The Newsletter of Eric Elder Ministries

New Christmas Stories, Africa update, and prayers for a new book about sex.

For a boost in your faith this Christmas, take a look at three of the Christmas Stories I’ve written for our church’s annual “Bethlehem Walk.”

This year’s story is called “Always Trust The Storyteller.” You can read it at the link below, along with the stories from previous years. You might even like to tell these stories to your own family or friends sometime during this Christmas season.
Click here to read the Christmas Stories!

I also wanted to thank you for your prayers and gifts towards our upcoming missions trip to Africa that Lana, Karis, Lucas and I are planning to take next year. (Update: as of Feb 1st, 2006, we’ve had 175 people make donations to the trip totaling just over $14,000, which is 100% towards our goal for this trip! Thanks so much for all who’ve given. Please be in prayer for the people we will be working with in Swaziland. Our trip dates are March 17-April 5, 2006.)

I know that many of you have given sacrificially for us to go.We even had one donor, totally unknown to us, who just “happened” to come across our website on the Internet and wrote us a check for $5,000 towards the trip from an inheritance he had received! Only the hand of God could be directing people to give like they are…in ways that we KNOW He is answering all of our prayers.

Lana gave an excellent talk about our trip to our church’s “Young at Heart” group, sharing her thoughts about the trip and answering some of the questions that she herself has had about it, like, “Why don’t we just send the $14,000 directly to Africa instead of going ourselves?” Her answers are helpful for understanding why God does things the way He does. I thought you’d be interested to read Lana’s thoughts, so I’ve posted the notes from her talk on the website at the link below.
Click here to read Lana’s notes on Africa!

(Although we’ve raised all the funds we need, we still have a few wristbands left if you’d like to order one to remind you to pray for our trip. Any donations given for wristbands will help fund other projects we are undertaking.) For a donation of any size, we’d be glad to send you a reminder wristband that says “God is Here” on it, to remind you that God is always with you, and also to remind you to pray for our trip.
Make a Donation – Get a wristband!

Lastly, I’ve just finished writing a book that I’ve been working on for several years to encourage people to learn and apply to their lives what God says about sex. I’ve just sent it off to a publisher who is considering publishing it. I believe this book will be helpful to many, many people who need encouragement to “do the right thing” in this area. Would you pray with me this month that God would put the manuscript in the right hands so that it could be published and distributed to as many people as possible? I have been praying about this project for many years, and would ask that you please pray with me about it, too. I’ll let you know more about it as it gets closer to publication.

Thanks so much! We really appreciate all of your prayers, gifts, and words of encouragement!

I’d love it if you could pray with me right now.

Father,

• Thank You for this Christmas time to remember all that You’ve done for us and to be able to give gifts in Your name to those who have touched our lives. Let those who receive our gifts receive Your love along with them.
• Thank You for moving on people’s hearts to give towards our trip to Africa. It shows Your heart for the people who live there.
• And thank You for helping me to finish the manuscript for this book project in order to bring Your Word to many more people.

Father,

• We now pray that You would help us to raise the final funds for our missions trip.
• That You would put the manuscript for this book into the hands of the people who can take it to the ends of the earth.
• And that You would help still more people find their way to The Ranch so they can find their way to You.

We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Merry Christmas!
Eric Elder

P.S. Remember, if you can make a donation of any size to our ministry, we’ll be glad to send you a reminder wristband! You can make a donation and get a wristband from this link

The Ranch Fellowship is a non-profit 501(c)(3) religious organization whose purpose is to share the message of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Click here to read more about our ministry.

To give a gift to The Ranch and to yourself, please visit The Ranch Giftshop.
To make a donation without ordering, just click Make A Donation.

The Newsletter of Eric Elder Ministries

How can we know when God is speaking to us? Sometimes it’s a matter of connecting the prayers on our heart with the answers when they come.

Dear Friends,

In the dream, someone was there in my bedroom and we were talking. He was standing by the corner of one end of the dresser and I was standing at the other. I was asking him question after question and he was answering me. I didn’t remember meeting him before, but he had a distinct face and build. He was polite and helpful. He was in ministry and answering as if a ministry consultant.

I can’t remember any of the questions I asked except the last two. I asked him, “What do you do when you’ve pursued all the avenues you can think of and still don’t have much money for ministry?” I told him, “Our assets outweigh our liabilities and we’re still in the black after 10 years. But I don’t know what to do next. Do you know anything about that?”

He said, “Yes, I do. Actually, we’re doing OK in that.” Then he looked down and said, “No, we’re not.” He added, “There’s something called ‘charitable giving.’ I have (something) in my garden.” I couldn’t make out what the “something” was, but I saw him walk over to it in his garden. It looked like a footlong thermometer with something green marking the temperature line, like green mercury. He thought for another few seconds and said, “Let me pray about it. I want to ask ‘How can I serve you?’ ”

I started to wake up from the dream and wanted to ask one more question, but kept waking up. So as if reaching back into the dream I shouted back, “What is your name?” I was fully awake now and his face changed to someone I recognized. He said, “My name is Bruce Wilkinson and I’m about to expand your borders.”

That last line made me sit up in bed and I wrote down everything I could remember about the dream, which I’ve just related to you.

I’ve never met Bruce Wilkinson, but he wrote a popular book a few years ago called “The Prayer of Jabez.” Like many others, I read that book and started praying for God to expand my borders, and before I even finished the book I saw a fairly miraculous answer! (You may remember that’s when USA Today contacted me to ask if they could write a feature story about our Internet ministry in their paper) My cousin happened to meet Bruce Wilkinson one day after he spoke at her church and she shared my story with him. Bruce told her to have me post it on his website for others to see, which I did.

Later, Bruce used a brief version of my story in a study guide he wrote called “The Prayer of Jabez Bible Study.” Then in October 2004, I got a letter from his publisher asking for permission to possibly print a longer version of the story in Bruce’s sequel to “The Prayer of Jabez.” They weren’t sure yet if they were going to use it, but said they wanted to send me a complimentary copy of the book when it came out either way when the book came out in February, 2005.

Back to my dream in January, 2005…

When I woke up, I wondered if the upcoming book might be related to how Bruce was going to “expand my borders” (as the dream version of Bruce had told me!) I was excited to think that God might publish my story, and maybe include a mention of The Ranch website in his sequel, called “Beyond Jabez.” That would certainly be one way to quickly expand my borders!

