January 26th, 2018  Temps low of 37 high of 56 slight breeze.   68 in attendance 65 camped over night in the cave of those were 4 ladies.  Wow what a turn out.  Camping over night in a dirty ole cave?  Yes and loved it.  CLICK on a PICTURE for BIGGER view!  Special thanks to Rob Batchman, Keith Gray and Mark Jones for sharing the pictures with us.  Zip file of all these pictures.

Youtube video from James Gilpin from this event.

Rob and crew smoking Jerky in the Bat Cave!

 

Early crew of 14 meet at Springfield at 11:00 am.  Arrived to the trail to the cave at 12:30 p.m.  Absolutely beautiful weather for January.  It was like a normal January day and we quickly set to work cutting logs to clear the trail.  The river was up and the trail was brushy.  With 4 saws running and 10 to haul and wood back to the cave entrance in a hour we had enough wood cut to get us through the event.  We arranged a 14' long fire this year and cut our logs to about 3 feet in length.  Special thanks to Jim and James Evans, Ernie Moad and Mark Jones for the chain saw expenses.

 

Special thanks to Jim, James and Violet Evans,  Rob Batchman, Jared German, Garret Bevis, Jimmy Winch, Ernie Moad, Oliver Nash, Damon Sprague, Jackson  Woodward, Keith and Collin Gray and Mark Jones for the hard work in prepping the trail cutting thorns and clearing logs as well as firewood.  The reflective tape was still there this year.

 

I setup my ground cloth out in front of the cave this year down by the water and  setup my cot, tent and goods.  Another trip back to the truck to drop off the chain saw and wedges and bring in the treasure chests, candles 160 of them and prizes.  Rappelling gear and lead climbing rope.  The setup group made several trips back and forth I praise God for good help.  Makes ministry happy.

Rob, and Ernie and Garret and Oliver lashed up  a stand and smoked it in a little cave off of the big cave and squewered steak.  Thanks Rob for the smoked Jerky.

 

Rob Batchman delivered a great message by candlelight in the back of that cave and Mark delivered the devotion on Saturday morning.  Boys hunted cave treasure.  Explored the nooks and crannies and the tunnels and had a great time.

We enjoyed some rappelling with James Evans leadership. 

 

Thanks Commanders and leaders for taking your time to invest in these folks.  One event like this is the value of about 15 weekly meetings.  Thanks for such a blessing.  If we could get more of our folks involved in going and doing for Jesus our Ranger programs would sky rocket our numbers.

 

Mark Jones a sinner saved by God's Grace.  Click on a picture for a larger view.