02/25/2026
Sharing our annual Donor letter that we send out to say THANK YOU all for everything!!! :
Dear Friends of 180 Ranch,
As we look back over these past years, one truth rises above all others: what has been built here was never built alone. Every season, every milestone, every restored life carries your mark. This “longer than usual” letter is our attempt to say, clearly and loudly, THANK YOU for allowing us the resources and time to be unique, targeted, and different than what the norm looks like. Here’s a little recap of what you’ve helped build:
YEAR 1. The Beginning: A Calling FOR a UNIQUE Program (2019–2020)
When we moved to South Texas in April of 2019, we had no land, no arena, no facilities; only a calling and a first hand knowing that God restores men most powerfully in the context of home, truth, and time. We ran the earliest days of 180 Ranch out of a rental house in Pearsall, then stepped onto this ranch property in Dilley in September of 2020. From the beginning, you believed in us enough to allow us to begin building an intentionally unpolished program founded on God’s promise of redemption. A cowboy and his wife, some horses, dogs, donkeys, and a gigantic prayer! And so it began~
YEAR 2. Endurance and Foundation (2021)
Those early years required some supernatural endurance and faith. (Wow. Did they ever!) In 2021, your generosity sustained us through COVID, medical recoveries, the snowpocalypse, personal losses, and the daily realities of running a 200-acre working cattle and horse ranch. That year alone, 12 men lived here, and every one of them accepted Christ. Together, we built a round pen, pipe stalls, and began the arena. Much of that work was done by residents themselves, learning discipline, responsibility, and dignity through honest sweat. What the world might call “small beginnings,” we watched God use to start the formation of deep roots.
YEAR 3. Steady as She Goes (2022)
By 2022, the theme of the Ranch became, “Steady as she goes.” We served 10 men and saw a 100% Christ-acceptance rate, and watched families begin to reunite. Eight of those men continue to walk in freedom today. That year also brought something unexpected: unsolicited grants, material donations, and growing community support that reminded us we were not unseen. The arena was completed. A long-awaited deck was built. A new metal roof was placed over the house. These were not just upgrades. They were proof to us of your remaining trust and God’s continued mission for the 180.
YEAR 4. Maturity and Family Healing (2023)
In 2023, the ministry continued to mature. While only 10 men formally lived here that year, more than 75 people passed through our doors; wives, parents, children, and extended family members who needed counsel, prayer, and most of all hope. We learned again that healing men requires caring for families. Four men were baptized, along with a wife and an entire family of mother, father, and child. One former resident was later ordained as a deacon in his home church. These are the kinds of outcomes that do not happen quickly, but they last.
That year also clarified something essential for us: depth matters more than volume. We recognized that four men at a time allows for the level of attention, discipleship, and stability this work requires. That conviction continues to shape every decision we make.
YEAR 5. Expansion Through People (2024)
In 2024, long-prayed for expansion finally arrived. A donor-funded four-unit mobile home (Mancamp) was purchased to house 90 day residents and to add capacity for after-program Independent Living guys. That year, God also answered another prayer through people rather than plans. A former resident asked to stay on, not because he needed help, but because he wanted to give it. TJ Boudreau joined us as a volunteer team member, bringing skill, humility, and steady presence into the daily life of the Ranch. Growth, we learned again, is not only about buildings. It is about helping people step into their purpose.
YEAR 6. Stewardship, Maintenance, and Deep Fruit (2025)
Then came 2025—a year of significant accomplishment through stewardship.
It was a year not only defined by expansion, but by the demanding, necessary work of maintaining and improving what had already been built. Running a working ranch at this stage requires substantial reinvestment. In 2025, your support made it possible to absorb and address the high costs that come with longevity: repairs to multiple pieces of heavy equipment and vehicles, ongoing maintenance of several water wells, land clearing, and the accumulated wear that comes from years of hard use by many different people. These were expensive, unavoidable realities, but addressing them meant protecting everything entrusted to us. Because of you, the Ranch remained functional, safe, and prepared for the future.
In 2025, the Mancamp officially opened as a residential space. It housed three men in our Independent Living Program and prepared to welcome its first 90-day resident. Moving men into a separate living structure was entirely new territory for us. It brought greater privacy and clearer boundaries which were important steps that required careful planning and some emotional adjustment. While expansion always brings responsibility (and a measure of nervous anticipation), we are confident this transition came at exactly the right time. Your faithfulness allowed us to create not just beds and walls, but an intentionally curated space with an atmosphere of dignity, warmth, and the feeling of home.
