Development Updates

Summer Camp has come and gone! Summer volunteers were able to help us complete the painting, texturing, and window trim of the auditorium portion of the Rasmussen Crossing. This has created a much nicer atmosphere for our summer camp services.

We are still only able to use the building by renting a portable restroom trailer for the summer camps. An engineer is designing the system needed to support the building in connection with the current sanitation system on camp. We hope to have this design complete soon so that we can price the two tanks, pump, grease trap, and line needed for this to be installed.  We will also need another water tank and pump. We believe these additions will satisfy the county, but we will know for sure after we proceed through the process.

We also will need to install permanent lighting, finish the rest of the wall finish in the building, and install flooring. Please pray with us that the Lord will provide the finances and workers to complete these things in His timing.

We have had a record winter in many ways here at West Branch. Along with being colder than average, we have had 157″ of measurable snow plus a couple of significant rains (average snow is 90″). This extreme weather has delayed progress on the Crossing and caused us to spend most of our time repairing equipment and moving snow. We are still hoping to complete some additional drywall and painting work before summer.

The progress on the addition of infrastructure to support the Crossing restrooms has been slow. While we will not complete this by summer, we are working with an engineer to help us deal with our county officials. This process will clarify what needs to be done so we can get estimates. In short, we need to install another septic tank and connect it to the current camp system. We will also need another water tank and pump. We believe these additions will satisfy the county, but we will know for sure after we proceed through the process.

We also will need to install permanent lighting, add trim, and install flooring. Please pray with us that the Lord will provide the finances and workers to complete these things in His timing.

With summer camp in the rearview mirror, we have now been able to turn the Crossing back into a construction zone. Since we are busy holding retreats on the campground, we are not able to give a great deal of time to continue the completion of the drywall and painting until the end of October.

In the meantime, however, we are pursuing the addition of infrastructure to support the Crossing restrooms. We would love to complete these restrooms by next summer if at all possible. We do not yet know a complete cost on the project, but we are working with an engineer to help us deal with our county officials. This process will clarify what needs to be done so we can get estimates. In short, we need to install another septic tank and connect it to the current camp system. We will also need another water tank and pump. We believe these additions will satisfy the county, but we will know for sure after we proceed through the process.

We also will need to install permanent lighting, add trim, and install flooring. Please pray with us that the Lord will provide the finances and workers to complete these things for the summer of 2023.

In mid-March we completed the installation of The Rasmussen Crossing’s fire suppression system including a supporting large diesel pump and 40,000 gallons of water storage. This allowed us to hold the Men on the Move Conference in the building about a week and a half later. Unfortunately, we also learned that we would not have unlimited occupancy of the building. Rather, we are on an event by event basis. We have secured permission for Crossing use for our two remaining spring events.
In order to use the Crossing for summer camp, we have had to reserve a restroom trailer to have parked right outside the Crossing. This city obligation will cost $4,600 but will give us the use of the building for the summer! You can visit our donations page and give to the Rasmussen Crossing to help us raise the money for this requirement.
We have paused work on the building to accommodate our April – July use except for painting the exterior which will take place when weather permits. We also plan to use this time to employ an engineer to develop the plan for connecting The Crossing’s restrooms to water and sanitation on camp. We also will need to install permanent lighting, finish the drywall, paint, and trim, and install flooring. Please pray with us that the Lord will provide the finances and workers to complete these things for the summer of 2023.

We are nearing the end of the Rasmussen Crossing Phase One construction. The goal of this phase is to receive occupancy by the City of Williams for use as an auditorium. Phase Four will transition the building to include a kitchen. The City’s main requirements for occupancy are related to fire safety. Our fire suppression contractors are working to hook up the system which includes a sprinkler system operated by the $75,000 pump we purchased earlier this year. The system also includes a fire alarm system which is largely installed as well.

The other major aspect to completing this phase is the drywall installation. As of mid-November, volunteers have spent two days assisting us. We have completed approximately half of the drywall installation needed to complete the requirements of this phase. We still welcome additional volunteers to help hang drywall or do the mud-tape-sanding process, especially those with some experience.

As we complete Phase One, we would like to roll right into Phase Two of the project which will help certain aspects be a more finished product. The highlights of the phase are: interior and exterior paint, permanent lighting, ceiling fans, and trim. We may also address the permanent flooring in Phase Two. We believe that $60,000 would give us a good start. If you would like to contribute to Phase Two of the project, please visit our Development Donations Catalog page.

With camp fast approaching and our need to raise additional funds for the project, we shifted gears to prepare to have only limited use of the Rasmussen Crossing this summer. We were able to use it as a place to get in out of the rain or to have brief activities. However, we used our “old” auditorium once more, and it served us well. It was great to be back to full-sized camps. We were blessed indeed.

The response to our spring update letter was overwhelming. Churches and individuals from near and far were very generous. We thank the Lord that our $70,000 goal was met and then some. Projects always end up costing more than you expect. That is already proving to be true with the fire suppression hookup materials costs, but we are very thankful to be in a position to keep moving forward.

