On Friday, April 11, as many as 300 supporters of the Highland Lakes Crisis Network drove a winding new caleche road deep into a 211-acre property off of Fairland Road (FM 1855) north of Marble Falls.
They drove out to hear the story of how this valuable property was acquired and about the rebranding of HLCN as The ARK of the Highland Lakes, a multifaceted hub of ministries with the goal to defeat generational poverty.
“Basically,” said Keven Naumann, HLCN president, “the idea is to amplify and extend what we have already done with the apartments we received from the Texas Housing Foundation. The goal is to create a progression of living environments and provide job training to help clients gain stability and figure out their lives.”
Asked about collaboration with existing service providers, “The sky is truly the limit in partnering with other agencies and ministries. One of the first things I think we could build is a warehouse where we could order pallets and pallets of food to distribute to food pantry ministries that aren’t capable of ordering that much food.”
An enormous amount of planning and preparation went into the early evening event. From the moment one drove onto the property young people and adults held up handmade signs about every 50 yards with messages like “Future Ball Field” in front of an obviously cleared piece of land in the shape of a baseball diamond. One placard carried the overall message of the evening: “You are on Holy Ground.”
A quarter of a mile into the property was a cleared parking area. Men from Joshua’s House drug treatment facility directed over 100 cars to within easy walking distance of 300 chairs under a huge tent. Guests were greeted by the aroma of Miss Vickie’s burgers, grilling street tacos provided by Supreme Flow Heating and Air, and Chick-Fil-A sandwiches. Paula Mays and the ladies of Open Door Ministry provided cold bottled water and lemonades.
Addressing the audience Naumann recalled, “There have been significant milestones in the growth of HLCN which began as a response to the flooding of 2018. The Transformational Housing Apartments and the Dental Clinic which God just dropped in our laps. The Warehouse where we redistribute donated clothing, furniture, and household goods.”
“There has been this repeated theme for the last eight years - Okay, you want to do something to help and love and serve people, just see if you can keep up. It’s been this gusher of God’s goodness. What I want to talk to you about tonight is just the latest example of that.”
“We have spent a lot of time over the last seven months talking through who we are, what we are about, and what we want to be that makes this thing so special.” Naumann was referring to months of Wednesday morning meetings he had with the owners of the property, Jason Coleman and Jerry Merlick. This team began work to rebrand the Crisis Network.
Naumann continued, “Through a discernment process we landed on this new name: The Ark of the Highland Lakes. We wanted a ‘face forward’ name that would scale to the magnitude of the Valley View property we are standing on tonight. This is really something different. This is not just another non-profit organization. This really is about the Kingdom of God being mobilized in this region.”
“We have learned that this is a journey. We have to go on a journey with people to get them to true self-sufficiency, to true restoration, and part of that journey is meeting Jesus along the way. We want to be faithful about that. We want to be faithful to where we came from starting with the flood in 2018.”
Looking to the future Naumann explained, “Everything we do moving forward will fit into these three things: Uniting Hands – which is bringing people together to serve and love better. Healing Hearts – which is our transformational living programs as we walk with people. Transforming Communities – which is collaboration impacting the region we serve.
“We want our new brand to reflect these things with a Hill Country feeling as we are on this Ark together. This branding will be added to everything we do: Ark Warehouse, Ark Dental Clinic. Ark Transformational Housing. This is our new brand. This 211 acres Valley View community is a vision greater than anything any one of us could have dreamed of on our own. That’s how we know God is in it.”
Speaking of the needs that require this size vision Naumann reported, “There are some mind-blowing statistics in this area. 209 kids in MFISD are classified as homeless. They don’t know from night to night where they are going to sleep. 5,600 kids are food challenged not certain where their next meal is coming from. How do we elevate these kids to a place where they know they have a hope and a better future, and they know they have value because people love them. That’s our target.”
The figure $38 million was mentioned in passing during the evening. In later conversation Naumann chuckled. “If we could build it all today, that’s the estimate in today’s dollars.” Obviously, some people have already caught the vision. Hank Lewis and Mark Bray of Nelson Lewis Construction contributed their own time and heavy equipment to clear the land and build the road making the property accessible. They negotiated a cents on the dollar materials contract as well. This was easily a half million-dollar in-kind donation of time, materials, and expertise.
The Ark is building a village unlike anything anyone has seen before. Part of the vision is onsite job training and employment opportunities, such as teaching building trades to construct cabins for the property and also for sale off the property. Ark clients might work in the warehouse helping the food pantries throughout the region. A large community garden might supply a crop to table restaurant on Fairland Road to serve the community and provide jobs. The vision is huge. Naumann responded, “I hope that in five years we will have 1,000 people in the process.”
As supporters were departing the property following the program, they were offered small bottles of dirt from the Valley View land that had already been prayed over to serve as a reminder to pray for The Ark of the Highland Lakes. Free t-shirts and a limited supply of small olive trees were also handed out to remind folks of the olive branch that a bird brought to Noah in the Biblical story of the first Ark. A reminder of fresh opportunities.