Over the next few weeks, I kept checking the mail for a copy of the book and checking the bookstores in case it came there first, which it did. When I saw it in the bookstore, I quickly skimmed through the pages, looking to see if my story or my website address appeared anywhere. I was bummed for a minute when I got to the end and it wasn’t in there.

The reason I was only bummed for a minute was because even though the address of my website wasn’t there, I saw on the back pages the address of another website. It was the website for Bruce’s new project in Africa:www.dreamforafrica.com. Lana and I had just been talking — the very night before — about wanting to go to Africa to try to help with the overwhelming problems facing that continent, something Lana has wanted to do for several years…but we didn’t know where to start!

When I got home from the bookstore, I looked up the website and found that Bruce was calling for 10,000 volunteers to come to Africa in the next year to — guess what? — plant gardens! “Never Ending Gardens,” Bruce called them, gardens that would become a lasting source of food for hundreds of thousands of people in the years to come. Then I remembered my dream, in which the dream version of Bruce wanted to show me something — in his garden! As I began to read the book more closely, Bruce used one phrase over and over in the book, asking people: “How can I serve you?” — the very same question the dream version of Bruce said he wanted to pray about asking me as well!

Up to that point, Lana had been wondering what she could possibly do to help in Africa. When I told her that Bruce’s trip involved planting gardens for 10 days she said, “I can do that!” Bruce really was about to expand our borders — not by mentioning my website in his book, but by mentioning his!

So Lana and I and the kids have spent the last several months praying about if and when and who should go. The problems in Africa are so immense that we’d like to take as many as we can. Since you have to be 13 or older to go on the trip, that meant we could only take our oldest two kids with us, Karis (14) and Lucas (13), so we decided we could be at least 4 of those 10,000 volunteers.

So last month we finally booked our trip, making the deposit with gifts from several of you who have sent us funds for that purpose. We’re planning to go to Swaziland, a country nestled within South Africa, from March 23 through April 1, 2006.

During our 10 day trip, we’ll be planting small individual gardens alongside local Africans — each of us will be planting an average of 100+ gardens while we’re there. The plants are high in immune-building nutrients to help with the rampant problem of AIDS/HIV that has attacked the immune system of so many there. (I was stunned to find out that the average life expectancy for a man in Swaziland is only 37, and for a woman it’s only 34).

So that’s how God can move people from vivid dreams to practical action! It reminded me of the action-stirring dream the apostle Paul had one night,which Luke describes in the book of Acts:

“During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” (Acts 16:9-10)

I’ve still never met Bruce Wilkinson and don’t know if I ever will, but I’ve seen the need and heard the call, so I feel I need to respond.

Would you like to get involved, too?

We’re now in the process of raising the rest of the funds for the trip. It costs $3,395 for each of us to go, which includes everything — the starter plants themselves, gardening necessities, food, lodging and travel.

So far we’ve raised $9,054 from 82 people, which is enough for at least 2 of us to go on the trip and about 65% of the goal we need to raise by February 1st, 2006.If you could make a donation of any size to the trip, we’ll be glad to send you a reminder wristband that says “GOD IS HERE” on the front and “theranch.org” on the back — as a way to remind you to pray for our trip, and also as a reminder that God is always with you wherever you go.

You can make a donation to our trip to Africa and order a wristband here:
Make A Donation

You can find out more about Dream For Africa here:
www.heartforafrica.com

P.S. Would you believe I didn’t even catch the connection that it was a “dream” I had about Bruce Wilkinson and gardens in Africa and his organization’s name is called “Dream for Africa” until just this minute when I added their logo graphic to this page? That’s not just odd! That’s GOD!!!

Guy Grimstead’s Piano Music

The music at The Ranch continues to be the most popular “draw” that brings people to the website. A woman wrote a few weeks ago:

“I have been here before and didn’t forget the peace that I found…..the music was what drew me and the peace is what brought me back…thanks and God Bless”

I’d like to point out one of the new CD’s added to The Ranch this year. Guy Grimstead’s beautifully rich piano music that has a quality that can make you “melt.” If you haven’t heard it yet, I hope you will soon. When I heard a few 30-second clips on his website, I played them over and over and couldn’t wait to hear the rest. I was thrilled that Guy not only sent me the CD, but allowed me to stream it to you from here at The Ranch.

As you listen, you’ll be able to hear his training in music shine through, but you’ll also hear his unique ability to spontaneously compose a song as he goes along.Would you believe that he created and recorded all of the songs on the CD on the spot? He hadn’t previously written or played any of them before! What a gift! I’m glad he shared it with us and I’m glad we’re able to share it with you. It’s perfect music for meditating, reading, working, or just relaxing and you can listen at The Ranch for free!

Click this link to listen to Guy Grimstead’s CD, “Meditation”:
Listen to the “Meditation” CD

Exodus Devotional

You can still join us every week for our new online Bible study of the book of Exodus. Watch or read the study at your convenience, then join us for a discussion and prayer time either on the discussion board or in the chat room at The Ranch. There’s no charge to watch or participate in this study.

Here’s a comment from a woman who has been going through the study with us, and even took communion with us in a special service over the Internet:

“I’ve just finished listening to the last Bible study with Eric and shared in the Lord’s Supper with them. I want you all to know that your starting this study was an answer to a plea to God for a Bible study….ou can only go so long without meat. And I was malnourished!!”

And this came just yesterday from a man in Singapore:

“The Ranch is like heaven to me already. I found comfort and solace with Eric’s Bible study on Exodus and others as well. Tears of joy and tears of understanding always comforted me every time I fellowship with You [God] and Eric and the guys in the Bible study room. Many a time I wish I was there with you guys. Guys, God’s presence is with you there, I can feel with my heart rained with joyful tears and comfort beyond words, though I am 1,000’s of miles away here in Singapore.”

You can join us anytime, too, at this link:
Exodus: Lessons In Freedom

CHRISTIANPODDER.COM

Ever heard of podcasting? If not, you might take a look at christianpodder.com, which is launching a new website the week of October 24th to feature the teachings, music and inspiration of some of the best known names in Christianity today (and some of the least known, like me!)

