Monthly Update - January 2017

Making a difference update, from the recovery field – January 2017 edition…

Below are some bullet points of the highlights that happened in the Life Issues ministry over the last month:

- I forgot to mention it last month, but we helped a local business (anonymous) to select and adopt 3 families on 12-16-16, giving them gift cards for Christmas presents, that they wouldn’t have had otherwise.

- In January, we recommended a 30-day rehab to a family for their son; he is doing well there and getting the help he needs, we look forward to working with him when he returns home.

- Dina D. completed HBF’s D1 program on 1-26-17.

- We awarded two people with Alumni tags 0n 1-27-17, Dina D. and Darin W.  !

- Two men made professions of faith on Tuesday nights in January!

- One of our leaders went to a church in Clinton MO and gave their testimony at a Celebrate Recovery Meeting on 1-31-17!

- Another of our leaders is now a substance abuse counselor at the Cass County Psychological Center!

- One of our students, Brenda C. , graduated from the Cass County Drug Court on 2-1-17; she was graduate # 99 from their program and we are very proud of her!

- We helped one lady pay her electric bill in January, another with her phone pill, and we distributed a box of food to a man in need.

- Our month-end testimonies were strong again in January; Joe S.  (WW2 Veteran) gave a stirring testimony of how God saved him from alcoholism after the war, and saved his soul, and restored his family!

- Chris C. also gave a wonderful testimony of grace, and how God used Life Issues in his life while he was in prison as well as when he came home! Chris is a strong advocate for Life Issues, and God is using him mightily! We recorded Chris’ testimony; it will soon be available on our website.

- We had over 30 adults at the Super Bowl Party on 2-5, and about 10 kids; it was a great game, and we had great food and fellowship!

- We plan to go to Butler on 2-24 to watch a Rocked World Productions drama with the recovery group there, so we will cancel our meeting that night.

One of our leaders, Linda J. , was named to a statewide committee in January; she is a social worker with Golden Valley Memorial Health-care (GVMH) in Clinton MO. Linda has been selected to sit on the Ethics Committee for the Missouri State Chapter of NASW (National Association of Social Workers); she has been a member of NASW since 1982.

NASW is the largest professional association of social workers in the state. It works to enhance the professional growth and development of its members to create and maintain standards for this profession and to advance social policies. This organization assists in the development of standards for licensure of social workers and maintaining the social work profession Code of Ethics.

Linda has been with Life Issues since its inception and she sponsors students, often chairs the ladies small group time, brings snacks, picks up students, etc., and we are very proud of her for this accomplishment / honor! We started Life Issues 6 years ago this month (2-4-11), and someone told me at that time that if Linda was on our team, we would be successful, and that was an accurate statement!

It’s hard to recap the last 6 years in a few words, but in my role I’ve learned to not only focus on the target (students), but also on the team (leaders), so I wanted to acknowledge Linda’s contributions! Linda is one of the wonderful leadership team members that I’m blessed to work alongside of in these last days!

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