Thank you for taking the time
to look at this page and being interested
in the needs of the Ironwood ministry.

Thank you for taking the time to pray.
Prayer works. God is all powerful,
and He hears your words. Thank you!

Please share these items with others who pray.
One of the greatest needs of Ironwood is a team of
prayer warriors who daily talk with God.

We’ve had very full camps—we had the most ladies we’ve ever had at one time here during two ladies retreats. All went well, and we are so thankful for health, safety, and good ministry

A gift is going to allow us to change up our coffee process at the Homestead. Before long, the hot plates will be gone; also, we plan to grind the beans fresh each time.

On November 1 we began the process of finishing the interior of the MAG Shop.

Once again we have very full camps at our two upcoming couples’ retreats. We are praying for wisdom as we go into our planning meeting during the Thanksgiving time. We have seen huge growth this year, and we ask that you pray that we would know how to proceed in the future. Do we need more cabins? Is this growth going to continue? We want to be good stewards.

We could use a fairly capable small missions team for the rebuild of the canoe shade.

Our solar array is just about ready to be installed. The blessing is that we have received all the necessary permits. Now we have to install something we’ve never worked with before; fortunately we have a local contractor who is doing the bulk of the install. We are praying that this new improvement works as planned and saves a bit of money.

Our water system plan is with our county government right now. Any day now we hope to either hear that it passed or that the adjustments are manageable.

We have a new staff members who could really use some regular monthly support—Jeff and Anna Boese and Shad Van Wyk.

By Walt Brock

I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. Psalm 116:1–2

Do you know why we have a brass plaque with Psalm 116:1–2 on it in our main dining room at Ironwood? If you have been a guest or camper here, you may have noticed it on the wall at the start of the buffet lines. Everyone at camp sooner or later walks by it and hopefully reads the verses.

In the fall of 1999, we were just days from running out of funds to finish the Homestead kitchen and dining room building, our largest building at camp and by far the most expensive. The new building was absolutely essential to improving the ministry the Lord had raised up and called us to. Having this building also opened up converting the old dining room into our main preaching auditorium—thus following the old proverb of killing two birds with one stone. But our resources were at an end. Since we have had a long-standing policy of not borrowing to build with, we needed to stop the work. The $275,000 needed to move in and use the building was a huge amount, and we had prayed and made known the need for over a year. God’s people had already given about $550,000, and it seemed that we were at the limit of what folks could give. The remaining amount seemed like an insurmountable wall for us to scale.

That fall Dick Mercado Jr., pastor of Evangelical Church of Phoenix, was the speaker at our Men’s Retreat. On the first night of the retreat, he preached a message about loving the Lord from Psalm 116:1–2, challenging us to pray more and see God answer our prayers, thus causing us to love Him even more. After listening to the message, God led me to share with all the men about our need. Later I saw many of the men break up into small groups to pray, with probably more prayer being made for the need that evening than had been made in the previous month.

Around 7:00 a.m. the next morning I received a call from a man back east, and he said he had just come from a meeting where it had been decided to send us a donation of $150,000 plus offer a loan of $100,000 at the going rate of 8% interest to provide cash while we sold a donated house that we thought would net $100,000 toward the project. After the call, I sat at my kitchen table and literally cried my thanks and praise to the Lord for the next fifteen minutes. I couldn’t wait to share the good news with the men at the morning chapel. They were thrilled and praising the Lord throughout the rest of the retreat. At that retreat, the men gave gifts and pledges (all of which came in) totaling $25,000, the largest-ever retreat offering. And we all knew it was not coincidence that the amounts totaled together was exactly what was needed to finish the building! Five months later we used the building for the very first time—100% paid for. As an answer to prayer, the Lord had supplied all $825,000 needed to build and furnish the building, as well as provide the thousands of hours of volunteer labor. As was fitting, the first retreat to use the new Homestead was the very next spring Men’s Retreat. Not surprisingly, at the Saturday morning breakfast, one of the men asked me, “So, what’s next?” I almost fainted, but I said “Well, would you guys pray with us for the 160 acres on our north boundary line? It just came up for sale.” Praise the Lord! I love Him because He has inclined His ear and heard our voice and answered our prayers and supplications unto Him.