It’s a project of LifeWay Christian Resources, a major Christian Publisher of books like Henry Blackaby’s “Experiencing God” and Beth Moore’s online video Bible study, to name just a few.

I’m thrilled to take part in their launch and have uploaded some of my piano music already which is featured on their home page (at least for a few days anyway!) . I plan to upload a special condensed, audio version of the Exodus Bible Study (a less-than 5 minute audio program each week). You can sign up to receive these weekly studies automatically on your computer desktop in MP3 format (an audio file that you can listen to on your computer or put on your iPod music device…hence the name “podcasting.)

Check it out at: christianpodder.com

You can also sign up to get a text version of these short weekly devotionals via email from The Ranch website if you sign up for our Webcast Reminders at this link.

Closing Prayer

I’d love it if you could pray with me right now…and even drop me a note that you did!

Father,

• Thank You for speaking to us and directing our steps, even through dreams! Thank You that You care about us and about others around the world enough to prompt us to get involved in what You’re doing.
• Thank You for the talents of people like Guy Grimstead to bring joy and healing through their music.
• And thank You for Your Word, which is so rich and helpful as we study it.

Father,

• We now pray that You would equip us all to do Your work, whether it be in Africa or at any other spot on the planet. Raise up the people and the funds to truly make a difference.
• That You would use these new technologies like “podcasting” to reach even more people with Your Word.
• And that You would draw people from all parts of the world to find their way to The Ranch so they can find their way to You.

We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Thanks!
Eric Elder

P.S. Remember, if you can make a donation of any size to our trip to Africa, we’ll be glad to send you a reminder wristband! You can make a donation and request one from here:
Make A Donation

The Ranch Fellowship is a non-profit 501(c)(3) religious organization whose purpose is to share the message of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Click here to read more about our ministry.

To give a gift to The Ranch and to yourself, please visit The Ranch Giftshop.
To make a donation without ordering, just click Make A Donation.

The Newsletter of Eric Elder Ministries

Finding God is like finding four-leaf clovers, once you recognize the telltale signs of their presence, it’s easier to see them everywhere you look.

Maybe you’ve never found a four-leaf clover, but God promises that if you seek Him with all your heart, you WILL find HIM (Jeremiah 29:13).

Dear Friends,

A phrase immediately came to mind:

“GOD IS HERE”

I’d want you to remember that no matter where you are, what you’re going through, who you’re interracting with, whatever your situation, that God is there, at this very moment, right there with you. Knowing this one Truth can make all the difference in a situation. And this is a Truth with a capital “T”. GOD IS HERE. The Bible says in Acts 17:27 that He’s not far from each one of us:

“God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”

God is so close to each one of us that He wants us to simply reach out for Him and find Him. I know that when I remember that He’s really right here with me, every moment of every day, it relieves much of the pressure, the struggle and the doubt that I’m facing. I can think more clearly, I breathe more easily, I can know with more certainty that when I ask Him for wisdom, He’ll answer me.

The Truth is that GOD IS HERE. Jesus said,

“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20).

But even when we’re by ourselves, God is right there with us, too. Jesus said He would send His Spirit to live within each one of us who have put our faith in Him:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:16-18).

And then He promised that He would never leave us alone. Here are His parting words to the disciples after His resurrection:

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”(Matthew 28:20).

God is still here with us. I was trying to get this idea across to a group that had gathered for devotions one day at the Cornerstone music festival here in Illinois. When I got to the festival, I had found a four-leaf clover in the grass where we were camping, so I held it up to the group. (For those who may not know, most clover have only three leaves, but it’s a rare find, and some say “lucky,” to find a four-leaf clover.)

As I held up the clover that I’d found earlier that day, I explained that some people might think I was lucky to have found it, and maybe I was. But that’s not the whole truth.The whole truth is that I’ve found more than a hundred four-leaf clovers in my lifetime. When I was a kid, I was so thrilled when I discovered my first one that I began looking for four-leaf clovers everywhere. I would look through the grass when I mowed it on our farm. I would look in the grass when I played outfield in Little League baseball.

And I began to find four-leaf clovers everywhere I looked. Pretty soon, my eye was trained to easily recognize the disctintive four-leaf pattern. I would run across four-leaf clovers even when I wasn’t looking. I would just be walking along with some friends and then, out of the corner of my eye, notice the pattern on the ground, reach down and pick up another four-leaf clover. My friends would be amazed, and even I thought I was pretty lucky. But the truth is that over time, and with practice, I had simply learned how to recognize four-leaf clovers when I encountered them. Even though they were all around us, not everyone could “see” them.

I’ve found the same is true in my relationship with God: over time, and with practice, I’ve been able to recognize God in the midst of my daily life. I see God’s hand at work in the plans I make. I hear His voice telling me whether to go to the right or the left. I often recognize His prompting when He wants me to say or do something.

I remember reading a story in the devotional, “Our Daily Bread” about a boy who was fishing with his Grandfather. The boy asked, “Grandpa, have you ever seen God?” The Granpda took a look at the scene around him and said, “Sonny, the older I get, the more I see Him everywhere I look.”

The good news is that you don’t have to be unusually “lucky” or “special” to have this kind of relationship with God. God makes Himself available to each one of us, and as Paul says in Acts 17, He’s actually very close to each one of us. And He promises us this:

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13).

