The Journey
Five years ago the Ranch embarked on a journey. Miracle Mountain Ranch had the opportunity to purchase the 536 acres surrounding the main camp area that we had been leasing for 45 years. This land contained our pastures, fields, trails, camp sites, some housing, and our water well. This $1.6 million purchase was accomplished through a $39,000 down payment, a $861,000 bank mortgage, and a $700,000 balloon payment to be made in 2015, directly to the former owner of the property. In order to purchase the land, the oil, gas, mineral, and timber rights were a non-negotiable part of the package to be paid for with the balloon payment. In January 2014, we were able to renegotiate the $700,000 balloon payment to be paid monthly, $100,000/year, over seven years, with 0% interest.
In the fall of 2014, a generous donor offered the Ranch a $300,000 matching fund opportunity, and through the help of many, we celebrated as $645,000 was raised to completely pay off the balance of the mortgage, leaving only the balloon payment!
The Blessing
This past week, God moved in a truly amazing way, over and above anything we could have imagined. A friend of the Ranch and supporter of the Lord’s ministry here stepped up and offered to pay off the remaining $533,300 balloon payment in full! For the first time in its history, the Ranch will be owned by the ministry itself instead of individuals. We give God the glory for working through loving and generous people to help lift this burden from the Ranch. As a staff, we are in awe and praising God for what He has done through this seemingly overwhelming journey that was started about five years ago. What we thought would take twenty years to complete has only taken five!
The Future
Our general fund has been greatly taxed over these past months, so without the demand of these payments we hope to start catching up. After that, we pray that we will be able to take the funds that would’ve gone toward those payments and focus on ministry projects that had been slowed or stopped altogether by the priority of the land payments. Walking through this time of utter dependency has reminded us of what a mighty God we serve. We were challenged as we witnessed the donor’s obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and their sacrificial hearts. Please rejoice with us as we praise God for this very encouraging time in Ranch history!
We would love to have you join us for our Harvest Party on Oct. 24th. This will be a time of truly celebrating the great Harvest that the Lord has brought in!
Matt Cox
Executive Director
Miracle Mountain Ranch
www.mmrm.org
