Spiritual Life

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch Dedicates Hope Chapel, a Space for Hope on its Bismarck Campus

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch Dedicates Hope Chapel, a Space for Hope on its Bismarck Campus

On Friday, August 16, Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch celebrated the completion of Hope Chapel, a dedicated space for children at the Ranch’s Bismarck campus to receive emotional and spiritual care.…

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Foundation of prayers

Foundation of prayers

When our Bismarck campus was first designed, the plan was to serve children with developmental delays who would be able to attend church in the community. As we completed the construction of the facility, it became clear that the need for a Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility was crucial.…

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Why me?

Why me?

I have shared before in these messages about our Chaplain, Rev. Rick Jones. Chaplain Rick has been with Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch for 11 years. He is the best person ever to be a Chaplain at a place for hurting children. He is strong in his faith, compassionate, and relatable. The children love him.…

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Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for New Chapel

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for New Chapel

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Chapel to be built on its Bismarck, ND campus. The event was attended by staff, board members, donors, representatives of the architectural and construction companies involved, and members of the Bismarck Mandan Chamber EDC.…

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The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League Grants $100,000 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch at National Convention

The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League Grants $100,000 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch at National Convention

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch will receive $100,000 from the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, also known as Lutheran Women in Mission, to support a capital campaign to build a Chapel on its Bismarck, ND campus.…

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Can there ever be too many ways to pray?

Can there ever be too many ways to pray?

I am always happy to find a good prayer. I know I can just talk to God. The Holy Spirit will help me. Even sitting in silence with Him is powerful. Or, using the Lord’s Prayer is always an option! And there are lots of prayers created over time to “fall back on.”…

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The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League Grants $81,680 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch at National Convention

The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League Grants $81,680 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch at National Convention

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch will receive $81,680 from the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League to support the Deaconess Ministry portion of its Spiritual Life programming. Recognizing the need to minister directly to the hearts of the young girls and boys in their care, in 2018 the Ranch called LCMS Deaconess Kelly Bristow to complement the work of the Spiritual Life staff.…

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God's Grace and Mercy

God's Grace and Mercy

Chapel Services are at 4:30 p.m. on Thursdays on all the campuses of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. We do not require children or staff to attend. But, many do. Last week, I was on campus in Minot for Chapel. Minot is our largest campus, our seminal campus. Chaplain Rick Jones and Deaconess Kelly Bristow do a beautiful job of bringing His word to the kids in a way that relates to them. Yesterday the message was from Romans 13, where Paul talks about how to think about “authorities.” Chaplain Rick was able to make sense of God’s delegation to “authorities” in his name, while acknowledging that many in authority had been the very people who had victimized these children. He explained how the authority was from God, but how the person in that position may be in the clutches of sin.…

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The Power of Positivity in Doing God's Work

The Power of Positivity in Doing God's Work

Deaconess Kelly Bristow is the Spiritual Life Coordinator on the Minot Campus of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. She is a woman of deep faith in Christ, unbounded love, commitment to mercy care, and she's smart.…

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The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League Wyoming District Grants $3,000 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch

The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League Wyoming District Grants $3,000 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch will receive $3,000 from the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, Wyoming District during the 2020-2022 biennium to support its Spiritual Life programming. Funds will be used specifically to purchase new chapel furnishing on our Bismarck campus.…

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The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League Oklahoma District Grants $5,000 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch

The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League Oklahoma District Grants $5,000 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch will receive $5,000 from the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, Oklahoma District during the 2020-2022 biennium to support its Spiritual Life programming. Funds will be used specifically to renovate the bathrooms in the Chapel on our Minot, ND campus, which is part of an overall chapel renovation.…

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The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League South Dakota District Grants $3,000 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch

The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League South Dakota District Grants $3,000 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch received $3,000 from the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, South Dakota District to support its Spiritual Life programming. Funds will be used specifically to purchase audio equipment for the Chapel on our Minot, ND campus, which is part of an overall chapel renovation.…

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The Rupert Dunklau Foundation Supports the Spiritual Life Program at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch

The Rupert Dunklau Foundation Supports the Spiritual Life Program at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch will receive $15,000 in matching funds from the Rupert Dunklau Foundation to support the Spiritual Life Program on our campuses in Minot, Bismarck, and Fargo, ND…

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Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch Receives Funding from Faith Community Lutheran Church

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch Receives Funding from Faith Community Lutheran Church

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, Minot, ND, was the recipient of a $3,000 grant from Faith Community Lutheran Church in Longmont, CO. The funds received will be used as part of an overall transformation and update of the Kruse Memorial Chapel on our Minot, ND campus. Specifically, funds will be used to purchase new audio equipment for the chapel.…

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A Prayer of Gratitude

A Prayer of Gratitude

I've mentioned it before that every day, 365 days a year, the Chaplain at the Ranch, Rev. Rick Jones, sends a devotion and prayer by email to all Ranch staff. It is always the first thing in my mailbox every morning. The devotionals are always insightful and the prayers often make me catch my breath.…

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A Dramatic Retelling of the Gospel

A Dramatic Retelling of the Gospel

Last week, Jonathan Swenson (traveling actor, speaker, vocalist, and ordained minister) performed the show "Witnesses," by Curt Cloninger, for kids and staff at all three Ranch campuses in Minot, Bismarck, and Fargo.…

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Compassion and Mercy

Compassion and Mercy

Recently, the reading in church was from Luke’s gospel where Jesus shared the parable of the Good Samaritan. When I reflect on this lesson, I think about how I can be a better neighbor to those around me. I think about times I could have let someone go ahead of me in line, stopped to listen, offered encouragement to someone, or engaged in conversation with the grocery store clerk or the person bagging my purchases. This time, I stopped to think about the definition of the neighbor referenced as "the one" in the phrase, “The one who had mercy on him."…

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A Celebration of Life

A Celebration of Life

One young man at the Ranch is celebrating Easter with a very creative and symbolic haircut!…

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Easter is a Celebration of Hope at the Ranch

Easter is a Celebration of Hope at the Ranch

Easter is a great time — maybe the best time — to focus on faith. We use this special season to help get the children thinking about Jesus, His triumph over sin and death, and what that means to them.…

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Music Focused on Faith Helps a Vulnerable Young Girl Find Hope

Music Focused on Faith Helps a Vulnerable Young Girl Find Hope

Christian music group DPB came to the Ranch to put on a concert for our kids recently. But one of our girls, Alicia, didn't want to go to the concert.…

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Easter = New Life

Easter = New Life

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! -2 Corinthians 5:17…

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Donor Partnerships Make Transformation Possible!

Donor Partnerships Make Transformation Possible!

It wasn't until she came to the Ranch that 15-year-old Tara really realized how badly her life got sidetracked. "There was a lot of stress," she says. "I wanted to get out of the house. I did drugs and tried running away. And I had friends who were bad influences. They weren't good friends."…

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A "Heart for Human Care"

A "Heart for Human Care"

Pastor Rick shows Christ’s love to the children at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch through his compassion, gentleness, and listening.…

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Deaconess Diary: Kindness and Resilience

Deaconess Diary: Kindness and Resilience

As I write this I am starting my fifth month at the Ranch! I’ve been here for a quarter of a year! Wow! The time has been filled with a whole range of experiences—from hearing heartbreaking and tough stories, to seeing our kids wrestle with trauma and the effects it has on them, to seeing our kids behave with kindness and resilience.…

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A Ranch Wedding

A Ranch Wedding

When Steven*, a former resident at the Ranch, was planning his wedding, he contacted Pastor Rick Jones to see if he could be married in the Chapel on the Minot Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch campus.…

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