North Carolina Baptists recently dedicated and broke ground on new facilities near Asheboro and in Hendersonville.
Caraway Conference Center dedicated the Jim and Nancy Nell Jacumin Lodges on Oct. 28 while Fruitland Baptist Bible College broke ground Oct. 23 on the Nancy Nell Jacumin Family Apartments.
“God has blessed us,” said Jimmy Huffman, director at Caraway. The lodges are “going to be a great asset not only for Caraway but for God’s Kingdom.”
Both Caraway and Fruitland held ceremonies recognizing the generosity of Jim Jacumin, former state senator, and the late Nancy Nell Jacumin, his wife, as well as the rest of the Jacumin family.
Jim Jacumin is a member of East Valdese Baptist Church in Valdese and was honored earlier this year with a Heritage Award through the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSC).
“They have done as much with what God has entrusted to them of anyone I have ever known personally,” said Don Warren, who referred to the efforts the Jacumins have made across the state to educate the next generation of church leaders and missionaries.
Warren, a member of Parkwood Baptist Church in Gastonia and chairman of Caraway’s New Beginnings capital campaign, said he called on Jim Jacumin as soon as he joined the campaign.
Warren said he wanted to “engage his mind” as well as ask him for a contribution. “God has blessed this man in unique ways because Jimmy has honored God,” he said.
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BR photo by Dianna L. Cagle Jim Jacumin, center, cuts the ribbon for the Jim and Nancy Nell Jacumin Lodges at Caraway Conference Center with his son Marty Jacumin, far right, and his granddaughter Ashley Moody, far left, daughter of Mitzi Lane, Jim Jacumin’s daughter. Second from left is Morgan Jacumin, Marty’s daughter, holding Brody, great-grandson to Jim Jacumin. To the left of Marty is his wife, Lori, and their daughter, Sarah. |
Warren and his wife, Mary Ann, were responsible for another recent addition to Caraway: a house for pastors to retreat.
The inscription on a plaque in each of the lodges says: “The Lord who blessed us with the gift of giving, is the same LORD who wants to make your life special for [H]is [K]ingdom.
“It is our wish that your stay here will be an encouragement for you to surrender to His calling for your life.”
“It’s the attitude of service that we are giving unto God,” said Milton A. Hollifield Jr., BSC executive director-treasurer, referencing Matthew 25:40a: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these … ye have done it unto me.”
The new facilities fit well into the BSC’s strategy “Impacting Lostness Through Disciple-making” because the buildings will allow Caraway to reach and disciple more people, he said.
“It’s a place where people can come, and they will hear the gospel here,” Hollifield said.
“They will be prepared to face a culture that we’re living in today that is just so unknowledgeable about Jesus Christ.
“I think we need to do all we can to prepare the next generation for the culture that they will be a part of so that we can all continue to be faithful to the Great Commission that God has given to us.”
Jim Jacumin shared his excitement about seeing his children “carrying it forward” with their involvement in giving.
He shared about the history of his son, Marty, at Camp Caraway. In 1977 at age 9, Marty, who now is senior pastor of Bay Leaf Baptist Church in Raleigh, came to a saving knowledge of Jesus. Jim Jacumin’s daughter Mitzi Lane and granddaughter Ashley Moody visited Camp Mundo Vista.
Caraway improvements
The lodges at Caraway are a total of 7,000 square feet and provide space for 40 beds each as well as handicap- accessible bathrooms and meeting space. It is the first lodging built in 10 years.
The process started three years ago and was originally slated to be one building. The design and location have changed several times, Huffman said, because of a variety of reasons.
Originally the deadline for the lodges was over the summer but issues with the septic and electrical systems caused a delay. Now, a group of handicapped adult men are booked for a retreat the week after Thanksgiving.
The lodges are located in Acorns Village, a mini campus named after Caraway’s Awesome Children’s Outdoor Recreation and Nature Study (ACORNS) program. It is an environmental education program used mainly by elementary school groups (third through fifth grades) but also private and homeschool students. ACORNS has grown from a day program to include overnight options for schools.
Some schools use the option to stay overnight and combine it with a trip to the N.C. Zoological Park in Asheboro. A facility is under construction to serve as an activity center for this program.
Huffman said Caraway wants to add a 12- to 16-bed free-standing building near the main conference center. Some of the bedrooms already have sponsors to help pay for the construction. The goal is to revisit this project in the spring.
Construction on Hollifield Auditorium, which is being built in front of the main conference building, began in August and is scheduled to be completed in May in time for the BSC Board of Director meeting.
Fruitland building
The main pastor that influenced Nancy Nell’s spiritual formation was A.V. Ledford, a 1949 graduate of Fruitland.
“I grew up hearing my mother speak so fondly of Rev. Ledford,” said Marty Jacumin in a BSC story. “He taught my mother to love the Lord Jesus Christ, to love the church and to do whatever is necessary to take the gospel around the world.”
Naomi Dougherty, Ledford’s daughter, was part of a group from Penelope Baptist Church in Hickory visiting Fruitland’s campus that day as well.
The facility will include four student apartments. Two units will be approximately 1,100 square feet each and have three bedrooms.
The other two units will be two bedrooms of approximately 800 square feet each. Volunteers from local churches will be constructing the facility.
Fruitland Baptist Church has begun work on the foundation. They will be joined by the Carpenter’s Hands Ministry volunteers from Mud Creek Baptist Church.
The goal is to have the facility dried in before Christmas with a major push by Carpenter’s Hands volunteers to complete a significant part of the construction during the Christmas break.
The anticipated completion date for the entire project is March 2015.
“The materials for the entire project have been made possible by the generous donation of the Jacumin family,” said David Horton, Fruitland’s president.
“Their gift, coupled with the volunteer labor, will allow this facility to be built debt free – which is the way I intend to complete these kinds of task from now on here at Fruitland.”
Brian Davis, BSC associate executive director-treasurer, said the facility would be a “laboratory for disciple-making. My prayer is that this will be a place where husbands and wives grow as followers of Jesus, and in turn, they disciple their children. I am praying that as these student families build relationships with others, on campus and in the community, that these rooms will be where Fruitland students engage other families with the gospel.”