Preparing the way

Willow man envisions Christian community

November 1, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

WILLOW - Brenda Goodson knows firsthand the need for sanctuary.

In 2002, she was released from an Anchorage halfway house and handed a fistful of money. It was raining. She headed to a bar, Goodson said. Then, she had a change of heart and decided she needed to leave Anchorage and heal.

Later, Goodson and a like-minded man, Shannon, decided to marry. They met Assembly of God pastor Joe Goodman, who performed the ceremony.

Many of his aspirations appealed to the newlyweds, Goodson said. and now that she has transformed her own life, she wants to reach out to others in need by helping Goodman fulfill his 20-year-old dream of building a Christian retreat with transitional-living cabins on 160 acres the pastor owns in Willow.

Goodson, Goodman and others in their group have been running out of money to get cabins built before the snow flies, and members of the group are helping thin out and remove trees in order to get a state Division of Forestry grant.

&#8220There's too many people out there who are going to spend the winter in tents. We want to help them. We want them to know how important they are,” Goodson said. &#8220It won't be a flophouse. We're here to re-enter them into society by giving them love.

&#8220We want to dedicate the land to help the hurting people who want to make a lifestyle change.”

Goodman, who owns property on both sides of the creek, said he dreams of designing a cable car to cross Willow Creek, providing people with a way of entering the wilderness for fasting-and-prayer sessions. He envisions a camp counselor's cabin on a shelf of land that offers a view of Mount McKinley and sees a Christian community based on honesty and responsibility.

He said he wants to build cabins that would provide people in transition with a winter home, and volunteers with a place to bunk in the summer.

&#8220The vision is still being shifted and changed,” Goodman said.

In 1986, Goodman and his wife, Pam, were working as assistant camp managers at Little Beaver Camp in Big Lake. Then, he had a vision of acquiring some acreage in Alaska and creating a place for a community of Christians.

In 1995, he found some property listed in the Penny Saver. For the next four years, he negotiated with the owner to buy the plot of land, and simultaneously with the Mat-Su Borough to get access from Willow Fishhook Road.

The autumn before the turn of the century, Goodman and his wife had cleared enough alders to move a camper onto their new property. They spent the first winter there.

Then, they began erecting a cabin to call home, and a greenhouse where they could grow vegetables.

In 2002, the Goodmans had a well drilled and a septic system put in. That same year, volunteers began a two-year project to build a trail to the prayer bench, overlooking a rocky gorge that drops 500 feet down to Willow Creek.

Electricity was extended to the property in the fall of 2003.

&#8220I have more plans than time and energy,” Goodman said. &#8220To me, it still doesn't seem like we've done a lot. When friends who visited the site three years ago came to see us this summer, they said ‘Wow! You've done so much work.'”

Goodman expressed some doubt that the homes will be up this year. There's still a lot of tree thinning to do, he said.

Goodson has ideas to make it happen - like having a Valley business sponsor the construction of a cabin. The business name would be on a plaque above the cabin door.

The owners of Valley Park and Sell, where her husband works, have agreed to donate a portion of their vehicle sales toward material to build the cabins, Goodson said.

&#8220Christ lived among the hurting people. I don't know how many hurting people are out there. But I know of five or six teenage kids who are bunking together in one apartment,” she said. &#8220When you have people who believe in you, it gives you more ambition and you believe in yourself. We're not going to push Jesus on them, but they'll feel his love here.”

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252 or dawn.debusk@ frontiersman.com.