monthly camp meeting.  On behalf of all our camp members, I would like to thank all the program leaders who attended the meeting and let you know that they are representing our camp well.             This Thursday, November 13, 2014 is our regular monthly camp meeting.  As usual, we will meet in the Fellowship Hall of Ozark Baptist Church at 6:30 PM for our time of prayer, fellowship, and learning.  Our program this month is about investing our talents, and will emphasize that each of us has special talents given to us by God.  This month’s program reminds us that simply having a gift is not sufficient.  We can only become the people that God wants us to be by using and refining these special gifts. 

   Please mark your calendars now to attend the Birthday for Jesus on December 4, 2014.  The Coffee County Camp will host the event this year, and it will be held at St. Luke United Methodist Church, 201 Heath Street, Enterprise, AL.  This event will be our third, formal Faith Fund offering opportunity, and it will serve as our camp meeting for the month of December.  Please contact me immediately if you have not received an invitation and RSVP envelope from the Coffee County camp.  

   Both our Gideons and our Auxiliary have had a busy time with scripture distributions.  Lives continue to be touched and souls eternally saved because of your dedication to this ministry.  I encourage everyone to be sure to pay your dues before December 31.  For the past two years our camp has been very faithful with their dues renewal.  Please contact me directly if you have any questions about how to renew your dues.  II Timothy 2 says “Thou therefore endure hardship, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ”.  I am proud to serve with you.  Thank you for being a Gideon/Auxiliary.  See you Thursday.   Gene and Lynn

Pastor's Appreciation Banquet, 2014

  Our banquet this year went very well.  I stand amazed at God's blessings on our camp. Our Vice President, Art Warren, has been working on this banquet throughout the past year.  His efforts were blessed with perhaps the best banquet we have had to this point.  The music was provided by our treasurer, Gary Walker, and his group.  As part of the singing, our new member, Bill Sullivan, joined the group in a special song.  Our speakers were very inspirational and served to demonstrate to our guests, in the strongest manner possible, how truly fruitful our partnership is with our local churches in the distribution of God's word.  As the eveining came to a close, we had our Faith Fund offering.  Those Gideons present contributed $2357.00 to the camp Faith Fund for the evening's collection.  Our Faith Fund chairman, Jerry Lucas, reminds all camp members that they can still contribute to this Faith Fund offering if they were unable to attend the meeting this evening.  Please send your Faith Fund contributions to:  
                             Dale County Gideons

                             P O Box 291

                             Ozark, AL 36361

This banquet also marks the official conclusion of our Camp Development Plan (CDP) that our camp has been working on over the past year.  Thanks to Gail Barkett, the CDP Auxiliary leader, and the determined commitment of our camp members, we have been able to correct membership files, schedule church services, re-book scripture distributions, and gain 13 new members.  Our collective work now is for each of us to remain committed to keeping our camp moving forward and being active in the service of our Risen Savior.  We will do this by paying our dues, attending Saturday prayer and monthly camp meetings, and being as active as we can in the various parts of our camp.  Our next camp meeting is November 13.  I look forward to seeing all of our Gideon members at our prayer time each Saturday morning at 7 a.m. held at the Faith Factory of the Ozark Bapist Church, and seeing all our members at our next camp meeting.  God bless you for your Christian service, and thank you for being a Gideon/Auxiliary.  

                                                Gene

Training available

This Saturday, 23 August, several Dale County Gideons plan to travel to Chipley, FL for a special training opportunity at The New Life Fellowship located at 695 5th Street in Chipley.  Reports will be given from all State program chairmen concerning all Gideon ministry areas, and current information related to these areas that came out of the recent International Convention in Philadelphia will be provided.  Whether you are currently serving in Faith Fund, Membership, Gideon Card, Distribution, or Church Ministry or simply want to expand your knowledge in these areas, this would be a great meeting to attend.  Registration at Chipley starts at 9:45, the meeting starts at 10, and the program is over around noon.  Several of us plan to leave Ozark on Saturday following our regular prayer time at the Faith Factory of Ozark Baptist Church (7 AM to 7:30 AM).  We can form a car pool as needed and enjoy some special fellowship to and from Chipley.  We will discuss this further following our prayer time on Saturday.  I hope to see you there.  Gene 

