The Call, the Long Journey and the Promise

Terry

August 16, 2026

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At long last an exciting transition is underway involving the DJ Ranch and the future of New
Life for Youth Enterprises, Inc. Please bear with me while I preface the news with a good bit of
historical perspective, some of which you may have heard before.
In 1969, the Holy Spirit opened the eyes of Doris Chupick to the plight of the many youth being
drawn into drugs and the “Hippie” culture of that day. By the next year, she was regularly
ministering to a handful of confused teens. On another front, that same Holy Spirit was working
on a 22 year old hippie named Mike and drawing him to an encounter with Jesus. On August 1,
1970, at a party I was hosting and also supplying the drugs, Jesus knocked on the door of my
heart and I let Him in!
A short time later, I encountered Doris and volunteered to help her with the teens. She never
intended to use the phone number given to her from a skinny, bell-bottom jean clad, long-haired
hippie, but a few days later received a call for help from one of her teens who was having a bad
trip on LSD. She didn’t know what to do, but remembered that phone number and in
desperation made a late night call to me. I went to her house, drove her to Dearborn Heights,
picked up the teen, dropped her back off and nursed the teen through the night back at my
house. Thus began the ongoing, 55 year, working relationship between Doris and I.
We implemented a travel camping program in 1971 which expanded every year and
subsequently necessitated the founding of a 501(c)3 non-profit charity. In 1979, New Life for
Youth Enterprises, Inc. was born!
Our travel camping ministry continued and on a month long trip in 1980, a major event
occurred which would totally alter the future direction of New Life for Youth. On our way out
west, we stopped in Tulsa, Oklahoma to visit youth minister friends of ours, Kirk & Debbie
DeWees. Kirk had injured himself and was off work. Sensing a financial need, we felt impressed
by the Holy Spirit to give a significant gift from our limited trip funds with the confidence that
the Lord would provide! Shortly after, Kirk’s wife, Debbie, took Doris to the Allen Ranch and
introduced her to Ted Allen. He was so impressed with our undertaking, that he invited us to
bring a group of youth for a ranch experience including an overnight trail ride, chuck wagon
cookout and campfire while sleeping under the stars. There would be no charge, but we had to
provide a month’s notice. We gratefully accepted and made arrangements to come on the Easter
break the following spring.

The remainder of that trip was wonderful as we had daily Bible studies and visited many
beautiful National Parks throughout the western United States. The Lord blessed our gift to Kirk
and multiplied it with surprise provisions along the way. We had more than enough! Seed was
sown and every young person was impacted by God’s majesty and goodness. However, the
greatest resulting blessing was still to come because there was a pivotal spring trip to be
planned.
Upon returning, we determined that, if we were going to chaperon a group of youth on the
aforementioned trip to Oklahoma, we ought to know which side of the horse to get up on. With
the help of a member of our church, whose daughter was a national champion equestrian, Doris
was introduced to a woman running a riding school at a 40 acre horse boarding facility named
Canterbury Farms near Marine City, MI. She was very gracious and immediately offered to
provide weekly lessons to Doris, myself and any other chaperons for the very reduced price of
$7.00 per person for a one hour lesson. In addition, she committed to giving a free two hour
introductory lesson to our youth group prior to the trip.
I don’t have the time or space to relate to you the amazing things that transpired on that trip.
Suffice to say, God blessed it far beyond anything we could have imagined! The outcome was
that horses had truly become an integral part of our ministry. The Saturday riding lessons would
continue as we raised the money for all the youth to participate. Before long a horse was donated
to us, then another and another. The owners of Canterbury Farms were supportive of what we
were doing and gave us a reduced rate to board the horses. In addition to our camping trips, we
were now running our own horse program and the Lord had us right where He wanted!
Then Friday, July 8, 1983, the most difficult and heart-wrenching day of my life arrived. I
answered a call from my brother, Tom. He was weeping for he had just come home from work to
find our younger brother, David John, slumped over dead of an overdose in the bathroom of his
Florida condo with a needle on the floor. My immediate reaction was to cry out to the Lord in
intercession for our family. We were devastated! While his body was being flown over the
weekend to Michigan for a funeral service at my family’s Catholic church, I was seeking the Lord
for answers. No longer Catholic, I attended the morning service sitting in the balcony of
Bethesda Missionary Temple in Detroit. I told no one about the situation, nor did I turn in a
prayer request. I was there to hear a word from God!
When the service ended, I sat back in my seat and waited for the church to empty out.
Everything got very quiet and I’m sure the ushers were unaware that anyone remained.
Eventually, I fell on my knees at the altar of the balcony and began to cry out to the Lord. Part of
me was feeling guilty and asking forgiveness for not praying enough and not helping my brother
more; yet, another part of me was questioning the Lord because I had prayed! After pouring out
my heart, my tears dried up and I had no more to say. In the quietness, I began to hear a still
small voice saying, “Like the death of Samson … Like the death of Samson… Like the death of
Samson.” I returned to my seat, opened my bible and read the Old Testament story of Samson.
He was called to be Israel’s deliverer from the Philistines but had a weakness in the flesh and
chased after Philistine women which led to his eventual demise. However, he killed more
Philistines in his death than he had in his life. The Lord placed an assurance in me that, just like
Samson, my brother Dave had a weakness in the flesh that led to his demise, but that he also
would accomplish more for God’s Kingdom through his dying that he ever did with his life.

