February 24, 2003

LifeWay campaign to improve
Glorieta makes appeal in Texas
___DALLAS (BP)--A campaign to raise $26 million for improvements to LifeWay Glorieta Conference Center came to Texas Feb. 4.
___LifeWay President Jimmy Draper and others spoke to a group of about 60 invited guests at the Northwood Club.
___The $26 million to be raised over 10 years would upgrade worship areas and conference facilities at the northern New Mexico retreat and add two new hotels and a recreation center, reported Gary McCauley, director of LifeWay's fund-raising department.
___The Glorieta conference center is located on property given to LifeWay in 1949 by the Baptist Convention of New Mexico.
___Draper recalled an experience when he was about 14 as he rode with his father down a highway outside Santa Fe.
___"My dad pointed over a fence down to a ranch house and said, 'There's going to be a great conference center built there one day.'"
___That conference center was built with funds from several Baptist conventions, Draper said, including $100,000 from the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The Texas funds were used to build Texas A and Texas B hotels.
___Oklahoma gave $50,000 to build Oklahoma Hall. New Mexico gave $100,000 to build New Mexico Hall. And eight states gave $7,500 each to build the Hall of States.
___LifeWay, then the Sunday School Board, matched most of the money that went into the first buildings, Draper said. "In fact, of the $7 million spent initially, the majority came from the Sunday School Board, and not a dime of it was Cooperative Program mission money."
___Since 1952, 3.5 million people have stayed at Glorieta, he said. "Nearly 12,500 have received Jesus during that time, and 75,000 individuals have surrendered to full-time Christian professional service there."
___Draper said the revitalization campaign is being waged because "there hasn't been a new building at Glorieta in more than 30 years."

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