Conference center adds another dimension to Caraway

By Steve DeVane

BR Managing Editor

Visitors to Caraway Conference Center have the amenities of Internet access within a peaceful environment.

Photo by Dianna Cagle

Biblical Recorder

Caraway is known to thousands of North Carolina Baptists as home to the summer RA camp for boys. In 1974, the Baptist State Convention opened Caraway Conference Center on the property.

The boys' camp operates from June through mid-August, but the conference center is open year-round. About 17,000 people stay at the conference center each year with another 5,000 using Camp Caraway during the fall, winter and spring.

The Caraway property includes 1,100 acres about seven miles west of Asheboro.

Conference center director Jimmy Huffman said the center is centrally located in North Carolina.

"The conference center offers you a place to meet, eat and sleep all under one roof," he said.

The conference center has 78 bedrooms, 12 conference rooms, a 30-seat auditorium, and dining rooms. High-speed Internet is available throughout the center.

Huffman, who has been director of the center for two and a half years and worked at Caraway for nine years, said a new prayer chapel was recently finished in the front of the conference center. The Bill Jackson Memorial Outdoor Chapel overlooks the lake behind the center.

Caraway Conference Center is primarily a "host facility," meaning groups bring their own programs, Huffman said. The center does offer some "secondary" programs such as devotions and adventure recreation if groups ask for it, he said.

Challenge courses allow groups to go through field games, low ropes, or a more challenging high ropes course. The first two initiatives take groups of five or more through activities that facilitate communication, trust, teamwork, and critical thinking. Trained facilitators bring out relevant issues through debriefing sessions.

The high ropes course also facilitates group growth and teamwork but also includes individual challenges. Participants are often 30 feet or more in the air, allowing the group to work in the role of encourager.

"We take as many adult groups on our adventure recreation as youth groups," he said. "It's team-building."

Groups come to the center for continuing education, training and business meetings, according to Huffman.

Conference center patrons also have access to a wide range of activities and facilities on the camp property if available.

The Caraway property includes lodges, cabins, gyms, a swimming pool, lakes, recreational fields, hiking trails and more. Camp Mundo Vista (see page 9), the N.C. WMU camp for girls, is also on the Caraway property.

Caraway has a small campground near the conference center. A limited number of sites are available most of the year, with water, electricity, a bathhouse and pavilion available.

Canoeing is allowed on a lake between the camp and the conference center. Fishing is allowed from docks or shores of both of lakes on the property.

Two paintball courses are designed to be diverse and challenging for groups of 10 to 24.