For youth groups low on funds, minding their Ps and Qs is a small price to pay for the three acres of paradise Ruth Raudabaugh has waiting on Smith Lake.
They can’t cuss while there or smoke or drink, but they can enjoy what is arguably one of the most scenic spots on the lake.
They can run, play, swim, pray and carry on — all for free.
Raudabaugh doesn’t mind.
"I just felt like God led me to do that as a missions project," she said of her decision six years ago to open the basement of her 40-year-old home in Arley to youth groups and organizations looking for retreat space but unable to afford some of the larger organized facilities.
Raudabaugh, 74, has been active in missions since her first husband, Fred Nail, died of a heart attack at the age of 97 in 2001.
A 40-year member of Meek Baptist Church, Arley, in Winston Baptist Association, she’s spent three months assisting a church planter in Colorado and has traveled to Africa and South America.
She met her second husband, Bill, while doing work for the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania-South Jersey.
"I started doing missions work but had to be home during the summer to cut the grass," Raudabaugh said.
So for one season a year, she takes a break from the missions trips and plays host to youth as they hold a mandatory daily Bible study.
And they get to enjoy the gazebo, pontoon boat and Jet Skis and play volleyball and badminton, too.
A praise band from Atlanta stayed four years in a row while on tour, the youth group from River Road Baptist Church, Hueytown, has come twice and a group of home-schooled girls once.
Meek Baptist pastor Etsel Riddle describes the setup in terms of a dormitory. "[Ruth and Bill] have converted the basement of their house … and [the results] have been very, very good," he said.
The basement has a full kitchen, and Raudabaugh said she can handle, and has air mattresses for, as many as 20.
For more information, call Raudabaugh at 205-522-3495. (TAB)
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