blog

National Cellular Hotline for Youth in Crisis has been launched!

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:03:34 +0100

If you know a teen or young person that is in crisis or if you are a young person in crisis (you do not have to be a teen to use this) then please read this!

For emergancy shelters in your area you send a text on your cell phone to 99-000 and then text in the word:
SHELTER + zipcode
(text the word SHELTER then space and then type in the zipcode where you are located).

Very quickly you should receive a reply giving you a list of shelters and contacts that will help you.

You can do the same thing for someone facing abuse or addiction by texting the word:
ABUSED + ZIPCODE
SOBER + ZIPCODE

Those words (to the 99-000 number) will also get you a list of shelters/help in your area (zip code region). Our database locates shelters and help for a 30 mile radius from your zip code entered.

Please pass along this information to everyone that might put it on their websites, post it in their ministry directories, etc.

Thank You,
Jeff and Kathi Pelton

Christmas Dreams

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 16:46:07 +0100

As we are fully emersed in another Christmas season my heart is torn. It has been a very tough year (few years) for our family financially (very tough!) but through it all we have had each other and the Lord's presence with us which has sustained us when it seemed as though everything else around us was falling apart. This time of struggle has only made our hearts more compassionate toward those children and teens out there that not only don't have financial support, but no family and are unaware of the love of God that is there for them. I cannot imagine how it must feel to an 18 year old, who was either raised in the foster care system (shuffled from house to house or in residential care) or the one who had a family that neglected, abused or left them with no support to face another Christmas alone.

Once a child "ages-out" of the foster care system many are left on their own with little or no resources for home, family or financial support. Our dream is to make a place that they can come to and find shelter, provision and love. We ache to see Restoration Ranch open and then many other homes like it emerge throughout Northern California and beyond. Though our personal resources have been depleted, we still have one another...a family to lean on and to comfort one another. We still have a faithful God who we know will not leave us nor forsake us. We long to put the lonely in families, to restore the hearts of the children to fathers, to give shelter to the cold and to feed the hungry. We do that to the best of our ability even now in the midst of our own need but our hearts are heavy to reach so many more. We dream of the day that we can give a Christmas gift of a home and family to a teen that feels lost and alone.

Please pray along with us that our dream, "God's dream" and these teens dreams will come true. Pray for them this Christmas season and pray for us...for a release of all that is needed to move forward with this vision. Also, go to our links page and pray for and support our partners (Teen Project and Shores of Grace) as they reach out to the broken.

Merry Christmas to you and your families. May God's love and presence be very near to you throughout the season and as you enter the new year.

Awaiting Grants

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 19:08:04 +0100

I wanted to give you all an update on the corporate grants that we have applied for to open Restoration Ranch. The Pepsi Corporation has accepted our grant proposal and will be going before their board of directors. If we receive this grant it can be as high as $500,000.00. This would not allow us to purchase the property but it will give us the funds to move forward in the preparation process. There are a number of other corporations that are considering our grant project. We know that the $5 million is a large amount to reach for but it is a great cause and we know that the Lord is with us.

Please be praying for favor with these corporations and we are believing tha the Lord is the one who opens these doors and opportunities for us...not man and not us! We are walking in His favor and His rulership so we are confident in our waiting.

Our excitement grows each day as we know that very soon many boys who have not previously had a fighting chance will have both a family and a place to call home.

Feel free to partner with us in this adventure. You can do so by praying for us and by donating to this ministry on our donation page. No amount is too small...every dollar helps move us forward.

Thank you for walking with us :)

Jeff and Kathi...and all the teens!

Watching and Waiting

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:17:05 +0100

After an amazing time of hosting the Shores of Grace team, who are soon on their way to Brazil to oversee a ministry training school and reach out to the prostitutes and drug addicts, we are back in our waiting time. Awaiting grants can be a long process requiring so much patience. It is difficult when we are aware of all the boys out there waiting for a place to call home. But watching and waiting is part of the process of launching a new project and of walking with God. We watch to see what He is asking of us and we wait to see His hand move on our behalf.

In the silence of waiting it can either be a time of preparation and peace or of warfare. The enemy is only too happy to come and make the sound of his lies heard in the silence but if we allow our spirits and our senses to dwell in the presence of our Lord then it can be a time of beauty and intimacy. Our restless hearts want progress that we can see with our natural eyes and feel with our natural senses but the heart that is kept in peace knows that there is amazing progress when we spend time with our God. I must continually wrestle down my desire to stay busy rather than to stay intimate. But if we are to love like Jesus loves then intimacy and mutual love with Him must proceed.

"Cease striving and know that I am God;I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10

The land that the Lord has shown us waits too. It feels at times as if the land itself is waiting to fulfill what it was created for. Though we would have chosen a piece of land that was small and easy to obtain; the Lord has chosen a land that is large, fertile, beautiful and that at one time was unkept and wild but now is redeemed and usable. It is like the boys that will live there. Though they have not been nutured and may be a bit wild, they will be redeemed and their lives will be ones that can be fruitful. The lands history is a picture of many of these boys histories...but now it is a place of beauty and fulfillment...a place where you feel the presence of the Lord. There is destiny in the soil that is awaiting fulfillment.

Wait for the LORD and keep His way, And He will exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you will see it. Psalm 37:34

So, we will wait for the Lord and pray for us that in each moment we will keep His way!

Have a beautiful day...Kathi :)

Welcome to our blog!

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 17:28:12 +0100

Jeff and I want to welcome you to our "blog". It is an exciting time in our lives as we launch our dream of "Compassion Arise" and "Restoration Ranch". It is a walk of faith and trust as we live out the dream that God has placed in our hearts. We cannot do this alone but need many to walk with us to see COMPASSION ARISE in the lives of many. Feel free to check out all of our new website and get ready to join us on this wild ride of seeing lives restored.

We will be posting weekly blogs (sometimes more and sometimes less) to let you journey with us as we follow Jesus step by step in this new adventure. You can laugh with us, cry with us and have faith with us. We ask that as you follow our journey that you would pray for us and consider partnering with us financially or in any way that the Lord speaks to your heart.

For those here in Northern California: This Sunday (July 11th) we are hosting Nic and Rachel Billman and their band from Shores of Grace Ministry (worship leaders for Randy Clark's Global Awakening Crusades). There will be two worship events and we would love for you to join us at one or both:

Grace Fellowship
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Address: 4754 Old Redwood Highway, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Phone: (707) 526-4020

Vertical Call
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Address: 920 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Phone: (707) 575-5956