While on a weekend getaway in 2018, Phillip and Lindsay, founders of Manasseh, found themselves admiring the beautiful scenery all around them. The profound effect of this ranch prompted Lindsay to ask a question that would change their lives forever. “Are you really just about money and building up your personal wealth? That’s not who I thought you were.” After the sting of the pain from the truth being brought to light, they began to discuss how God has blessed them through difficult circumstances. The Holy Spirit opened their hearts and minds to see a tragic need for many hurting children.

Phillip remembered how his father had shown Christ’s love to him through an extremely difficult situation of failure and rebellion as a child. Phillip and another teen had a run in with the law. The experience would set them on two totally different paths. The other teen’s father was in prison and had been most of his adult life. He did not have any strong male role models in his life. No one was there to teach him about Christ and how to live in this challenging world. On the other hand, Phillip’s father was a strong Christian father who had been blessed with patience and lived to serve Jesus. Men from the church rallied to support the family and specifically Phillip, which laid the foundation for his future. The other teen followed in his father’s footsteps with a life in and out of prison.

Lindsay related to the impact of a Christian father in a child’s life from her own impactful experience. Shortly after high school, she became pregnant and found herself raising a child as a single mom. “How could this happen to me? I was a faithful Christian who went to a private Christian school and vowed to live according to God’s instruction.” The struggles of dealing with hurt of disobedience to God and the weight of now being a single mother branded a strong understanding of the importance of the role of a Christian family. She knew the pain of so many young women firsthand.

Both discovered a common passion for those children and young single mothers who do not have a strong Christian father or spouse. These experiences gave them a unique understanding for the need to break the generational curses of the sins so many men and woman passed to young children. A vision began to form around the concept of something like that ranch they had just left to be used for God’s glory, to serve those fatherless children and break the curse. This was the start of the vision of Manasseh Oaks Ranch. Richard and Bonnie (Phillip’s parents), Phillip, and Lindsay sold their homes and purchased what is to become the home of Manasseh Oaks Ranch.

The Holy Spirit went to work transforming Phillip and Lindsay, giving them a burning desire like never before to take the light into darkness. They served teens in their community through mentorship and youth programs, only affirming all the more their vision of impacting the next generation. Today, they are striving to show God’s love to those children without a family.