http://www.ridethefarm.com

Exciting area of new interest in a Bible study we want to do. But we need some prayer. Please watch to learn what to pray about.

http://www.ridethefarm.com

I have felt God leading me toward starting residual income projects for ministry and our first one is about to launch. Watch for more details.

http://vimeo.com/12511252

A couple weeks ago a guy I know who has moved to Florida and is now connected to a ministry there came out to visit with a person he is connected to.  They both love the type of ministry we do at The Farm with missional church flavor.  So they came to Colorado to visit our ministry along with some other stuff happening here in Greeley.  While they were here I got the chance to really present the snowdome idea to them which they were excited about.  Well, their connection to a very successful Christian businessman and investor has potential to move our project forward significantly.  So as they went back to Florida excited about our project, they got the chance to share with this investor about what we are attempting here.  As God has continued to show us favor in this pursuit we again saw another person get interested in our project.  So he is now interested in hearing more about the project with the possibility of getting involved financially.  We don’t have a timeline from him but we know he is interested in continuing to learn more about the snowdome ministry.  Please pray for his heart to be positively drawn to this project.

Back here in Greeley I got the chance to ask for some advice about the snowdome project from a person here in Greeley who is very well connected to some successful businessmen from our area.  He liked the idea so much and got so excited about it he decided to sponsor a lunch and invite the people he knows to come hear about the project (that was today.)  So I got the chance to present this project to some of the more successful business people in our community that I’m not connected to personally again seeing how God is using our relationships to move this project forward.  This presentation went very well with some of the more encouraging comments coming from people about our preparation and the project.  One of the people attending this meeting commented that he has seen many Christian organizations present ideas of this nature over the past ten years and this is the best presentation and most prepared and well thought-through ideas he has seen.  Everyone in the meeting at one point or another commented on how impressed they are with our preparation and the quality of work we have put into this project.  I’m very excited about the way this presentation was received because now those in attendance will have confidence to share with even more people about this project because they have confidence about our competence and ability to professionally present what we are pursuing giving our project some much needed validity.  I’m excited to see where the meeting today will take us as we go further into the never ending network of relationships we have entered into.

Thank you for making it possible for me to take the time to be prepared in the way I have been able to so we all can move this amazing project forward and see God move powerfully through the snowdome.

Love, The Neels.

So after a couple meetings where I discovered this news I went back to my office and drafted a proposal for a pilot program to take our resources and the ones in the county not being used and spear head getting a hands-on program going.  The idea is to have kids come to our facility and have the curriculum presented by a trained presenter and then let them use our video equipment to develop a skate video communicating the information they learn in the program.  I sent the proposal to the head of Weld County Prevention Partners and she loves it and is willing to get us the curriculum and pay the presenter if we can find one.  She is also helping us find a presenter from the pool of people already trained in this program–a program that actually partners with the local school district’s health curriculum which is why we have some trained presenters in the area.

We are still in need of $6500 to pay for some equipment for the program which we have some grants out in hopes of winning one to get this program off the ground.  Once we secure these funds we will then conduct the pilot program taking pre and post survey data to show the effectiveness of the program to pursue future funding on a larger scale.  This has the potential of giving us the platform as the most active organization in drug and alcohol prevention in the county hopefully building bridges into the lives of families and organizations that give us a greater chance to share the gospel.

Please pray for this program to get funded and become a success in reducing the pain youth and their families go through when drugs and alcohol become a problem.

Thank you for making it possible for me to pursue this program as we join to impact our community this way.

Love, The Neels.

First is a story from a kid who skated with us for a while but hasn’t been around much lately. He has had some troubles going on and hasn’t been able to come skate on Friday nights with us. Well this week he made sure to make it to the park because he was in much need of a refuge. The past week had been one of the most traumatic weeks of his life to date and honestly is a week I would consider to be from a nightmare. Friday he was having a particularly hard time dealing with the trauma and he just needed a place of rest–a refuge. His first choice was to come skate with us to escape the heart ache, visions that come when eyes close, and pain he is going through. We were very glad to be the refuge of choice for him and even for his family.

This was another great reminder of why we continue to do what we do. Our chance to be here for him and for his family was developed by consistently being part of the skate community here in Greeley and putting skin to God’s love for those in this community. I know it takes a lot of work, time, and commitment to be able to provide a refuge like we have, but weekends like this continue to show me it is worth every bit of it. I also understand it takes a combination of someone consistently being available and a team of supporters because we never know when life is going to hit hard. Without someone making themselves available on a regular basis this refuge would not have the impact it has now. And without a team of supporters making sure this person is able to be available this refuge would not have the impact it has now. THANK YOU FOR PARTNERING WITH ME TO MAKE THIS REFUGE POWERFULLY IMPACTING.

