THE GATHERING PLACE

Mean while back at the ranch….

My family and I own a quarter section on Sidley Mountain. God has blessed us with this 160 acres of picturesque ranch land just 24 kilometers from Osoyoos. We believe that it is now the season for us to develop and direct the ministry vision that Judi and I have dreamt about for some 3o years.

It is our dream to build a western retreat lodge that would house a regional church for the Osoyoos to Rock Creek area—with beautiful, yet simple, facilities including a worship centre seating 300, dorm rooms for at least 120 people, classrooms for training lay ministers, and a recreation area. All of this would be clad with well aged barn wood, donated from several of Sidley Mountain’s homesteads. Future outbuildings would include riding stables and roping pens.

All of this will be designed to minister to the local person - spiritually, emotionally, physically and socially and set in a peaceful inspiring rural setting.

We are preparing several week-end retreats for the upcoming season. These would include, team building “Survivor”, Motivational - Personal Development and Ministry Enhancement week-ends.

Our intent is to give the members of the Gathering Place the opportunity to minister in and through these events. Further more we are dedicated to improving the training level of our lay ministers by investing income from these “booked” retreats in their particular areas of ministry. For example one of our members is developing her Family Counseling skills, so after a week-end of ministering together we would invest a percentage of the registration fees toward furthering her education in Family Counseling.

Simply stated, we are not only going to fellowship together on Sundays we are going to minister alongside of you and support you in bringing you closer to your full potential. We believe you are necessary to the plan God has for this area and we are committed to investing in who you are and the ministry gifts that God is graciously perfecting in you.

We are planning one retreat week-end per month. On that particular week-end we would not have church at the normal meeting area. Rather we would begin our ministry on the Friday evening and work through the week-end. This would enable us to meet hundreds of new brothers and sisters, exercise our serving, and rejoice in what God is doing in the individual lives of people around us. You could serve a few hours or the whole week-end. You could serve coffee around the campfire or teach a workshop. You could assist in team building games or pray for special needs. The possibilities are unlimited! We pray that you will be as excited about this unique prospect as we are in presenting it to you.

The Brouwers, Eagles Nest Ranch