Sad News

I was informed a few minutes ago that Brother Raymond Barrs passed away last evening. I don't have all the information now, but I understand the viewing will be Friday evening and the service Saturday. I will try to keep you informed. Our prayers go out to the family. We were blessed for having Raymond with us. Love in Christ, Gene

June Camp Meeting

CLICK HERE to open the June Camp Letter

CDP moves forward with YOUR help

On June 18 and 19 our CDP (Camp Development Program) that we have been working on for the past 6 months will need some specific involvement and commitment from our members. On those two days we make our phone calls to our churches, make personal visits to our churches, and call prospects. I expect we will be calling from the Microtel in Ozark from 8 Am to as late as 9 PM on both days. We need to have at least three callers working during those times until all contacts are made to pastors and prospects. Additionally, we will need 4 Gideon's to drive and visit (in 2 person teams) to several churches. Please check your schedules now and make arrangements to assist. Contact me by text, email, or phone so I can schedule you. If you can't assist during the day, we need you to assist in the evening. If you can't assist both days, any part of either day would be great. We must continue to press forward to the end of the race. I look forward to hearing from you. Gene

New Member Recruitment

Dear Members, Our CDP (Camp Development Program) continues to push forward.  The membership dinner is set for 6:30 PM July 8 at Campground Baptist Church.  Letters have been sent to all of our churches and members requesting member prospects to be contacted to attend the dinner and hopefully be led to become a member of the Gideons.  A special team of callers and visitors will be with us on June 18 and 19 to call and visit our pastors and our churches.  Our camp needs your help in two specific areas right now.   First.  I need you to contact me by email (gtnelson@troycable.net), phone (379-5250),  or letter (948 Campground Road, Ozark, AL 36360) with the NAME, OCCUPATION, PHONE NUMBER, and CHURCH of anyone you believe would be a good Gideon.  You do not have to contact the person.  When you provide me with the above information, the prospect will be approved by their pastor, contacted by phone and letter, and encouraged to attend the membership dinner on July 8 at Campground Baptist Church.  I need you to send me that information by next week.  When you go to church this Sunday, take a look around and jot down some names or look in your church directory and send me the contact information on members of your church that you feel we should contact.  We currently have 31 prospects; we need at least 31 more.  This is not the time to depend on someone else to provide prospects.  Each of us must do our part to make our membership dinner a success. Second.  Please consider being a mentor to our new members.  Each new member will be provided a camp member to be their mentor for the next year.  You will be provided with very specific information about the responsibilities of a mentor.  I believe that those stepping forward to be mentors will be personally blessed by developing a  close, personal relationship with a new friend and also learning more about the Gideon ministry. We continue to meet for prayer at the Family Life Center of Ozark Baptist Church on Saturday at 7 AM.  If you are not already attending the Saturday prayer time, I pray that you will begin this Saturday to make it a regular part of your start to your weekend.  Thank you for your commitment to our Risen Savior, and thank you for being a Gideon/Auxiliary.  Gene

Election Night

Thursday night, May 8th was election night for the Dale County Gideon Camp.
New Camp officers are as follows:
President  - Gene Nelson
Vice President - Art Warren
Secretary  - James King
Treasurer - Gary Walker
Chaplin - Sonny Raley

Auxiliary officers:
President - Lynn Price
Vice President - Martha Phillips
Secretary/Treasurer - Gail Barkett
Chaplin - Margie McCall

Besides the elections being our primary goal for the evening, news from the state Faith Fund Coordinator, Tim Thomas was on our list. I have copied parts of his letter to all Gideons below. Please make this a part of your daily prayers and upcoming budget.

Players, Coaches, and fans all know the importance of the 4^th Quarter.  Many a game has been both won AND lost based on how that team plays in the 4^th Quarter.  Teams who were ahead, and were over confident (and eased up their effort), have fallen behind and eventually lost the game while teams that were behind (and who doubled their efforts) have caught up to, and surpassed superior opponents (winning the game at the last second).  

