About Living Waters Ranch
The vision for Living Waters stems from the overnight campouts that I had with my 4^th graders back in 1999-2001 at my mother’s lake by the school.  My mom, Sarah, let me bring my class over and set up tents.  We fished, did science experiments, crafts, wiener roasts, etc.  It dawned on me that maybe kids from the inner city of Kansas City might benefit from this type of activity. Mom really wasn’t up to that, so I just kind of let the idea go. However, one day after my mom passed away, I was standing in her yard looking out over the pond and missing her terribly.  I was crying out to the Lord about all the things I missed about her and one of the things I remember telling Him, was that I couldn’t even bring kids out here anymore to camp.

The Lord spoke very clearly in my spirit and said, Joyce, you have property of your own, do it there.  I guess I never had thought of that before, but Dennis and I had plenty of land, a small pond, and a beautiful bluff area.  That was in 2002. Over the next several years we kicked the idea around, discussed a lot of options, and finally after much prayer and searching our hearts, decided it was time.  We chose the name Living Waters because Jesus is the living water and when you drink from His well, you will never be thirsty again.  God has given us this vision and the awesome privilege of seeing it come to pass.  It has been a lot of work, but when God is behind the work it becomes a labor of love and it doesn’t seem like work at all. 

We have started building where and as we could.  In November 2006 we began the application process of becoming a charitable organization with the IRS and we were granted non profit status in June of 2007. In March 2008 we took our cattle pasture that had been rented to my brother and turned it into a camping area complete with tables and benches that Dennis built by hand, built a large camp fire area, cleaned up the pond area, and set up port-a-potties.  Our neighbor, Pat, helped us in getting a portable arena for the riding center.

May 2008 brought Tim Eberle and his helpers from the Leadership Ranch in Republic up to help Dennis and Levi build the challenge course.

Late May 2008 we trained several facilitators for the course.

The girl scouts came up in April for Tent Day.

Missouri Day was our first school field trip in May.

May through September we had a few groups in for birthday parties, reunions, the challenge course, camping, and our first Jeremiah Camp.

The shelter house was built and electricity brought in from the main line.

The Fall Festival in October was our first activity designed to share with the community about Living Waters.

November we had ECS’ girls and boys basketball team in for an overnight campout to finish out the year.

As we begin 2009 we sense that as people find out what we have to offer that our calendar is going to fill up quickly.  We look forward to meeting the needs of the area churches, civic organizations, and schools.  Call us for your reservations today!