The Life Issues ministry is now meeting twice per week. One meeting night continues to be Friday, with the other meeting taking place on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. Steve Fleshman, leader of the Life Issues ministry, reflected on how the ministry has grown.
Q. Why is the Life Issues ministry going to a two-night per week format?
A. We were asked by the Probation and Parole office a couple of years ago to provide more meetings per week, but at that time we felt that it was better to do one meeting per week well, than to do two meetings poorly. The Drug Court and DWI Courts require that their clients attend three 12-step type meetings per week, and our meetings are an approved recovery and post-treatment support group. We feel that we now have enough leaders and resources to provide another meeting per week to help meet the needs of those that God is bringing our way.
Q. Does this mean you can use additional people in the ministry?
A. We have three areas of service that we schedule each week; snacks, sound booth, and childcare. I could use one more person for Tuesday night childcare in our rotation (just once every 6 weeks). In addition to these scheduled needs, we're always looking for someone to give their testimony on the final Friday (and now final Tuesday) of each month, so let me know if you're willing to come and share what God's done in your life.
Q. Can you describe how much the total ministry has changed since it began, and how God has guided that change?
A. One of the main things that has changed since we began is how we're funded. For 2.5 years we were church-funded, but for 1.5 years we've been self-funded. As our budgetary needs became greater, and more people from outside the church were coming to us for help, we saw the need to do fundraisers and become self-supporting. We are an outreach ministry of HBF and are under its 501(C)3 organization, so people can and do give to us on their offering envelops by marking it for "Life Issues" as a tax-deductible gift. God's good hand has been upon us these 4 years, and it thrills me that several of our students have victory over their addiction(s), several have been saved, several have been discipled, and more than 20 people have now became HBF members. Life Issues is "Making a Difference" at HBF and Cass County, and in the years to come we hope that God will use us to reproduce what he is doing here, in other churches.
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