Baptist Hill centennial celebration this weekend

Baptist Hill will celebrate 100 years during a small ceremony on Sunday, Oct. 28. Hubert Conway, pastor of Curtis Chapel and a former member of Baptist Hill’s board of directors, will be the main speaker during the celebration.
Conway said his speech will focus on Jim Curtis, whom he knew personally. Conway said Curtis, who was the director of missions for the Lawrence County Baptist Association, sold the land for Baptist Hill to the association for $1,000, and then donated the money back to them to build the camp.
Conway also described Curtis as a physically imposing man, standing at 6’4”, weighing 240 to 250 pounds, and being “as strong as a Jersey bull.” He spoke of a time when some boys tried to play a prank on Curtis while he was preaching a sermon at Pilgrims Rest, only to have the tables turned on them.
“There were about five or six big boys who thought it would be fun to throw beer in on him,
 “...so they did,” Conway said. “He jumped through the open window, chased them down, caught them in the cornfield. He corralled them all, brought them back into the church, and made them sit and listen to the rest of his sermon. That’s the kind of a guy he was.”
Besides Conway, former campers will also speak about their experiences at camp, and there will be plaque presentations from Missouri State Representative Mike Moon and the Missouri Baptist Convention.
Kenneth Hawkins, a member of Baptist Hill’s board of directors, said he expects about 250 people to attend the ceremony. He added that the camp has had an impact which reaches well beyond Lawrence County.
“We have campers that come from Southwest City, from Branson, up from Nevada and up from Bolivar,” he said. “That’s the area that we have touched in these 100 years.”
The Baptist Hill 100 Year Celebration will take place at Baptist Hill on Sunday, Oct. 28. For more information, call (417)466-3034, or go online to www.baptisthillassembly.com.