I know it’s easy for people to question this, but I also know that those who press on seeking God eventually do find Him. Just last week I got an email from a woman who finally found Him, even though she was about to give up her search just a few months ago. In April she wrote me this note:

Hi, My name is Renee and I was sitting at my computer feeling disturbed and having doubt about God and my level of belief. I typed in “having trouble believing in God” and your site was top of the list. … I understand the message of Jesus on an intellectual level but can’t quite make the connection with my heart and soul. It seems every time I make a little progress, doubt comes flooding back in and pushes any hope of connection away. I am at the point that walking away from any further attempts seems the best way for me right now. I guess this is my way of making one last attempt at some kind of connection. I guess what I am trying to relate here is that God doesn’t seem real to me. Just a bunch of stories. It all seems so far fetched…

We wrote back and forth a few times, and she picked up a book I recommended called “The Case For Christ” by Lee Strobel and it began to break down some barriers to her faith. Then she wrote last week to say that she had started attending a small church and the pastor’s wife and a friend prayed for her:

…Saturday morning I woke up and started to have one memory after another of years ago. Situations that were bad, but could have gone horribly bad, except something happened to change the outcome. More and more I realized that God did have a hand in my life. Times I should have been dead but was saved by the smallest of interruptions. I realized it was God’s hand, fell to my knees, wept like a baby, asked God for forgiveness, and promised to give the rest of my life to Him. That was July 2, 2005… I was baptized on July 7th. … You have a great ministry. You helped me to pursue my questions, and pray for a change in heart…. I thank God for your site…. I have to wonder if I hadn’t fallen upon it, would I have given up? Blessings, Renee

I’m thrilled for Renee that God kept His promise. I knew He would, because He is always faithful to His Word. This promise isn’t just for “unbelievers” who need to be reminded of the Truth that GOD IS HERE. It’s also for believers who need to be reminded that GOD IS HERE, very close to each one of us, regardless of the situation or place we find ourselves.

God IS here, and He’s very close to you, too, even right this minute. He’s so close, and He wants you to reach out to Him, to find Him, and to know that He’s with you in your current situation, too. As Paul says, He’s “not far from each one of us.”

I’d like to pray for you that this reality will sink deep into your soul right now.

Father, there are so many times when we feel like You are so far away. We wonder if You hear us, if You care about us, if You realize that we’re sinking. Lord, I pray that You would instill in each of our hearts right now, every person that is reading these words, that You are indeed right here with us. That You do care about what happens to us, what choices we make, what decisions we have before us. That You will reward those who earnestly seek You, who sincerely desire to follow You and honor You. And that You will never, never, never, never, never, never leave us alone. Lord, speak into our hearts right now, send Your Holy Spirit to comfort us, guide us, and speak Your words to us. Lord, we’re listening, and we will keep listening, keep seeking, keep praying, keep calling out to You, until we find You. Thank You for Your promises. We’re holding onto them and we know that You’re holding onto us. We know that You will never let us go. Thank You Lord, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

By the way, I was telling this story about the four-leaf clovers again a few weeks later at a Junior High Camp at Rock River. As if God was confirming the message again, one morning I happened to find 5 more four-leaf clovers and a couple five-leaf clovers, an even more rare find! In the past few weeks I’ve found more than a dozen more! Keep seeking God and you will find Him. Remember Jeremiah 29:13:

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

P.S. I also went ahead and ordered some of those reminder bands for those of you who might want one and had them imprinted with the words “GOD IS HERE.” Check out the “Update On African Missions Trip” update below if you’d like to get one.

Update On African Missions Trip

When I thought of putting the phrase “GOD IS HERE” on a reminder band for people to remember that God was with them, I didn’t have anything in particular in mind to do with them except to encourage people that God is always right here with us. But now I do!

Lana and I, along with our two oldest kids, Karis and Lucas, are in the process of raising money to go to Africa next spring. The purpose is to help plant thousands of individual gardens for families and orphans in South Africa as part of Bruce Wilkinson’s “Never Ending Gardens” project. Bruce (author of “The Prayer of Jabez) describes this project in his most recent book “Beyond Jabez” and is looking for 10,000 volunteers to help in this effort over the next year.

For any donation to our trip to Africa, we’d be glad to send you a “GOD IS HERE” reminder band. We hope it will remind you to pray for our trip, and alsoremind you that God is always right there with you, too. While we’d be grateful for donations of any amount, could I suggest you consider a gift of $25, $50, $75, or $100 or more? Each of us need to raise $3,500 for this trip (which is up sightly from what I mentioned in our last newsletter because of some airfare changes). So to reach our total goal for all 4 of us, it would take a combination of 40 people giving $100 each, 60 people giving $75, 60 people giving $50, and 100 people giving $25. Again, any gift is great, but if you can, would you consider sending one of the larger amounts?

Maybe you know someone else who needs to be reminded that God is with them, too? A daughter, son, friend, co-worker, hair dresser, in-laws, out-laws? :) You might want to order a few reminder bands for them, too.

Maybe you’d even like to come with us? It’s open to anyone age 13 or older. There are several 10 day trips planned for March and April of 2006. You can find out more at the Dream For Africa website (now Heart For Africa) at:
www.heartforafrica.com

(As an update from the last newsletter, we’ve received $200 in cash and pledges for the deposits for 2 of us to reserve a spot on the trip. We still need another $200 for the deposits for the remaining two of us to reserve a spot.)

New Discussion Groups Start In September

Starting the week of September 11th, we’ll be starting three new discussion groups each week in the Chat Room of The Ranch.

We’ll have a discussion group for men on Sunday nights (6:30-8:00 pm Central), for men and women on Wednesday mornings (7:00-8:30 am Central), and for women on Saturday mornings (9:00-10:30 am Central).

This is a “re-launch” of our new, weekly, half-hour, online video Bible study of the book of Exodus that we began a few months ago. We had a great start for a few weeks, then discovered a technical problem on our web server that needed to be fixed before going any further. I’ve finished reinstalling everything now on an updated system, and we’re ready to kick off again. We’re going to start the discussions again at Lesson 1, so now’s a great time to join this study.

The first dozen or so videos are online already, and future studies will be posted every Friday. For those who can’t make it to a discussion group, you can still interact with others day or night by posting messages on the Discussion Board at The Ranch.

Like everything else on The Ranch website, there’s no charge to watch or to participate in this study. Take a look at the overview, the first several lessons, and the dates and times of the discussion groups at this link.

Closing Prayer

Thanks for everyone who expressed an interest in coming to a Ranch Retreat if we held one. We’re still hoping to put one together soon, but it won’t be this fall yet. We’ll let you know as our plans come together.

I’d love if you could take a minute right now to pray with us.

Father,

• Thank You for being near each one of us, and for promising that if we seek You we will find You,
• Thank You for helping us with our plans to go to Africa,
• And thank You for helping us to recover the website and to “re-launch” the Exodus video study.

Father,

• We ask that You would help us gather the funds we need to get all 4 of us to Africa next spring,
• That You would would draw many to take part in our new online study of the book of Exodus, that they would be able to get free, stay free, and set others free,
• And that You would help even more people to find their way to The Ranch so they can find their way to You.