This word from the Holy Spirit took away the sting of death and was burning within me. I
wanted to speak at my brother’s funeral, but it was a Catholic Mass and the priest delivered the
message. My opportunity arrived when the priest opened it up for any members of the
congregation to say a prayer. After one or two did so, I launched out saying, “Lord, may my
brother Dave’s death be even as the death of Samson. You said in your word, ‘Except a grain of
wheat fall into the ground and dies it abides alone, but if it dies it brings forth much fruit.'” The
prayer then took a very prophetic turn believing for many lives to be touched and turned around
as a result of his death. It gave a promise that his death would accomplish great things for the
Kingdom of God. The presence of the Lord came down in that church like a cloud and as I
finished with the liturgically correct ending, “We pray to the Lord”, there was a solemn hush
followed by the “Lord hear our prayer” response.
In the following spring of 1984, God’s plan began to unfold. We were taking a group of kids to
Canterbury Farms to ride and as I turned into the driveway I had, what I believe to have been,
the only vision I’ve ever had from the Lord. I saw a curtain open from both sides and before my
eyes we were there and the farm was abuzz with many youth doing all sorts of activity. In just a
second, the curtain closed as quickly as it had opened. I was puzzled and just shook my head and
told no one. As was our custom, we prayed for safety, brushed down and saddled the horses and
then gave everyone an opportunity to ride in the large indoor riding arena. Eventually, Doris and
I retreated up into the elevated club-room where we could observe through the large glass
windows. I was shocked when Doris suddenly turned to me and said that she just heard, what
she believed to be, the Holy Spirit saying the Lord was going to give us Canterbury Farms to
work with youth. I then related to her the vision I had when we pulled in the drive.
Not wanting to entertain covetous thoughts and needing to know we were hearing from the Holy
Spirit, we prayed and asked the Lord to have the owners ask us to buy Canterbury Farms, which
was an absurd idea since there was no for sale sign up. Also, our board payment was due that
day and for the first time we had to ask for a few days grace, so they knew we didn’t have two
nickels to rub together; but, if they asked us to buy it, we could envision owning it as prospective
buyers would.
A couple of days later, Doris and I drove back to the farm to make our board payment. Tom and
Joyce DeVries were the owners and Joyce, who ran the boarding business, answered the door
and invited us in. She took the check from us, set it on the kitchen island, then turned toward
Doris and said, “Doris, why don’t you buy Canterbury Farms? It would be perfect for your work
with kids.” This man of faith could hardly catch his breath! They were willing to sell for
$450,000.00 and, like I said, we didn’t have two nickels to rub together, but we felt like we had
the money in our pockets! Then, everything went quiet and the wait began.
It was spring of 1985 and almost a year had gone by. Doris started getting restless about having
our own property and had me driving her around a number of days looking for it. In my
frustration, I finally pulled over to the side of the road and said to Doris, “Did God say he would
give us Canterbury Farms or didn’t He? If he did, why are we still looking?” Over the past year,
they had never asked us again to buy it and there was no for sale sign up or any indication they
were trying to sell it. “Why don’t we ask the Lord to have them ask us once more to buy it.” We
joined hands and prayed leaving it all in God’s hands!

