ChallengePoint (n.)- the point that lies just beyond one's comfort zone, unreachable without sacrifice, unattainable without growth, where courage is tested and hopes are realized.

Much has happened over the past decade since ChallengePoint was founded. This page is dedicated to those who have helped CP get to where it is now, and to those who will help ChallengePoint get to where God leads in the future.

We hope you enjoy this glimpse into our volunteer staff and our ministry. Select a category to learn more:

PAST HISTORY

FUTURE PLANS

STAFF

The Road Less Traveled...

- narrated by Larry Alexander

"Dream big
because you serve
a big God"...

That quote had been on my wall ever since my mom had cross stitched it and framed it back in 1996. It had actually been on my wall even earlier, but only as a scribbled note in my bedroom that I woke up to each morning. I start off by mentioning it, because it has been a daily reminder throughout this seven year journey, and even before the beginning.

When ChallengePoint first began can be argued. Some may say it was when we had our first gig, or when we first created the name, or when we officially incorporated. In my eyes, it started just before all of that...

It was a snowy December night in Knoxville, Tennessee. The year was 1997. I remember the moon was full and its light reflected off the snow making the night enchantingly bright. Jim and I had both just returned from visiting our families over Christmas break. I worked as an adventure-based counselor and had to return to work the next day while Jim was a student at the University of Tennessee working on his masters in architecture and had returned early to work on a class project.
It was on that night that he shared with me an idea that had engrossed his thoughts all throughout Christmas break. When he shared it with me, I was enthralled at what I was hearing. I too had been bouncing the idea around in my head, but had yet to really entertain it. It was that night as we put our partial ideas together that a dream was sparked.

 

It wasn't long after that night, that through some friendly connections we were asked to provide some teambuilding activities for the East Brainard Church of Christ youth group out of Chattanooga. We did so, and the response was overwhelming. We knew we had something that people needed.
The next few months were a whirlwind of activity. We shared our vision with a few people we knew would grab on to it and make it their own. These were people we knew and trusted, people who had character, talent and a love for ministry. Among them were Paul McCown, Todd Evans, and Rebecca Self Fischer - each of whom shared a passion for the kind of work that ChallengePoint came to embody.
I began creating the "meat" of our program. I had been through numerous retreats and had a wide experience on what was ineffective. That knowledge along with my training and experience as an adventure-based counselor helped to create our original retreat layout. The coat of arms was drawn up as a representation of what our program would cover.
The most difficult thing during that time was giving this dream a name. For the longest we had just been calling it "The Great Adventure," but knew we wanted something different, something fitting. We took a number of weekend trips for inspiration. It was one evening following a trip to Cumberland Falls in Kentucky that one name hit me. I added it to the other names I had contemplated that weekend and then started eliminating them. I eventually came down to three and put them on the refrigerator. When Jim returned home from studying he noticed the names and pointed out the one I had thought up that evening. We checked the internet, searching to see if it was being used by anyone. The search came up negative. And so ChallengePoint came into being.

That summer in August of 1998, ChallengePoint performed its first retreat. We worked with the college-aged students at Berry's Chapel Church of Christ.. The retreat took place near Livingston, TN in a privately owned rustic lodge. We worked for free (it was still a test run). The results once again were better than we had expected and fueled our passion to continue.
Though we didn't technically get paid, Wayne Howell came up and gave us a $100 bill - just as his way to say thanks. It was that $100 that we used to file the paperwork and officially become incorporated. Thank you Wayne.
That fall, we introduced our program to the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Smoky Mountains. We offered a weekly program to the centers in Sevierville and in Pigeon Forge. This gave us a means to continue to fine tune our activities and train our facilitators.

