Matt & Jenni Cox

Matt and Jenni Cox came on staff in 1992. Matt has served as Farmer, Program Director, Director of Equine Ministries and now as the Executive Director. Matt teaches multiple classes for the School of Discipleship. Jenni serves as his secretary and has homeschooled all of their five children, three of which are out of the house now. Their eldest is married and living in TX with their three grandchildren. Jenni also assists with the “Marriage Dynamics” class. Both Matt and Jenni are School of Discipleship alumni.

The Cox Chronicles

Spring/Summer 2024

On May 5th, I had the opportunity to run my first (and only) full marathon. It has been on my bucket list for years, and I gave myself the deadline of completing it before my 50th birthday. Well time was running out so I signed up and began the training process. It was a fun and challenging experience with many lessons learned through the miles of training, but one that stood out to me the most was the importance of pain. When you do any kind of endurance sport, you have to learn to listen to your body, giving it attention at times, and at other times ignoring its complaints. Pain can be a reminder that we are building muscle, or a warning that something is going wrong. It can be the burning in your lungs from breathing hard, or the twinge of an overused tendon or ligament. Multiple times through this training process I had to reassess my approach and work within the limitations of my body. Plantar fasciitis developed and changed my plan of attack all together. Pain became a common companion on my runs.

As a family, we’ve been walking through a season of pain for the last couple of years. Matt’s ongoing issues with his hips, and this spring with his kidney stones, has been a time of learning to adapt and readjust. When someone is hurting, it not only affects them, but everyone around them. Any home where someone lives with chronic pain knows this well. Even one of my migraines can make me feel like I’ve lost a day of my life and impacts my family. Pain is not only a companion to injury, but also to the healing process. Matt had his first hip replacement on March 28th and recovery is going well, but the minute he overdoes it, pain comes in to remind the body that it is still healing. His other hip, which is also bone on bone, is still quite debilitating for him so we are looking forward to the second surgery on June 27th. This will occur during the first full week of camp so we are leaning into God’s grace through this well.

In 2 Cor. 12:7-10 Paul pleaded for God to remove the “thorn in the flesh” that he wrestled with. The Lord replied with “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Paul embraced this answer and his infirmities that Christ’s strength might be seen instead of his own. “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” We never truly see or feel God’s grace more than when we come to the end of our own strength. It is in those moments that we later look back and realize how much He carried us. We would appreciate your prayers as we continue to walk in this season of leaning into God’s grace for strength.

News and Updates

Myself, Jonathan, Emily, and her boyfriend Josiah had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Dominican Republic in January and minister with Meeting God in Missions. We were sponsored by a friend and mentor and had an incredible experience serving in many different capacities including construction, children’s ministry, evangelism and medical ministry. For Emily and I, this was our second time going. We are already collecting donations to take with us next year for their local fire departments as well as other needs. We are hopeful that Matt may be able to go with us this coming January. If you’d like to be a part of sponsoring our trip next January, just let me know.

We just wrapped up our line-up of winter and spring retreats. We had a great turnout for our couples retreat and Matt was released from a short time in the hospital due to kidney stone issues just in time to speak alongside me. We enjoyed teaching class together through the winter and spring and the students were very gracious and flexible around the health issues that occurred. We hosted our first (and only) Eclipse retreat with close to 400 visitors who attended to view the eclipse from the Ranch. Matt was able to move out to the porch to enjoy it as well.

Hannah and the kids were able to come north for a whirlwind visit of 6 days. The time flew by and we loved the chance to see them and catch up. We enjoy watching Garrett at his horse shows online through the live broadcasting.

Megan, Simeon and Seersha joined us for the last day of their visit and we had all 5 grandkids in the house at one time! Megan and Seersha hope to return in July for another visit. They are enjoying living in the Ephrata, PA area and we got to visit them many times this spring as Matt had dental work done by a friend in the Lancaster area.

Lydia has moved into a new apartment in Indiana and is working for the Vision of Hope ministry as their Fundraising Coordinator and Part time on-floor staff. We had 2 opportunities to visit her this spring, once to help her settle into her new apartment and then again to attend Jenni’s niece’s wedding. She is also hoping to return for a visit in July. Vehicle issues have been a challenge for her so prayers for a safe trip are appreciated.

Emily just finished up her job in town and is looking forward to serving this summer at the Ranch as programming staff. Emily has a wonderful employer in town that lets her take off for the summer to serve at the Ranch and eagerly rehires her each fall.

Jonathan just finished up his sophomore volleyball season and is looking forward to getting his driver’s permit. He just turned 16 and will be serving as an assistant counselor this summer. I’m still not used to hearing his deep voice around the house.

I’ve had the neat opportunity to pick up a part time job working for a local college to assist with their EMT course. The extra income has been a blessing with expenses as well as realizing how much I enjoy the teaching and interacting with the students. This series of classes wraps up in July.

We are busy gearing up for the summer season. As we anticipate Matt’s second surgery, we are also adjusting our goals and expectations for the summer. I will still be overseeing the nursing program and Matt will conduct meetings from the house as he watches trail rides go by. The first 3 weeks post surgery are the most challenging as he is supposed to be on his back with his operative leg elevated above his heart for 80% of the day. As both kids are working full time at camp, I’ll be shuttling back and forth to help Matt. As overwhelming as it all can feel, God’s grace and faithfulness has never failed us, so we will anticipate that as well.

Prayer Requests and Praises:

• The Ranch is in the process of rebuilding our Fort Wilderness building that burnt down a couple of years ago. We are excited to be using this for our overnight outings and many future events!
• Please pray for Matt as he forgoes his next hip replacement surgery on June 27th. We praise God for his recovery from the first replacement.
• Praise for Matt’s kidneys recovering after multiple procedures and the passing of many stones.
• Prayers appreciated for monthly support.
• We praise God for the blessing of our family as well as our staff family and the new little babies that have been born this year.
• The Ranch is looking for a financial secretary to come on full time as staff.
• We are in need of tires for our 2011 Highlander that we purchased this past year and needed body work on the 2012 Suburban.
• We are still looking for female counselors for summer staff as well as horses to replace ones that are aging out. We praise God for the staff that have signed on for the summer as well as the Ranchers that are signed up to come.

We’d love to hear how you are doing as well! We can be reached at

Thank you to everyone who has made our years of ministry with Miracle Mountain Ranch possible. You have blessed us tremendously through your prayers and generosity!

Matt, Jenni, and family