A classroom, crosses on the dam, the Beatitude trail and 188 acres for your congregation alone.
Texas Church Retreats4.9153 reviews · 105 Google + 48 Website
Texas Church Retreats at Lake Godstone: family camps, youth retreats, men’s and women’s weekends and choir getaways on a private 188-acre lake campus near Graford, Texas. One church at a time, lodging for 100 or more, church and non-profit discounts.
Where the congregation sleeps
The Lodge sleeps 35. Add the Guest Home, the cabins and the campgrounds to reach a hundred or more.
Hear first when this host opens direct rates or adds a new place.
“Whether you seek quiet moments with the Lord, meaningful fellowship, or joyful group activities”
The ranch is big enough for all three at once. A hundred people can be fishing, singing and praying in different corners of it without hearing one another.
A retreat weekend
How one church does it
From a congregation on its third annual family retreat here: 42 adults, 25 children, the whole campus.
Where everyone sleeps
Where the congregation sleeps
The Lodge sleeps 35. Add the Guest Home, the cabins and the campgrounds to reach a hundred or more.
The Lodge dormitory, the sports complex under lights, the treehouse, the lake and the campgrounds keep a youth group busy from dawn to lights-out. Outdoor ministries have run firearm-safety and fishing camps here, and the fenced, gated ranch with hosts on site makes supervision simpler. Ask about church and non-profit discounts.
Everything on this ranch was built to point people toward God. The Beatitude stones along the trail, the illuminated crosses on the dam and at Refuge, the quiet nooks for prayer and the big porch for fellowship: they are here for your congregation to use.
We host one church at a time, so the whole campus is yours for worship, teaching, recreation and rest. Dom and Carol live on the ranch and will take care of the practical things. Ask us about discounts for churches and non-profits.
May your retreat be fruitful.
Jim Attrell
Owner, Lake Godstone
Video tours
Walk the ranch before you come
Jim’s own tours of the Lodge, every cabin and campground, the range, the trail and the lake from above.
A few of the thousands of photos our guests have taken here.
Lake Godstone
Find us
Graford, Texas, between Possum Kingdom and Jacksboro
4636 Halsell Ranch Road, Graford. From Graford take Highway 4 north seven miles, turn west onto Halsell Ranch Road and follow the gravel four miles; the lake is on your right. About 90 minutes from Fort Worth and two hours from Dallas.
A stocked lake, forty feet deep, all to yourselves
Largemouth bass, channel catfish, bluegill, redear and crappie, from seven docks and two ponds.
The lake
Clear enough to watch the fish take the bait
Lake Godstone was built in 2016 and stocked from the start; a biologist checks the fishery every year. It is spring-fed, forty feet deep at the dam and clear to eight feet on a still morning. Seven partially covered docks have benches, fish feeders, cleaning stations and night lights, and the Beaver Pond and the Crappie Pond give the kids somewhere to catch a dozen bluegill before lunch.
What’s biting
Five species
Catch and keep, or catch and release; your choice.
Boats
Paddle out
Four canoes, seven kayaks, four pedal boats, a rowboat and a flat-bottom fishing boat are included with the Lodge. Life jackets, paddles and oars are at the campground office.
An idea
Run a tournament
Most groups do: a Saturday-morning fishing tournament, weigh-in on the Lodge porch, prizes at dinner. Cleaning stations are at the docks and the Lodge kitchen has two of everything, so the catch can be the meal.