In 2000, we continued to grow, actually doing more than double what we had the year before.
We returned to Winterfest that year debuting the infamous ChallengePoint Mountain - a twelve foot tall mountain built of foam and pipe. At that point we had planned to use it just that one time. I reality, it made numerous appearances and became known as the place to meet and gather your youth group. No matter where we were at, everyone could see the Mountain.
We had our first rock climbing outing with Forest Mills Church of Christ from Manchester, TN. (I doubt they knew that at the time).
We also did our first 5-day backpacking trip with Newnan Church of Christ from Newnan, GA. I remember Lance Hendrick calling me up and asking if we did backpacking. I knew I had backpacked extensively, even working one summer as a backpack counselor. I even had my Wilderness First Responder training, so I said yes and we rented the equipment and did the deed. After that I knew I wanted backpacking as a part of the ChallengePoint adventure.
This was also the year that we formed a strong relationship with Boy Scout Troop 205 of Knoxville. Their Scout master, Bob Hilzinger believed strongly in our program and was the first to truly incorporate our program into his troop's annual curriculum. It was a relationship where we mutually benefited. They loved a challenge and thus challenged me to create new adventures. Trek 300's (adventure hikes) were perfected on this group of young men.
Lindsay Alexander, my sister, joined on to volunteer her summers and became the first member of our soon to be most vital "summer crew".
In August of 2000, I lost my grandmother June Watts. She had been a supporter of our dream from the beginning. She believed strongly in God and what he could do through her grandson. Without her support in those first two and a half years, ChallengePoint may not have made it to reality.

 

In 2001, our opportunities to impact others once again doubled. Not only were we picking up new clients we were holding on to those who had used us in the past. ChallengePoint made her largest purchase to date - a new trailer. No more borrowing from the local lawnmower boy. Our teambuilding equipment had grown vastly and it was much needed. This also meant we could build bigger obstacles for our activities without fear of how we were going to transport them.
Another milestone in 2001 occurred on the same date as the greatest world tragedy in recent history. The name ChallengePoint officially became a registered trademark. We received the official document from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in late September. It was dated September 11th, 2001.

 

In 2002, ChallengePoint experienced a number of major changes. At the beginning of the year she became a 501c3 nonprofit organization capable of receiving grants and tax deductible donations. We had worked the entire year before to make this possible. We knew that for ChallengePoint to continue to grow in the future we would need other individuals to contribute their gifts to this vision.
It was during this year that we felt a major change in our staff. At the end of 2001 a number of our crew had gotten married and moved off, starting new jobs and families. Their ability to volunteer for ChallengePoint was greatly diminished. It was this shift that brought about the need for summer interns. Jane Hollingsworth and Lance Roggendorff became the first to answer the call.
ChallengePoint made a major address change in the spring to Huntsville, AL. Jim got a job there and I was not about to stay in Knoxville and try and run the business without him. So, in May I quit my job at Mountain View Youth Development Center and moved back home to Alabama. We quickly learned the new central location put us closer to our regular customers.
At the end of 2002 we became the owners of our own backpacking equipment. No more renting. It had taken almost five years, but we now had all the main equipment we needed.

 

In 2003 we began early with a number of youth rallies where we taught encounter classes. Little did we know then that this would become a regular part of our ministry. These events became arenas where we could test out new ways to effectively reach our audience. We made it a goal to make these classes truly "Encounter" classes. Jim kicked off the year with a totally revamped web site that could grow with our program. Along with the web site came the Trail Peddler, our first on-line store to sell CP paraphernalia. T-shirts, caps, and key chains were our big line up. Kevin Pollock from a territory called Missouri became our intern that summer working alongside Lindsay, Jane, Jim and myself. Along with numerous retreats we worked three camps that year. Somewhere during all that we decided we really liked working camps and made it a part of our regular menu. That was not the only change to our arsenal of activities. We replaced our lock-ins and games events with more issue oriented challenges, such as men's outings, leadership retreats, and mission workshops.
In the Fall the Mountain display officially bit the dust and the Tower was created to replace it. At a height of over 15 feet, we first displayed it at a Youth Specialties conference in St. Louise, Missouri. There is a saying that the sixth year is the most difficult. 2003 was a growing pain, but it was a needed growth.

