LoneHollow Ranch

LONEHOLLOW RANCH — 2019

“I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.” (Psalm 40:1)

Utopia, Texas

Since 1946, Young Life camps have helped countless kids encounter Jesus in a life-changing way. But in the years before we owned these beautiful places, Jim Rayburn took boys into the great outdoors where they made their own adventures.

Since those modest offerings, the mission has purchased beautiful camping properties around the U.S. and the globe, but never in the state where Young Life was born. As Texas kids camped outside of the state summer after summer, many wondered if there would ever be a chance to purchase a camp here. During this time, God’s people prayed, watched and listened. In fact, for years one couple, Dan and Jenni Hord, hiked to the top of a ridge on their family’s ranch that overlooked a camp (Camp Lonehollow) and prayed specifically that Young Life would one day own that property. In 2015, Young Life’s camping leadership organized a search team of staff and key volunteers, asking these men and women to create and implement a search criteria for the new camp. This eventually led them to Camp Lonehollow, a premier adventure camp aimed at enriching lives to create the next generation of leaders. While the property was still not for sale three years after they originally discovered it, the team re-engaged the owner and in the summer of 2018 she agreed to sell. God initiated the perfect intersection between the owner’s and the mission’s timing. It then became a question not of “should we purchase this camp?” but “could we?” The pivotal moment arose when a team of board members along with mission and camping leadership toured the camp one final time. In a sacred meeting Bob Rowling (Dallas resident and Forward executive committee member) declared, “This is a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity and the greatest answer to prayer I’ve ever experienced.” To back up his proclamation he offered a generous gift to begin the campaign. LoneHollow Ranch was an answer to decades of prayers, particularly those of Dan and Jenni Hord, for this was the camp they had literally prayed over for many years! Billy Suess, Central Texas regional director, summed it up best by saying, “God used the original owners to unknowingly build a Young Life camp.” *

As you look back, can you name times you have had to wait and trust the Lord would provide? After writing these down, consider what you might be waiting on the Lord for in your present circumstances. Write these down and lift them up in prayer to the One who hears your cry.