Why Does CastMaster Ministries Give Away So Much?

When we open The Retreat, we will strive to exceed expectations of superior quality in every area of service at The Retreat.  We intend to be known as a ministry committed to biblically ministering to the body of Christ. 

Our Minister’s Retreat is a free gift to full time ministers and their families and to displaced ministers and their families.  The dual purposes of relaxation and restoration ministers to ministers and their families is ways never imagined.  Our guests will relax in world-class accommodations while staying at the Minister’s Retreat while having complete access to the facilities of The Retreat.

Our Missions Training area is designed to train individuals and corporate bodies to minister to those in their communities who need God’s love demonstrated to them.  The first part of training is making wood furniture to give to local residents who need beds, tables and other household items.  This first part of training also includes quilt/blanket making to give to families in desperate need of a warm quilt/blanket throughout the year.  The second part of the training is to teach participants how to construct energy efficient, environmentally friendly homes for local families in need of a blessing from God.  One month during the spring of each year our plan is to build a home in the Austin area while training these missionaries.

Our ministry to underprivileged children in the Austin, Houston, San Antonio triangle is one of our most anticipated ministries.  During the Summer we will have one week where we take 600+ teens and bring them to The Retreat for a free week.  We also plan on bringing 500+ children and teens to The Retreat on two different weekends at Christmas.  While they are at The Retreat they will experience God’s love by having gifts lavished upon them.  What they will not know, is that their family members will also be receiving Christmas on those weekends as well.  The furniture and quilts/blankets made during missions training is delivered to their homes while they are at The Retreat.

Why does CastMaster Ministries want to give away so much?  We want to be a picture of what God did for us.  We want to demonstrate God’s love for us in that while we were still sinners, He died for us.  We want to give because God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever would believe in Him would have everlasting life.  Why do we give, because God gave.

CastMaster Ministries is Ready to Proceed

At CastMaster Ministries, we have completed our planning and are prepared to tell the world that we are ready to raise the funds to build a Christian Camp in the Central Texas area. We have spent more than six years doing research, planning, preparing and counting the cost of having a vision that we believe is about to become a reality.

We have researched population growth areas, population bases and population trends. We have taken an equation that we learned about from Christian Camping International (CCI) and have applied that equation all over the United States. After conducting country by county population growth and projections we have determined that there are two locations which actually exceed the population needed to provide an adequate population base with which to draw from to maintain a year-round Christian Conference and Retreat Center. We placed a template over each major population base in the United States. We knew we had to be within 2 – 2.5 hours drive time from a major base of population to provide for a year round weekend retreat center. We also knew we had to be within a 6 – 8 hour drive time from a major base of population to provide for year-round, weeklong conference center. We found two areas that exceeded our predetermined requirements. These locations are in Central Texas and Southeast Tennessee.

We have chosen the Central Texas area to focus upon because of our contacts within the state of Texas. When we researched to population base, we were completely surprised by what we found concerning the age of the population and the continued age of the population over the next 50+ years.

We found that there Senior Adult population is a growing and vital population, but an almost unserved population in the Christian Camping community. We have postulated that service to Senior Adults, median aged adults, young adults, college aged adults, and teens will allow us to provide ministry to underserved groups as well as traditional camp and retreat age groups. We also determined from our research that when Senior Adults chose a facility to attend, the facilities must be of exceptional quality, the food must be exquisite and the service must exceed the expectations of each guest.

This caused us to rethink every aspect of the Christian Camping experience. We decided if we were going to minister to multiple age groups we had to provide world-class experiences to maintain our ability to continue to minister to multiple age groups year after year. That is when we determined to talk to other ministers and determine if their adults and Senior Adults would attend such a facility. We received an overwhelming yes. The more Senior Adults we spoke with the more excited they were about going to a Christian Conference and Retreat center that would rival many other destination locations.

CastMaster Ministries has counted the cost of such a place and now we are beginning to tell people about our vision and ask them to support us financially and with prayer. There are two main financial needs right now. First, we need to raise $25,000 by May 28th, to hire a Capital Fundraising Consulting firm to conduct an initial survey to determine if we have a network of family, friends and acquaintances who can give the $25M to build our vision. Second, we need an additional $85,000 by the end of June to pay the consultants for the first year of services. If God is laying this ministry on your heart as a ministry to give to, you can contact me for more information concerning this ministry. My personal e-mail address is http://jimmiekersh@castmastercamp.com

Marriage and Societal Interests

In this discussion concerning homosexual marriage toss away any religious arguments and refuse to use them in this discussion.  Now, contemplate your answers carefully and with purpose and meaning.  Let us say, you will be judged solely upon your ability to give a concise and logical answer concerning your position in this debate.

 

First, what are the social benefits to the society in whole to allow for the acceptance of homosexual marriage?  First and foremost what societal benefits are there in any marriage?  Simply from a societal standing, marriage serves the purpose of providing a defining structure upon which the society is founded.  The argument some may say is that society needs building blocks upon which to build a safe and secure standard for normalcy.  Others have argued that society determines marriage to be a social safety net upon which governments can build a structured social society.  Still others argue that there is no societal need for the structure of marriage other than to provide social benefits to direct societal morays in a singular direction.

 

In all actuality, marriage is a basic societal building block that is encouraged by the government to provide a stable foundation for the continuation of the society.  Marriage has the backing of government to the expressed purpose of providing a safe and secure foundation upon which the general welfare of the society is structured.  This structure in itself has purpose and meaning based upon the societal needs of the foundation in needs of structure, continuation and safety.  It is in providing a structured safety for the longevity of the society that marriage has its truest societal good.  Providing a societal good has always been a defining factor in the necessity of granting a social purpose to marriage.

 

It is in the self preservation interests of a society to define marriage in a set way.  Society must first and foremost positively reward practices which are in its long-term self interest while providing no reward or even punishing practices which are not in the long-term best interests of the society.  Take into consideration law as it deals with marriage.  What is law other than a societal set of morays codified to provide for the safety and longevity of the society?  Are some laws restrictive and not always in the best interest of individuals, but best for the long-term interest of the society?  The answer is a resounding yes.  That is what law is for all intents and purpose, the limiting of individual rights for the long-term interest of the society.

 

What are the societal benefits of heterosexual marriage?  It provides a social safety structure promoting the birth of a next generation of citizens for the society.  It provides a social stability to the raising of children in a fashion that is in the long-term interest of the society.  Socially and financially, a heterosexual household provides a more well rounded integration into the society in terms of its interests.  When examining the defined purpose of a homogeneous society it becomes self evident that safety, security, and long-term preservation are always the central purposes driving any society forward toward greatness.

 

What are the societal benefits of homosexual marriage?  There are no discernable societal benefits from homosexual marriage.  The only persons benefiting from homosexual marriage are the homosexuals involved.  They provide no long-term societal benefits and therefore provide no reason for existence within a society.  This is not a judgment about the behavior involved or the persons involved, it is a societal examination of the implicit and explicit facts of the long-term best interest of a society.

 

From a societal view of marriage, heterosexual marriage provides the most social benefits to the society and therefore is to be granted favored or rewarded status and favored.  It is not a matter of rights to the societal recognition of homosexual marriage that should be considered, because rights are limited in every aspect of society by laws intended to provide for the long-term best interest of the society.

 

Societies which grant rights to individuals which are in contrast with the defined best interests of the society are providing for incompatible outcomes for the society and are condemning the society to a fissure which cannot be overcome by other strong aspects of the society.  These incompatible fissures will expand and cause societal division that will lead to the shortening of the life span of the society and its ultimate dissolution due to the fact that it provided for morays contrary to its desired self-interests.