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This month I sat down with Marion Parker for a Q&A. Marion is a weekly volunteer and part of the Ranch Church, and she’s a legacy figure through the decades of the Ranch story. Her late husband, Jim, was the second Executive Director of Christian Encounter, and served in various roles for four decades. The following has been edited for clarity.
N: When did you first get involved with the Ranch?
M: Jim and I first visited around 1972, when Jim was on the Board of Directors. We had a house ministry in Livermore, CA, called the Christian Encounter House. Then in September of 1976 we moved here.
N: What initially attracted you to Christian Encounter?
M: The times. There was such an obvious need for ministry to young seekers in the 70s all over the country, especially in CA. Livermore hosted the Altamont Rock festival, and the needs of the many young attendees were so obvious. They were hurting so terribly. A lot of them were honest questioners, honestly seeking and questioning the values of people and institutions around them.
N: And the Ranch was meeting that need?
M: Yes. The Ranch was an escape out in the country, where people were isolated from dangerous influences but able to live in a community together. The vision of the founder resonated with our own. We had hosted struggling people in our house for years, living and eating together, trying to help people heal and connect with the Gospel. The Ranch was looking for a campus director and planning to expand the ministry, and Jim applied.
N: What were your roles over the years?
M: I had various official and non-official roles. I helped with ministry to the young couples and families on staff, mentored interns, and hosted students and interns in our house those early years before there were dorms. At different times I led the food service department, was an administrative assistant, and was involved with donor services. I also did the newsletter for years and years.
N: What about the Ranch today would have surprised you back in 1970?
M: There’s certainly been wonderful development of the ministry. I’m so happy the Meadow is being developed and used to help churches and groups. I see fresh ideas come to bear, and of course there’s so much technology we wouldn’t have been able to comprehend back then.
N: What has endured through the 54 years?
M: The centrality of the concern for students. A genuine love for the students and interns. It’s never been lost. Each individual’s needs are always in focus. No one’s needs are discounted in order to benefit the organization or other people. That’s not Christian. It’s not Christlike. Also dependence on God, knowing that in the snap of a finger, God could close the place down. We know we are dependent on Him and need Him constantly. So it’s okay that we go through hard times periodically, when we don’t know where the money will come from, because it’s a good reminder. The growth of the staff and interns is another constant thing through the decades. People are always growing at the Ranch.
N: What are some of the biggest changes?
M: The Ranch has a very good reputation in the community. It’s important. It wasn’t that way in the beginning. People didn’t know who we were and were very leery of hippies. Counseling was a brand new field at the time. Mike Petrillo was the first licensed counselor that came. And now the Ranch has prominent counselor influence throughout. Counselors on the Board have helped shape the ministry.
N: Anything else you want to talk about?
M: I always come back to the changes in the lives of students and interns. God has done things that are…oh, just unbelievable. They’re miraculous. Even though no one is perfect. And most of our students have gone through some struggles after they finish. But from where they come from, it’s…mind-boggling! They got their start here, and God wasn’t finished with them when they left. He keeps working. And all the love these interns have poured into the kids. I hope there’s a video playback of some sort in heaven, so everyone gets the whole picture of the love being poured into the kids.
Also, unity is so important. Staff come from different backgrounds. Important: we learn from each, we grow. None of us has a perfect understanding of everything.
N: Jim told me repeatedly that the Gospel must stay central. Everything else is secondary. So far all these years, we’ve come together around the unifying point of the Gospel.
M: We have had good, qualified Board members over the decades that have steered and protected the ministry. The Board members are so key. They bring such different perspectives and gifts.
N: What word of caution or advice would you give us today?
M: We need to be careful to pray regularly, personally, about our own motives. It’s so easy to put motives in the back seat when things are busy, hectic, and really really important. When we don’t know what’s going on, or can’t understand, we need to ask God to make it clear and right, and we need to check our motives. We always need to be growing and remembering the words of Jesus.