Right now we are deep into the 4^th Quarter with the Faith Fund.  By the time this article gets to your house (or computer), we will only have one month left to contribute, and then we will know whether we have won or lost with respect to our yearly goal.  Just so you understand the correlation, the faithful Gideons who distribute God’s Word (mostly in countries where there’s not a church on every corner and where the Name of Jesus isn’t well known) are the players in our example. The Head Coach is God, and the Assistant Coaches are the Gideon Leadership in this (as well as many other) State Associations, and WE (Gideons and Auxiliary) are the fans.  I can assure you our Head Coach has well prepared our players, and the players are willing to continue on and excel in the face of adversity, fatigue, and pain, and our Assistant Coaches have managed our team in such a way as to maximize our chances of success.  The question is whether or not WE are willing to continue to give our support to the Faith Fund at the end of this game (the Gideon Year) even though we have already supported the team during the entire game up to this point.  You see, fans are WILLING to pay the price of admission.

Currently (at the end of March), we have already surpassed the Yearly Goal given to us LAST YEAR by Nashville in donating over $1,170,000 (Praise God). Sadly, we are not donating money for Bibles for last year and the critical 4^th Quarter is upon us. As of the end of March we are still over $147,000 short of our yearly goal and need to double our efforts to reach as many as possible with the Truth of Jesus Christ (and win this game). This means that in order to meet or exceed the Faith Fund Goal for this year, we must donate roughly $74,000 in April and May.  This is a goal that our Association is very capable of attaining, but one we must be willing to ‘pay the price’ to reach. 

May Camp Letter

Click Here to read the Dale County Camp May letter.

Prayer List

Please check the Prayer List page

 each day and add these individuals 

to your prayers each day.

March Camp Letter

The Dale County Camp NEEDS YOU!

The 100 day countdown to our State convention concludes this week.  This is one of four times during the year when the purchase of scriptures looks directly and exclusively at Gideon and Auxiliary members for the funding that will place a copy of God's word in exactly the right place to make an eternal difference in the life of one of God's children.  The goal for our camp at the start of the 100 day countdown was for each Gideon to set a personal minimum goal of contributing $150.00 to the Faith Fund prior to the State convention.  I am proud to say that many have already contributed, and if the check was written by our treasurer today to be presented at the President's Breakfast at the State convention this Saturday morning, that check would total over $2900.00.  If you have not had the opportunity to make your contribution, I encourage you to make your contribution now.  Contributions can be made directly to our treasurer, Gary, at Parts and Service in Ozark or you can still get it to the treasurer by mail at P. O. Box 291 Ozark, AL 36361 if you get it in the mail no later than tomorrow (Tuesday.)  I will pick up our Camp Faith Fund contribution from Gary on Thursday afternoon around 4 p.m., and leave for the convention Friday morning.  This is always an exciting time in our Gideon year.  Each of us has been called to this ministry.  That call may have been for one of a variety of reasons, however I know that I can say with confidence that each of us joined so we could make that eternal difference in the life of another person through the distribution of Bibles and New Testament Scriptures.  We make that difference through our membership, our work in the ministry, and our generous contributions to the Faith and Heart fund.  I am always proud to represent our Camp at the convention. Gene

