Talk:New Life Ranch

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New Life Ranch is the best place on earth!!! --Anonymous 13:58, 2 February 2006

Consider contributing to the New Life Ranch article to make it better, then! --Tim Morgan 22:57, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

I wrote this page to assist in the "importance" aspect of my hometown Colcord, OK. I believe NLR is important to the community of Colcord, and thus the reason for writing about it. Though, at this point, I admit it is lacking the detail I had hoped for originally. I was hoping that by starting the page, others might help to improve on it with their knowledge of the camp.

I find other articles of similar subjects such as Teen Mania Ministries and CIY.

--Tim Morgan 16:37, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

I object to the deletion of this article, but since no one else cares, then why not. Seems I'm the only one who wants this article to stay and be improved. --Tim Morgan 16:47, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

On second thought, this article was just recently recategorized in Christian Organization stubs, so I wonder if someone will come along and contribute. --Tim Morgan 16:50, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

Thirdly, there are other articles describing Christian camps; why are they not up for deletion? --Tim Morgan 16:54, 16 June 2006 (UTC) --Tim Morgan 17:01, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

I added a link on List of Summer Camps; perhaps this will show its importance *relative* to other articles of similar topic. --Tim Morgan 17:01, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

The fact that its a Christian camp isn't the issue. Its just whether it can be considered notable. Leaving it in the list of summer camps might be a better option. --Hooperbloob 18:06, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

I removed the stub tag, but forgot to note it in the 01:26, 20 July 2006 68.216.187.22 edit. The article now has information beyond what could be found through a casual internet search, or through NLR's own web site. I do believe that "Christian Organization" is a proper categorization, as NLR's programs include camp, but there are some components that do not (such as community ministries, and parts of Outdoor Ministries) --(ben, unregistered user July 19, 2006)

Contents

[edit] Importance and Thanks

While being on staff at NLR does slant my opinion, I do believe that there is importance in NLR. In terms of impact we serve well over 15000 people a year from many states and have been around for nearly 50 years. New Life Ranch is commonly found in local histories. I for one appreciate Tim starting this article, and I hope that others will contribute to it, and I will endeavor to personally add to the article as I am able.


I went ahead and removed the lack-of-importance banner, as I believe this article now sufficiently makes the case for its place in the Wikipedia. Thanks goes to Ben who has done a lot of work to improve this article. --Tim Morgan 20:43, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV

I fear a bit for some of the wording in the History section, especially "God was laying the foundation of a desire in Reverend Heck’s heart" and similar wording, as such is unverifiable. While I understand and agree with the wording, I feel it doesn't quite meet the requirements of Wikipedia. Perhaps we can reword this sentence to say "Reverend Heck had the desire" or similar? --Tim Morgan 20:46, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ben

I understand your concern…the wording is more appropriate the for the staff manual it came from then for wikipedia (with my apologies. I am not very experienced at this…). I think that it is important thought to acknowledge that in Reverend Heck’s view it did come from God. No matter a reader’s own personal views on the influence of God, Mr. Heck’s view of the influence of God has had and still has a profound impact on shaping NLR. So…how about something like:

Reverend Heck had a desire, which he felt came from God, to start his own youth camp. with an accompanying edit of the source to show that it varies from the original.

In other thoughts, I wish some other people would take up this article, particularly people who know the history of NLR on a personal level from being around 10, 20, and 30 years ago. I know your out there… Ben. Oct. 3, 2006

[edit] 2007 Revamp

OK, so I've neglected this article for a long time now. I always meant to come back and do some cleanup, but things get crazy you know. Tonight, I started a significant revamp of the article. I tried to simplify many things (notice the table instead of multiple sub-headings). Also, I put the focus back on the Summer Camp, with the ministries as a part of that. That seems right to me, but let me know (Ben) if that is inaccurate. I just believe the summer camp is the reason this article is significant, so it should be the most prominent part.

I got through part of the history section, trying to make it a bit more neutral. I am sorry if I'm butchering the words, but I don't want this article to sound like it came from the handbook or some advertisement for the camp. It needs to sound fair and unbiased.

In fact, I'm wondering if there's any controversy surrounding the camp (angry neighbors, unhappy campgoers/parents, etc.).

--Tim Morgan 04:38, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

We need at least one photo of the camp... does anyone have one you're willing to upload? If not, I will try to get out there this summer and take some pics. Tim Morgan 04:39, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

I moved Ministries back out into its own section. This is a dilemma for me; it seems that most of the ministries simply support the summer camp, while that is not necessarily true. Maybe someone can clarify for me... does NLR provide much outside of the summer months for youth and/or adults?

I'd love to see the Ministries section be expanded to include a more neutral, general description of each ministry.

--Tim Morgan 13:15, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

I just completed refining the History section. I apologize (Ben) for changing your words so much, but in the interest of making this article more credible, I removed some language that sounded like advertisement and religious. I also removed the information about Reverened Heck, as it should be in an article about him instead of about the camp. I don't have time to write the article, so I'll leave the text here for now. It also needs some care to be more neutral. Tim Morgan 21:44, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Reverend Heck had a profound impact on many through his Christian outreach programs presented at local schools in Northeast Oklahoma in the years 1959-1963. This ended in 1963 when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a legal challenge by Madalyn Murray O'Hair effectively banning such activity in public schools. Every month or two Revened Heck would show up at a community grade school and the children would be presented with an enjoyable and challenging program consisting of the Word, singing and games. Children would be rewarded with gifts such as a small Bible on up to bigger Family Bibles by learning Bible verses and being prepared to recite them back to Reverened Heck on his eagerly anticipated next visit. The public grade school in Chelsea, Oklahoma loved the visits of Reverend Heck and were very sad when the news came that he could no longer continue coming and sharing the Good News.