about the adirondacks

The Adirondack Mountain region covers one-fifth of New York State—an area the size of Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island combined. 132,000 people live here—plus 110,000 seasonal residents – people who were created in the image of God and need the salt and light of Jesus. 

The Adirondack Park contains six million acres and is within a day’s drive for seventy million people in the US and Canada. Within the park’s borders are both public and private lands; approximately 2.5 million acres are protected public land, and 3.5 million acres are privately owned. This combination makes the region unique, and fuels ongoing tension between forces that seek environmental protection and those that seek development. When combined with harsh winters and people who are geographically dispersed, this is a very tough region to do the work of ministry. But God loves the people of the Adirondacks!

Through the work of ADK Mission, we have witnessed a disturbing trend: rural churches are often overlooked my modern culture as pastors leave and communities of faith shut their doors for the last time. Since pastors and leaders in this region are isolated and working in an area where ministry is extremely difficult, they quickly become weary and discouraged. Many arrive with prior experience, but soon realize that strategies which are successfully employed in other parts of the country simply do not work in this uniquely post-Christian, rural context. 

Persevering in the work of ministry amid these challenges was the focus of Colin’s five years of doctoral research at Fuller Theological Seminary, which led to the development of the Godly GRIT® framework.