It just so happened that on our next time going to the farm the board payment was due. Once
again, Joyce took our check, put it on the island and turned toward Doris with her finger
wagging like a parent scolding a child and saying, “Doris, I remember telling you a long time ago
that you should buy Canterbury Farms.” Then the Lord even put prophetic words in her mouth
as she continued and said, “…… in fact, you’ve been riding around looking at other places and
haven’t been able to find one; that’s because this is the place for you. You’re going to own
Canterbury Farms!”
For the next few months nothing much changed. Then, while we were taking a group of youth on
our annual one month cross country camping trip in August of 85, Doris told me that the farm
was on the way and was coming that year. The Holy Spirit kept showing her a picture of the farm
like a wrapped up present already under the tree waiting for the day it would be unwrapped.
Doris was sure of it, but our funds were very limited and this man of faith was wavering!
Then, a few days after we returned from our trip, I received a late night phone call from my
brother, Tom. He had been in litigation with his business partner and was informing me that he
had settled the lawsuit. He went on to say that, “Dave’s death and my partner’s crookedness
have me evaluating what’s important in life.” He had determined that what he did as a
hardware/software engineer wasn’t all that meaningful, but what we did helping kids was vastly
more important. Although he was not a practicing Christian at that point in his life and by no
means a millionaire, he knew we had been praying about Canterbury Farms and said he wanted
to buy it for us, whatever it took right up to the full amount and to start the negotiations. We
were amazed!! He purchased the farm on December 30th and donated it free and clear to New
Life for Youth Enterprises, Inc. on the following day, December 31, 1985. The David John Ranch
was born! A year and a half later, and exactly four years to the day of the prophetic prayer at my
brother’s funeral, Pastor James Beall dedicated the DJ Ranch to the Lord as a safe haven for
troubled youth.
The struggles since the beginning days have been too numerous to mention, and yet, the Lord
has always been faithful. Like manna in the wilderness, we experienced many instances of God’s
miraculous provision; He supplied us with free natural gas from an oil well, sent the Marine
Corp to take on a large, costly septic project at a quarter of the cost, twice we were surprise
beneficiaries named in wills when we were facing large maintenance projects, and we received
timely donations from supporters such as you when there were immediate needs, ….. just to
name a few. More importantly, we always had enough to help the hurting youth, families and
groups the Lord directed our way.
In between the tough times, there have been many further blessings. Personally, in June of 1995,
the Lord united me in marriage with my wonderful and beautiful bride, Debbie Francisco Hibbs.
Then in the summer of 2001, He brought an infant with Down Syndrome, living in a Christian
orphanage in Ecuador, South America, to our attention. Graciela Marie Hibbs, at a year and a
half old, became our beautiful adopted daughter in March of 2002. As a result, many special
needs children have enjoyed visits to the Ranch.
Doris has been blessed with strength and longevity. While I’m not at liberty to disclose her age, I
can tell you that I was born in June of 1948, quite a few years after April 6, 1931. She is an
amazing leader and prayer warrior who, unlike me at times, never gives up.