Our experiences in 2025 were a mix of regular occurrences, and new ones. Two men were baptized. And we also saw first hand that men at any age and every stage of life can make a fresh start. The 10 men we served this year were the oldest collective group we have ever had. It is never too late! We also took time to visit former residents at their homes and ranches, seeing how they have established their lives after leaving the 180. These visits were so special, hopefully demonstrating that our support continues long after someone has moved on, and that genuine recovery unfolds gradually over time.
One of our great joys of 2025 was watching restoration ripple outward. Two former residents became engaged and married and remain closely connected to our community. (TJ Boudreaux being one of them!) The third former resident, Matt Edwards, married last year (a beautiful young women he met in our church) and they welcomed a baby boy this year! Matt and his wife now live just down the road from us.
Matt’s story deserves particular mention. He is an accomplished professional welder and skilled mechanic with the ability to build, design, repair, and maintain things ranging from equipment and machinery to buildings and carpentry. He’s handy, and meticulous to be so young. After completing the program, working other places, moving back, getting married, and working consistently in the area, Matt felt a clear nudge to set up home base in Dilley, and step out in faith to start his own business. That decision required courage, prayer, and obedience by him and his wife. Today, THANK YOU JESUS, he operates his own business out of the quonset barn at the 180 Ranch, providing for his family, serving the local community, and continuing to grow into the storehouse of knowledge and purpose that God is shaping him to be.
Being able to offer Matt a place to build his livelihood while remaining rooted in the 180 community feels like a full-circle moment for us. His journey mirrors much of our own; learning to trust God not only for healing, but for provision, stability, and calling. Matt mentors naturally. He teaches generously. The men are drawn to his calm confidence and steady presence. As David and I continue to mentor Matt, he, in turn, pours into the men here. This kind of quiet, relational discipleship, unplanned and unforced, is one of the great multileveled fruits of the Ranch, and it exists because of you!
2025 also marked meaningful personal milestones for us. David turned 60 and celebrated 20 years of sobriety—twenty years of freedom, honesty, and lived credibility that anchor everything he does here. Gayla turned 50, entering a season marked not by slowing down, but by clarity and confidence in what God has called us to steward. These milestones are not separate from the ministry; they are part of it. In many ways, 180 Ranch is the overflow of redeemed years now poured out for others. We long to show men that God can, and does, use broken ones, like we were, to overcome and show His goodness through a life filled with peace, joy, happiness, calmness, blessings, and purpose!
NOW - Looking Ahead with Gratitude (2026)
As we stepped into 2026, we realized something that stopped us in our tracks: we will welcome resident number 60 to 180 Ranch this year!!! Sixty lives intersecting with this land. Sixty stories given time instead of haste. That milestone belongs to you as much as it does to us.
We have watched men reunite with families, start businesses, marry, welcome children, and mentor others walking roads they once knew too well. We have seen forgiveness lead to peace, peace lead to rest, and rest create space for God to work. None of this happens quickly. None of it happens cheaply. And none of it happens without trust.
Please know this: we do not take your trust lightly.
We pray over the land, the work, and the people who make it possible. You are not just donors. You are partners in something living, growing, and trajectory changing. You have made security, to us and others, possible on so many levels. We don’t have to just tread water anymore and band aid issues out of lack. We are able to get things fixed right without fear of having to sacrifice funds out of other areas of the program. Having that security while being responsible for the lives of other people on your property is priceless. We entered into a new level of that security in 2025, and it is not taken for granted. Being able to cover all our bills, provide a comfortable atmosphere for the men we care for, build new infrastructure, maintain older infrastructure, bless others, and provide a salary for David and myself…WOW family!!! That is the answer to so many prayers over the past 6 years. We still have projects on the books for 2026 that need continued and increased funds. We aren’t done yet, but it makes me cry so many happy tears just thinking about how God has used all of you to help us help others. THANK YOU JESUS!!!
As Scripture reminds us, “The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness” (2 Corinthians 9:10).
Thank you for the seed.
Thank you for believing.
Thank you for walking with us.
Thank you for helping build—and sustain—something that is alive, rooted, and full of promise!
Seeking His Will,
David and Gayla Jones
