Urgent News About Cedarly Pastor's Retreat Center

The Cedarly Pastor's Retreat Center is in danger of closing its doors for good. Please let me explain why this breaks my heart and how you can help keep it from happening through prayer, spreading the word, and as God leads:

Dwayne & Rita Hanon broke new ministry ground 18 years ago when they opened up the Cedarly Pastor's Retreat Center in Delafield, Wisconsin. It was a nudging from God to take care of His servants. They offered week-long, life-changing, self-directed retreats free of charge to full time pastors and their wives -- six couples at a time on a year-round basis. No timeshare presentation nor multi-level marketing plan. Just pure, authentic ministry.

In 2001, the Hanon's left the miraculous work being accomplished year-round at Cedarly into capable hands, and began anew -- Broomtree Ministries. Through Broomtree, they offer fewer retreats, but in more varied locations. (Many thanks to the generosity of Christian property owners, such as The Shack Country Inn near White Cloud, Michigan for providing this space!)

My husband and I were blessed to visit Cedarly in 1998, when they were still fairly new. God really showed up for us that week to renew us personally and breathe new life into our ministry. They assigned a volunteer from their home church to each minister or couple attending who prayed for us and sent a personal note of encouragement to greet us when we arrived. We returned again about ten years later, this time to the ministry of Broomtree, where my husband was amazed to discover that I needed the retreat more than he did!

There were times of sharing over the dinner table, and times of quiet where we could just pray and seek God, uninterrupted. After both visits, we left renewed, and grateful to God for providing such a place and such people with a heart to minister to pastor couples.

Earlier this spring, Rita Hanon submitted a guest post, Observations of the American Pastor Couple. 

Cedarly, the original pastor's retreat center they founded, was still in operation until only recently. Now it has gone up for sale. It is a breathtakingly beautiful place, but will be torn down if the Hanon's are not able to raise the funds necessary to purchase it.

The good news? They're about two-thirds of the way there. This is phenomenal how much has been raised in such a short period of time! The bad news? Time is running short to raise the remaining funds. They have until the end of July.

So what does this have to do with pastors' families who may be cash-strapped financially? Trust me, I feel your pain and am praying hard, asking God what we can do ourselves. But I can do this much, and you can, too:

Please, spread the word! And.... pray -- that is something we can all join together for! Pray the rest of this money in! Also...

I've wondered... how many couples have benefited from the ministry of Cedarly and/or Broomtree these last 18 years? What if each couple were able to return a thank you gift of $50? Even $10 if times are really tough (5 people giving $10 because that's all they can spare  = one person giving $50). What if each church who is reaping the reward of having a renewed and revived pastor, were to give a matching gift? Or even $500, if their budget would allow?

How close would the Hanon's then be to raising the last amount needed? 

Regardless of whether you can help financially, again, please pray. This ministry has meant the world to us and countless others. I'm sure the ministry of Broomtree will continue, regardless of what happens. But what a blessing it would be to have the property at Cedarly available again for ministry!

If you have been personally blessed by the ministry of Cedarly and/or Broomtree (or would like to, now that you know about them), we'd love to hear from you in the comments below. Let others know what a precious ministry this has been!

Please visit the Broomtree Ministries website to learn more and/or help:  http://www.broomtreeministries.org/

-rg-