Retreat & Revival Centre History
One day, late in the fall of 2001, Dr. Russ was driving his car along 52 Highway in Copetown when he saw a sign that caused him to pull off the road and weep uncontrollably. The sign had a wheel with 12 spokes, and it said, “Welcome to Copetown, the Hub of the universe.” He got out of the car and the Lord told him to look across the street. When he did, he saw an overgrown piece of property that looked abandoned from the road and the Lord said, “THIS is the land I am giving you.
Dr. Russ called pastor Mave and asked her to come and meet him at the campground. They entered the gates and spoke to a man who owned the property, who proceeded to tell them that he was planning to make the campground into a retirement community. He was very firm that this property was not for sale.
They asked him if they could come out to the property and pray and the man was very happy to let them do that. Dr. Russ and Pastor Mave took many teams from the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry to the property to pray and believe God together that this land would belong to the Kingdom. Many nights the teams prayed together that God would have his way and that a ministry would be birthed in the Hamilton area that would impact and change lives for God.
After a few months of visiting the property, praying and standing on the promise of God, Dr. Russ felt the time was right to call the owner of the property to see if he would reconsider selling the property. During the brief conversation over the phone, the owner mentioned that his wife had dreamed about the property and Dr. Russ invited them to the Ministry house for coffee. The wife shared her dream with them about how the property had missionaries all over and the flags of the Nations and many things that Dr. Russ and Pastor Mave already had in their mission statement for the property. They showed the couple the brochure they had put together according to the vision God had given then for what He wanted to do there. They were amazed that the brochure confirmed the dream she had. Dr. Russ told them that if they were going to do what her dream had revealed, they would stop everything and help them fulfill that dream, but if they were not going to make it happen, they should sell the property because that was what God wanted to do with it. At this point, they confirmed they were indeed going to sell them the property. They left that day with a promise from Dr. Russ and Pastor Mave to purchase the property for $600,000.00 and an assurance that they would have our lawyer contact them within a day or two. After they left, Mave spoke to Dr. Russ asking where they would get the money, to which Dr. Russ replied God had gotten them this far and wouldn’t let finances stop him.
DISCERN ME IN THE DETOURS
A deal was made over the next few days that put them in a place where they needed to trust God in greater ways than ever before. In just 90 days, they needed 25% of the purchase price in cash. As they brought their faithful team of prayer warriors around them, the Lord gave them a prophetic word: DISCERN ME IN THE DETOURS! Dr. Russ said that word couldn’t be God as they didn’t have time for detours. But, sure enough, that was indeed the Lord and throughout the next 90 days they took many detours until they arrived at the place where God had put all things in order, and they were able to fulfill the first part of the agreement to purchase the land.
In the summer of 2002, the campground opened for open air revival services. There were no nights that they were rained out or shut out, as all the meetings were held outdoors under the open sky. From July 1st, starting with the Parade of Nations, through Labour Day, many guest speakers were invited to bless the people of the surrounding areas. This was a kingdom property, and it was their desire to share it with all our brothers and sisters in the family of God. Michael Rubenstein, our much loved and appreciated Jewish lawyer who helped to secure the property was the first person we baptized in the lake at Summer Camp 2002!
In 2004 Eagle Worldwide acquired a 52’ x 100’ oval tent from Miami Oklahoma Tent Company and were able to hold all summer camp meetings indoors! A few years later, another similar tent was purchased to use the middle section to increase the seating capacity and create a 52’ x 150’ long oval tent with the outer ends used as a meeting round tent for other events. From 2004 through 2019, the Eagle Worldwide Retreat & Revival Centre held summer camp meetings every night from July through Labor Day, bringing anointed guest speakers from all over the world to minister to the Body of Christ. Apart from the nightly camp meetings, encounter schools such as School of the Prophets, Freedom and Deliverance and Healing Schools were held every summer to raise up and equip the saints for the work of ministry.
