Making a difference update, from the recovery field – February 2016 edition…
January was an exciting month, I was able to drive our daughter and granddaughters out to our son-in-law in Washington State, who is stationed in the Army there at Fort Lewis, and help them get settled in. We visited a like-minded church there and they have now attended it twice, and seem to have found a church home, PTL!
While I was still out of town in Washington, there was snowy weather here, and the Tuesday night meeting on 1-19 had to be cancelled. The Tuesday night group is growing however, they had one young man accept Christ on 1-12, and they experienced their largest attendance night last week (25 people)! Pat and Jim and our other leaders are doing a great job reaching the addicted on Tuesdays, and there is a growing synergy in our ministry.
We had two men assist the Ministerial Alliance’s food pantry last Friday, and they donated some of their overages that day to our ministry. Heartland Baptist Fellowship has had a small food panty for a few years now, and that ministry is now under Life Issues’ leadership. Jerry will be assisting me with this service, and we have submitted a proposal to our church’s pastor, to build on the foundation that has been laid and continue to provide food to the hungry in our area of influence.
I gave my testimony on the final Friday of January (1-29), and one young man gave his life to Christ afterwards. It was a special night all around, it was well attended, Deneen selected and sang two songs perfectly, and my birthday was the following day, so they sang to me at Mazzio’s afterwards. Del also shared a testimony that night and told of a blessing that occurred because of breaking his leg in two places and being laid up in a rehab facility. The blessing to him is that he became roommates with a man that he witnessed to, and Del got to spend several weeks discipling him in the Word of God!
Life Issues is becoming more known in the community, and God seems to continue to open doors to minister with other Christ-centered organizations. Over a month ago I met with a man who is starting a transitional house near our church, and last Friday he came to our meeting with another man who will be the house manager. It was exciting to hear his heart for others and to meet the key man to help him run the house; hopefully it will be open for business by this summer, more to come on this topic! Pat and I will be visiting with the Life Choice, crisis pregnancy center, to share what we do with the leader and her staff later this month or early March, so pray God’s will to be done at that meeting.
On the people front, we had 4 more people become Life Issues Alumni in January, for a total of 23 alumni to date. These people have attended 40 meetings or more, they have evidence of God working in their lives, and they are remaining clean and sober. One of our alumni’s 16 year-old son accepted Christ last week, and I rejoice to see God blessing this man’s family because of his obedience and faithfulness. In addition to our alumni, we have had 8 people complete our program, and we have 3 others that are near completion. This doesn’t include those who have completed or are enrolled in our church’s discipleship program, nor those who have started our new “The Journey Home” program.
As you can see, many good things are happening; Life Issues just turned 5 years old on February 4th. We began meeting on 2-4-11 with about 10 leaders and 4 students, and a zeal to offer Christ centered recover to the addicted. We celebrated our anniversary on Sunday (2-7) with a cake, and watched the Super Bowl together, in the same room that we started in, some 5 years ago. We haven’t by any means “arrived”, but we are pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Php. 3:14), and I’m blessed to serve with a Godly team of servants! Even though we have had our share of disappointments and opposition, I’m still hungry to see Life Issues reach its full potential, please pray with me to that end.
One of our lady leaders, Lauren, recently wrote a sweet testimony for our website & church’s newsletter; I’m attaching a link here, in hopes that you will read a portion of what God is doing in the life of this 22 year old: Lauren's Testimony
Sincerely, Steve Fleshman – Life Issues pastor and founder, Proverbs 4:23…
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