2023–2025 LWML Mission Grant #2: A Healing Space for At-Risk Children — Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, ND — $100,000
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch — Hope Chapel dedication — August 16, 2024
Vice President of Gospel Outreach Karen Morrison had the honor and the privilege to be in Bismarck, North Dakota to attend the Hope Chapel dedication at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. Lutheran Women in Mission supported this project through Mission Grant #2, A Healing Space for At-Risk Children, in the amount of $100,000 this biennium. Joy Ryan, President and CEO for the Ranch said, “We could not have done this without you. No, really, we could not have completed this project without Lutheran Women in Mission.”
Joy Ryan, President and CEO of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, brought greetings to those in attendance before the worship service started.
The altar area and stained glass
of the new Hope Chapel.
The dedication worship service opened with "Lift High The Cross" and ended with "Here I Am Lord." Scripture readings were read before the blessing of each part of the chapel, including the building, baptismal font, stained glass window, lectern/pulpit, and altar. A student from the Bismarck campus participated in the service, reading two of the Scriptures.
Spiritual Life Team — Rev. Thomas Marcis Jr., Chaplain Rick Jones, Rev. Vince Otto, Vicar Dylan Meyer, Deaconess Stephanie Wilde (Fargo campus), and Deaconess Kelly Bristow (Minot campus)Chaplain Jones' sermon, "Hope: From Yesterday for Forever," talked about many types of hope. There is a fulfillment of hope from 72 years ago when the Ranch began. Children and youth who come to the Ranch have lived in darkness, but then learn that with Jesus there is always hope. Hope is what they deal with at the Ranch. They work every day to show these children the hope of our Lord — hope fulfilled by a loving God who gave himself to a torturous death for us, his broken and lost children. Now, Hope Chapel will be a permanent place of peace and comfort for each child who is at the Ranch now and every child that will enter here in the future. The sermon hymn, "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less," reinforced the message of the sure and certain hope of eternal life with the following words:
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest from, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand: all other ground is sinking sand.
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch is a place of caring, comfort, peace, and hope for every student who resides on one of the campuses or attends school as a day student. Thank you, Lutheran Women in Mission, for supporting this much needed ministry in North Dakota with your mite offerings.
Musicians for Worship — Vicar Dylan Meyer and Deaconess Kelly Bristow
Dedication Bookmarks — Youth from all three Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch campuses colored bookmarks for the Chapel Dedication.
For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.
