From Alaska to Florida….

What do Alaska, Florida, retirement centers and giant Post-It posters have in common?  Echo Ranch Winter Meetings!  Every year, the staff at Echo Ranch choose somewhere in the United States to have a week of intense, strategic team meetings to both plan out the next summer and see where they are as a team and ministry.  We have been blessed to attend the last two, this year’s being in central Florida.  Most of the team resides in Juneau for the winter, but some travel all over the US and recruit volunteers and counselors.  This year, the national CCCA (Christian Camp and Conference Association) Conference was held in Orlando, FL and the entire team, minus the Regiers (we will attend once we are full-time missionaries with Echo Ranch) attended the conference.  Our in-town staff couple lives in a suburb of Orlando in a retirement home, so it was decided that we would hold the meetings in the guest housing of the retirement village.  A local pastor of a church that supports Echo Ranch came each day to lead a devotion and pray with us.  Many times the scriptures discussed would lead our discussion on the topics of the day.  Here is a picture of what our entire week looked like:

It isn’t too exciting, but it shows a huge part of what goes on behind the scenes of Echo Ranch.  The backbone.  The planning.  Setting in motion the things that go on from April to October.  And it requires a huge amount of wisdom from the One for Whose glory it’s all for.  God has it all planned, but we get the privilege of playing it out.  And we need His help.  We spent much time in devotions and prayer, imploring the Lord for wisdom and right hearts to work together in unity and love.  We always, with every discussion from scheduling to housing to lighting options, came back to this: “Is this our ministry focus? What facilitates our goal to reach Southeast Alaska for Christ best?  Does this show God’s love to believers?  To unbelievers?  Does this enable the health of each person and the team?”

We also identified several areas of personnel needs for the summer.  These include:

• ·      Mechanic
• ·      Maintenance and construction workers
• ·      Nurse and assistant
• ·      Kitchen help
• ·      Counselors

If you feel the Lord leading you to serve in any of these areas (and want to spend a summer on the Alaskan coast!), please go to www.echoranch.org to inquire and apply.

Finally, we want to extend a huge thank you to the Church at South Lake in Clermont, FL, and Pastor Brian Hammond and family.  They provided nearly every meal, picked several up and brought it to us, took us all over town, and offered all-around amazing hospitality!  You guys rock!  Check out their website:

http://www.churchatsouthlake.com

Also thanks to the AIM (Africa Inland Missions) retirement center and Bob and Mary Ehmann!  The accommodations were wonderful!