Services & Partners

SERVICES

Waterfalls Retreats
Waterfalls cares for Pastors, Christian leaders, and their families. The name is from Psalm 42:7, “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls…” The purpose of Waterfalls Retreats is to provide refreshment and spiritual renewal to those who give of themselves in Christian service. Currently, retreats are provided for leaders and their families on a fully or partially funded basis. Persons taking advantage of these retreats may also receive prayer and counsel from the OBCM team or take the retreat as a time for solitude or vacation. Resort facilities in the Okoboji Lakes area are made available. Funding is limited, but interested persons may contact OBCM to receive consideration.

Waterfalls envisions future regular small group retreats for pastors and missionaries and their spouses who are facing a life or ministry crisis. Interested persons will help accelerate the scheduling of these events by making themselves known to OBCM’s leadership team. In addition to pastoral retreats, Waterfalls does from time to time host focused retreats for writers, worship leaders, teachers, and other marketplace Christians.

Prayer Events
Jesus taught that we “should always pray and not give up.” OBCM desires not only to lay a foundation of prayer for ministry but also to actively mobilize prayer in the churches and region. Prayer is a key intersection of faith and community. OBCM prayer venues encourage prayer for our locale, nation, and the world. Leaders are prayed for. Our faithful God is faithfully called upon for spiritual renewal and societal health. From the prayer and worship heart of the OBCM, focused prayer gatherings for healing, global compassion, and evangelism happen.

Pastors Prayer Connections convene area pastors in sharing and prayer for the unity of Christ’s Church and for God’s protection and blessing on the region. Another group convenes leaders of Christian non-profits in prayer.

Prayer Events of national and global importance are often mobilized by OBCM. Our purpose in brokering these gatherings is to live under the stated blessing of Psalm 133: “When the people dwell in unity, God commands His blessing there.”

International Intersect
The Okoboji region is surprisingly international, especially in the summer. Hundreds of students from around the world are employed by vacation-related businesses. OBCM has deep roots in global Christian compassion and evangelism birthed in 1935 when the world was much bigger. Founders of what was then the “Bible and Missionary Conference” sent Christian missionaries to the nations. They likely never dreamed the nations would come to Arnolds Park, Iowa. But they have. Students from Bulgaria, China, Jamaica, Mongolia, Thailand, Turkey, and Uzbekistan have been served.

International Intersect seeks to assist students with orientation, acculturation, lodging, friendship, and spiritual guidance. International Intersect cooperates with cultural exchanges, area businesses, churches, and other non-profits to care for these students –  opening doors for international understanding and the Good News!

Relationship and support continue through social media when students return to their respective homes. The work of International Intersect is funded through designated giving, apart from the OBCM budget.

Speakers
OBCM will assist with your speaking engagements for retreats, church services, and funding events. Personnel speak on a wide variety of topics such as Bible, missions, church life, and healthy Christian living. Expenses and honoraria are requested as payable to the ministry and not to the individual.

 

MINISTRY/EVENT PARTNERS

Cherish Center
Cherish Center provides life-valuing support to young men and women facing unplanned pregnancies. Primary among their services is Cherish House, a supportive home for young women during pregnancy. Abstinence education, marriage mentoring, counseling, and parenting education are also provided by this ministry. Cherish Center is a strong and respected area ministry. OBCM partners in prayer support and leadership coaching.

ATLAS Spencer
OBCM is privileged to partner with ATLAS Spencer in providing prayer, leadership consultations, and facilities from time to time. ATLAS Spencer offers life skill mentoring from a Christian perspective.

Area Churches
OBCM offers a partnership with and facilitates a partnership among many Christian churches in the northwest Iowa and southern Minnesota area. Mission projects, both local and global, are a key point of church and OBCM partnership. One of the many ways this happens is through Good News Community Church of Okoboji. They meet in the Tabernacle every Sunday morning from mid-May-Labor Day weekend.

Timber Bay
Adolescence can be a turbulent time. OBCM allies with Timber Bay, an organization dedicated to personal, ongoing mentorship for at-risk youth. Timber Bay‘s Spirit Lake/Okoboji area director, Todd McQuown offices in the OBCM building and may be contacted directly at todd@timberbay.org.