Pinnacle chapel to be dedicated March 12

Pinnacle chapel gets makeover Acts 1:8 begins at home, and for many that means a chapel service at Camp Pinnacle where they first surrendered to a call to missions. That call resulted in a lifetime of Christian service around the state, nation and the world. But it first began in the mountains of Georgia, in just one small corner of the Peach State known as our own Judea. The aging chapel where so many heard that call is being updated in a massive renovation made possible by WMU donors statewide.

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Project supervisor Dave Powers checks blueprints as he oversees the chapel renovation. The entire building is being updated with new wiring and other enhancements to bring it into the 21st century.

CLAYTON — Like a patient lying anesthetized in an operating room while undergoing major surgery, the chapel at Camp Pinnacle is experiencing a similar traumatic renewal.

Its aging pews long removed and donated to another camp, its paneled walls removed down to the studs and its ceiling exposed to the rafters bear witness to the extent of the surgery. But the 50-year-old patient is alive and well and will be back to its own self by the time the daffodils bloom in the spring.

The hallowed ground to thousands of young girls is undergoing a total makeover to bring it into the 21st century, says Camp Administrator Stu Butler.

“Campers and church staff who come to Pinnacle next year will not recognize the building when they walk inside. It will look the same on the exterior but will be totally new from the front door to the back wall,” he says.

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The chapel’s vinyl siding is being replaced with Hardy Plank to provide better weather resistance, but the exterior will still greet worshippers in the familiar white paint. A board used in its original construction, sporting the wording “Joshua 1:6,” was cannibalized from another project and has no historical significance. The old boarding was discovered when the original vinyl siding was removed.

That back wall will be the first object to catch the eye as worshippers enter the building. What has greeted them as a blank wall behind the worship platform will sport a new clear window cross – 11 feet tall with a crossbeam 7 feet in width – that will captivate with a view to the mountains beyond.

The chapel’s opaque side windows will also be replaced with clear glass to offer a similar view but will support a colored glass cross that will enhance the gaze.

The building, as with the rest of the camp, is being winterized for the first time to allow year-round use. Better insulation, double-pane windows, lighting, and central heating and air conditioning will provide a more comfortable worship experience, Butler says. Add new padded pews, two restrooms, carpeting, and an enlarged stage to accommodate a more contemporary functionality and the chapel will be able to meet any need.

Georgia WMU is making the upgrades possible debt free in one of the most trying economic downturns since the Great Depression, says state WMU Director Barbara Curnutt.

“We are awed by God’s faithfulness as we renovate our chapel, debt free, in this time of economic recession, and humbled by the sacrificial gifts of Pinnacle friends who have made this possible,” Curnutt said.

The makeover is part of Camp Pinnacle’s 20-year, $10 million capital campaign and endowment program master plan to upgrade the campus and convert it into a year-round destination.

Pinnacle’s first medical clinic, a self-standing building that was dedicated in October 2007, was provided through a $197,000 grant from the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation. Of the grant, $180,000 was earmarked for construction and $17,000 for furnishings and medical equipment.

Several of the camp’s aging cabins have already been replaced with cabin lodges that, complete with a common meeting area, have proven popular with church staff retreat groups.

The chapel will be dedicated on March 12 in a ceremony open to the public.

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The chapel’s balcony, right, is being reworked to provide added seating capacity for the first time.

Joe Westbury/Index

The doors to the building, which have welcomed thousands of worshippers for five decades, will be replaced with better quality materials that will help the building maintain its heating and cooling temperature.