Our story can only be told in the context of a Jesus timeline—there is no identifiable beginning to the ministry God has given us. We certainly do not perceive ourselves to be even close to the middle of our journey, and we have committed among ourselves that there will be no end to the exciting life in service to God that we are living.

 

I am Gina Tillman-Young, the pastor of Genesis Christian Church at Everything Jesus! Ranch. The major components of our ministry are all located on this ranch: a licensed raw milk dairy, our K-12 college prep academy, our GAP sustainable living education for older teens and young adults, our raised-bed gardens, our aquaponics system and our Saturday café. What defines everything we do is our desire to see every family whole, healthy, and living in the abundant love for Jesus. The love and encouragement we provide to each other through our community and our regular study of the Word of God fuels our ever-increasing intimacy with Jesus, and our desire to surrender in obedience to Him. 

 

Our community is a series of never ending concentric circles with Jesus at the nucleus. Our closest community consists of those of us who call the ranch home. We range from teenager to senior, and amongst us we have lived on almost every continent in the world. Our ranch is always open to everyone who wants to come, serve and experience a Christ-centered sustainable lifestyle. In our twelve years here we have had brothers and sisters of all ages from Germany, Australia, Taiwan, Colombia, Venezuela, Congo, Kenya, Tobago, and of course every part of the US and Canada come and stay for weeks or years! The coming and going of so many people from all different walks of life keeps our community life vibrant and exciting.  We share a love of Jesus, and a desire to be totally surrendered to the Holy Spirit. We are fiercely determined to harvest every opportunity God has given us to experience His abundance here on Earth as we prepare to receive an eternal abundance that our limited senses are incapable of imagining. 

 

The next circle moving outward is the circle of people in the San Antonio/Austin area who worship with us and share their lives, families, talents, gifts and pray often for our ministry. We don’t necessarily see all of our “off-ranch” family often, but they are there to help when we call, and when they come to the ranch, they know they are home.

 

The third circle is our brothers and sisters who are vineyard laborers planting churches, serving as missionaries, teaching in Christian academies all over the world, working quietly in out-of–the-box ways to help awaken and sustain Christ in the communities where God has planted them. My favorite reading these days is the emails and letters from our friends who are in ministry abroad. Their triumphs and challenges make me yearn for equatorial climates and traditional cultures.

 

I’m a dreamer—I am not afraid to let my imagination go and see the Lord performing marvelous works, supernatural healings and incredible diverse relationships with the people God keeps sending from all over the world. My dream is definitely in living color. I see folks bringing new talent and ideas to our community, new music, pottery and art, new cuisines for our organic ingredients, and new ways to worship, play and celebrate God. I see them blessing our ministry and being blessed from all we have to share, from raw food to raw Jesus! I see God bringing people here who share our vision and want to live it with us. I see people with a passion for living in selfless surrender to Christ. I see people with humor and energy and a passion for Jesus that manifests in ways most of us never associate with “the fruit of the Spirit”. I see people who are willing to receive encouragement as well as encourage others around them, not so much with their words, but through their being-in-Christ. 

And then I walk around our 114 acre river ranch. As I walk around, I see His natural beauty, I see the tall cypress with their limbs raised in worship. I see the ripples and eddies in the river.  I see roads and barns and simple houses that I can't believe we ever built. I praise God for all we have done so far (talk about a seriously steep learning curve!). I see pastures and projects that are works in progress. I feel joy, because I realize this is a part of a never-ending jump-in-anyplace story. I blink again and I see a future full of people skillfully—joyfully—engaged in the work of creating order and beauty. And to borrow a line from our Creator, it is good!
 

Please know that our desire for you to come visit is far more complex than just having you come, tour, eat and buy milk. It is our privelege to know you and pray with you. God willing, it will be our privilege and blessing to form long term relationships with you.