Jay Bird Springs is now Jay Bird Springs Ministries

Distracted by the beckoning water, which I imagined would take my breath for an instant as I splashed down into it, I listened to Rev. Terrell Towns, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Lake Hamilton, Florida.

“The pool is 68 degrees when it comes out of the spring, and it is 70 degrees in the pool,” said Towns. The temperature outside was pushing 90 degrees, and it was only about 10:30 in the morning. My hair was starting to stick to the back of my neck in sticky ringlets and my temples beaded with a dew of perspiration. Yes, today would be a fine day for a swim in Jay Bird Springs.

 “On a step of faith,” Towns purchased the retreat in March, but the bank – Colony Bank in Eastman – gave him access to the property in January, and his operator, Tammy Madley, moved in with her nine-year-old daughter in February, just a few days before the snowfall of 2010. Pastor Towns believes God had a hand in not only its purchase, but the vision for the retreat and recreation center.

“I don’t know exactly what God’s going to do here, but it has been amazing,” said Towns. “It was the hand of God for (the bank) to hand me the set of keys before I even owned it. I want this to be a place for families, primarily. That is our first focus. The second focus would be camps for youth and children.”

In an effort to maintain a “family-friendly atmosphere”, Towns is closing the center to the public and renting out the facility to Christian churches, civic groups, reunions and family groups. The facility, now a non-denominational ministry, is perfect for retreats, reunions, mission group camps and even a music concert or hunt camp. It boasts a skating rink, a snack and game room, a 350-foot slide, an Olympic-sized swimming pool with two other slides and a kiddie pool, a 10-room motel, cottages, playgrounds and picnic areas, hiking trails and an 18-hole putt putt golf course. Two conference centers can provide meeting and dining for about 150 people. Twenty seven RV sites and 25 tent sites are also available.

“We are going to go a whole different direction than the previous owners,” said Towns. “We want this to be a place to promote family growth and fellowship.” Jay Bird Springs will be used as a camp and conference center for small and large groups exclusively.

So far, there have been two mission groups help at the center, one local, Dublin Bible Church, and one from Emmanuel Baptist Church of Frostproof, Florida, located about 350 miles away. Town’s pastorate of FBC Lake Hamilton also sent about 50 people in March to paint buildings and landscape the then-overgrown grounds, and they plan to return for another week in the middle of July.

Carpeting was being installed in the game room the day I visited. The former owner and his son were also on hand to instruct Pastor Towns on how to fill the pool and turn on the big water slide, which zigzags about 50 feet in the air on wooden supports before it dumps you into the cold spring water. It was the first time in two years that the slide had been turned on. After a few seconds, clear, cold water zoomed through the chute into the pool. Again, I wished I had thought to bring my bathing suit.

“If the community wants it to succeed, they are going to have to use it,” encourages Pastor Towns who has visited China Hill Christian Church outside of Jacksonville, Georgia, and has plans to visit others. He would like to see the community support the retreat center by using the facility year-round – hopefully renting it out for a church swim and picnic or using the facility for an outdoor concert and youth rally. “There is so much we can do out here,” adds Towns.

McRae company, Morgan Window and Glass, will soon install double-paned windows on the un-air-conditioned skating rink. Towns is researching a water-sourced cooling system that would use the spring water to cool the rink in a type of geo-air conditioning system instead of Freon. It would be the first time that the skating rink had A/C, and this “green” way of cooling would be an innovative first for the area as well, adds Towns. He is praying someone local may even have the answer to this cooling need.

“It’s been a project, but it’s been well worth it,” said Ginger Towns, Terrell’s wife of 35 years. “I am excited because we have always wanted to be involved in a camp ministry. We have always had a heart for young people, and I believe this is what the Lord intended for us to do.”

“God has a great plan for this place,” adds Tammy Madley, the facility manager at Jay Bird Springs. She believes in the healing power of the springs as well. I watch her face as she explains the legend of the springs, the healing of the logger who badly wounded his leg in a logging accident back at the turn of the century and how a jaybird led him to a spring so cold that it stopped the bleeding of his leg and saved his life.

For Tammy, this healing has been one that God has done in her life, and her marriage, since she arrived in February. Her face glows with the Holy Spirit – joy apparent in her life. She doesn’t hesitate to share with a stranger how God sent her to Jay Bird Springs. Her husband of 15 years is looking for work in the area so he can move up to join her and their daughter.

“I love it here. For me to move from the town I was born and raised in, I feel at home. Honestly, it is by the grace of God. People up here are very friendly and my daughter likes it. I am really excited about what God’s going to do with Jay Bird,” says Madley, adding, “I know it’s going to take a while to take off – for it to be done as a ministry. I feel like God is testing our faith and we’ve got to stand firm.”

To learn more about using Jay Bird Springs Ministries as the host of your church event, camp, retreat and/or reunion, call Tammy at 229-868-2728, Pastor Terrell Towns at (863) 289-0830 or look up the center online at www.jaybirdretreat.com.

Kelley M. Arnold is the director of news and public information at Brewton-Parker College in Mount Vernon, Ga. She resides in McRae with her two dogs, Oz and SugarPie.