I’m at Ridgecrest Conference Center for the night. I’m not attending a conference but it is close to where I went today so I reserved a night. In earlier years some group from my church would go every year, mostly students in the summer, but I haven’t been here in a decade or so. Hmmm, it used to be Ridgecrest Baptist Conference Center I think, but I’m OK for broader marketing if that’s what is needed to keep our sole national conference center going. Glorieta, the other one, is alive only in the form of a Hail Mary lawsuit. It was closed years ago.
My state convention gave away one of our conference centers. I don’t miss it….only stayed there once, in a clean but 70s era room at a price of $200 for the night but that princely sum included breakfast and nighttime cookies. Shoulda complained.
Did I read that SC was selling their relatively new conference center? Things change. Markets change. Preferences and standards change. I surmise that the demand for state conference centers has diminished over the decades.
There are new buildings here at Ridgecrest. Nice. My standard motel room is on par with what one might expect these days. Splendid. Workers have always been super here.
In my room small refrigerator is where the TV should be…but we’re very spiritual while up here. I am next to a small “Fellowship Room” which has a TV to watch along with a 1980s version of Trivial Pursuit to play. I’ll go with the TV. A lot of trivia has happened since the 1980s.
There’s a coffee shop, packed with kids and adults. From the price list I see that I can not buy a $5 cup of coffee here just like at home but I do pick up a $2 cinnamon roll for the trip home. Very tasty.
Must be some student conference because most of the people around are kids. For 15 or so years consecutively I came here with a student group for a full seven-day conference. I don’t think I ever got paid for those 168 hour work weeks…don’t miss ’em either.
Half the kids have cellphones in hand. Half don’t. What exactly do adults in charge of a group of teens do about electronics these days? Have churches generally acquiesced to the demand that kids must have a vice grip on a cell phone at all times? Maybe some Neanderthal student leaders require that they be left in rooms and not taken to worship and small groups. There were always groups that ran wild here and I recall wondering why any leader – pastor, staff minister, or volunteer adult – would allow it. “No you can’t do that and I don’t care what other pastors allow their groups to do.”
I lean on the balcony rail and watch small gaggles of teens walk around and try to look cool. Some do. Some don’t. They all look young.
It looks like some of the folks are pastors or staff and families on a weekend excursion. There’s one, mom and dad, two teens or pre-teens. They sit together waiting for something and each one of them has a cellphone and is focused on it. Odd, but typical of our day, I suppose.
Ah, new buildings where the day care center used to be. The facility was dated when our kids were little and I suppose there’s a shiny new one somewhere but ‘m a little nostalgic and sad about the old one. Nowhere were our children better cared for.
Same cafeteria. I’ll never forget sitting with a missionary from Panama 25 or so years ago who said, “If we’re going into the Darien we have to be self contained, take everything we need.”
There’s a flock of bright yellow goldfinches. Beautiful. Reminds me of the time up here when a common yellowthroat stunned himself by flying into our sliding glass door. I picked it up and waited a bit and he flew away. Closest look I ever had at that species. Kids,were unimpressed.
Keep up the good work, LifeWay.
I’m headed down to the Nibble Nook for an ice cream. Guess they still have that. I better not have to pay five bucks a scoop either.
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I’m waiting for the Nibble Nook to open. Some of the workers, seasoned saints, are inside dancing…now they’re circled up and praying. Repenting? Salted caramel is good. One scoop; two bucks. I’d comparison shop my five bucks. You could get 2 1/2 scoops for the price of one cup of coffee.
Just today a pastor friend and I were talking about our times at Glorieta and Ridgecrest respectively. Sunday school week used to be two weeks a year. About a decade ago I took 20 or so SS teachers to the only SS conference Ridgecrest offered, a three day weekend.
In my youth my bride and first born son took advantage of specials that Lifeway offered for pastor/staff to have a getaway. It afforded us a family vacation in the smokies that otherwise would have been financed by Citibank/Visa.
I am putting together a spring trip for our adults; we are working in two nights at Ridgecrest sandwiched around a day at Biltmore.
I hope the cream from the Nible Nook is still worth the walk back up the hill to the rooms.