 

2004 began with Kevin heading to Iraq in January. We knew he would be gone for at least the next year. In February we were invited to be a part of Winterfest over Gatlinburg, the youth rally we had originally debuted at. With 12,000 participants, it became the largest group I had ever spoken to. We also got to be a part of the planning, which was exciting.We began the Challenge Series - a year round plan of activities for a youth group to grow. In the spring we worked for the first time in North Carolina and Missouri bringing our total to 12 states we had impacted. In the summer Ashley Childs, Patrick Flanagan, and Jeff Swindell joined our crew as interns. We worked six church camps, doubling the number from the year before. We also did our tenth backpacking trip, which now included caving and a rappel. Lindsay and I fought over whether there should be pink CP t-shirts. Lindsay won and they became our biggest sales item that year. I was devastated. At the end of the summer our entire staff gathered to be in a wedding as Jim and the former Jennifer Jackson were married. After a busy Fall that included our first band camp, the year came to a close with me teaching a class at Youth In Action, a youth rally in Birmingham, AL that I attended as a teen.

 

Kevin returned home from Iraq this January. God has taken care of him and it was not long before he was back assisting us with retreats, camps, and backpacking trips. That summer we brought on board Daniel Clark from Abilene and Matthew Vollrath and Pam Webb from Lipscomb as our interns. Ashley Childs returned as our Lead Women's Facilitator. We did two backpacking trips, and seven camps without stopping. We ended the summer once again at a wedding. Lindsay Alexander married Kevin Welch, a youth minister from Smyrna Church of Christ who we had worked with the summer before.

During the early spring of 2005, ChallengePoint's directors got together and discussed the fact that our effectiveness as a summertime and weekend ministry had reached it's maximum limit. ChallengePoint was booked solid as a volunteer operated mobile ministry. We decided it was time to move to the next level which would require financially supported full-time staff and our own facilities.We knew that if we were going to do a fundraising campaign, we would have to do so in true ChallengePoint fashion. The idea of an Appalachian Trail thru-hike became the center of our fundraising campaign.

 

 

2006 was all about hiking the Appalachian Trail and raising funds to purchase land for a future Retreat Center. Following a busy Spring filled with retreats, Larry and Jane hit the Trail on April 1st in Georgia. to hike 2,175 miles across fourteen states to reach Mount Katahdin in Maine. The journey took them161 days ending on September 8th. Out of the several hundred who set out to hike the entire distance in one year, less than 20 % finish.

During the hike, Larry and Jane maintained a trail journal so people could keep up with their progress.This was not the only means of advertising, though. ChallengePoint undertook a major mail out campaign and also worked to get our story told in several newspapers and other publications.

Many ChallengePoint participants took part in a penny campaign where they were challenged to raise five million pennies, equal to the number of steps it takes to hike the Appalachian Trail. At the end of 2006,we have yet to account for all the pennies collected. We do know that we are officially beyond the quarter mark of our goal.

 

 

 

 

 

ChallengePoint resumed normal operations in 2007, continuing team-building retreats and treks with familiar faces and many new ones. The fundraising continues, and the momentum of the "Trek for the Future" continues to impact ChallengePoint's ongoing mission and future plans.

Its been over 10 years since that snowy December night in 1997, and what first came to us as a unreachable thought has become a reality. But this dream has not yet reached its fullness. The vision continues to grow and that is a wonderful thing. It has not been a free joy ride. It definitely requires sacrifice, but anything worth its grain comes at a cost. We will continue to dream big, because we know Who we serve.

