Director's View: The next 50 years

The following excerpt was taken from Executive Director Nate Boyd’s speech delivered Saturday evening of the 50th anniversary celebration.    

   As we look to the future of the Ranch, one of my continual prayers and priorities has been increasing organizational strength and resilience to be able to withstand whatever trouble comes in future years and decades.  

     To this end, the Ranch family has accomplished a tremendous amount over the past few years. We’ve invested substantially in projects with a view to long term benefits. We’ve renovated many buildings, including seven residences. We’ve been blessed with help developing infrastructure including a paved road, an outdoor kitchen, and other projects underway at Angels’ Meadow. 

     Last month we received full approval from the Nevada County Building Department to move forward with the extensive duplex remodel job, and we promptly initiated that project. We’ve implemented large scale updates to our use of technology and branding, and we’re developing our digital presence. 

     We’ve reduced overheads, streamlined tasks and procedures, and worked hard to establish efficient and effective processes undergirding the ministry. 
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     Despite all this investment, we also paid off a mortgage and are completely debt-free. We continue to be committed to receiving no government funding as well. It is essential that we be free to minister as a church, for the church, not neutralized and impoverished by the regulations that come with government money. This stance has defended and preserved the ministry both before my time and again during my time. 

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   All this progress happening and the freedom we have to minister is due to you all, and to the tremendously generous community which faithfully supports the work happening here. 

     As we look to the future, only God knows what tomorrow holds. We rest in God’s knowledge and power, and we work to discern what is happening in our world and what God’s vision for us is. And so I do have some thoughts about what the next 50 years may hold for the Ranch. 

   Societal trends point toward greater opposition and an increasingly complex world in which to minister. Bureaucracy, regulation, and the legal landscape are all moving in difficult directions.
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     Tragically, trends also indicate the need for the Ranch is increasing, including climbing depression and suicide rates; deepening spiritual chaos; a celebrated erosion of morality in our culture; widespread family breakdown; the ongoing opioid crisis; and on and on. There is a desperate need for the hope that can only be found in Jesus. 

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And that is why the Ranch exists. We have much more work to do to prepare and strengthen. We have many goals, both big and small, and a lot to do to achieve them. And so, I want to ask you to join us: ride, serve, give.

     Ride in the Agony. The Agony website just switched over to 2022, and I just signed up. Come ride with me in the 40th Annual Agony Ride!

     Serve this community, with the gifts God’s given you. We have a great list of projects to tackle! If you’re not sure how to get involved, fill out a volunteer interest form online.

     Give. If you feel a tug in your heart to give, I encourage you to give to the new “Jim Parker Student Scholarship Fund.”

     As Jesus said, the fields are white with the harvest. Walk with us into them. 

     You, this community, has made all the difference for the Ranch. Thank you!
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     Nate Boyd, Executive Director