Secondly we also conducted a survey this weekend to see what the kids are thinking about the ministry we are providing. I’m still analyzing the information, but check out the first thing I was impacted by here.

At this time I am still analyzing the data but quickly compiled one piece that was sticking out to me. In one section of the survey the kids were asked to what extent they choose to come to The Farm to hang out. We asked them to measure this desire on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being not at all and 5 being completely. The 2 questions I want to focus on here were how much influence did hanging with friends have when coming to The Farm and how much influence did hanging with the leaders have when coming to The Farm. Hanging with friends average score (to date) was 3.76, hanging with the leaders was 4.24. This means hanging out with the leaders of The Farm scored better than hanging out with their friends. I have seen study after study saying the most influential group for teens is their peer group and yet in our ministry we have successfully challenged that norm. We are positioned incredibly well to be a strong, Christ-centered influence in these kids lives.

Thank you for helping make this possible and for joining with us in celebrating this incredible success of our ministry.

1. God clearly spoke to me about pursuing ministry in board sports while I was coaching at a volleyball ministry camp.
2. I only had to mention this desire and both Jenn Luby-Howard and John Wooster were ready to help move this ministry forward.
3. As the ministry grew we felt like we should pursue building an indoor skate park. After looking at the old K-Mart building on 10th street Becca felt like we should pray for a free building. So we did right their in front of that building. One and a half weeks later the owner of our current building called and said he heard we were looking for a building to build a skate park in. We are still in this building with every needed utility and building costs covered since that day.
4. While we were building the ramps we felt like God saying to just build and He would take care of the materials. Three times while building we knew we couldn’t finish the ramp we were working on. While either cutting the last board or putting the last board in the ramp someone pulled up with materials for building. One person purchased materials just feeling God telling him we needed material for the project, one person had left over wood from a project, and one person had wood that had been stored in his garage and he was cleaning out the garage.
5. We sent the dimensions of our building into a professional ramp building company for an estimate. They returned our estimate of needing between $80,000 to $100,000 to build a park that size. We were given a $5000 donation to start. We built and purchased when we needed while John took care of the finances. We built the entire park with out seeking large donations and had $2000 left over when we got done.
6. When talking to a friend about snowboarding he mentioned this carpet you could snowboard on. We spoke about how this would be a good business. Between times seeing this friend I prayed about this snowboarding thing and felt like God saying this would be a great ministry we could use to help kids stay off drugs. The next time I saw this friend he said he felt like God had spoken to him about some of the ways to use a year-round snowboading deal–he felt like God telling him it could be used to keep kids off drugs also.
7. Another week went by after talking to this friend and I had an actual vision of what the inside of the building might look like. When I saw my friend again he said he had the same experience. We started drawing the building and it was the same vision.
8. The first place we pursued land was from Redeemer Lutheran in Fort Collins. They had land they wanted to donate to a ministry that was serving the community. They asked for a proposal of what we would do with the land. I only had one day to get the proposal done by the time I heard about it. I didn’t have time to research some of the stuff they asked for–one being the size of the building. I prayed and asked God to give me the numbers I needed. I felt like the building size should be 150 meters long and 30 meters wide. After turning in the proposal I had time to do some research. Turns out I found a couple snowdomes that were about this same size.
9. During some preliminary presentations I needed some pictures of different snowdomes so people would know what they looked like. The pictures that ended up being used the most both from the inside and outside turned out to be from the same snowdome which turned out to also be 170 meters long by 30 meters wide. (They also have a curve at the top of the run making their straight part of the slope right at 150 meters long.)
10. More research turned up a snowdome operating in a town about the same size as Greeley in Tamworth, UK. This snowdome turned out to be the same snowdome as the one mentioned above.
11. During some time of research I felt like God telling me I needed to get on the internet right away and look for a snowdome business plan to have as an example of what we would need. I was doing something else but I stopped and got on the internet and typed in snowdome business plan. The first link was to meeting notes from a city council meeting where a snowdome was being proposed. A currently operating snowdome was sharing their success as an example of what could be done in this new city. Guess which snowdome this was from–yep the same one yet again.
12. We needed some preliminary drawings for the building at one point. I had just sent a prayer request out and asked people to let me know if they knew anyone who could do the drawings. I found out my email didn’t go out. While I was trying to figure out what went wrong a gentleman came into YFC during our open house coffee shop. Turns out he does architectural drawings and had time on his hands to do the drawings for us–for free.
13. We knew we needed an architect at one point. In one day I had 3 meetings with different people who asked how things were going. I shared the need for an architect and they all suggested the same person. My wife also suggested the same person that night at home. This architect had actually called me that morning for something else and I didn’t know he was an architect. He called me again that night and I got a meeting with him the next day.
14. During that meeting he let me know he had actually worked with a gentleman who develops feasibility and business plans for residual income projects for churches. I got a meeting with this gentleman in just a few minutes.
15. Turns out this gentleman is the same one who prepared the entire feasibility and business plan and also had the connections to the funding sources we are currently connected to.

