The Board of Directors at Ridge Haven went with an experienced administrator who is well known in denominational circles to serve as the new Executive Director of the Ridge HavenConference Center, located near Brevard, North Carolina.

Wallace Anderson, a PCA ruling elder, has served in administrative roles at Covenant Seminary, Mission to the World, and – most recently – at CovenantCollege where he had been Vice President of Enrollment Management.

Anderson, having just passed the PCA Theological Examining Committee testing, was contacted Monday evening in his Ridge Haven office for a phone interview, as he was trying to sort out his priorities, working late on his first day.

“Where do I start? Getting people interested in Ridge Haven,” shared Anderson as he discussed the need to do both fundraising and church relations. “The conferences do well enough, but we need to get people interested in the camping experience Ridge Haven can offer.” It is his plan to make that his emphasis, especially with potential donors. He believes that many of the men and women making giving decisions have a history with Christian camping as young people and know how important those events are in the lives of their grandchildren.

Having heard the rumors circulating in PCA circles about the desire to sell off Ridge Haven, Anderson feels certain there is no immediate pressure to move in that direction. “If we do well in increasing revenue and ministry opportunity, those rumors will go away.”

He feels confident that, while there have been resignations of staff over the past year, those who remain have high morale and view their efforts as a ministry, not just a job. The Board of Directors ‘was completely transparent’ during his interview. He knows what he is walking into. As they left the meeting, his wife counseled “these are men you can work with!”

Anderson will commute weekly from his home in the Chattanooga area for the next 18 months (except for the summer, when the whole family will take up residence at Ridge Haven). This will allow his children to finish high school and then he and his wife can more easily relocate.

Finding himself living as a non-Christian in New York City in the early 1980s, Anderson’s sister kept sending him books written by Francis Schaeffer. After months of struggling with trying to refute the message of the gospel, he was converted.

He joined the historic Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, but shortly thereafter, during the Easter season, the church offered separate services for those who believed in a literal resurrection and those who believed in a spiritual resurrection. This dichotomy drove him to a desire to study theology, and he ended going to Covenant Seminary to take one semester of courses – which resulted in 11 years in St. Louis as both a student (MDiv and MA) and serving on staff in enrollment management positions.

He holds a Bachelor of Music from Georgia Southern and a Master of Music from ButlerUniversity in Indianapolis. (His story of moving from music to the restaurant business will have to wait for another day.)
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Don K. Clements, The Aquila Report