In the early years of the American settlers were so far apart that the priests had to go from house to house, preaching the gospel. This resulted in the only camp in America that exists 200 years later.
Itinerant priests lit the fire that grew into the Second great awakening in America. Christians came by the thousands to hear these travelling evangelists. In 1818, seeking God and the saved began to meet in the Ohio valley, near the Creek hollow Rock. These meetings at the summer camp at hollow Rock have been going on for 200 years without interruption.
In the 19th century it was hard to get into. Then the road went through a Creek and had to cross it 7 times before to reach the camp. Sharon Brooks Woodruff coming here for 75 years, and her ancestors came much earlier than her.
“My grandmother came here in a horse and cart,” says Sharon Brooks Woodruff. She comes to camp 75 years.
The same applies to the ancestors of Lin Campbell, a visitor to camp in the 5th generation: “grandparents my grandmother came here from generation to generation.”
Father a traveling Evangelist lane Loman preached here 15 years, and Reverend lane of Lomena (“Lawman, ministris”) drawn back here again and again.
“Here’s the secret: they passed to the next generation,” he says.
Mel acres, truex is in charge of the camp since 1977.
“Eight or nine generations of families have made this place what it is, he says.
In three tents on the 6 ministries of the faithful gather each day to worship and hear the Word. And at 13:15 in the camp the bell tolls, and all stop to take a few minutes of prayer.
Many became acquainted with Jesus Christ and allow Him to heal their lives. Acres, truex remembers a conversation with one man whose marriage was falling apart.
“He said, “I live separately from his wife. And she too has found Jesus”. They met again and a few months married,” he says.
Prayer groups offer needs to the Lord.
“Here we can talk openly. And when someone says “I’m praying for you”, then and there,” shares Lyn Campbell.
Children and teenagers love coming here, even if here they find themselves without access to the Internet.
“We have no swimming pool, no Internet, they can’t play their games. We focus on finding the will of God and ask the Holy Spirit to fill this place so we felt that we were on Holy ground,” says Sharon Brooks Woodruff.
Campbell remembers how much in childhood, she wanted to return to the “Hollow Rock”.
“I was going for a week to camp. I was ready to go!” she says.
One regular guest of the camp said that suggested children choose: “Hollow Rock” or Disneyland. They all cried out: “Hollow Rock!”
“I see the hunger, a new hunger, especially in young people. They don’t just want to go to Church or be good people. They want to be Holy, right with God,” shares Mel acres, truex.
All agree that the emphasis on Holiness is the main cause of the bicentennial of the camp’s success “hollow Rock”.
“We get strength from the power of sin. That’s what we get in relationships that may not affect a sin, says lane Loman. We can make a decision: to live without conscious sin. This is freedom. We need to thirst after God, and then He could do great”.
“We die to ourselves and for that which hinders us in relationship with the Lord, says Sharon Brooks Woodruff. — When you find that relationship, you realize that God’s ways are best. What I try to tell the Lord how to do something? Although sometimes we don’t.”
Christians in the “Hollow Rock” I want to change the world for Christ, and now they are happy with what you have.
“In this place there is something. When you go on camp, then I feel peace and God’s presence” — says Lin Campbell.
The Evangelist John Brecher loved “Hollow Rock” that he preached here again and again for half a century. When he was dying and couldn’t come, sent a letter to the congregation “Hollow Rock” in which he wrote: “Tell the trees, hills and streams, that old preacher that loves them. They’re like music to me.” Now this tune has lasted for 200 years.