I took the time to share that story to let you know how important we believe prayer is to accomplishing the work of the Lord. In John 15:5 the Lord said, “Without me ye can do nothing,” and in Philippians 4:13 that “we can do all things through Christ”—on the one hand, nothing without Him; and on the other hand, everything through Him. Scripture is very clear . . . we must have the Lord’s help to do the Lord’s work if we want to accomplish anything that will last for eternity.

Prayer is an absolute essential to the successful Christian life. Just a short while before Jesus ascended into glory and became the intercessor between God the Father and all believers, He said that we should start asking the Father in the name of the Son, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24). Notice the end result is not just the glory of God, but also the Lord is interested in our joy fulfilled as He answers our prayers.

Faith is essential to prayer, and if one has enough faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and accept Him as his Savior, he has enough faith to have his prayers answered. Many passages in Scripture proclaim the importance of faith in having our prayers answered.

Hebrews 11:6—But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Matthew 21:22—And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Mark 11:24—Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

James 1:6—But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

Many times over the years I have struggled with not having my prayers answered. It would seem like I’d pray and pray and nothing would happen, so I would begin looking at all the prayer promises in the Word. I would study again my favorite prayer promise verse quoted above, John 16:24, and make a special effort to pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Studying others like 1 John 5:14–16, which speaks of our praying in God’s will, would start me wondering if what I was praying was in God’s will. I found many such promises, with what seemed like conditions attached to them—enter into your closet, pray with fasting, pray in the morning, pray with two or three others, pray at a church meeting, pray alone in secret, confess your sins first, pray all night, pray aloud, pray fervently, pray diligently, and so on. The list is quite long, and then I found a passage that helped me put it all into perspective.

In the context of the Lord teaching about prayer, He answered Peter’s question about prayer by saying in Mark 11:22, “Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.” I first read that passage looking for the promise to put my faith in. Then it dawned upon me . . . we are not to have faith in the prayer promises, but in God. It is faith in God that brings the answers to prayer, not faith in the promises. We must have faith in the Promiser before we can believe the promises. Like Hebrews 11:6 says, faith is first of all a belief that God IS and then that He answers those who diligently seek Him.

That is why I said if you have enough faith to be saved, you have enough faith to have your prayers answered—as long as you are placing your faith in the right Person. HAVE FAITH IN GOD! It is the Son of God who said, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
So we’d like to ask you to be a help to us through your prayers of faith, believing in God who is a loving, good, merciful, and gracious rewarder of those that diligently seek him—a God who has all the resources we will ever need and gives them to us in answer to our prayers as we are ready and willing to use them for Him.

Although the Apostle Paul ministered only a few short weeks (like spending a short time at camp) in Thessalonica, he nevertheless loved the people there and in his compassion prayed for them, leaving us an example of how to pray for people of kindred spirit.

2 Thessalonians 1:11–12—Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

As you read over that passage several times, I would ask you to notice several things as you use it as an example of your prayers for us and others.
—Pray always—keep it up; don’t quit.
—Pray for God’s help to us to walk worthy of His call to labor for Him here at Ironwood.
—Pray that all we do will please Him and be consistent with His goodness.
—Pray for His supply to do the work of the ministry and thus show His great power.
—Pray that the staff and all that is done at Ironwood would glorify God and show His marvelous grace to others.

Not because we desire a gift from others, but so God will add eternal fruit to others’ accounts (Philippians 4:17), and so the work of God by faith can progress for the glory of God, we would ask you to pray and ask the Lord if He would have you to provide some of that “sweet smelling savor” for His pleasure, by an acceptable and well-pleasing sacrificial gift to Him for His work here at Ironwood.

Philippians 4:18—But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God.