Quarter Million Dollars Donated to Renovate and Dedicate Youth-Centered Lodge
The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), one of two Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)-related in the state, gave a quarter of a million dollars to support the revitalization of one of the denomination’s largest retreat and conference centers, Dec. 3, 2004. With the gift at hand, the Glorieta Conference Center will triple the housing capacity and boost the internal construction of its buildings.
Glorieta, located near Santa Fe, N.M., is one of two Christian conference centers owned by LifeWay Christian Resources of the SBC; the other is the Ridgecrest Conference Center in N.C.
According to Baptist Press, the SBTC Executive Director Jim Richard presented the check to LifeWay President James T. Draper because the Convention wanted to “invest in the lives of young people using that lodge.”
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“And we wanted to support LifeWay and show that the churches of the SBTC have confidence in the Cooperative Program and the ministry of the Southern Baptist Convention,” Richards was quoted.
The $250,000 will specifically go to renovate the Yucca Lodge in Glorieta. After the renovations, the lodge will be renamed “Cottonwood Lodge.”
Cottonwood Lodge will feature 176 beds for youth, as opposed to the current 60-bed facility for residents. Steve Grassfield of Glorieta also told BP that workers will “gut the building, replace the electrical system and plumbing, apply new dry wall and paint, sand the floors and install new windows. The rooms also will receive new furnishings such as bunk beds, cabinets and mirrors.” Renovations, which are already underway, should be finished by next March, when a dedication service will be held for Cottonwood Lodge.
“With the completion of this work together, 100 percent of the youth dorms at Glorieta will have been fully remodeled and ready to serve the young people who come from our churches all across the country," said Mike Arrington, LifeWay’s vice president of corporate affairs to BP. “Texas volunteers continue to step up in big ways when it comes to helping Glorieta provide a place where people and churches experience God and hear His call.”
According to Arrington, a large, engraved stone will be placed in the center in recognition of the gift.
"I am so thankful to Dr. Jim Richards and the Southern Baptists of Texas executive board for partnering with LifeWay Glorieta in this way to invest their financial resources in the lives of literally thousands of young people who will stay in the new Cottonwood dormitory for many years to come,” Arrington said.
“The generosity of the SBTC allowed us to do something now that probably would have had to wait,” said Gary McCauley, LifeWay’s director of capital resource development. “Joining us to grow the ministry at our conference centers and elsewhere, people can help us do more than LifeWay could do on its own.”
