December 3rd 2013
I met with John Glenn today at SST and spent an hour or so going over the possibilities for the ranch. I made two points in order of importance to which John agreed.
First, if the ministry was to continue, that had to be top priority. He explained his statement “we’re done here” as he heard the Lord say he is through fighting to pay the bills, not that the ministry was finished.
Second point is some stability for the families living on the property to have some assurance about their future. We then talked about most of the points made in the letter written to John which I gave to him after we went over many of the issues pertaining to keeping the ranch intact. I believe he generally agreed it would be better to keep it together but he said he could not do it anymore. I told him he needed to be free of that responsibility and concentrate on ministry work - what he was called to do as our plan will place that burden elsewhere. I did tell him it may require that he move out of the ranch house for the time being. We talked about what all parties on the ranch were paying and it is clear adjustments need to be made. The doublewide across from the ranch house is not paying any rent at all. That is unfair to everyone else on the property. At the end of the meeting he told me Miller, our banker, was more on my side of the equation of keeping the property together.
At the close of our meeting I handed John the following letter:
John,
You first said you heard the Lord say “we’re done here” but you now believe the Lord may be providing a way to continue the ministry. We know God brought us together and provided the property for the purpose of ministry. He didn’t make a mistake so if the ministry is to continue we then believe the ranch is best keep intact and we should be willing to do whatever it takes.
You know Dorothy and I have never taken the ranch for granted and have always treated it as if it belonged to you and Sandi. We have always ask if we wanted to do something or hold an event and have always had the boys ask if they wanted to come out to shoot or play paint ball or whatever. I don’t remember one time when you or Sandi ask us when you wanted to schedule something and that was never required or expected as we are grateful we have such a beautiful place to hold an event. You will remember I have said on more than one occasion you and Sandi likely have as much invested as Dorothy and I if your labor was counted even though that is a non-issue for us. You have also said, on more than one occasion that we were only to make the initial down payment but we are thankful God allowed and, we believe, directed us to continue the support that made many of the improvements possible. You will remember when you first told me we had to be partners; how it took me some time to understand what God expected from me. Several years into the ministry I understood one very important reason we were involved. We had reached the point where it was becoming difficult to make the payments and the first of several schemes came up. One involved selling the back part for a public park. That is when I spoke up to keep a third party from gaining some control that may threaten the ministry. It was also the case when Tom wanted to first buy in the front then in the back, and we all agreed that would complicate access and devalue the property. When these issues come up my mind always goes back to the times you were forced out of a church and how we were considering a 40 acre church to avoid that.
There is nothing illegal or immoral about a tax paying corporation making a profit but that avenue has never been fully explored. The few things we tried were barely promoted and got very little exposure, primarily because of lack of funding. Chad Thomas and I are currently involved in a partnership that took a property about to go into foreclosure and turned it into a profitable venture. It did take some investment and one very good website to make it happen but it got done.
We have a plan that we believe will keep the ranch intact and provide extra income. It may be, at least at first, a bit unpleasant but if we are willing to do whatever it takes, we believe we can save the property. At a minimum we know we can keep up the payments for several months until the future can be determined.
If it turns out we are unable to meet the financial obligations then we will explore the option of selling the entire property to a club such as Camping World, KOA, Ranch Clubs, etc. We will find the right person or relator that handles such sales, “not some local home seller”. On the other hand, if the ministry is truly done, the property can then be sold and any equity divided equally.
George & Dorothy
I met with John Glenn today at SST and spent an hour or so going over the possibilities for the ranch. I made two points in order of importance to which John agreed.
First, if the ministry was to continue, that had to be top priority. He explained his statement “we’re done here” as he heard the Lord say he is through fighting to pay the bills, not that the ministry was finished.
Second point is some stability for the families living on the property to have some assurance about their future. We then talked about most of the points made in the letter written to John which I gave to him after we went over many of the issues pertaining to keeping the ranch intact. I believe he generally agreed it would be better to keep it together but he said he could not do it anymore. I told him he needed to be free of that responsibility and concentrate on ministry work - what he was called to do as our plan will place that burden elsewhere. I did tell him it may require that he move out of the ranch house for the time being. We talked about what all parties on the ranch were paying and it is clear adjustments need to be made. The doublewide across from the ranch house is not paying any rent at all. That is unfair to everyone else on the property. At the end of the meeting he told me Miller, our banker, was more on my side of the equation of keeping the property together.