 

 

In January of 2002, ChallengePoint, Inc. became a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. This was just another step in reaching our dream of operating from our own facilities. In 1999, staff member Jim Ellis published a Master's thesis based on a camp that would serve the therapeutic needs of a program like ChallengePoint. Along with an Adventure Center, Group Lodge, and Ropes Course, an important component of the camp will be a Mission Village which will provide a virtual setting and conditions that groups will likely face on short-term missions.
We believe that having a place to call home will provide us with greater opportunities to serve more groups that seek the benefits of adventure programs. As a ministry, having a permanent facility is vital to our role of reaching as many as possible. With Christ as our foundation, we know that this vision will become a reality.

The fundraising effort now underway - to raise money for the purchase of land - is a huge step in the process of developing a premanent retreat center. Once Land has been acquired, the building program will begin. The ChallengePoint Christian Retreat Center would be home to year-round retreat programs, summer camps, and a mission training program. We share this vision with you and ask for your continued prayer support as we take steps to make this vision a reality.

 

"Point"men (and women) are selected because they embody the very principles that ChallengePoint teaches. Character, vision, communication skills, teamwork, and leadership are not elements that can be taught without practicing them personally. Along with such virtues one must also have the heart of an adventurer. Does this mean all our staff must be willing to climb mountains and delve into caves? No. We have specific staff trained for that, but all of our staff must be willing to journey beyond their comfort zones where they can learn and grow. It is for that reason that training is an on-going process. Project Adventure, Experiential Educators Association, and other experts in the field are continual sources for education.

Due to our concerns for safety, our staff certifications include the following: CPR, First Aid, Anaphylaxis and Exposure Control, and Wilderness First Responder training through the Wilderness Medical Associates.

Feel free to contact our staff simply by clicking on their names.

• Larry Alexander - Originally from Jasper, AL he graduated Lipscomb University in 1995 with a degree in Psychology and Exercise Physiology. Larry now serves as Program Director, facilitator and guide.
• Ashley Childs - A student at Florida State University, Ashley served as one of our interns during the summer of 2004, and now assists as a facilitator and guide.
• Daniel Clark - A graduate student at Abilene University working on his Masters in Psychology, Daniel interned during the summer of 2005 and now serves as a facilitator and consultant.
• Jim Ellis - Originally from Owensboro, KY, he graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1998 with a Masters in Architecture and now lives in Huntsville, AL as an architect. An original founder of ChallengePoint, Jim serves as a Director, facilitator, guide, web designer, editor and everything else.
• Jennifer Ellis - A teacher in Grant, AL, she is presently working on her Masters in Education. Jennifer assists in managing the everyday chaos of ChallengePoint.
• Patrick Flanagan - A student at Freed Hardeman University who is studying to be a preacher, Patrick served as an intern during the summer of 2004 and now helps out as a guide and facilitator.
• Jane Hollingsworth - A graduate from Freed Hardeman University, she now operates her own business in Nashville, TN and coaches basketball. Jane joined ChallengePoint through our internship program in the summer of 2002 and now serves as a Director, facilitator and guide.
• Kevin Pollock - Serving as a U.S. soldier in the Missouri National Guard, Kevin just recently returned from Iraq. Kevin joined us in 2003 as a summer intern and now assists as a facilitator and guide.
• Jeff Swindell - A graduate of Lipscomb University with a Master's in Education from Belmont University, Jeff is now a teacher in Shelbyville, TN. Jeff served as an intern during the summer of 2004 and now assists with his facilitation and writing skills.
• Matthew Vollrath - A graduate of Lipscomb University, Matthew is presently in China teaching English. Originally from Marysville, Ohio, Matthew interned during the summer of 2005 and once he returns from China will serve as a facilitator and guide.
• Pamela Webb - A graduate of Lipscomb University with a Masters in Business from the University of Tennessee, Pam now lives in Nashville and serves as a facilitator, guide and consultant.
• Lindsay Welch - Presently a teacher in Smyrna, TN., she is also working on her Master's in Education at the University of Alabama Birmingham. Lindsay joined ChallengePoint in 2000 and serves as a facilitator and Director.