Pastor Lestley Drake
Jul 1, 2025
Lestley Drake: Welcome to Birmingham Avenue, man. We’re here today at Hargis Retreat Center. Man, you are gonna be in for a great story. Today we’re gonna talk about the promised land. And I’m telling you, there is no better way to explain that than being here today to hear from my friend Aaron Knight, who is here with us to share a little part of his story. Aaron, I am just delighted to be able to do this with you. It is amazing to see what God has done here at this camp after all these years. We go way back. You’ve come to The Lovelady Center probably, what, 10 or 12 years ago?
Aaron Knight: Yeah, yeah. I would say I’ve preached there several times. I appreciate you coming out and being interested in the story of the camp.
Lestley: Man, it’s just amazing how God weaves lives together for a reason. I remember you telling me you pastored a church that you used to do something different in the parking lot. What was that again?
Aaron: The church I pastored was right beside the woods I lived in. When I was 18 years old, I was homeless and living in those woods—on drugs at the time. Later, I ended up pastoring that very church. That’s why we named it Redemption Church, because to be redeemed means to be restored to your original value and intent.
When I was 18 years old, I was homeless and living in those woods—on drugs at the time. Later, I ended up pastoring that very church.
Lestley: How long did you pastor that church?
Aaron: Almost seven and a half years.
Lestley: During that time, there was something going on with this camp, right? I remember you calling me about it.
Aaron: Yeah. Hargis has been around since the 1960s. Around 2019, it was sold to a developer, and we didn’t know what his intentions were. I began to pray out here at the camp. I grew up just a mile from here and started spending the night at the camp back in 1978, when I was five. It’s always been part of my life.
Lestley: The camp had been a Christian camp for a long time. Then the YMCA had it before it was sold?
Aaron: Yeah, the YMCA had it from 1999 to 2019, then sold it to a developer. That’s when I felt like the Holy Spirit was calling us to help save it, if there was an opportunity.
Lestley: You didn’t have a lot of money, but you had a lot of faith. Where did that faith come from?
Aaron: It started with a word. My wife and I were married by the lake right here. My original prayer was just to build a house where we got married. But as I stood by that bench by the lake in October 2018, I heard worship music from Cannon Hall and kids doing a Bible study about Daniel nearby. Then it hit me—God asked, “Why build a house when we could save the camp?”
Then it hit me—God asked, “Why build a house when we could save the camp?”
Lestley: So from that moment, how long did it take until the camp got saved?
Aaron: Long story short, we changed the direction of our prayers in November 2018. I didn’t tell many people. In July 2019, I brought our youth group to camp here. That was my first time camping here as a believer. We had around 250 kids and 33 decisions for Christ. It rocked me. That’s when I decided to approach the developer.
Lestley: And you brought a faith-based proposal to the developer?
I printed out this proposal and anointed it with oil. All 250 campers gathered in a worship session, surrounded the envelope, and prayed over it.
Aaron: Yeah, I printed out this proposal and anointed it with oil. All 250 campers gathered in a worship session, surrounded the envelope, and prayed over it. I took it to the developer’s office—no appointment—and met the secretary. She prayed with me in the kitchenette. But I didn’t hear anything back.
Lestley: But you didn’t stop.
Aaron: No. Every other week for 11 months, I brought Chick-fil-A biscuits and Krispy Kreme donuts to the office. I thought maybe bringing something of value would keep the door open.
Lestley: And during this time, I remember you called me. I shared your story with Chaplain Deborah at the Lovelady Center. She pulled out an envelope she’d had since the ‘80s—plans for a sequel to a book about Hargis called Somebody Might Come.
Aaron: That was wild. She didn’t know me, never been to the camp, yet she’d felt led to write a sequel called And They Still Shall Come. She had VCR tapes, cassette interviews—all in that envelope. Total God wink.
Lestley: That meeting was so confirming. You even brought in black and white photos of your family’s history at Hargis.
Aaron: Yeah. My great uncle Bill rode a horse from Wylam in 1937 and became best friends with the Hargis family. Our family’s been connected to this land for nearly 90 years.