We pray this all in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Live strong in your faith!
Eric Elder

Don’t forget to order a reminder band if you want one! They come in lots of cool colors, including glow-in-the-dark!

To order and make a donation, click here.

The Ranch Fellowship is a non-profit 501(c)(3) religious organization whose purpose is to share the message of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Click here to read more about our ministry.

To give a gift to The Ranch and to yourself, please visit The Ranch Giftshop.
To make a donation without ordering, just click Make A Donation.

The Newsletter of Eric Elder Ministries

Using the Voice of Truth to overcome fear, anxiety and doubt; a new online Bible study of the book of Exodus; a possible ranch retreat, and a missions trip to Africa.

Join us for our new online Bible study, Exodus: Lessons In Freedom, which focuses on how to get free, stay free and set others free.

Dear Friends,

She couldn’t understand why such a little thing, or so it seemed to her, would bother her so much. The sudden rush of fear, anxiety and doubt that came upon her was so strong that she couldn’t shake it off. She was bothered almost as much by the fact that she couldn’t figure out how to shake it off as she was by the triggering event itself. She felt it was silly to be so worked up about it; she knew what she would tell others to do, but she couldn’t seem to hear it when she told herself. For several days she couldn’t sleep or eat. The restlessness was tearing her apart from the inside out.

When she told me and a few others close to her about the intensity of her struggle, she finally started to see some peace return to her. She wrote:

One thing I want to mention while I’m thinking of it is WHEN I get through this (like that positive affirmation?), something that I have come more to know through this is that I AM NOT ALONE, even though Satan tries to make you think you are and your life is unraveling. But it’s something people don’t talk about and are very guarded about. But God put several people directly in my path and with different circumstances but so much similarity to the fear, anxiety, stress, feeling of lots of stuff, and especially the feeling like you can’t possibly share or tell anyone what is happening. Thankfully, I am plugged in to the ministry God designed for you, that even though I felt reluctant at first, probably because of my pride or something, yet I was comfortable enough reaching out to you. That’s why your ministry is so important and vital to a hurting world. I could go on, but you might get the gist of what I’m saying. I’M SUPPOSED TO TELL YOU THAT YOUR MINISTRY IS VITAL VITAL VITAL!

I appreciate her kind words about our ministry, but the bigger point I wanted to draw out of this is that pride often keeps us from getting the help we desperately need. We think we’re all alone in our struggles; we’re afraid to tell anyone, especially anyone who might possibly think less of us because of the struggle. We’re trying to hold it all together, but when we can’t, we’re afraid to tell anyone and risk feeling like even more of a failure. But the quickest way to get back on our feet is often to first get down on our knees. James 4:1 says:

“Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up.”

Chuck Swindoll writes about this in his book, “Moses: A Man of Selfless Dedication”:

“Do you know who it is who keeps erecting all those unrealistic standards in your life? Do you know who keeps raising the bar beyond all hope of clearing it? It’s you. You do. And so do I. Our Heavenly Father doesn’t. The psalmist tells us, He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. We think we’re finished because of our failures, but God says, ‘No you’re just getting started. Press on!’ Our problem isn’t that we’ve failed. Our problem is that we haven’t failed enough. We haven’t been brought low enough to learn what God wants us to learn. We’re still trying to redeem Egypt single-handledly.”

The truth is that we still need God, even when we think we’re a strong Christian. We still can’t do anything without Him. And thankfully, He’s still there to help us. We may have to swallow our pride, but it’s OK, because the truth is, God is very much for us; not because He knows how good we are, but because He knows how much we need Him.

We need to stop listening to the lies of Satan and keep filling ourselves up with the “Voice of Truth.” Do you know that song sung by Casting Crowns? My friend Russell Pond, who ministers regularly to people struggling with fear, anxiety and doubt at his website season.org, told me about the background of that song. He said that this was the first song ever written by Mark Hall. It’s original name was “Fear.” Mark is dyslexic and didn’t see how or why God would use him to write or sing music. After Casting Crowns started to become known to the world, Steven Curtis Chapman helped Mark Hall finish the song and changed the name to what it is now, “Voice of Truth.”

I think it’s awesome that a song that started out with the title “Fear” was transformed into the the chart-topper called “Voice of Truth,” once again disproving Satan’s lies, in this case, that Mark would never be able to sing or write music, and once again giving faith to all of us who hear so that we can trust God to do the same in us, too.

Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I’m in
Onto the crashing waves

To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He’s holding out His hand

But the waves are calling out my name
And they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I’ve tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again. “Boy, you’ll never win!”
“You’ll never win!”

CHORUS:
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, “Do not be afraid!”
The voice of truth says, “This is for My glory”
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

(from “The Voice of Truth,” by Mark Hall and Steven Curtis Chapman)

Don’t give in to the lies of Satan, keep filling yourself with the Voice of Truth!

If you’d like some encouragement on a regular basis to keep listening to God’s “Voice of Truth,” I hope you’ll check out our new online Bible study at The Ranch, which I describe below, along with some other cool new things we’re planning down the road.

New Online Bible Study

I’d like to invite you to join me for a free, video-based Bible study here on The Ranch website. It’s called Exodus: Lessons In Freedom and the purpose is to help you to get free, stay free and set others free.

The beauty of this study is that you can be involved in this study as much or as little as you’d like. Every Friday morning, I’ll be posting a new, half-hour video on The Ranch website that you can watch anytime on your own, or just read the transcript if you don’t have the time or capability to watch the video. Then, if you’d like to go deeper and interact with me or others around the world who are also doing the study, you can join us on the Discussion Board at The Ranch, or join us for one of our live chats during the week. I’m leading a live discussion group for men on Sunday nights from 7-8:30 pm Central Time, Greg Potzer (creator of “This Day’s Thought” at thisdaysthought.org) will be leading a co-ed discussion group on Wednesday mornings from 7-8:30 am Central Time, and Dwan Avent (a ministry volunteer for The Ranch) will be leading a women’s discussion group on Saturday mornings from 9-10:30 am Central Time.

