By Matt Graybill, Executive Director
Bender Family observes Pine Lake
During the summer in 2008 or 2009, Stan Mecum made the 230-mile drive to drop off his granddaughter for a week of summer camp. She moved confidently through the registration line as she’d done before, then ran off to join her counselor and cabin.
Later, I noticed Stan sitting alone at a picnic table, quietly gazing across the ball field. After wrapping up a few conversations at registration, I walked over and introduced myself. Not knowing his connection to camp, I asked the question I often ask when meeting guests:
“So… how did you find out about Pine Lake?”
He looked at me over the top of his glasses, paused, and began to tell a story I wasn’t expecting.
Stan described the early days — when there was nothing here but a lake and a house. He described walking this property with a small group of people, hiking through pine trees and underbrush. As they walked, Titus Bender began casting vision:
“A cabin could go here. Another one over there. A gathering place that sits on this knob overlooking the water…”
How I would love to have been on that walk.
Handwritten minutes from the first meeting of what would develop into Pine Lake Fellowship Camp
And as I stood there listening to Stan, I couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking now — decades later — watching his granddaughter experience something that once existed only as a prayerful idea in the woods.
I imagine gratitude.
I imagine quiet joy.
I imagine awe at how God develops something that once looked like a blank canvas.
Because it could have remained a blank canvas — a place used only for hunting and fishing.
But vision took root.
Through prayer, discussion, discernment, and lots of hard work others caught the same dream: that this tract of land would become a place of retreat, reconciliation, and transformation for generations.
On November 20, 1965, a group of eight individuals gathered near Meridian, Mississippi to discuss developing a church camp. Those present included Nevin & Esther Bender, Glenn & Emma Myers, Titus & Ann Bender, Ann Zimmerly, and Mildred Bender. The handwritten minutes record their purpose: “to provide and promote Christian fellowship and recreation.”
That exploratory meeting sparked something far bigger than anyone in that room could have fully imagined. Brushstroke by brushstroke, year after year, God continued painting.
Groundbreaking for the Pine Ridge Pavilion, originally named in Nevin Bender’s honor.
Today, cabins stand where pine trees once crowded together. Laughter echoes across the ball field. Tall Pines Fellowship Center welcomes guests on land that wasn’t purchased until decades later. Worship rises from gathering spaces that once existed only in hopeful conversation.
And granddaughters run off to camp.
We are deeply grateful for those who stepped out in faith— and for the churches, families, staff, volunteers, and donors who continue to add brushstrokes to the picture.
Praise the Lord for the faithfulness of those who allowed His Spirit to lead them in starting this ministry!
As Pine Lake Fellowship Camp celebrates 60 years of ministry, we invite you to celebrate God’s faithfulness with us as we look back to what God has done and what is to come!