Lestley: And I remember another phone call when you were on your lawn mower. My wife had just preached on Nehemiah, and I shared that with you.
Aaron: That wrecked me. Nehemiah had been my anchor—rebuilding something sacred. I was about to walk away, thinking maybe we were supposed to start fresh somewhere else. But your call brought me back.
I cut that grass for free, over two years—week after week—worshipping with the same song every time, “Let the Ruins Come to Life.”
From 2019 to 2021, I mowed the 25-acre grounds with my own lawn mower and on my own dime. I cut that grass for free, over two years—week after week—worshipping with the same song every time, “Let the Ruins Come to Life.” It became my altar, my offering, and my way of saying, “God, I still believe.”
And then in June 2021, the developer called.
Lestley: You got a lease-to-purchase agreement then?
Aaron: Yep. But it required raising $195,000 by Dec. 31, 2021—and $2.5 million total. When I saw the contract, I didn’t feel joy—just anxiety. But we started fundraising.
Lestley: And you reached out to local business owners?
Aaron: Yeah. I felt led not to do a GoFundMe, but to ask local businesses. Incredibly, by December 30, we had $196,000—$1,000 over.
Lestley: That’s amazing.
Aaron: Then we started rebuilding. Year one, we had over 5,000 campers. We needed $1.125 million that year, but didn’t hit the goal. In year two—2023—we were still $1.1 million short with just three months to go.
Lestley: But God showed up again.
Aaron: Yes. A couple invited us to dinner, then handed us a $600,000 check. That kickstarted everything. By December, we still owed $517,320.46. Five days before the deadline, we were still $250,000 out.
Then, something miraculous happened. On Saturday morning, I stood out in front of the cafeteria around 9:30 AM. I expected someone to drive in with a big check—but the first car down the hill was a child who gave $20 in change. Then someone gave $200. Then another gave $2,000. Then $10 in coins. From 9:30 AM until 5:30 PM, it never stopped. A steady stream of cars came, one after another. There was never a moment someone wasn’t handing me a donation while another waited.
The next day, Sunday, the same thing happened. I returned to the camp around 1 PM after church, and once again, cars came continuously until 5:30 PM. That night, my wife and I counted every gift—change, cash, checks. At 6:26 PM, we had $50,000 over what we needed.
Lestley: Paid in full.
Aaron: Paid in full.
Lestley: And today in 2025, this camp is thriving—people are being saved, air conditioning units are being installed. It’s a living miracle.
Aaron: Over 800 salvations and baptisms so far. And our vision stays the same: Make Jesus known.
Lestley: Aaron, would you close us out with a word for those holding onto promises and maybe feeling discouraged?
The best decision you’ll ever make is to follow Christ. If you’re walking through a desert season, or carrying a dream that seems impossible, don’t let go. Believe God for something so big that if He doesn’t show up, it’ll fail.
Aaron: The best decision you’ll ever make is to follow Christ. If you’re walking through a desert season, or carrying a dream that seems impossible, don’t let go. Believe God for something so big that if He doesn’t show up, it’ll fail.
Let me pray:
Aaron Knight’s Prayer:
“Father God, thank you so much, Lord, for this day. Father, I just thank you for every person that is listening today. Father, I just pray over them and their families, Lord, that if they’re speaking to the heart and they don’t know you, Lord, that you would draw them to you today through your Holy Spirit. And Father, I pray for each individual, Lord, if you put a dream in their heart—something to pursue, something that maybe even belongs to you, God—that they would have radical faith to follow that out.
Lord, regardless of time, regardless of how it looks in the physical and the natural, Lord, that you would be with them, would walk with them all the way to the point of what you have, where you have them be. And God, I pray for, Lord, each individual and each family that’s listening, Lord, yes, if they’ve gone through things like I might have gone through with substance abuse growing up, God, that you would release them from that.
Lord, that you would come in their life in different avenues and different ways—even through people. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Discover the full story and find out how you can be part of what God is doing at Hargis: hargischristiancamp.org