Your post brought back fond memories of both Ridgecrest and Glorieta. I’m so old I can remember when we had Church Music Week, Sunday School Week, Training Union (!) Week, Home Missions Week, Foreign Missions Week, and BSU Week at both conference centers. On our furloughs from the Philippines we would go to Glorieta for Foreign Missions Week, bringing our young children along. They loved going to Glorieta. Those were great times, and thinking of them causes nostalgia to roll down like a mighty stream. I’m sad that Glorieta was sold. I understand the economics that drove the decision, but I miss it. I also miss the era those weeks and program emphases represent.
Some of the greatest moments of my life came at ridgecrest and glorieta. Through the years, mainly as a teen, I attended conferences at ridgecrest where God began to shape my life and eventually called me into the ministry. I had the joy of working two summers at glorieta, where I met my future wife, and God confirmed His calling for my life to serve the local church as a worship pastor. (Still doing that today) We had the privilege in being a part of likely the greatest era for the conference centers as far as attendance and impact.
I’m saddened that the SBC no longer owns Glorieta but I certainly understand it. I don’t understand the specifics, but I do get attendance drops, rising costs of insurance and building keep up, etc, …… I’m not surprised or bitter toward this, and I wonder when it will happen to ridgecrest. I choose to remember the great times and the God moments in my life at those two places and be thankful for what I experienced.
I haven’t seen any figures but LifeWay has made a considerable investment in RCC. I would have to look it up but I believe they have a long term master plan.
One can see the problem in comments on this. Lots of fond memories and nostalgia when what is needed is paying customers. Were I in a position where I wanted to do events, I would readily consider RCC…but it is close to me.
I too have fond memories of Ridgecrest trips as a teen myself and Student Ministries Pastor (I often took children to camps at Baptist colleges too). For the last 12 years or so as a Student Ministries Pastor, I took students a little further west in North Carolina to Snowbird wilderness Outfitters http://www.swoutfitters.com …. also found it to be a really excellent program!
William, I was one of mean “no electronics” youth pastors – I was also one who required my teens to attend those “optional bible studies” during a portion of “free time” – sometimes I was the the only one who did so. Additionally, demonstrated great displeasure when students “had to go to the bathroom” during worship service or bible study. I would constantly remind them that the bathroom works before the time you need to be in your seat – utilize it – if you do not have to go before it starts try anyway. LOL (It worked…very few times did I have a teen running to the bathroom during services or studies)
Alas, though…often when they returned home their parents did not have the same philosophy…ugh….
Thanks for the article.
My teen was one of the kids up there this week. They had an amazing time. He was talking nonstop for hours about it when I picked him up today. I just heard that one of the nonChristian students we’ve worked with this year became a Christian this week, Praise God!
Wonderful. I rejoice with you.
Yes. Ridgecrest is still going strong. I live about an hour’s drive east of it. My wife was up there a month or two ago for the International CEF Conference. It’s a nice facility with some good venues.
It’s been almost a decade since I was at Ridgecrest, in the spring for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writer’s conference. Prior to that, it was 1983, with a youth group from a church I was serving in Texas, for the Summer Youth Celebration. That was a Monday-Friday event sponsored by the no longer existing Church Training division at Lifeway. Same church took adults to Glorieta every summer for one of several Sunday School weeks. Worship times at those conferences packed out the auditorium. Getting reservations was difficult, and the cafeteria really got crowded when the Sunday School weeks coincided with Centrifuge. Things change.
I think Ridgecrest’s proximity to more Baptists, and their ability to do some broader marketing of its use to non-Baptist groups, have made it financially viable. The new lodging there is very nice, as are the older hotel rooms they’ve renovated. If you don’t want to hike up and down the hills, or the stairs, there is elevator access around the main buildings and the main conference building that allows you to get to all levels. Generations of Southern Baptists have passed through those halls, worshipped in those pews, and made some major spiritual strides from the inspiration they gained there.
A comment or two sought to go down the trail of Glorieta’s closure. That’s in the receding past and, while there may be points to be made relevant to it, it would only distract from this article. Sorry.
We had two national conference centers. Now we have just Ridgecrest. I like it and hope for its continued success.