LIFE ISSUES - An Addiction Recovery Ministry

Making a difference update, from the recovery field – July / August 2023 edition. Below are the highlights that happened in the Life Issues ministry over the last couple of months (new format):

I. Benevolence

· We gave a box of food to lady on 7-14, and a couple of others that I didn’t record the dates. We are in the process of purchasing some more food and restocking our Morsels For Many food pantry.

· We worked with HBF to pay a man’s rent on 8-6.

· We gave emergency housing to a lady on 9-1 & 9-2 prior to her going into a treatment facility.

· I took a man to a “Sobering Facility” on 8-26, from there he went to detox for a week, and from there he went to a halfway house, please pray for Trevor T. – see pic.

II. Jail update

· I wrote to an inmate (Ted) on 7-18, he’s getting out next March; Ted requested a copy of our church’s prayer list so that he could be praying for us.

· Here’s a letter from a man that Jim Stovall is writing to (pretty wild)!

o Hello brother! I went to Potosi death row camp for a few months! Now I am at Farmington! I was in the hole and no access to a tablet. Potosi is crazy DANGEROUS! 3 dudes killed his own cellie while I was there! Now these dudes here are on some prison games! I arrived at Farmington yesterday morning! This is treatment. The parole board stipulated treatment. Someone stole my new Bible from my property. I have one that's tattered and torn that works. Its actually the one from St Jo that your church provided! So, praise the Lord Jesus Christ! So, I was preaching on the door in the hole at Potosi daily - street preaching style! So, I do thank the Lord God all those level 5 men heard the gospel! Even some death row inmates received the gospel of Jesus Christ! They hated the preaching of the cross! The Moslems were deep there they were very much in opposition to the words of God! The LORD strengthened me and gave me more wisdom than ALL my enemies! Amen! Glory to his name! I'm back in the book of Revelation on my 9th reading through the holy scriptures! I plan to write you more later. Now I'm trying to settle in and avoid fights and conflict, but both are inevitable here! May God richly bless you brother!

· Please pray for Cass County Jail to approve of our coming into their facility soon, with the leader we’ve proposed, this is an urgent prayer request.

· One last thing about jail ministry that I’m excited about, is that Word First Bible Publishing (wordfirstpublishing.org) just finished publishing 500 Life Issues Bibles on 8-19-23!!! We will be sending these to jails and prisons (via chaplains).

III. Church

· Our recovery group cleaned the church on 8-4-23 and will again on 9-15, see pic of Kevin.

· Several of our students and leaders are involved in discipleship:

o D1: These folks are in our one-on-one continue discipleship material –Brian R. is with Pat L., and Sarah J. just finished with Pam J on 8-30, and Sarah got baptized on 9-10 – see pic.

o D2: Belinda F. is starting D2 this month!

o HBI: One of our lady leaders, Pam J., is taking all 4 classes, so pray for her to press towards the mark. Mary Webster just returned to us from California and is also taking all four HBI classes, see her testimony below.

o TJH (The Journey Home): Conner F. completed TJH in June – see pic! Kevin F. is starting TJH with Brian R.

IV. Recovery

· Our ministry experienced some tragedy the last couple of months as we had to said goodbye to 3 separate ladies who passed into eternity. One was an accident, one was caused by disease, and one was a suicide. All 3 will be dearly missed, so please pray for the families of Kayla, Wendy, and Allison.

· We had a man and his fiancé come to use requesting a parenting class and an anger management class, so that they could get her son back into their home. DFS and foster care are requiring these things and the man has met with our pastor to get things started. Pat Lee is working with the man on anger management and things are going well and this couple are coming to our church, PTL!

· We recently helped a lady move out of a bad living situation (9-8), into a better environment, but please pray for this dear lady.

V. Events

· Our “Homecoming” fundraiser was a huge success and we had about 80 people present and raised about $11,500 for our addiction recovery ministry, PTL! Check out attached pictures!

o Group pic.

o Picture of Judge Howe and me.

o Picture of me awarding volunteer of the year award to Pam Jackson.

o Picture of Chris Coen presenting a gospel message.

VI. People

· Debbie Corum's most recent post: https://www.debbiecorum.com/post/the-whisper-of-a-friend Debbie is Bill’s wife, and both of these folks are prolific speakers and friends of our ministry, and we are trying to enlarge Debbie’s reader base, so feel free to pull up her blog and subscribe to it!

· Heather Haddad spoke @ Congressman Mark Alford's Fentanyl Forum on 8-7 – see pic.

Here's a testimony of one of our new members;

"Hi, my name is MW. I am a new yet former member of HBF. My desire to become a part of the Life issues ministry comes from my calling to help the lost and addicted. My experience with addicted and lost people is a family matter. Don’t we all wish we could find a way to lead our lost and addicted family members to the freedom we find in Jesus Christ. My prior ministry experience at HBF was with Prisoners of Hope ministry and prior to that I was also a Divorce Care facilitator at a church in Gardner KS in 1998. I originally joined HBF in 2008 thanks to David McKittrick, a former coworker inviting me to Church. I was baptized at HBF and completed Discipleship 1 and 2. I am currently enrolled in HBI and look forward to applying what I am learning to help others and bring them to the love and grace of Jesus Christ. I became a Christian in 1992 thanks to my daughter April who asked me to go to an Easter Pageant with her. My desire then as well as now was to reach the lost people. You do not find lost people in your church pew, they are your neighbors, family members and coworkers. You never know whose life you will impact, my goal through Christ Jesus and this ministry is to impact as many people as I can. The other members that are part of this ministry are also ministering me. I am impacted and encouraged by them to keep trying to reach my family and neighbors. Thanks for allowing me to be a part of this essential ministry. "

Please pray for God to use us mightily in 2023, for without him we can do nothing, but through Him we can do all things! Sincerely, Steve Fleshman – Life Issues pastor and founder, Proverbs 4:23…