By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
SAINT FRANCISVILLE, La. (LBM) – Judson Baptist Retreat Center, a camp owned by churches of the Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge, has voted to cease operations, and to sell the property.
During the BAGBR annual meeting Oct. 16, a task force that was formed to study the camp’s future presented their motion to close the facility and messengers approved the recommendation.
BAGBR Director of Missions Tommy Middleton told the Baptist Message he has spent the last 36 years leading camps and enjoying all that Judson Retreat Center offered. The decision was not easy, Middleton said, but the task force spent a great deal of time in prayer in coming to this conclusion.
“Our task force was composed of 10 members, most of whom have been very active in the work at Judson Retreat Center over the years,” Middleton said in a statement to the Baptist Message. “Our chairman, Keith Horton, was outstanding in leading this group; and we are grateful for his excellent shepherding of the entire process.
“Our camp director, Justin Busby, and his wife Kim, have done incredible work to continue the ministry, going above and beyond the call of duty over these last five years. We could not have asked for a finer leader than Justin or a more precious family than the Busbys to be there during this season,” said Middleton.
“Our task force has worked and consulted with Justin throughout this deliberative process before making their recommendation,” he continued. “They then brought their recommendation to our Administrative Council, who after much discussion and prayer, agreed with the task force’s recommendation that was then brought before the association at our annual meeting, Oct. 16, 2022. Going forward, we are praying that those who eventually purchase JRC will continue and even expand this ministry that has been so effective over the years.”
The move came after the camp announced in February it was suspending operations from May to December because of COVID-19-related financial challenges. Subsequently, a task force was formed to study the center’s future.
Busby said in a Facebook post on his page that while supporters of the camp should grieve over its closure, they also should rejoice over the memories and changed lives that happened at Judson Retreat Center.
“And above all else I want you to know that even with the Judson Retreat Center facility closing for good, the ministry of Judson Retreat will continue,” Busby said. “It will continue because that ministry doesn’t belong to Judson, it belongs to the Lord. And those lives that were changed and those who were called, they carry that ministry with them. They carry it into their homes, into their churches, into their communities and around the world. Truly we can say, the sun will never set on the multi-generational impact that the Lord has made in the lives of people here at Judson. It is finished, yet it continues, may the Lord be glorified in His faithful work here through the years.”
