- Those circuit riders lit a fire
that became America'ssecond great awakening.
Christians camped outby the thousands to hear
these traveling evangelists.
In 1818, seekers andthe saved began to meet
in an Ohio valley by acreek known as Hollow Rock.
So imagine, these summer camp meetings
at Hollow Rock have been going on
for 200 solid years without a break,
and it was a lot harderto get here in the 1800s.
Back then, the road ran rightalong the Hollow Rock run,
and you had to ford it seventimes to get to the campground.
Sheron Brookes Woodruff hasbeen coming here 75 years,
and her ancestors long before that.
- My grandmother actuallycame in a horse and buggy.
- [Paul] Same for LynnCampbell's ancestors.
- My grandmother's grandparents came here
and generation after generation.
- [Paul] Traveling evangelistLane Loman's father
preached here 15 different years,
and Lane is drawn back over and over.
- And what the secret is,
they hand it down to the next generation.
- [Paul] Mel Truex has presidedover the camp since 1977.
- This'll be the eighthor ninth generation
of families that have madethis place what it is.
♪ Oh he is my soul ♪
- [Paul] At three tabernacles,half a dozen services
bring the faithful together to worship
and hear the word each day.
♪ Be still with his glory ♪
And at 1:15 p.m. without fail,
(bell ringing)the camp bell rings out
and everyone stops what they're doing
to pray for several minutes.
Many have met Jesus Christ here.
Many have let him heal their broken lives.
Truex remembers the conversion of one man
whose marriage had fallen apart.
- And he said, "Oh my."
He said, "There's my wifethat I've separated from."
And she found Jesus too,and they met together,
and in a few months they remarried.
- [Paul] Prayer circles often break out
to take needs to the Lord.
- You can share things and you know
that when people say,"I'm praying for you,"
they are praying for you.
- [Paul] Kids and teens love coming,
even if they're cut off fromtheir usual online life.
- We don't have a pool,we don't have internet,
they can't play their games,
we're so concentratedon seeking God's will.
His holy spirit willjust permeate this place
in such a way that we do feellike we're on holy ground.
- [Paul] Campbell remembers as a kid,
she could hardly wait toget back to Hollow Rock.
- I packed a week beforecamp, I was ready to come!
- [Paul] On lifelong camp-goersaid said he offered his kids
Disney World or Hollow Rock one summer.
They all shouted, "Hollow Rock!"
- I see a hunger, a new hunger,especially in young people,
for something that'sgoing to take them beyond
just going to church,just being a nice person.
But wanting to be holy, andwanting to be right with God.
- [Paul] All agree it's thecamp's 200 year emphasis
on holiness that is at theheart of Hollow Rock's success.
- God said, "Be holy for I am holy."
- So we receive freedomfrom the power of sin.
That's what we get in thatbeautiful relationship
that's untainted by anyessence of sin in our lives.
- It's just totally died out to the self
and things that would distract from having
that relationship with him.
- [Lane] We can actually live,
choose to live above willfulsin, and that's freedom.
- And when you find that relationship,
you realize his ways are best.
Why would I try to tell anawesome God how he oughta do it,
even though sometimes we do.
- Develop a hunger for God,
there's no end to what God can do.
- [Paul] Those at Hollow Rock do seek
to change the world for Christ.
In the meantime, they're happyto bask in what's right here.
- There's just something about this place.
When you walk onto the campus,you just have that peace.
That calming, you know,God's present is here.
- Evangelist John Brasherso loved Hollow Rock,
he preached here again andagain, across half a century.
When he was near death
and could no longer come here physically,
he sent a letter to theHollow Rock congregation,
writing, "Tell the trees, the hills,
"the rambling little creek,the bubbling springs,
"that the old preacherloves them very much.
"They are like music in my memory."
It's now an American memory
that stretches a solid 200 years.
Paul Strand, CBN News,
reporting from theHollow Rock camp in Ohio.