At the close of our meeting I handed John the following letter:
John,
You first said you heard the Lord say “we’re done here” but you now believe the Lord may be providing a way to continue the ministry. We know God brought us together and provided the property for the purpose of ministry. He didn’t make a mistake so if the ministry is to continue we then believe the ranch is best keep intact and we should be willing to do whatever it takes.
You know Dorothy and I have never taken the ranch for granted and have always treated it as if it belonged to you and Sandi. We have always ask if we wanted to do something or hold an event and have always had the boys ask if they wanted to come out to shoot or play paint ball or whatever. I don’t remember one time when you or Sandi ask us when you wanted to schedule something and that was never required or expected as we are grateful we have such a beautiful place to hold an event. You will remember I have said on more than one occasion you and Sandi likely have as much invested as Dorothy and I if your labor was counted even though that is a non-issue for us. You have also said, on more than one occasion that we were only to make the initial down payment but we are thankful God allowed and, we believe, directed us to continue the support that made many of the improvements possible. You will remember when you first told me we had to be partners; how it took me some time to understand what God expected from me. Several years into the ministry I understood one very important reason we were involved. We had reached the point where it was becoming difficult to make the payments and the first of several schemes came up. One involved selling the back part for a public park. That is when I spoke up to keep a third party from gaining some control that may threaten the ministry. It was also the case when Tom wanted to first buy in the front then in the back, and we all agreed that would complicate access and devalue the property. When these issues come up my mind always goes back to the times you were forced out of a church and how we were considering a 40 acre church to avoid that.
There is nothing illegal or immoral about a tax paying corporation making a profit but that avenue has never been fully explored. The few things we tried were barely promoted and got very little exposure, primarily because of lack of funding. Chad Thomas and I are currently involved in a partnership that took a property about to go into foreclosure and turned it into a profitable venture. It did take some investment and one very good website to make it happen but it got done.
We have a plan that we believe will keep the ranch intact and provide extra income. It may be, at least at first, a bit unpleasant but if we are willing to do whatever it takes, we believe we can save the property. At a minimum we know we can keep up the payments for several months until the future can be determined.
If it turns out we are unable to meet the financial obligations then we will explore the option of selling the entire property to a club such as Camping World, KOA, Ranch Clubs, etc. We will find the right person or relator that handles such sales, “not some local home seller”. On the other hand, if the ministry is truly done, the property can then be sold and any equity divided equally.
George & Dorothy
I haven’t received the plan you said you would send, but I know enough from your
letter and our conversation that I’m probably not going to agree with it anyway.
After a lot of prayer I have come to the realization of what I meant when I said
"I'm done. I am certainly not done with the ministry, but I am done with
pretending we have a “partnership” when we haven’t had any meaningful
conversation for over a year. It is obvious from your letter that you are still
offended by the wedding/ craft fair conflict and I assume a host of other issues as
The last time I remember us getting together, except for marriage counseling, was
when we went to see the “Old Florida” place. I sensed a substantial “cooling” of
our partnership over the last 3-5 years but was somewhat surprised by the
scathing accusations against both Sandi and me last November.
George, I know you say you can’t hear God and have to rely on Dorothy, Nicki,
Gene Scott or some logical, evidence-based explanation to know what needs to be
done. So it may be hard for you to understand why we no longer have a
partnership (other than a joint ownership of the ranch). Perhaps Dorothy can
explain to you what she meant by her revelation from God concerning who Sandi
and I really are. At a minimum I suppose she believes we are selfishly following
delighted by any chance of ending the partnership. I can heat God speak to me,
George, and He has told me our partnership on all levels is over.
I am not interested in developing some plan to continue Freedom ranch by
generating enough money to pay the mortgage each month. But I am interested
in continuing Alpha Ministries “Church in the Woods” where it is now located.