Prior to camp our additional 10,000-gallon tank arrived and during Junior Camp our $75,000 pump arrived. The whole thing is huge! It sits on a 10’+ x 12’+ skid and includes all sorts of pipes and tanks and so forth. It certainly looks like we got our money’s worth! Since camp has ended, we have been able to purchase the materials needed to run plumbing from the tanks/pump site over to the Crossing. Some of these materials were hard to come by. More than once in this project we heard that we were getting the last of something “on the ground” that would keep us from having to wait months into 2022 to get it. The plumbing work is scheduled to begin September 13. We have also been able to purchase dry wall for the interior finish of part of the Crossing. This is one of the requirements to be able to officially use the building. Lord willing, we will be setting up a “dry wall party” in the near future. Want to help? Let us know.

We thank the Lord that we were able to have enough elements of our building completed to temporarily use it for our Men on the Move Conference in mid-March. This included most of the electrical work, the heat, and some temporary lighting. During the event, we announced the name of this new multi-purpose building: The Rasmussen Crossing. This honors the very generous donation of $1,000,000 given to get us this far in the project and denotes that this building (which is in the shape of a cross!) sits at the crossing of camp between the cabin and activity areas. We pray it will be usable for many, many years to help young people and adults, hearing and deaf alike!

There is still a lot to accomplish before we are able to have full occupancy. These elements may or may not be able to be completed before summer camp. Before full occupancy, we must meet the City of Williams’s requirements for fire safety including dry wall throughout much of the building and a fully operable fire suppression system. We have been able to purchase a large water pump which is necessary for the project. We are in the process of ordering an additionally needed 10,000-gallon water tank. These things are now out of our hands. As many construction materials are taking longer to arrive, we just have to see what the Lord allows.

However, we do know that we need roughly an additional $70,000 to cover the dry wall and remainder of the fire extension project. Please pray with us that we will be able to reach this goal soon enough to complete what we can do before summer camp.

The  City of Williams is allowing us to occupy our building once we complete certain requirements of “Phase 1.” This would allow us to use the building as an assembly area (church services, etc) but address the bathrooms and kitchen later. While our goal to complete Phase 1 is by summer camp, we are now making a push to complete enough aspects of the building to use it temporarily for our Men on the Move services in mid-March.

All that remains on the exterior of the building is the painting and a small amount of trim. The building is basically dried in. Inside, we have begun work on the fireplaces including hearths and mantels. All of the roof insulation is in. The sprinkler system installation has also begun. Electricity is now extended to the building, and electricians have begun to install the main panels.

Over $1,000,000 has been donated to this project. To complete Phase 1, we are appealing for an additional $150,000. Of this amount, $56,000 has come in. Please pray with us that the remaining $94,000 will come in to complete this Phase by summer. Also, we could use additional volunteers to help in the following areas: installing wall insulation, framing closets, installing doorknobs and locks, creating walkways, dirt moving, moving items into the building, and general cleanup.

The work on our new 10,000 sq-ft multi-purpose building continues. The siding is complete and the stone wainscoting and trim are well past half-way complete. We have experienced a few delays on materials (doors, windows, steel trim) that have held up the project a bit. However, the building is basically in the dry and is looking great! The stone trim around the building and up the chimneys inside and out looks very nice!

The electrical work has also begun with wire being pulled from the nearby switching cabinet to a panel on the building. The full building electrical design as well as the fire sprinkler and fire alarm systems are in review.

To complete this first phase of the building, we still need to complete the fire protection system and bring water to the building. This requires a $58,000 pump which we have $10,000 toward right now. Please pray with us for the provision of the remaining amount so that work on the fire suppression system can happen as soon as possible, as weather permits.

The work on our new 10,000 sq-ft building is well underway! The steel is up; the roof is on. The framing for the walls has begun. As the framers continue to work on the walls, a second layer of roof insulation will be able to be installed. We have also begun the process to outfit the building electrically. The goal is two-fold: 1) get the building dried in before winter, and 2) have the building be usable for meeting in during the late winter or early spring.

The building is being built as an assembly building (auditorium) first but will eventually transition into being a dining hall with full commercial kitchen. To complete this first phase, we also need to complete the fire protection system and bring water to the building. This requires a $58,000 pump which we have $10,000 toward right now. Please pray with us for the provision of the remaining amount so that work on the fire suppression system can happen this fall.

The dining hall work has begun! With the generous help of a donor, our goal is to complete phase one by the end of the year. The steel arrives August 20. This phase includes a reinforcement of our current concrete slab, a steel structure and roof, insulation, exterior walls with rock wainscoting, two fireplaces and chimneys, and the fire suppression system. We have been given indication by our local building department that we can occupy this building for meeting space once this phase is completed. We will deal with the kitchen and utilities later on.

Once we near the end of this phase, we will need help moving on to the next phase. While a single donor is covering the cost of getting this building up, we are still responsible to raise additional funds and recruit volunteers to finish the inside, outfit the kitchen, and deal with the water and sanitation to support it. We also need to run electrical supply throughout the building. (Power has already been brought to the building.)

Additionally, a large new multi-use rodeo corral was built from March to May and was used for events and services this summer. Missionary builder Mike Smith took the concept from start to finish. We received special help from Maranatha Baptist Church in Yuma, Arizona, who spent many days here to see it done.