Monday July 9, 2007

Dear Friends,

Strap on your seatbelts, this letter gets interesting :-)

One month ago, I shared with you that the owners finally pulled the diesel tanks out of the ground here. And the ground looks pretty clean. We're still waiting on official test results, but so far, things look good. This was my first clue that things were starting to happen again.

I have prayed for over two years for some way to get into a timeshare or something somewhere that I could make accessible to the staff coming to live here. I want to take care of my staff and give them the opportunity to rest and relax too. But the one timeshare I was interested in always cost too much money. Two weeks ago though, Karen and I discovered a way to make it a reality, for about a third of the cost that I was expecting. We purchased it, and now have the ability to take care of staff in this way. This was my second clue that things were afoot.

One week ago, one of the propane companies in Boise FINALLY came and removed THEIR 1,000 gallon propane tank that was sitting closer than 10 feet to the house (big-time no-no). I have been on their case for almost 2 years to come remove that tank (there are still 2 other big propane tanks here that we can still use, that go with the property). That was the third thing.

Fourth thing? 

Karen and I have been praying for quite awhile now about the focus and direction of this project. I even so much as said in the last newsletter that unless I got a word from the Lord that was clearer than the original call to build a youth ranch, I declared that I would continue doing what I was originally told to do. But at the same time, we also sought God on it. Why? Several reasons.

1. Due to another for-profit group that is trying to build a residential non-faith-based youth ranch up in this area, there has been a huge groundswell of negative opinion concerning anything "youth ranch" related in this county. This concerned me.

2. God has not provided funding to buy the property yet. That led me to believe that possibly our focus did need readjusted so that He could move us forward. We prayed about this.

3. Part of our whole dream has been to provide camps to the international community in Boise, in particular the Hispanic and Russian churches of the area that have no camping program of their own. One problem is that "CAMP" is a foreign concept to their culture, by and large. So I already knew we were fighting an uphill battle there.

4. My hope, prayer and dream has always been to use this place to help bring unity to the various churches of the area, and just another camping program would actually compete with some of the big camps already in operation, meaning that we were losing unity right out of the starting gate. I have prayed about this.

5. I have prayed numerous times over the past three years about how God could use this place as a place of healing, not have it be just another fun camp, and I have been asking Him for His thoughts.

Now for the good stuff. I have been conversing with a pastor from India that desires to move here and help with the project. I respect his spirituality, and his walk with God. I also admire his heart of prayer. Now keep in mind that I did not share with him any of my 5 concerns above, or even that we were praying about them. But he wrote me an email 2 weeks ago, and I quote:

"Greetings in Jesus name from Nagaland, India. Well
Sir, this is what God had told me while I was praying
for your ministry and wonderful vision in my prayer
room. He appeared to me and a whispering voice told
that, " Let Tim & Karen open a Prayer Center for all
nations", "This will be the healing center for all the
people who are afflicted by different sicknesses, be
it emotional, physical, spiritual, mental,
psychological and financial etc." And given me these
Bible verses, Psalms 1:1-3, Revelation 19:6, 22:1-2. I
request you to spare your precious time and meditate
upon these verses and ask His great plan."

This word supposedly from God was about as clear as I was going to get. So me, my wife, Todd, and others that I respect and admire and with whom I maintain some accountability with, immediately took this matter to prayer. And as we prayed, it dawned on me that this word answered all 5 of my previously listed concerns. 1. If we are a prayer center, even though we still will host youth camps, we don't need anything "youth ranch" related in our name. 2. If God is behind this focus change, then His funding will be there. 3. While the idea of a camp may be foreign to the international community that we wish to serve, the idea of a prayer retreat is most certainly not. They grasp that idea and concept easily and quickly, and can embrace it. 4. There are currently no large interdenominational houses of prayer or prayer furnaces in the Boise area that I could find. This is something that CAN bring churches together in unity. 5. When people pray, there is healing. The imperfect becomes perfect in the presence of God.

Even in my own prayer, as I searched the web last week for "international house of prayer", and looked at the many different ones already in operation across the USA and world, my heart leapt and tears ran down my face.

But what about the youth ranch?

Last week, Karen's best friend and her family, came to stay the week. Another man, an almost retired ex camp program director, also came to visit for several days (had a great 4th of July up here). They both strongly encouraged us, just telling us that we already were ministering to people, and that we already were providing a place of healing for people. Karen's friend's husband, a pastor himself, even asked me to go down a partial list of people that have crossed my path up here, and point to healing that had occurred in their lives because of our faithfulness in being here, even if there were also some who found no healing at all.

And rather unexpectedly, we were asked to speak at Pastor Ambrosio's church in Caldwell about our desire to provide their church with a retreat facility. Out of that conversation came the comment (though I've heard it before, but not HEARD it), that with 8 kids of our own, we already have a youth ranch. I was obedient in building a youth ranch, I just didn't realize it would be for 8 children of my own.

So we have accepted that the words that came through my India friend as being a genuine direction from God, and have committed together that this is our next step. We are building a house of prayer for all nations, a place dedicated to prayer retreats, prayer summits, and a place for people to find healing, while still hosting the occasional youth camp and working with the foster families around here. It means redoing a lot of paperwork, rethinking some of our plans, rewriting part of the business plan, changing the website, etc and so forth, but I'm excited about it. Tentatively speaking for now anyway, we are simply calling it either "Thorn Creek House of Prayer" or the "The Father's House of Prayer" (or maybe "The Father's International House of Prayer" ?).

And here's the kicker.

We received a letter from the land owners lawyer just this morning (July 9th) demanding $10,000 Earnest Money by July 15th, with an additional $100,000 downpayment in 6 weeks, and the balance of $390,000 paid in 6 months. If we can't do it, they say they are going to start looking for other buyers (they have several interested parties already that I have personally met).  And I threw my back out yesterday and thus am home sick today to deal with this letter, an unhappy phone call from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality about the diesel tanks (the owners still haven't given them the soil test results from when they pulled the tanks out of the ground a month ago), and an unexpected visit by Pastor Ambrosio (the pastor whose Hispanic church is most interested in holding camps and prayer retreats here) and his family *chuckle*. God knows what's going on, for sure.....

Someone that prays for us also told us just this afternoon (July 9th) that God told them He is starting to powerfully move in our situation, someone that I have not previously told much of the news in this newsletter to. How did they know? It's kinda cool *chuckle*.

So, a number of things have happened here in the last month that have suddenly rocketed us forward. And now a huge brick wall looms before us.

It is interesting to me to note that my two older girls ARE in Australia now, and that the $8,000 we needed for them to go, came in in less than 3 months. In fact, the last $200 came in just a few hours before they were to leave from Florida to fly to Sydney. This was something that we could not in our own strength make happen; we just plain didn't have the resources. But God did, through people that believed in them and what they wanted to do by going to Australia as part of a serve team to work on a project down there. 

So am I worried? I'd say that my emotions are more like nervous excitement right now. But that could change. So pray for us, pray for funding, and pray that we do not give up in discouragement, this dream and vision. I believe.

In Him,

Sincerely,

Tim & Karen Benedict & kids

Thorn Creek House of Prayer

or The Father's House of Prayer

208-392-6723
timbenedict@peoplepc.com
http://www.bighouseministries.com
21 Yellowpine Lane, Boise, ID 83716