Camp Directors in approx 1956

Here are some of the early directors of the camp. Back row L to R; Don Hargrave, Paul Morisson, Max Pope. , Dick Thayer, Bill Griffin, Pop Smith, Bill Schroder. Front row: Dan Diamond, Ralph Elsworth, ???, Frank Bush, Alvin Thompson, and Bob Kinney. Frank Bush recalls that, "My first association with Bond Christian Service Camp was the summer of 1954. At this time it was called Bond County Christian Service Camp and the only buildings on the grounds were a kitchen/dining hall, boys’ and girls’ dorms with three-hole outhouses behind, another outhouse by the kitchen, and a dean’s office building. There was another older building that later was used nurses or missionary quarters. Water was always a problem. Charles Altom and Don Paine, deacons of the Greenville Christian Church, spearheaded the effort to dig a well.

"We began a ministry in Greenville on Palm Sunday of 1955. Soon after beginning my ministry I met with the other preachers of Bond County to plan the summer camp program of 1955. It was during this and other meetings that I began to realize that this camp would never reach its potential the way it was organized. After the 1955 season the preachers met and we discussed opening up the membership of the camp so that more churches could be involved. I had two previous camp experiences – one with the Lake Springfield Christian Assembly whose camp was owned and operated by the West Side Church of Christ in Springfield and the second, Hanging Rock Christian Assembly, owned and operated by area churches. In order to have sufficient funds and campers I felt the camp organization needed to be opened up to the area churches, which in turn would provide campers, funds and workers. In the fall of 1955 we contacted all the area churches and offered them the opportunity to join the camp organization and be equal partners with the churches in Bond County. We got a positive response from many of the churches. "