Throughout the years God has demonstrated His faithfulness in many ways. One of the ways is through the ministry of Silver Birch Ranch. Silver Birch Ranch started as dream and a borrowed down payment in November of 1967. We then offered our first summer camp in 1968 and now host multiple ministries geared towards helping the local church know Christ and make Him known.
It has been, and remains, truly amazing to see how God has supplied the necessary resources throughout the years. The staff at Silver Birch Ranch has been able focus on their mission, “To Know Christ And To Make Him Known,” rather than focusing on raising the resources for the mission. For fifty years, God has made known the needs of this place and His people have risen to the challenge of using their resources to Honor our King and serve His people in the majestic north woods of Wisconsin. (silverbirchranch.org)
We know that God does incredible things. With all the uncertainty in the world the things that are certain are getting noticed. In the last year, Silver Birch Ranch has experienced the tragedy of losing our maintenance building as well as the joy of seeing God provide for our every need. We, like other businesses and ministries are dealing with the escalating health care costs, the uncertainty of new wage laws and ever increasing prices of doing business.
In the midst of all that is happening….the cleaning up, restoration and infrastructure strengthening….we remain focused and energized and are expanding.
This summer we will celebrate our 50th year. It brings tears to my eyes even thinking about it. God has been and is faithful and our mission remains steadfast…to know Christ and to make Him known.
One of our goals, with the years God will yet grant us, is to give away our experiences and to prepare the next generation to hold tightly to the things that will not change while challenging the things that must.
The infrastructure is almost complete. This past summer, God seemed to orchestrate the installation of a fiber internet connection. We are currently attempting to get our utility providers attention in order to begin the process of getting natural gas to our facility.
In the last few years God has given us the resources and personnel to build a new gym, chapel, and storage facility. We should be finishing our new maintenance building before the end of his year as well as a new recording studio.
The recording studio was gift and we are beginning to see how God will use this, now and in the future, as a tool to reach our nation.
We are now looking to see how God will provide for the equipping of His work. Here are some of the challenges we face.
We will be ordering the equipment we need to equip the new studio as well as bring some of our staff up to speed in their tech needs. The cost will be approximately $30,000.00.
We have asked Dan to replace our dump truck and at least one van. (Our dump truck is beyond repair and our vans are our “work horses” and are well maintained but older and have up to 300K on them.) We would like to buy new but realize that it may not be feasible. We have asked Dan to find the two vehicles we should replace and have asked him not to exceed $50,000.00. (This would mean that we keep using 4 older vans.)
During December we will be needing to replace our phone system. Our system is old and there is no support for it any longer. This is a $12.000.00 project that needs to be done, so we will march forward and trust God to supply our needs.
During December we also need to replace our servers. I am told that our servers are too old to service and the programs they are running are out of date. If our current servers go down we will lose much. We have hired a company that will do what is necessary to fix, repair and bring us into the future at a cost of $13,893.00. We also are looking to replace several of our staff’s computers at a cost of around $10,000.00.
Our housing and other buildings have been constantly upgraded. The next cabins to be replaced will be our tent cabins. We will be building some multipurpose housing that can be used as dorms for NBI during the year and family camp/youth camp housing in the summer. We hope to break ground on the first building in August of 2017 and are thinking that each building will cost approximately $185,000.00.
After that we will address the entrance of camp. (The Lodge, Guest House, Texan and Maverick all need replacing.) The plan will be to raze these structures and put a new meeting room, the size of the Lodge, with cabins attached to them at the ridge of the hill overlooking Sawyer Lake by the current Lodge parking lot. Then we can rework the camp entrance and make things a bit more secure.
We also need to raze and rebuild a new lodge at our Wolf River Refuge property. We need the resources to begin the planing stages for this project. (We should raze part of the old lodge as soon as funds are available.)
These plans sound and are ambitious. Silver Birch Ranch is entering its 50th year and we have seen thousands of young people come to Christ on these grounds. It is obvious that we are here and able to minister because of God’s faithfulness and we continue to be in a great position to show the world who God is and how He works and look forward to seeing how He supplies for the next steps and who it is He includes in the solution.
There are some Scripture passages that we are looking to for guidance throughout the next few years. They are:
Exodus 33:13-15 (ESV) Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.
1 Samuel 17:46-47 (ESV) This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.”
1 Kings 18:37 (ESV) Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.
2 Kings 19:19 (ESV) So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”
Acts 20:24 (ESV)
24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Philippians 3:8-11 (ESV) Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
We remain thankful beyond words that God has granted us the privilege of serving His church here at Silver Birch Ranch for the past fifty years. We have seen some very tough times and some very fun times and we are certain there are both in our future.
We would ask that you pray for us. Please pray that we would be faithful in these tough times and that we would take advantage of every platform God gives us to speak and act boldly on His behalf. Pray that it is obvious to all who examine how things work here at Silver Birch Ranch that God is God and that we are just His servants.
Along with praying I ask you to help us identify those who would travel with us, those who God has chosen to use to meet the many financial challenges we face. It is our great desire that we would be able to continue to spend our time working the mission and not working for the resources that provide for the mission.
We are about knowing Christ and making Him known and are excited to set the stage for this to happen on these grounds for decades to come. Thanks for praying and helping.
No comments:
Post a Comment