Things began to dramatically shift shortly after the onset of Covid in early 2020 and really
accelerated from 2021 through much of 2025. While we were still ministering to the needs of a
number individuals, there was less activity, less volunteer help, less funding, less energy, more
needs, more raccoon damage, more dis-repaired facilities and eventually no horses! Doris was
unfazed by all of this and continually declared that there would be a great move of the Holy
Spirit at the Ranch. I concurred and was declaring the same thing but would always interject one
disclaimer; it would not be us running it, we were too old and needed to identify and release the
ministry to a “Joshua.”
In keeping with this mission, we entered into discussions with two separate vibrant ministries
about turning over our organization and its assets but, in each instance, the Holy Spirit let it
come to naught. Then on a late September morning this past year the Lord’s transition plan
began to unfold.
I was driving into the Ranch and as I was turning into the driveway I stopped at the place where
I had the original vision so long ago. I began to cry out in desperation to the Lord, “Please don’t
let the Ranch die!” I went on to remind Him of the promise given at my brother’s death and
asked for the Holy Spirit to bring it about and to give us direction. I cried out for the Joshua to
arise! After a considerable time of intercession, I quieted myself and just waited. Suddenly, I
heard a still small voice utter the name “Terry McKay.” It was as though a light bulb turned on
with that announcement!
There were multiple reasons why this made sense. As a twelve year old, Terry went on the
month long trip in 1985 and was in the first group of youth at the Ranch. He was a member of
the youth choir that sang at the dedication and through his involvement with New Life for Youth
the course of his life was forever changed. After some bumps in the road, he went on to become
a successful family man. He excelled in business, became a New Life Board member and a
regular financial supporter. He and his wife, Nichola, have a deep love for the Lord and are
members of the worship team at the church they attend.
I could go on about Terry’s ability to socially network, as well as his organizational, technical
and construction skills, but two major questions needed to be answered. First, what would Doris
think? The fly in the ointment was that Doris was Terry’s first grade teacher, in fact she was also
his dad’s first grade teacher, and she still viewed him as someone she needed to mentor rather
than seeing him as the 52 year old leader he had become. After some discussion and prayer, the
Holy Spirit confirmed his selection, and Doris was onboard. Second, and perhaps more
importantly, what would Terry think? I called him that afternoon to ask him if I could take him
to breakfast or lunch so I could present everything to him face to face. He said he’d be glad to,
but he wanted to talk to me about something and he hoped I wouldn’t take it wrong. He went on
to tell me that he believed the Holy Spirit was telling him he would be running the Ranch! I then
shared everything right there on the phone!
Not too many days afterward, we scheduled a meeting with the existing board and held a
barbecue cookout so that Terry could introduce two Christian businessmen, leaders in their own
right but who had never seen the Ranch, along with their spouses, to explore whether it was the
Lord’s will for them to join Terry in the formation of a new board of directors to lead New Life

for Youth. After a few days of inquiring of the Lord, we all agreed that the Holy Spirit was truly
leading in this endeavor.
Deeming that it would be best for the new leadership to start afresh with a new year and clean
financial slate, a transitional board meeting was scheduled for December 31, 2025. It wasn’t
until after I had scheduled that date that its significance hit me. As I related earlier in this
newsletter, the DJ Ranch was donated to us on December 31, 1985 and now, after an amazing
adventure filled with miracles and changed lives, and exactly forty years to the day, the “Joshua”
would carry it forward into the promise of an even greater harvest.
At that celebratory New Year’s Eve meeting, Darin Shock and Robert Round were elected to New
Life’s board followed by the resignations of all but Terry from the old board. Everything has
been on a fast track since then with a much needed organizational emphasis. I invite you to visit
the new website (newlife4youth.com) to better understand and support the changes and for a
glimpse of the promised coming move of the Holy Spirit at the DJ Ranch!
Though Doris and I have stepped down from leadership, Doris has been permitted to occupy the
main Ranch house and continue, as a concerned Christian, mentoring individuals who may visit
her at the Ranch. They have asked me to stay on for the foreseeable future to assist with the
transition as needed and to be available to Doris for any concerns or difficulties she may have.
On behalf of Doris, myself, my wife, Deb, along with all current and past board members, I
extend our gratitude and deep appreciation to everyone who has joined us in this adventure with
their prayers, volunteer help and financial support. May God bless and reward you beyond
measure. Thank you for your critical part in seeing the “Promise” fulfilled. Most importantly, we
thank and praise the Lord for His faithfulness!

Sincerely,
Michael Hibbs