Several hundred Virginia Baptists made the familiar summertime trek up Locke Mountain to Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Center last month — this time to celebrate the camp's 50th anniversary.
Music and memories were the focus of a four-hour celebration in Dogwood Auditorium, which also featured comments from former directors of the camp.
“Many great things have transpired on this mountain,” said Wesley “Binky” Huff, director from 1988-2003. “We're here to thank God for all that has happened.”
Eagle Eyrie held it first day-long assembly in July 1956 and since has become the focus of much of Virginia Baptist's corporate life. Last year, almost 21,000 people participated in conferences and other retreats there.
In addition to Huff, other former staff members who brought greetings were Malcolm Burgess, director from 1960-1988, and Don Sawyer, assistant director for 18 years. Rod Miller currently serves as Eagle Eyrie's director.
Music was provided by the Virginia Baptist Male Chorale and Virginia Baptist Women's Chorale.
About a dozen participants stood when Fred Anderson, executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society, asked who had been present at the opening in 1956.
Anderson, who also is director of the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies, brought a “Memorable Look Back,” while John Upton, executive director of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, brought a “Visionary Look Forward.”
“People have been coming to this mountain and getting a friendly welcome for a long time,” said Anderson, who described the site's past as a stop on the stage road, a private home and finally as Virginia Baptists' assembly grounds.
Anderson described Virginia Baptists' camping history, dating to the 19th century, and the events that led to Eagle Eyrie's founding in the mid-20th century.
Virginia Baptists were enthusiastic about the camp from its beginning, he said. During the first six months after the mountain was purchased, some 3,000 showed up just the see the site, often bringing picnics.
“I know a woman who is the fifth generation in her family to have a pair of candlesticks handed down,” Anderson said. “She knows she doesn't own them but holds them in trust for the next genration.”
He said Eagle Eyrie is the same-“used by thousands of people, available to all, owned by no one church but its safekeeping belongs to all of us.”
Upton said Eagle Eyrie is where Virginia Baptists “dream God's best dream for the world,” and where Virginia Baptists “awaken a passion to live our lives in such a way to carry out those dreams.”
But just as the world has changed since the 1950s, so must Eagle Eyrie change, said Upton.
“My dream is that we get a new look at Eagle Eyrie,” he said, referring to a series of anticipated remodelings at the camp.
He also said Eagle Eyrie should become part of the Virginia Baptist family “in a whole new way.” In October directors of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board will hold a meeting there for the first time.
“I look forward to the day when we can have the annual meeting of the Baptist General Association of Virginia here,” he added.
He also said he hoped to see additional staff at Eagle Eyrie and its development as a training ground for the thousands of volunteers who take part in Virginia Baptist mission endeavors each year.
“God has lots of dreams he wants to share with us and if we don't gather on this mountain we'll miss out on some of those dreams,” he said.