Below are some bullet points of the highlights that happened in the Life Issues ministry over the last month:
· We helped a lady get some gas on 9-3
· HBF and Life Issues went together to help another lady with an electric bill on 9-7
· One of our students was baptized on 9-10 and he and his wife became members of HBF on 9-17, PTL!
· We have been ministering to a man’s wife while he’s serving 120 days in prison, and writing to him too.
· A new student is beginning our program called “The Journey Home” with one of our leaders as his sponsor.
· One man prayed for salvation on 9-16
· We provided a lady with community service on 9-19 by helping assemble Bibles at our Bible Conference.
· We helped a lady and her three kids with emergency housing for one night on 9-26
· A friend of mine, who does inner city ministry, came down with a friend of his on 9-29 and they both gave stirring testimonies of deliverance from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son (Col. 1:13). Two of our students sang a song that night that one of them had written, and it was wonderful, PTL!
· We are working with HBF to help one of our students get some dental work done.
· Our whole group signed “Missing You” cards for 3 inmates and then mailed them to them as a way of encouraging them while they’re away from the free world.
· We have been given food gift cards to give away to those in need, to be distributed at Christmas time.
· Several of our leaders and students will be volunteering at HBF’s booth at this year’s Burnt District Festival in Harrisonville MO on 10-6 & 10-7, it’s a huge community event with hundreds, maybe thousands of people!
· Two of our leaders will be sharing their testimony at a Christ Centered Recovery event in Butler MO on October 16th
· Life Issues is planning on having a couple of carnival games at HBF’s Harvest Party on 10-28, it’s from 10-2pm that day, so come by HBF if you can and partake in the festivities! There will be approx. 20 midway type games for kids of all ages, as well as face painting, horse rides, prizes, food, prizes, etc.
· HBF and Life Issues went together to help another lady with an electric bill on 9-7
· One of our students was baptized on 9-10 and he and his wife became members of HBF on 9-17, PTL!
· We have been ministering to a man’s wife while he’s serving 120 days in prison, and writing to him too.
· A new student is beginning our program called “The Journey Home” with one of our leaders as his sponsor.
· One man prayed for salvation on 9-16
· We provided a lady with community service on 9-19 by helping assemble Bibles at our Bible Conference.
· We helped a lady and her three kids with emergency housing for one night on 9-26
· A friend of mine, who does inner city ministry, came down with a friend of his on 9-29 and they both gave stirring testimonies of deliverance from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son (Col. 1:13). Two of our students sang a song that night that one of them had written, and it was wonderful, PTL!
· We are working with HBF to help one of our students get some dental work done.
· Our whole group signed “Missing You” cards for 3 inmates and then mailed them to them as a way of encouraging them while they’re away from the free world.
· We have been given food gift cards to give away to those in need, to be distributed at Christmas time.
· Several of our leaders and students will be volunteering at HBF’s booth at this year’s Burnt District Festival in Harrisonville MO on 10-6 & 10-7, it’s a huge community event with hundreds, maybe thousands of people!
· Two of our leaders will be sharing their testimony at a Christ Centered Recovery event in Butler MO on October 16th
· Life Issues is planning on having a couple of carnival games at HBF’s Harvest Party on 10-28, it’s from 10-2pm that day, so come by HBF if you can and partake in the festivities! There will be approx. 20 midway type games for kids of all ages, as well as face painting, horse rides, prizes, food, prizes, etc.
We received about a dozen survey results from our Recover Walk Fundraiser that will be helpful when planning next year’s Recovery Walk, so thank you all for sharing your thoughts. We have already sent out about 60 Thank-You cards to sponsors, and are in the process of collecting pledges from those who have not donated yet. We also just paid for the t-shirts and other expenses that we had, so we are about to wrap up all the activities from our Recovery Walk; below is my recap of that event:
On behalf of our Life Issues team, I would like to extend a heart-felt THANK YOU to all those who helped to make our 5th Annual Recovery Walk Fundraiser such a huge success! Our team of volunteers and students were able to collect about $13,000 in pledges, and we had 106 walkers and another 100 people at the finish line activities. There was a sweet spirit that night as we walked and worked together for a cause bigger than ourselves, namely addiction recovery. I’m humbled that businesses and individuals poured out their support to us and through us; it makes me feel like there are many who believe in what we’re doing and that God’s good hand is upon us. So, I pledge to you to continue to use our resources wisely and to keep my hand to the plow in the recovery field, so that we can keep “making a difference” until Jesus comes!
Even though this was our 5th annual recovery walk, the Lord put an event like this on my heart about 3-4 years before the first one, while I was leading the Prisoners Of Hope (POH) jail ministry. As I drove by the jail one evening about 8-9 years ago, I thought about the symbolic idea of going from jail to church, i.e. from a place of bondage to a place of freedom! It has been rewarding for me to see this idea become a reality, and to be a community partner with the Cass County Drug Court, other churches, other organizations, and another recovery group; it’s exceeding abundantly above all that I could ask or think (Eph. 3:20)!
To this day, I almost always think of Proverbs 20:29a as I drive by the Cass County Justice Center, which says “The glory of young men is their strength…” That verse makes me think of all the strength that is in bondage within those jail walls (men and women), that is being wasted; strength of mind, strength of body, and strength of will! We’re seeing a few of these precious souls, and others, walk through HBF’s doors, seeking truth and desiring to be made free, so please join me in praying for fruit and fruit that remains from our efforts, realizing that, but for the grace of God, there go I.
Below is a link to a you tube video Lauren put together, so that you can get an idea of what all went on at this year’s Life Issues Recovery Walk:
https://youtu.be/9uXZT-vWQWM
Sincerely, Steve Fleshman – Life Issues pastor and founder, Proverbs 4:23…
Sincerely, Steve Fleshman – Life Issues pastor and founder, Proverbs 4:23…
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