NORTHFIELD, Mass. (BP) — The North American Mission Board has been named one of two finalists in a bid to receive a 217-acre Massachusetts private school campus built by evangelist D.L. Moody in 1879.

Purchased in 2009 by the David Green family – founders of the arts and crafts retail giant Hobby Lobby – the dilapidated property has since received more than $5 million in renovations. The Greens want to give the property to a ministry that will use it to further the Gospel in North America.

If chosen, NAMB would use the picturesque campus in Northfield, MA, as a ministry, retreat and missionary training center. This would include missionary training, pastoral retreat and recovery programs. The campus would be utilized year-round and provide Southern Baptists unprecedented access in the Northeast.

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