Monthly letter to the Gideons and Auxiliary

This Month’s Camp Meeting will be this Thursday, February 13th, at 6:30 PM, at the Quality Inn in Ozark.
To All Our Camp Members,
This month marks the actual start of our collective work toward the implementation of  our Camp Development Plan (CDP).  This past Saturday, the Gideon and Auxiliary cabinets met separately, conducted their individual business, then came together in our first of six joint cabinet meetings. We all learned a little more about this CDP process and went away from the meeting ready to get started on our Camp data, scripture distributions, and church services.  This Thursday, at our monthly Camp meeting, we will focus on getting the entire Camp into the CDP.  We will focus on how this process is different, how we will use this process to energize our membership ministry, and especially how we can all be involved in this exciting new process.       Please remember that the 100 day countdown is moving along.  We have set a Faith Fund goal of $10,500 for our Camp.  To reach this goal will require every member of our camp to contribute $150.00.  There are untold lost souls in this area and around the world whose lives will be eternally changed by the scriptures and Bibles purchased and distributed through these funds.       If you haven't already signed up for the State convention, I encourage you to register.  The convention is always a truly uplifting and fulfilling spiritual event.  I look forward to seeing you all this Thursday at the Quality Inn at 6:30 p.m.  Thank you for all you do, and for being a Gideon/Auxiliary. Gene Greetings Auxiliary Sisters, Ladies,      I pray this letter finds you in good health and enjoying your many blessings our Heavenly Father has bestowed upon you.       For the few that haven’t paid their dues, March 31st is the deadline.  If you haven’t paid by then, your name will be removed from the membership list and you will have to sign-up again if you wish to be in this wonderful ministry.  Please renew now so this doesn’t happen.      A separate letter is going out about our Heart Program which will be given at the State Convention.  If you haven’t registered for the convention, please do so.  It is March 7-9 in Perdido Beach.   If you are not attending, please mail your contribution to me.  A self addressed envelope will be included in your letter.      I am so excited about the Camp Development Plan our camp is starting.  It focuses on “Camp” training.  Not just one part of the camp.  Please join us this Thursday to learn more.  Your Sister In Christ,  Lynn

From the Dale County Camp President

Tomorrow is our first CDP oriented cabinet meeting.  Lynn, Gail, and I had to make a few changes to our normal procedures.  Starting with tomorrow's cabinet meeting and continuing until the membership dinner in July, both the Gideon and Auxiliary cabinets will meet at 7:45 a.m. the Saturday before our camp meeting.  Both cabinets will meet at the Quality Inn.  After our separate cabinet meetings, we will come together for a combined meeting to review and discuss "CDP Action Items."  The two items we will discuss at this meeting will be our schedule for distributions and church services following the membership dinner.  We are hoping to have all the meetings completed by around 9 a.m.

As we enter into this CDP process, I want to mention once again that it should be a time of good christian fellowship, a time of christian outreach, and a time of renewed commitment to the call of this ministry.  It is critical that all leaders of our various camp ministries be present at the cabinet meetings and the Saturday prayer time.  I realize that there will be times when we are all called away and are unable to attend, however if we can reschedule around these critical times, we should. I ask also that each camp leader review their areas of responsibility that were passed out on installation night.  I will have copies on hand at our Saturday meeting if needed.

Please note that our March cabinet meeting will be on March 1, 2014.  We will have to meet a week early due to the State Convention on March 8,2014.  Again, the times for the cabinet meeting will be set for 7:45 a.m. 

The 100 day countdown has begun.  Please provide Gary with your "Faith Fund" donations as  soon as  possible so he can have the check ready to take to the convention.  Carolyn and I will be leaving for the convention on March 7, and I will need to pick up the check on the 6th.

Please continue in prayer about the CDP, and let us all receive it as The Lord presents it to us. He will never give us more than we can carry.  Thank you for stepping up and being a Gideon/Auxiliary.  Gene

Notices from the President

Just a reminder about this Saturday (Please read the next note) being our cabinet meeting. This is a particularly important meeting since it will be our first formal CDP activity. We will look at where we are in each of our ministry areas and set some timelines and objectives that will get us to our July membership dinner. Please make plans to be there for this important meeting.  The regular cabinet meeting will take place at 8 AM (or 7:45) if we are all there. A joint Gideon and Auxiliary cabinet meeting consisting of all camp leaders will occur immediately following the regular cabinet meeting. I hope this is clear. We will follow a CDP meeting agenda during the joint meeting. Gene

In my last email to you I indicated that our cabinet meeting was this Saturday. 
Our cabinet meeting is 8 February. Everything else is good. Sorry for the mix up. Looking forward to seeing all our camp officers at our prayer meeting this Saturday. Gene

Please remember to PRAY!!

Please remember to check the Prayer List often for those names listed. If you have anyone you would like to add to the prayer list just let Gene or Lynn know.

January President's Letter

Click Here 

to read Gene and Lynn's January letter.