A Little History
 Joe Graham, Jim Elam and a handful of other staff founded the Christian Leadership Training Program in 1981 at Morning Star Ranch near Florence, Kansas. Since then, over 85 men have graduated from the program. Joe directed the Ranch through 1995, when Deer Creek Christian Camp was donated to World Impact. At that time, Joe moved to Colorado to direct that facility.
Jim left Morning Star Ranch in 1987 and was on staff at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas until 1999, when he came back to the Ranch as Director. During the years he was gone, Jim was on the Ranch board of directors. Since 1999, Joe and Jim have worked together to update and improve the program and integrate Deer Creek and the Ranch as training sites for the program.
In addition to the Leadership Training Program, Deer Creek is a camping facility that is available to groups for conferences and retreats. Deer Creek hosts the School for Urban Cross-Cultural Church Planting. The School equips teams of dedicated Christians to plant indigenously-led churches among America’s urban poor.
In addition to the Leadership Training Program, Morning Star Ranch is a camping facility for conferences, retreats, family reunions and kids’ camps. The facilities are used by World Impact inner-city church plants and other Christian groups.
Quotes from Alumni
“My highlight was living and working with guys my age who were also trying to find God’s will for their lives.” Casey—’99 graduate
“I was able to fully concentrate on becoming the person God wanted me to be without the distractions of inner-city life.” Kemper—’84 graduate
“I learned about dying to self, and seeing God’s love and learning to walk in that extraordinary love daily with Christ.” Marcus—’03 graduate
“I was grounded in God’s Word and I learned how to apply it to my life. My faith was strengthened, which enabled me to be on fire for the Lord.” Jed—’00 graduate
For more information, please contact Jim
Elam, Morning Star Ranch Director or Joe Graham, Deer Creek Christian Camp Director at the addresses or telephone numbers listed
above.
|
