The Baptists in Arkansas must have heard about Paisano and Palacios for they purchased 200 acres of land from the Masonic Lodge at Siloam Springs in 1925. It had a spring and live creek running through the grounds. They paid $10,000. "Siloam", as it was called, was used mainly for adults.
After World War II Siloam began to change toward summer youth camps. As a teen-ager in Fort Smith my first church camp experience was there. It was a beautiful place. Hundreds of kids and adults came from all over Arkansas. We would eat in a huge dining hall and hear music and sermons from an open-sided tabernacle. You could even bring a blanket and sit on the ground. There were classes all morning on different subjects. Missionaries would come from all over the world. I remember one, Orvil (sp) Reid from Mexico. He was a physical specimen and allowed blocks to be broken on his chest with a sledge hammer!
My gang of guys were interested most...not in the missions or preaching...but in girls! They were from everywhere, and we would win them all! To do that we had secret weapons brought from Fort Smith. They were BOW TIES! These bow ties had little wires and batteries that ran to our pockets. Built into each side of the tie was a red light. You could press a button in your pocket and the red lights in the tie would flash. It was a girl attractant better than Old Spice!. Of course you were selective where you flashed it. You also had to have something to say after they giggled and pointed at your tie. I wonder what happened to those ties?
It was also at Siloam where I first went to a Sunday movie! That was strictly forbidden at home. On a Sunday afternoon some of us walked into Siloam Springs and decided to see a movie. It was "Blood And Sand". I was with a girl. I felt so guilt stricken I feared the building would burn or the end of the world would come. Haven't done that again! I ended up, with all my guilt, being baptized again after going back to Fort Smith. My wise old Pastor tried to talk me out of it but I went ahead. Later I came to realize my conversion was at nine and my real baptism was in a little lake or pond near Cavanaugh Baptist Church. Being a teen-ager was not easy back then, either, when it came to right and wrong.
Some of our preachers were flaming evangelists. Others were very interesting and easy to listen to. One of those was a man named Chester Swor. He was great with one-liners. I still have one of his books. He had a nasal voice, not very loud. He was a little guy but could get your attention and also make you laugh.
Our camp song was something like this:
O, next to my home I love you Siloam
In the land of a million smiles
It's great to know you and just to show you
We have come for miles and miles
To see the moon-light softly glowing
The night birds calling in the tree-top, over by the bubbling spring
Surely God in His great love
Sent you down from heaven above
O, I hate to go home
Siloam, I love you.
My batteries ran down so we had to go. Those are memories from Siloam back in the late forties. Just a few years later as a college student and summer youth minister I would be driving an old school bus from Brinkley, Arkansas, loaded with kids on the way to SILOAM.
