Holy Ground
The West Virginia Baptist Camp, more commonly known as Camp Cowen, first opened its gates in the summer of 1943. Since that time, well over 100,000 children, youth and adults have experienced Camp Cowen as campers. One conservative estimate indicates more than 5,000 people have accepted Christ at Camp Cowen during the past 64 years. Camp Cowen is truly a place where people meet Jesus and grow as His disciples in a community of faith.

In addition, Cowen has been the site of countless other life-changing decisions. Many pastors in the West Virginia Baptist Convention and throughout the United States first heard their call to ministry at Camp Cowen. There are missionaries serving around the world who, as campers at Cowen, heard God’s voice calling them to lifelong service in distant places. Teenagers and young adults have met at Cowen, fallen in love and been married. In fact, many families have had several generations attend Camp Cowen, where they encountered God and were transformed.

Fertile Ground
Camp Cowen, where for decades God has poured His grace into so many lives, remains Fertile Ground. In the 2006 camping season 115 campers accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Statistics for recent years show on average, one out of 20 campers attending Cowen accepts Christ as Lord.

Camps at Cowen have experienced steady increases in attendance, and in recent years, some camping weeks at Cowen have been filled to capacity. Campers have been relegated to waiting lists and some have, in the end, been turned away because of space limitations. Not wanting anyone to miss an opportunity to experience a life-changing encounter with God, the Camp Cowen Board and the West Virginia Baptist Convention have decided the time is now to upgrade the facilities of Camp Cowen, with the construction of a new dining hall as the primary focus of that upgrade.

The Alice Randall Dining Hall
The Alice Randall Dining Hall served its first meals in July 1943. Though repaired, upgraded and periodically remodeled, the basic structure is today as it was in July 1943. The time has come to address efficiency, maintenance, space and safety issues.

The original Alice Randall dining hall was designed to accommodate 200 campers., although on a few special occasions through the years, more than 300 have crowded into Alice Randall Dining Hall, it is neither comfortable nor safe to do so. During the 2006 camping season, there were five camps that exceeded the dining hall’s 200 camper capacity. In three of those camps, more than 250 were crammed into the limited space. Again, this is neither comfortable nor safe. With a new, larger dining hall, we are able bring more campers to Camp Cowen, creating an opportunity for them to meet God and have Cowen become Holy Ground in their lives.

The New Dream
The new dining hall seats 300 people comfortably and safely in the traditional, family dining style we have enjoyed throughout Camp Cowen’s history. The expansion would enable the camp to accommodate as many as 500 additional campers per camping season. In light of Cowen’s recent statistics, that could easily translate into 25 more campers finding Christ as Savior each year. How large an investment would you make in order to increase Cowen’s fruitfulness in the coming decades?

Camp Cowen
Holy Ground where campers have met God for more than six decades.

Fertile Ground where God wants to transform campers for many decades to come.