Teen Ranch Ministries

Overflowing with hope.

Pleasure is a much desired commodity in our society and people have found any number of ways to attempt to find it. In polite situations, the phrase “it’s my pleasure” is a lovely way of saying “you’re welcome”.

We are made in God’s image, so we should not be surprised, but He too, does things for pleasure.

Look at this scripture in Ephesians 1:5 where God states that He decided to adopt us, just because He wanted to.

5 “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”

Really. God does things just for the delight of it, and notice, it is about us humans!

When Jesus was here He was not only the calmest one in the room (or the boat) but probably the most joyful as well. How could He not be with all the miracles He was able to perform! Surely people did not just say thanks and walk away, He must have been hugged and happy tears cried on more than once. Such pleasure!

Notice Luke 10:21

21 “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.”
Luke 10:21

In this passage, Jesus witnessed the excitement of His disciples as they recounted their experiences in the surrounding towns and villages, and it was wonderful! He also stated that God purposely revealed His plan to “little children”, just because it pleased Him!

Pleasure is God’s idea, but like everything else, humans have a tendency to mess up His good intentions; and just like God; He gave us a guideline in Psalm 37:4

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalm 37:4

If we first delight in the Lord, He will tune our hearts to find pleasure in all His good provision. Simple!

Summer Camp 2026 is about to enter week seven, so please pray that the joy of the Lord will continue to be the strength of our staff and leaders and that they would walk in His wisdom.

Creation speaks—if we slow down to listen.

Lighthouse!

“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” – Isaiah 42:16
You know, there is a blindness that people do not even recognize because they do not know there is more to life than what they have experienced or are currently living. There are others who once lived in the light so to speak, somehow lost it and now long to return to some semblance of that life.
What a message we have to share! There is indeed a God who desires to “turn the darkness into light”, to be the guide, the one who goes before, with the added promise that He will always stay.
“The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” Psalm 18:2
The light is founded on this solid rock, and we know Him, He is our lighthouse, His name is Jesus and everyone should know Him!
We are thankful for Teen Ranch who has proclaimed this life altering message for decades, please continue to pray that the light will shine brightly for the last few weeks of camp!
https://youtu.be/lFBZJGSgyVQ?si=JtSVTn9XWPMUgoWs

This is a place where worries are laid down.

Stories

Our 60th Anniversary is now only 11 months away!

This week I would like to prompt you to send your God Moments. We are getting a trickle, but we know there are many more to come!

I will go first!

My first Teen Ranch God Moment ( I have had many!) happened before we even moved there, in the spring of 2003. We were contemplating this drastic change to our lives, and though I felt God might be leading, I was hesitant to leave our kids, my job and our home for a year.
Nico was truck driving at the time and came home one evening with a story. (Hahaha!) He had met a Christian trucker at an Enroute, somewhere near Kingston, who had lived in Orangeville. Nico shared that we were considering a move to Teen Ranch and this fellow had nothing but positive things to say about the Ranch. As Nico recounted this random conversation, God met me in my hesitation, confirmed we were heading in the right direction, and not long after that we made one of the most dramatic decisions of our life! God used a man we will probably not see again till heaven to encourage us to step out. There is no God as creative and wonderful and invested as our God!

So, here is a suggested outline.

Introduce yourself and the years you were at the Ranch.
Please tell where on the Ranch and the context of the moment.
Explain what happened and the effect it has had on your understanding of the nature of God, and on your life.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Please keep praying for our front line workers and campers and their families. The summer is flying by!

Hope!

Psalm 119:9-12
9 How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word.
10 I have tried hard to find you- don't let me wander from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
12 I praise you, O Lord ; teach me your decrees.”
Teen Ranch and other camps across North America have engaged the cream of the crop from all over the world to fulfill the service of the decades long ministry of Christian summer camp. “Our” teens are exceptional young humans with hearts for God, for the Word, and for children, and most have been recruited for their skills, work ethic and experience. The best of the best!

In the world outside of summer camp, there are rumblings of a shift in youth culture which is heartening. Take a look at the lyrics to a popular energetic song.
“All of my best friends / Are sick of pretending / We want the truth / So much is missing / So give us the real thing / I know it's You. “ From Hillsong “Best Friends”.
One cannot ignore the tremendous ongoing effect of Charlie Kirk.
Then there was and is Justin Bieber. A Christian child from small town Ontario caught up in almost instant stardom and all of the horror that followed. He seems to have found his feet so to speak, has declared allegiance to Christ, met his wife at Bible study and is now enjoying family life. At the World Cup final he sang a simple heartfelt song called “Everything Hallelujah”. The online chatter has been mostly positive.

These comments and research are from Paul Rowan Brian of the Epoch Times. (July 21st 2026)
“Justin Bieber …the Canadian singer chose to perform an acoustic rendition of one of his lesser-known recent tracks, “Everything Hallelujah.”
....Recent polling from Gallup found that 42 percent of American men aged 18 to 29 surveyed during 2024 and 2025 said religion was very important in their lives, up from 28 percent in Gallup’s 2022–2023 polling.
Several other surveys also suggest rising religiosity among younger adults, including a 2025 study from the American Bible Society, which found that reading of the Bible by Millennials had gone up from roughly 30 percent in 2024 to 39 percent in 2025."
Paul Rowan Brian.

All of this to say, even the secular world is noticing and there is hope for the next generation! The excellence and potential we witness in " our" teens and youth is surely contagious and we can expect that even more youth will embrace Psalm 119:9-12 as they make their way through life. Truly, Hallelujah Everything!

Praying for hearts ready to serve.

One generation telling the next.

Bonus!

For anyone who has been around the camp world, there is no question summer camp is extraordinarily beneficial to everyone involved! Summer camp puts campers and staff out of their comfort zones, sleeping in bunkrooms, eating whatever is served in large bustling dining rooms, living on schedules, and following guidelines and instructions that can be very different from family life. Children and campers experience deeper friendships, more fun and wholesome laughter than they knew was even possible! Youth begin to develop leadership and organizational abilities as they work with children, and everyone gains memories that last a lifetime. The benefits are endless!

Now, let's consider all of that for Christian camps. We have the opportunity to do and be all of what regular camps are, as well as having an incredible bonus! Teen Ranch does an extraordinary job of all the summer camp “things” in the empowering joy of our great and loving Lord Jesus to bring the life changing story of Jesus to many who do not even know they need Him! The Gospel is the basis, the fuel and the purpose for every activity and relationship, and we take that seriously!

2 "Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
3 stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4 We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders. " Psalm 78:2-4

Teen Ranch and the Gospel, what a powerful partnership!

Philemon 1:6 (NIV) says: "I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ."

Every good thing. Everything that children and youth may not even have known they needed. Jesus, the way, the truth, the life, a God of power and overwhelming love, offered in the most indisputably effective children’s and youth ministry known.

What a privilege, what a blessing to be part of what Teen Ranch is doing!

Please continue to pray for wisdom to prevail for all our leaders, and that wisdom to be wrapped in joy!

PS. We need your stories!
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