Our Story

Since the early 1990s, we quietly nurtured a dream to have a property that would be a place of temporary housing for pastors and other leaders to get away from their duties for several weeks or months of refreshment. Our file collected brochures and information about dozens of such sabbatical houses around the country. Dave’s 2006 book, Inspirit Revolution, was an expression of this calling to refresh leaders.

For more than 15 years, whenever we saw a property for sale, we assesed its potential for our "leader retreat" that one day would be a reality. Our visionary checklist looked like this:

• Enough sleeping rooms with private baths for several couples or a family with children to have personal space. A kitchenette would be a plus.
  
• Several great room spaces for a library, computer, Wifi and study
  area for writing.
  
• Space for cultivating art, music or other creative recreation activities
  that cultivate a healthy identity beyond leadership tasks; "being" in addition to "doing."
  
• A large enough dining room to share community meals with those who stay
  with us.
  
• A peaceful, wooded location with easy access to walking trails, fishing,
  bike riding and enjoying nature.
  
• A vegetable garden where sabbatical guests can be involved in organically growing things; caring for plants that is life-giving and kingdom revealing.
  
• A place quiet enough to be restful, but also close to major highway arteries for travel and university resources.
  
• A regional location that would allow us to continue fully in our current responsibilities, specifically for Carol’s teaching in Penn Manor School District and for Dave to easily connect to the HopeNet churches and their leaders.

And here we are; this is a description of Quiet River Cottage! God amazingly provided everything according to the vision he gave us.

Our Vision

By designing this creative environment, and by using Carol’s gifts of hospitality and refreshment and Dave’s gifts of encouragement and vision renewal, and most of all by God’s grace, we envision…

• weary pastors reignited with passion for God’s call on their lives.
  
• leadership couples and families reconnected with each other during extended time together.
  
• significant resources and books created by leaders who had the time to write.
  
• reestablishment or discovery of recreation activities that are life-giving compliments to ministry.
  
• healing and restoration of confidence to be used of God in
  his Kingdom