I know that was a lot to read but thanks for keeping with it. I’m sure other things have happened that I’m not thinking about now but I hope you see enough to be very confident God is showing up in this ministry in incredible ways. Please continue to pray for the financial needs of this project. They seem big to us, but no larger than any of the above mentioned ways God has already moved in this project. Thank you.

I can’t tell you why God does this sometimes and not at others, but He will give me a glimpse into the incredible fruit He is growing from the efforts I’ve been offering.  I guess I probably need these times every now and again just to keep me going even though I really try to focus my efforts on serving God no matter the outcome.  Well, as of late I’ve been seeing fruit in places I wasn’t sure what was happening.

When it comes to youth ministry, you can only be as effective as you are able to impact the family and not just the kid.  As we have embraced this, I’ve been doing what I can to really connect with the parents of the kids I’ve already built relationships with.  During this time, we have had parents come to dinners at our house, call for us to help with difficult situations with their children, and even had a parent join their child during our Bible study at The Farm.  Also, as I’m getting to know the parents more, I’m getting to hear from them the perspective of what they see is happening in their kids due to our ministry and I’m getting to hear their gratification for our involvement in their family.  This has truly been life giving to me.

Also, on Friday nights we have a Bible study between sessions.  We purposely haven’t had any prep time like reading before and discussing when you get their so no matter when a kid decides to join they feel like they are in the same place as everyone else in the Bible study.  We simply take a chapter of the Bible and read it pausing to discuss whatever pops out at the kids giving direction in the discussion.  This has been great because the kids get to talk about what they really feel rather than us predetermining a topic that may or may not be relevant to them.  I saw some great fruit from this last week when I thanked a couple kids for coming to the Bible study  (which they drove from out-of-town to be at The Farm) between sessions and they said, “No problem, it’s actually why we come.”  YES!!!!!!

But my favorite fruit is one I long to see often.  It was when a friend of mine asked me about how to begin a relationship with Jesus.  After I told him and was talking to him about it he said, “I want to commit my life to this.”  That was enough fruit for me to continue what I do for a long time.

I see God brining a lot together at this time which excites me as we move into this next year of ministry.  I’m grateful for all of you who have supported us financially and in prayer as you have joined us in this ministry.  I look forward to another year of being jaw-droppin amazed at what God is doing through this ministry.

Love, The Neels.

This is something we have grasped and have been implementing for a while now.  We are inviting people to partake in the actions we are taking to live out our faith.  Now, this doesn’t always result in them joining us in active faith, but it has been generating some great conversation.  One question I heard recently from one individual had to do with why we do good things (for goodness sake.)  I don’t think this question had anything to do with Santa but more to do with heaven.  He said he figured Christians only do good things in order to get into heaven.  And then he followed the question with, ‘Or have I just misunderstood Christianity?’  Man what an incredible question to come to before even deciding to follow Jesus.  I got the chance to briefly explain this is a misunderstanding of Christianity.  It has opened the door for me to explain the reason I do the ‘good deeds’ is not to get to heaven but to show God I love Him.  And now when I invite him to join me I get the chance to continually explain the real reason for my good deeds is love  and give him the opportunity to experience what it is like to spread this kind of love.  I have already seen others be surprised by how much they are impacted when they join us in loving those around us–and then we get to explain that it is because God made them that way.

Our other staff have told me of similar conversations stemmed from the faith in action steps we have been taking.  Sometimes they join us, and sometimes it opens doors for addressing misconceptions about God–but it is always a great way for us to worship God.

Love, The Neels