The solution God revealed to me was to sell the front to those who have been and
continue to be supporting the ministry with their time, energy, and money and to
sell the back to someone I have been in ministry with for 20 years. That would
leave the land on which I built my house and Alpha Ministries built the building
and the additional pavilion to be purchased by Alpha Ministries. Using the
numbers I shared with you earlier we would essentially break even eliminating the
current debt we have of $637,000.00 on the ranch.
From the beginning I never thought of the ranch as an investment that would
generate profit to be divided up and passed on to our heirs. I considered it to be
God’s ranch on which we were privileged to minister to those who are laboring
under religious law and burned out. I viewed our partnership as more in the
gospel of Jesus Christ than in investment property. Sandi and I repeatedly asked
you and Dorothy to come live on the ranch and get into the ministry with us. We
were more than willing to share this land with you and your family as we worked
together in developing the mission God called us to fulfill in this place. But at the
same time I respected your decision to limit your involvement in the ministry and
not make your home here with us.
When your money got tight, we approached the other board members of Alpha to
work out a lease agreement that would cover the mortgage and taxes
($5,000.00/month) and allow the ministry vision to continue to develop on the
ranch. That 99 year lease agreement also included a promise to Alpha Ministries
that if the ranch were sold Freedom ranch would pay Alpha Ministries $300,000.00
for the building. While the donations to the ministry were up all was well, but
that changed right after we completed the building and the economy tanked. It
became increasingly difficult to come up with the lease payment plus maintain the
extra overhead and regular ministry expenses. In our meetings to seek God’s plan
costs. It was then that Tom said the Lord was calling him to move here and get
involved in the ministry. During that discussion Dorothy had an “emotional
meltdown” which still perplexes me, but it was agreed that Tom and Verna would
move to the ranch to help us continue. It was then that I began to notice a
“cooling off” in our relationship but said nothing since I had no explanation.
While we have been able to continue making the payments and paying the taxes
for the last 5-6 years it has become increasingly difficult. The donations to Alpha
Ministries dropped by 10-15% each year and we finally had to let go of the Sunday
dinners. For the last year to 18 months the donations took another drop of 30%. I
have sacrificed my salary checks from Alpha Ministries in order to pay our bills, but
that is no longer getting it done. After I told you last month that we needed to
sell the ranch I began researching a qualified agent to list it with. But in order to
get enough money to pay Alpha Ministries back as well as give you and Dorothy
some return on your investment, we would need to sell it for over 1 million.
While praying about it John Hales called me and said that Norman would buy the
back 100 acres for 4K/acre. Knowing that Tom and Elton were committed to the
ministry I approached them about buying the front 30 acres. They prayed about it
individually and both agreed that the Lord had told them to buy it for
$6,000.00/acre. The Alpha board likewise agreed the Lord was leading us to buy
the remaining property for whatever was left on the note. Miller agreed to receive
payment from the front and the back and refinance the remaining in Alpha
Ministries’ name.
While I am convinced that the Lord wants this solution, I realize that you have not
heard the same thing. Because we are 50/50 partners we each have half of a
$637,000.00 note. If we cannot agree on this solution it comes down to you
buying my half out at $312,333.33 (plus $300,000.00 to Alpha) or me buying your
half. I don’t think it is reasonable to list the ranch for 1 million+ to pay our debt,
and I certainly don’t want to continue our partnership. As of now Freedom Ranch
owes a little over $1700 in taxes by December 31 and a payment of $4078 January
1st. I have signed the extension and paid the $50 fee to the bank for the 2 month
extension. I am praying for you and Dorothy to hear what God is saying is really
the best.
John
On the Tuesday the 3rd, two days after we talked and I told him I would get back to him with the
plan I received the following message. My letter to John was hand delivered to him on Tuesday
and I went over all points of the letter before I gave it to him. Note in my letter I told him we
could make the payments until we could determine the future of the ranch.
If John cared to quote George
accurately he would have said, “I
know you say you don’t hear the
voice of God”, as in an audible
voice. What George does experience
is persistent thoughts and ideas
that continue to come to mind just
as John teaches in the Alpha series.