On a quiet night you can hear the tap tap tap as a man kneels at the cross and hammers a nail deep into its base. Only he and God know what that nail represents, and the prayer that has so intensely gone before.
History
We have now planted 2 crosses - the first stands at the top of Agape Farm. The second was planted during the 2024 AdventureFest and is located at Boyers Pond Campground directly behind 3C's Church overlooking the lake. There are thousands of nails hammered into the cross at Agape, with stainless steel bolts as a reminder of those who have journeyed home on the path to be with our Father in heaven.
#2 The cross that stands at Boyers Pond Campground was planted on June 9th after being built just that weekend. We didn't want to relocate the original cross, because that had become sacred ground so we decided to build a new one. Men from all walks of life hammered nails into that cross during AdventureFest 2024. It was built by Stephen Keefer, and planted on a wet cool Sunday morning by Stephen Keefer, Greg Nass, Mark Sauers, Larry Dieter, Glenn Wilds, and Bob Anderson. Bob unfortunately passed away several days later in a horrible cycling accident and will be remember June 8th 2025 with the installation of a stainless steel screw by close friends. There is no doubt that Bob was saved by Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit and is now riding bicycles with Jesus in heaven. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
#1 The cross that stands at Agape Farm near the lookout has had a long journey getting to its current and final resting area. The cross was originally built in 2012 by Brian Loizes and was used for our annual weekend gathering at Raystown Lake - AdventureFest which has become known as "the greatest salty meat, campfire cooking, Jesus praising weekend ever".
In the early days we used to construct and transport the Cross back and forth each year to the festival from Pittsburgh to Raystown. We would also carry it to each location for speakers and preachers...sometimes walking it down the road through the campground to the church building near the park office (pictured below). We would get a lot of onlookers and passerby's who would ask about the cross.
This went on for three years before we finally decided that we needed a larger more private location. In 2014 we prayed as a group for a new larger location to hold AdventureFest, and we asked for a large farm with a barn and endless fields that would allow us to praise His name at all hours of the night. A place that would let us burn as many fires as we wanted, as big as we wanted. A place with no rangers to bother us in the middle of the night. God answered our prayers and brought us to Agape Farm, maintained by the good people of Jesus Ministries. They welcomed us with open arms and have made it possible to host and grow AdventureFest. So, we planted the cross in April of 2016 after successfully hosting our first AdventureFest there and knowing that this was our home for the foreseeable future. The people who planted the cross are; Matt Grand, Tom Fedesco, Cici Fedesco, Carissa Fedesco, Greg Nass, Shannon Nass, Naomi Nass, Charlotte Nass, and Sam Matteo.
Matthew 16:24-26 (ESV)Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Cross #1 @ Agape Farm
Cross #2 @ Boyers Pond Campground
