· There’s a saying within Christian recovery circles, that says “new levels brings new devils”, which basically means that as you stop substance abuse, there are new issues to deal with, I remember specifically counselling with a man on the phone on 5-12, and praying with him about his boss and coworkers. I know Pat has had several opportunities to work with folks with relationship issues last month too.
· God used a couple in our church to point one of their neighbors our way last month who has some “life issues”, and on 5-12 we were able to connect this young lady with one of our lady leaders, and she has been coming faithfully ever since!
· One thing that is beneficial to folks in recovery (and for all of us), is to help others, and in mid-May, one of our young men helped take a disabled church members dog to the vet for them, and then spent a couple of days helping them around their home with odd jobs that they weren’t able to do themselves!
· One of the girls @ Lily House, Ashley, was given a nice used car around the middle of May; and she responded as if she had won the lottery! Because of the COVID 19 pandemic, I haven’t been able to see it yet, but we couldn’t be happier for this young lady and for all that God is doing in her life!
· One of our lady leaders, Kelly, was able to take some food and basic hygiene products to a former student of ours that’s fallen on hard times again, who had called me on 5-20 and asked for a toothbrush and other necessities.
· Our meetings have been running 25-30 people again, now that our church and state are re-opening, and we’ve gotten several visitors lately too, approximately 8 new folks within the last month.
· Brian Parrott is starting to train in the sound booth, so it’s exiting to see him grow and give back. Brian told me that there’s about 5 folks in our ministry that he’s encouraging to take HBF’s Discipleship 2 course this fall, so that’s exciting to hear too!
· We also have about 7 people going through The Journey Home (TJH) at this time, so there’s a good crop of people in recovery that are using Life Issues as their program, and we’re blessed to be used in this way.
· HBF’s church in the park was on 6-7, and it was profitable and well attended !
· I met a new man @ church in the park that’s interested in Life Issues, and he came to church with us on 6-14 too, his name is David.
· We gave away a 3-4 of boxes of food within the last month and will need to restock it again soon.
· A young lady named Cassie has been coming to Life Issues with her grandmother; not because of an addiction, but because of her desire to minister to others. Cassie recently graduated from college, and it was there that she gave her life to Christ, and on 6-14 she got baptized at our church, with her whole family in attendance! This young lady is a real shot in the arm to Life Issues and HBF, and we look forward to seeing how God will use her in the lives of others, see attached picture.
· Instead of doing a testimony at the end of May, I interviewed Pat Lee and people really seemed to enjoy that format, so we plan to do it again soon.
· We held our annual Recovery Walk (RW) meeting on 6-6 and had over half of our leaders there, to start our fundraising season. This will be our 8th annual RW fundraiser and we’re hoping to raise $12,000 this year to support the needs of this essential ministry for the coming year. We’ve applied for a permit with the city and we’ve gotten most of our literature printed, so we’re preparing now to solicit our community for support. Please look at the attached literature and consider how you might help us this year, either as a volunteer (we need about 40), someone to solicit pledges, someone to give, someone to walk, or someone to do all of the above!
Sincerely, Steve Fleshman – Life Issues pastor and founder, Proverbs 4:23…
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