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Encountering the Presence of God, God is on the Move
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We are Rancho el Camino: A Community of Faith. What does this mean?

To answer a question like this sometimes it’s easier to say what it does not mean. First, we are not Rancho el Camino: A Camp and Retreat Center.  We are not Rancho el Camino: Therapeutic and Community Development Services. We are not Rancho el Camino: Biblical and Ministerial Training Center. Although we are engaged in each of these activities and ministries, we first and foremost want to be known by who we are and not strictly but what we do.  We are a Christian Community of Faith; centered around our faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Practically, it means that what we do needs to flow out of who we are and if not, we are simply hollow shells doing good deeds and bringing temporary relief to a hurting world. But we want more than that, we want to see a radical transformation of hearts and souls and people fully redeemed into image bearers of God. This only happens as the living God through his Son and his Spirit and His Word work in all of our lives. And this radical transformation starts with us. We seek to be a people transformed by the living God who are marked by hospitality, compassion, justice, prayer, unity, simplicity, and stewardship. We are disciples of Christ seeking to live life together. We are a Community of Faith seeking to live out the mission that has been given to us in our particular context. And here at Rancho el Camino, we seek to be a place where people encounter the presence of God, are equipped for the work of God, extend the kingdom of God, and all so that God’s name is exalted.

Over the next 2 or 3 months (newsletters), we want to share more with you about who we are by giving a simple story for each of our Ranch purposes: encounter, equip, extend, exalt.

Our first purpose is that the Ranch would be a place where people encounter the presence of God. Whether someone has been walking with God for decades or he or she has yet to have an encounter with God, we pray that the Ranch (the place, the programs, the ministries, the culture, and the people) would be a place where a person can have an encounter with God in a way that is significant and life changing.
This happens on the Ranch frequently, but more often than not these encounters happen in ways we don’t plan for and in ways we don’t expect…like having the shock on our car blow out for the second time.

Due to the aforementioned blown shock, our car was stuck at the Ranch. We desperately needed it to be fixed as it is our family vehicle, and I (Pete) was leaving for a business trip in a few days and leaving Emily and the girls at the Ranch. Not having a vehicle wasn’t an option so we were desperately looking for a mechanic who could come to us.
A neighbor had a friend who was a mechanic and offered his services, but the mechanic wouldn’t work on our car until he earned “confianza” (trust) with us. Confianza is relational currency in Mexico, and it can be hard to get things done without it. In fact, in this situation, the mechanic wouldn’t work on our cars until we had spent time together…so we did.

We spent almost a full hour chatting and getting to know one another, talking about family, our jobs, where we were from, etc…  After the hour he told us he would be willing to work on our cars. He took the shock off, brought it back to his workshop, welded it back together and reinforced it. He brought the shock back a day later (along with his family again) and put it back on the car.

Again, we talked for over an hour and shared a lunch snack made by our Ranch staff. During our conversation he told us, “I love this place. There is something different about being here and I feel at peace. I want to bring my family here as much as possible.”

And he has come back...a lot. He, his family, and coworkers have now been to multiple events at the Ranch and have been enfolded into the community of the Ranch and our way of life. We have shared that the peace he and his family feel at the Ranch is because there are people praying that visitors to the Ranch would encounter the presence of God, and that the difference at the Ranch is because we believe in Jesus and that God wants a personal relationship with us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

This is how encounters happen so often at the Ranch. It isn’t through a specific program or a designed experience but through interactions with the people of our community of faith, through the culture of hospitality at the Ranch, and through the beauty of God’s creation.

Our mechanic and his family have since come back and have been invited into our community. They are still on a journey, and we pray one day for their full redemption in Jesus Christ but it all starts with an encounter: an encounter that says there is something different, an encounter that says there is something beyond this life, an encounter with the reality that calls us to live for more, an encounter with the ever present and living God.

And for those who want to know…the shock is still going strong months later.
Listen to a message preached by Pete this past January at Tab Church.

God is on the move. Hear stories of how he is at work at the Ranch. He is the central character and is calling each of us to join him in his work around the world.

Click HERE to listen to the full message
Prayer Requests
  1. Pray for the Ranch staff as they continue on in ministry and caring for the Ranch
  2. Pray for continued networking and fundraising during our home assignment
  3. Pray that the Ranch would continue be a place where people encounter the presence of God.
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