The study itself grew out of my own personal quiet time with the Lord during the 40-day fast I undertook to pray about the next steps for my own ministry. During this extended time of prayer and fasting, I was reading the book of Exodus, trying to learn from God’s interaction with Moses how He was able to free hundreds of thousands of people. Every day, God put a lesson on my heart that I could apply to my own situation. As I’ve put those lessons into practice over the past year, I’ve found that they worked for me just like they worked for Moses almost 3,000 years ago! God seems to have all the best ideas!

I’d love to share with you what I’ve learned, as I believe these truths apply to anyone who wants to learn how to get free, stay free and set others free. Each half-hour video contains a practical lesson from God’s Word, a time of worship, and a time of intimate discussions with others. I think you’ll find it a fun time of study, fellowship and worship.

Like everything else on The Ranch website, there is no charge to you to watch the lessons or take part in the discussions. Each lesson stands on its own, so you don’t have to watch every lesson to get something out of it (although I’d love for you to join us for the entire series).

You can watch the first lesson this week, which tells how we get into bondage in the first place, then hopefully you’ll join us for the rest! The live discussion groups start the week of May 15th, but feel free to drop in anytime. You can take a look at the first lesson here.

Hope you’ll join us for this cool new study!

A Ranch Retreat?

Would you be interested in coming to a Ranch Retreat this fall? We’re checking on the details of this possibility now, and it would be great to have your input before we get too far along. Mainly, we’d like to know if you, or maybe your family would like to come for a weekend getaway here in Illinois this coming September/October 2005. The fall leaves should be beautiful that time of year, and the weather should be great for hiking during the day and bonfires at night.

We’re thinking of reserving several rooms or cabins at a retreat setting for a Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning event. There would be time to hear encouraging messages from myself and other speakers, time for worshipping together with some inspiring worship leaders, and plenty of free time to take a walk, hear from God or interact with others.

I’d love to make this happen, but first I need to know if anyone would actually come! If you’re interested, would you mind sending me an email to let me know? Thanks!

Missions Trip to Africa

Lastly, I’d like to ask you if you could help us out.I’ve been praying for several years that God would raise up a missions opportunity for my family and our ministry to practically help others around the world, and Lana has had a lifelong dream of doing something to help with orphans in Africa.

I believe our opportunity has come. Lana and I, along with our two oldest children, Karis and Lucas, are planning to take a short-term missions trip to Africa sometime within the next year. We’re planning to go with a new organization called Dream For Africa, headed by Bruce Wilkinson (author of “The Prayer of Jabez,” among other things). Our trip would involve going with a team of people to help plant individual gardens for families and orphans throughout South Africa. They are trying to recruit 10,000 volunteers to help plant hundreds of thousands of these “Never Ending Gardens” in various African countries.

We would like to be at least 4 of those 10,000 volunteers. I’ll be talking more about this in the future (maybe it’s a trip you’d even consider taking with us?), but for now, we’d like to begin raising our funds to go. Would you consider making a special donation towards this trip for us? Initially, we need to make a $100 deposit for each of us in order to get the ball rolling. Would you like to help us make that first deposit for one, two, three or all four of us? Eventually we’ll need to raise $3,000 each for this trip. In some ways, that is a huge amount of money, but in other ways, I feel it is just the beginning of what God wants to do, and is doing, to mobilize people to help with this epidemic. The sooner we raise the money, the sooner we’ll be able to go, but our current target is to raise the funds in time for a trip scheduled for March of 2006.

If you’d like to help us with our initial deposit of $100 each, or give towards our total goal, you can see how to make a donation on our website.

Please specify that your donation is for us to go on our Africa trip. For more information about Dream for Africa (now Heart for Africa) and their trips, visit:

http://heartforafrica.org

Closing Prayer

I’d love if you could take a minute to pray with us right now.

Father,

• Thank You for being for us, and for speaking into our lives with Your Voice of Truth,
• Thank You for those who have helped us to create the new Exodus study to encourage people in their faith on a weekly basis,
• And thank You for opportunities to serve You and make a difference in the world.

Father,

• We ask that You would draw many to take part in our new online study of the book of Exodus, to help them join the study so they can get free, stay free and set others free.
• That You would guide us as we plan for a possible fall retreat and a missions trip to Africa,
• And that You would help even more people to find their way to The Ranch so they can find their way to You.

We pray this all in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Thanks for your prayers!

Sincerely,
Eric Elder

The Ranch Fellowship is a non-profit 501(c)(3) religious organization whose purpose is to share the message of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Click here to read more about our ministry.

To give a gift to The Ranch and to yourself, please visit The Ranch Giftshop.
To make a donation without ordering, just click Make A Donation.

The Newsletter of Eric Elder Ministries

Thoughts on the passing of Pope John Paul II and Terri Schiavo, a new film to encourage you to keep your eye on the goal called “Footsteps In The Snow,” and Eric’s article in “Decision” magazine.

“Footsteps In The Snow”, by Russell Pond, is one of the new films we’ve just added to The Ranch.

I remember when Mother Teresa and Princess Diana died within days of each other almost seven years ago. Their lives became permanently linked together, not so much for what they had done with their lives, but by the close timing of their deaths. Mother Teresa was 87, and Princess Diana was 36.

This past week, as we watched the final days for two more people here on earth, again their lives have become etched together in many minds, not so much for what they had done with their lives, but by the close timing of their deaths. Pope John Paul II was 84, and Terri Schiavo was 41.

For all the differences in the way they may have lived and died, I was struck by one similarity they have in common with each other, and with all of us. I was reading a passage this week in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 where the Apostle Paul wrote these words about his own life almost 2,000 years ago:

Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

We all have physical bodies that will eventually deteriorate. But we also all have spiritual souls that will live forever. Because we live in our bodies every day, we often focus on them. But the truth is that we are designed to live eternally.

To paraphrase the French philosopher Teilhard de Chardin:

“We are not just human beings having a temporary spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings have a temporary human experience.”

One of the secrets of living well is dying well, and the way to die well is to know for sure what will happen to us after we die. Jesus tells us we can know for sure what will happen to us after we die, if we are willing to put our faith in Him:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

The Apostle John, one of Jesus’ closest disciples, put it this way:

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

If we’ve put our faith in Christ, we know that we will live with Him forever. By keeping our eyes on this eternal truth, it can make anything we face on this earth all the more bearable, and not only bearable, but we can live with confidence, certainty, and peace, for we know that there is more to life than what we see with our eyes.

