THE NEXT 10 YEARS AT NEW WATER

For farm manager Keith Johnson, New Water is an opportunity to explore a call to fulltime ministry

STORY BY BETSY ILER & PHOTOS BY KENNETH BOONE

LLake Martin’s New Water Farms has implemented a plan for its second 10 years that includes greater visibility in the community, a new propagation greenhouse and farm manager and a renewed commitment to leadership development, marriage enrichment programs and individual spiritual growth. The nonprofit ministry-focused farm also hopes to grow its partnership with Auburn Community Church. And to help fund the growth, the New Water board will open the next phase of residential development on property above the Dadeville grounds. New Water began 10 years ago as a working farm and training facility for missionaries and discipleship leaders. Through the years, the farm grew to include a lodge for guests and an event space for weddings, meetings and workshops, along with an outdoor chapel. “It was sort of a ‘farminary’ – seminary that happens on the farm,” explained Birmingham dermatologist Dr. Chris Harmon, a member of the New Water Farms Board of Directors. “It was the kind of thing where you can study passages in Matthew where Jesus says, ‘I am the vine; you are the branches.’ And when you couple that with working in the vineyard, it becomes much more tangible.”

New Water also forged a relationship with the Tallapoosa County Sheriffs’ Girls Ranch, a residential program that provides a stable home environment for neglected and abused young girls. Farm staff and volunteers teach the girls to plant, care for and harvest vegetables, and house parents teach the girls to prepare the harvest for the table. The commercial side of the farm – growing, harvesting and making preserves, jellies, salsa, syrup and honey – helps to fund farm activities and operational expenses, as well as offer a segue to community relations and the ministries at New Water. The new 10-year plan was formed on the basis of a board retreat with Atlanta town builder Rob Parker, who recently purchased a New Water cottage home with his wife, Stephanie. The couple discovered Lake Martin’s New Water Farm while exploring the lake on jet skis last year.

“The ministry at New Water was such a draw for us,” Parker said. “We were committed to our church life in town and didn’t want to miss that, but with New Water, lake life became a possibility.”

During the retreat, board members were encour-

The new propagation house will grow plants that will be for sale at the farm stand

With the original neighborhood development complete, more lots will be released on adjacent property to help fund the farm's mission

aged to look at the farm’s unique assets and ministries with respect to the first 10 years and summarize what they cared about.

“That is having a life impact. Then, we figured out what we should say ‘yes’ to,” Parker explained.

During its initial tenure, New Water developed strong community relations on the east side of Lake Martin through the use of farm facilities for weddings, chamber of commerce events, church services, school events, meetings, workshops and more. To expand community relations opportunities, a farm stand and retail kitchen are under construction at the intersection of county Road 34 and Civitan Road.

The rock, timber and glass building will include a small warehouse space and an outdoor area for dining and gathering. A small greenhouse near the farm stand also is planned. The farm stand area will help to fund additional new construction and programs through the

sale of plants and New Water’s product line from harvests. “The farm stand broke ground in July, and the goal is to be ready to open in spring 2022,” Parker said. “The farm stand is part of the sustainable philanthropy concept of farm to table, events The farm stand on county Road 34 will give New Water more visibility in the community and our desire to share healthy, good quality products. It gives us a presence on county Road 34 and will help us build community relations.” At the lakeside farm proper, a new farm manager came on board last month and will work to grow the ministries and harvest there. Keith Johnson, a Kennesaw, Georgia, native, graduated Wheaton College with a degree in business and economics. The 26-year-old worked for a local general contractor for three years but moved to Magic City Woodworks in Birmingham when he felt it was time to explore a call to ministry. “My whole reason for being here is to help grow the ministry side of New Water. They already have an awe-

some ministry established, and I hope to be able to use the farm as a platform for ministry,” Johnson said.

Central to his call to ministry, Johnson said, is the idea of being father to the fatherless.

“I think that’s influenced by the fact that I have an incredible father figure in my life,” he added.

He looks forward to meeting and working alongside the Girls Ranch residents and being a positive male figure in their lives and exploring his own call to fulltime service.

Johnson’s wife of three years, Makenzie, will complete dental studies next spring, and the couple hopes to settle into local life.

“Being farm and facilities manager at New Water is a whole lot of everything. It’s part of the parable of the talents. What am I going to do with the bag of talents God has given me?” he said.

One aspect of that mission will be caring for a 30-foot by 96-foot propagation greenhouse that went up last month and is being outfitted with fans, tables and shelves. This space will be used to raise plants that could be sold in the farm stand. Vegetables also could be grown here, with excess harvest sold in the farm stand, Harmon said.

“We put the fruit farm in with a strategy in mind for six months of harvest. Blackberries at the end of May; blueberries to soon follow until mid-July. Then, pears come into season; followed by figs and muscadines. The last crop are Asian persimmons in November and early December,” Harmon explained. “The farm stand will include a coffee shop, a sandwich shop and gift shop. It moves our front door to a busier street.”

Proceeds from the stand will help to fund other aspects of the board’s new 10-year plan, which further defines the farms’ three most critical missions, Harmon said.

“Individual spiritual growth, with retreats and mentoring opportunities. Marriage health – not just a venue for doing weddings, but also offering marriage enrichment and perhaps some pre-marital programs. And leadership – training missionaries, which we’ve done a lot of – as well as business or corporate leadership training,” he explained.

Harmon said the board hopes to offer a leadership conference in the Lake Martin community early next year.

In keeping with the farm’s Christian perspective and mission, and in response to COVID-19 protocols, Auburn Community Church began holding Sunday services at New Water’s lodge last year, said Cheryl Bell, a New Water cottage owner and member at ACC.

“The relationship really was birthed out of COVID19, and churches were trying to figure out how to gather together. My community group – because we live right there at New Water – met with some others and did church online on the porch. As people moved out to the lake, there was more of a need for the church to have a presence at Lake Martin,” Bell explained.

The church now meets at 9 a.m. in the lodge on Sundays and attracts between 75 and 150 people per service. In addition, church members volunteer at the farm, picking berries, pulling weeds and helping with special events.

“It allows us to partner with the vision of New Water and plug in to the community of Lake Martin in Dadeville,” Bell said. “With the New Water vision as a place that restores the heart and a place where we can encounter Jesus, it makes sense for a church to come alongside the space that’s there and offer something to Dadeville.”

Shortly after New Water began operations, 16 lots on the farm’s perimeter were offered for development with amenities that included a pond and a community pool. Those amenities have been installed, and the last of the 16 original lots has been sold. While involvement with New Water Farms was not a requirement in the neighborhood, most of the homeowners volunteer at the farm or support its ministries in other ways.

“Armed with that success, there’s an opportunity to grow our community. The new neighborhood will have separate amenities – probably a community pool and lake access through New Water,” Harmon said.

Some 25 to 35 home sites will be released on property owned by the New Water board between the farm stand and the farm proper, said Parker.

Under this arrangement, the farm’s ministries, and its vast and beautiful lakeside gardens, will continue to flourish for the next 10 years.