Monthly Update - March 2016

Making a difference update, from the recovery field – March 2016 edition…

Jim W. gave his testimony on the final Friday of February (2-26), and a friend of mine ministered to us in song, and they were both a blessing! Jim is a Vietnam War vet and a born again Christian, and his words touched all in attendance that night, we’re thankful that he’s in the Lord’s army too, and serving Him in Life Issues.

Here’s some other things that happened in Life Issues last month:

• The Tuesday night edition of Life Issues just celebrated one year of ministry on 3-2; they had 22 people in attendance; they are growing numerically and in faith! 
• One of our students, Christina, graduated from Cass County Psych’s CSTR program on February 13th. This is a 4 year program, and we’re very proud of her, several of her friends and counsellors were in attendance and spoke good words about her! 
• We had about 20 people at our Leadership meeting on 2-20, and we hashed out several upcoming events and recapped prior events, so that we’re all on the same page. There’s a good unity in our group and expectation that God is going to do great things with Life Issues. 
• Pat Lee and I presented the Life Issues ministry to the leaders and volunteers of the Life Choice Center of Harrisonville (crisis pregnancy center) on March 3rd at their quarterly meeting. This was a divine appointment in the life of our ministry that Pat set up; there were about 10 ladies present, who all had good questions and feedback for us. We left there praising the Lord and thinking that we gave them a positive impression of our ministry, and some ideas about how we might be able to assist with some of the problems that they and their clients face. 

Here’s some things on Life Issues’ horizon:

• A group of 6-8 of us will be travelling to Saint Louis from April 14th thru April 16th, to attend the American Academy of Biblical Counselors’ (AABC) 2016 conference. This year’s conference focuses on addiction counselling, here is a link to their web page, let me know if you want to come too, we’ll register by the end of this month: http://aabiblicalcounselors.org/calendar-items/third-annual/
• Each time there are 5 Sundays in a month, our church (HBF) focuses on the Lord’s Supper and missions (local and foreign), and on July 31st it will be focusing on Life Issues. To spotlight our ministry and share what God is doing in our midst; Life Issues will be performing a drama in both Sunday morning services and I will be preaching. 
• Life Issues will be having 2 fundraisers this year, our annual Recovery Walk (September 3rd) and our first annual garage sale (May 6th & 7th). Our garage sale will be the first weekend of May, in coordination with Harrisonville’s city-wide garage sale, please consider what items you have at your home that you would donate to support this effort, and let Jim Worthington know (816-258-3792), so that he can coordinate receiving them. 
• I’m pleased to announce that Bill Corum will be giving his full testimony at the July 29th Life Issues meeting. Bill is the author of “The Ultimate Pardon” book, and he spoke at the beginning of an event that we held last year. Bill is now a godly God who is burdened for the addicted and incarcerated, so we’re blessed to have him again this year. 

I’ll close with a testimony from one of our leaders, which I consider another Life Issues miracle:

“Occasionally when we have a physical need with someone at Life Issues (clothes, toasters, furniture, bed, etc.), I'll send an email to my co-workers asking if anyone has any of those items laying around that they would like to donate to Life Issues. It's been several months since I sent such an email. A couple Sundays ago one of our students said they would love to have a coffee pot. They really missed having coffee in the morning. They asked me to keep my eye open. In my mind I thought this would be a good item to request in an email to my co-workers. I'll send an email Monday afternoon. On Monday morning when I walked into the office (I had not even made it to my desk) one of my co-workers came up to me and said "could you use a coffee pot and matching mugs, I have them in my car?" I couldn't believe it. I just laughed aloud and told them the story. The Lord provided before I had the chance to ask. The coffee pot may have been a small blessing to the final recipient, but I think it meant much more to me. It was a personal note of encouragement to me that God is in control of even the smallest things.”

Sincerely, Steve Fleshman – Life Issues pastor and founder, Proverbs 4:23…