Billy Graham, commenting on the death of Pope John Paul II, said:

“May his death remind each of us that some day we too must die and enter into God’s presence – and may we each commit ourselves afresh to Jesus Christ, who died and rose again for our salvation.”

That is a commitment I want to make afresh today, and I pray you will make it with me as well, even right now. Would you pray with me?

Father, I commit myself to You again today. I put my full faith and trust in Jesus Christ, knowing that He died and rose again for my salvation. Thank You Lord for taking away my sin on the cross. Thank You Lord for giving me hope and showing me how to live well by showing me how to die well. Lord, help me live for You today. Help me focus on You in a way that my troubles will seem “light and momentary,” too, just as they did for the Apostle Paul. From this moment on, I commit myself again to living my life fully for You, fixing my eyes squarely on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of my faith. It’s in His strong and powerful name that I pray, Amen.

Footsteps In The Snow

If you need help keeping your perspective, I’d like you to watch a short film that I’ve added to The Ranch this week called “Footsteps In The Snow”. It’s only 2 minutes and 45 seconds long, but it contains a powerful message that will help you keep your eyes on the goal.

This film was created by my good friend, Russell Pond, who sent it to me a few weeks ago to ask for my thoughts on it. I happened to be in the middle of an intense writing project and was getting bogged down in the details. As I watched this film, it cleared my mind and helped me to keep before me the goal to which Christ had called me. I’ve watched it several times over the last few weeks, and each time, I’ve been strengthened in my resolve to keep my eyes on the goaland not get sidetracked by the never-ending details of life. I hope it will do the same for you!

You can watch it here in several formats, or read the transcript if for some reason you can’t see the video.

My thanks to Russ for allowing me to stream it over the Internet at no cost to you! If you like the film and would like to order a copy on DVD for use in sermons, at youth groups, on retreats, or at other venues where it may help to inspire others, just visit Russ’s website at:
http://toppup.com

“Decision” Magazine Article

Using The Gifts God Has Given You, by Eric Elder, for Billy Graham’s Decision Magazine, April 2005.

I’d also like to draw your attention to an article I wrote for this month’s “Decision” magazine, the monthly magazine of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Because April 24th has been designated by a number of organizations as “Internet Evangelism Day,” the editor at Billy Graham’s magazine called me to ask if I would write about how I share my faith with others over the Internet.

I was thrilled for the opportunity to write to their 800,000 subscribers (!), not just about how I share my faith on the Internet, but how God has gifted each of us to be able to share our faith in unique ways. It’s called “Using The Gifts God Has Given You.”

You can read the article online at Billy Graham’s website at the link below, or look for it on page 30 of the print edition of April’s “Decision” magazine:
http://www.billygraham.org/DMag_article.asp?ArticleID=544

I’d also encourage you to read the entire issue of this month’s “Decision,” which features some other articles on Internet Evangelism, as well as articles on Prayer and Hearing From God written by people like Billy Graham, Cliff Barrows, Henry Blackaby, Greg Laurie, Franklin Graham and Anne Graham Lotz.

To learn more about Internet Evangelism Day on April 24th, visit this link:
http://www.internetevangelismday.com

Visitor Comments

Back at The Ranch, I thought you might like to hear the comments from a few of the visitors to the website last month:

A woman from Massachussets writes: Your website is beautiful…on the outside and the inside. Thank you very much. I will refer others to it for faith and encouragement.

A man from Canada writes: It’s my first time here, and I think I’ve been waiting for you! I pray a special blessing upon you.

A woman struggling with a lack of faith writes: Hi, thank you so much for responding to my prayer request… It was really helpful to get someone else’s view on this and to be able to be completely honest with God (and myself). … It’s not easy… I’m struggling so hard with this at the moment, wanting to surrender to him, but at the same time doubting even the Bible, let alone his love for me… I’m really torn, but i can’t expect anyone to make this decision for me… Thank you so much again for your kindness…

And a woman from Indiana writes: I just “found” this website when searching for some scripture online. I am astonished…although not sure why…I had prayed this morning for God to lead me to Him and away from my own self-centeredness, and here pops up your site with wonderful content to lead me closer to Him. How incredible to be in this Body of Christ. I’m looking forward to having some time to explore further…. Thank you for this, and thank our Heavenly Father who shows us how to use our gifts to his glory.

Closing Prayer

I’d love for you to pray with me.

Father,

• Thank You for giving us hope that there’s more to this life than what we can see,
• Thank You for the lives of Terri Schiavo and Pope John Paul II and for the reminder their deaths give us to keep putting our faith in You,
• And thank You for people like Billy Graham who can inspire us to do more to reach out to others around the world.

Father,

• We ask that You help us keep our eyes on the goal, and not get bogged down in the details of life,
• That You would speak to many people through the article in “Decision” magazine, to encourage them to use their gifts to share Christ with others,
• And that You would help still more people to find their way to The Ranch so they can find their way to You.

We pray this all in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Thanks for your prayers! Have a blessed day! Remember, there’s more to life than what you can see!

Sincerely,
Eric Elder

The Ranch Fellowship is a non-profit 501(c)(3) religious organization whose purpose is to share the message of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Click here to read more about our ministry.

To give a gift to The Ranch and to yourself, please visit The Ranch Giftshop.
To make a donation without ordering, just click Make A Donation.

Note from Eric:  I was asked to write an article for Billy Graham’s Decision Magazine about our Internet outreach at theranch.org for the April 2005 issue.  Here’s the text of the article, with links to the print and online versions.

Cover of Billy Graham’s Decision Magazine , April, 2005, featuring an article about Eric Elder and The Ranch inside.

Using The Gifts God Has Given You, by Eric Elder, for Billy Graham’s Decision Magazine, April 2005.

Using The Gifts God Has Given You

by Eric Elder
for Billy Graham’s Decision Magazine, April 1, 2005

I wish I were a great evangelist. I have dreams about preaching to millions and seeing them come to Christ. But the reality is that people haven’t been knocking on my door asking me to preach in their stadiums.

But my heart, my desires and my prayers are still set in that direction. Why? Because my decision to follow Christ was so life-changing that I wish for every person on the planet to experience the same thing.

So when God tugged on my heart 10 years ago and led me to quit my secular job and go into full-time ministry, I started walking in that direction. I didn’t know exactly what He wanted me to do, but I knew that it probably would have something to do with computers. I had just finished creating a Web site for the company where I worked, so I started with what I knew.

I created my own Web site. I typed out the story of how Christ had changed my life, and I posted it on the Internet. A few days later, I got an e-mail message from a man in Athens, Greece. He read my story and asked if I would pray for him. Messages started coming in from places like Seattle; Memphis, Tennessee; and Cairo, Egypt.

Within a year, the Web site was getting more than 800 visitors a month from 72 countries. I posted more testimonies, added some music and began recording video messages to encourage people in their faith. It’s been nearly 10 years since I first posted my testimony on the Internet. Although I rarely get to preach in front of a live audience, I’ve kept walking in the direction God called me. In January more than 10,000 people from 150 countries visited the Web site.

What’s intriguing to me is that many of the people who have put their faith in Christ via my Web site have done so as a result of other people’s stories, words and videos—not just mine. A Buddhist from Malaysia put her faith in Christ after reading about another Buddhist who had done the same. A woman from Illinois was led to Christ in our chat room by a pastor’s wife who also was visiting the chat room. A man from Latvia gave his life to Christ right there in front of his computer after watching a video I had recorded of a friend sharing the Gospel in my living room.

None of these people knew much about computers, but they had a passion for sharing Christ. It wasn’t my words that won the Buddhist to Christ, or the woman in the chat room or the man from Latvia. But I feel that God has honored my desires and my prayers to reach people for Him. Through the abilities He’s given me to type, run a camcorder and create a Web site, He has allowed me to help others fulfill their passions as well.

I still wish I were a great evangelist, and I want to reach as many people as I can for Christ. Maybe you do, too. If so, look again at the gifts God’s already given you. Then set your heart, your desires and your prayers in that direction. Start walking and keep walking. God only knows how many lives could be touched as a result of your obedience to His tug on your heart.

The Newsletter of Eric Elder Ministries

Encouragement that God answers prayer and the Online Prayer/Dedication Service

Join us for an online prayer/dedication service.

Dear Friends,

A visitor who was struggling with depression wrote:

“I was beginning to think this prayer request thing was not going to help…This is so new for me, I am not used to expressing my feelings or asking for help. …I am overwhelmed by your prayer, and that somebody whom I don’t know or have never seen, has taken time out to pray for me….Even if deliverence does not come tonight as I read your prayer for me, it has brought me a comfort that I need right now. I thank you again for sacrificing your time and praying for me, and for having no doubt that God would bring me out, for giving me hope. Thank you. And may God continue to bless and keep you, and use you to bless others even as you have been used to help me.”

A visitor who was struggling with doubt wrote:

“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your most compassionate, insightful response to my prayer request. I can’t tell you how much you lifted my spirits…Since your email, I have moved closer to God. I think I felt enormous guilt for having doubts, but now I realize that all people go through times of loneliness and doubt….Bless you for responding to me in such a nonjudgmental way. I think if you had given me the standard Christian platitudes — “pray more, read your Bible more,” etc. — I would have felt completely misunderstood and even more lonely. Bless you for reading between the lines and understanding that I have a tender heart toward God. The last few days in particular I have sensed God’s presence, His comfort. I attribute that to your prayers. You stood in the gap for me when I couldn’t pick myself up and reach out to God myself. Thank you for that. We are all fellow strugglers as we walk on our respective paths. You acted as the Good Samaritan; you ran into me on the path when I was exhausted and you helped me on my way.”

I wish I could say I’ve grasped the depths of all God wants us to know regarding prayer, but I know I haven’t even come close. But I am thankful for His words of encouragement to pray as recorded in 1 John 5:14-15:

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.”

I hope this gives you confidence to approach God with your prayers, too.

If you’d like a quiet place to pray, just stop by “A Place to Pray” at the Ranch.

I’ve also heard a number of positive comments from people who have visited the “new” Ranch website that we announced last month.

A visitor from Australia wrote: “What a wonderful website. Lovely design. Crisp, clean. Great layout!”

And a visitor from here in Illinois wrote this glowing review: “I’d like to thank everyone at The Ranch; it is the most worthwhile site I’ve found on the web.” Of course, I’ve seen a lot of worthwhile sites on the web, but I appreciate his sentiment and I’m glad to hear that The Ranch is touching people’s lives.

If you haven’t visited the “new” Ranch website yet, I hope you’ll take a look at theranch.org. I’ve highlighted one of the new video testimonies we’ve added to the website below, as well as details about our Online Prayer/Dedication Service on Friday, March 4th.

Online Prayer/Dedication Service

For those of you who would like to join me in praying for the “new” Ranch website, and to honor those who have helped to create it, please come to our Online Prayer/Dedication Service for the website on Friday, March 4th, 2005 at 1:00 pm Central Time. I know that may be in the middle of the work day for some of you, but I tried to pick a time when people would be by their computers and could also accomodate those involved in our site from various parts of the world.

To come to the service, just meet us in the Chat Room at The Ranch at 1 pm on March 4th. There’s no special registration and you can just “watch” if you want to and pray along we go.

Click this link to visit The Chat Room at The Ranch

Closing Prayer

Whether or not you’ll be able to make it to the Online Prayer/Dedication Service, I’d love it if you would join me in prayer right now.

Father,

• Thank You for answering our prayers, and for the encouragement that it gives us to continue to pray more,
• Thank You for the gifts and talents of those who have worked on this new website,
• And thank You for those who have supported this ministry prayerfully and financially to make this new website possible.

Father,

• We now ask that You would continue to give us wisdom to share the message of Jesus Christ in the most effective ways possible,
• That You would protect us from anything that would hinder our work,
• And that You would help still more people to find their way to The Ranch so they can find their way to You.

We pray this all in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Thanks for your prayers!

Sincerely,

Eric Elder

The Ranch Fellowship is a non-profit 501(c)(3) religious organization whose purpose is to share the message of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Click here to read more about our ministry.

To give a gift to The Ranch and to yourself, please visit The Ranch Giftshop.
To make a donation without ordering, just click Make A Donation.