Monthly Update - October 2015

Dear Life Issues supporters,

Here is the October update about our addiction recovery ministry.

I hope you enjoy reading about how God is using our ministry to set the captive free through the truth found in Jesus, and I hope that God will lay up treasure in your heavenly bank account, for the kindness that you have shown us!

"The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace." Numbers 6:24-26,

Making a difference update, from the recovery field – October 2015 edition…

September has come and gone, and our Life Issues final Friday event was a big one! The Rocked World production group teamed up with brother Bill Corum to glorify God and give our group a great message of God’s life changing power. We had approximately 130 souls present that night, who heard two great testimonies from two Godly men, as well as a great message in drama, about some very relevant and timely situations that our families and communities face. Our students, Bryan and Brenda Cameron, fed everyone ice cream with all the fixins after the program, and Bill Corum distributed nearly 100 of his books, for free! It was a night of great fellowship, and our Lord was at work in the lives of all who attended!

I travelled to Butler, Missouri on 9-21, and shared my testimony with the CCR (Christ Centered Recovery) group there, and met some old friends and new friends. John and Angie Manning lead that group, and I praise God for what he’s doing in our neighboring town, just down the road! The Manning’s weren’t able to come to our Rocked World night, but several from their group came, so it was good to network with some like-hearted brothers and sisters, who are engaged in the battle to recover precious souls from the snares of addiction.

I’ll be travelling to Warsaw, MO early in the morning of 10-19, to sit on a faith-based panel with other Christians involved in addiction recovery in our community, to see how Life Issues might be used in a greater way. The office of US Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler has invited Pastor Brian Hedges and me to attend this event, and we will be taking Pat Lee with us as well, so please make this a matter of prayer. Mrs. Hartzler has called this event “Take Back the District”, and will have law-enforcement officials in attendance, as well as secular entities who work in the addiction recovery field,

God blessed our outreach efforts at the recent Burnt District Festival on 10-2 & 10-3, as we passed out candies to children and got to talk to many parents about Life Issues. We met many former and current students at that two day event, and it was a great venue to reach those in our Jerusalem, with the message of Christ. I don’t have the totals yet, but we probably gave out 200 or more tracts, trifolds, and information packets. The Stovall’s did a great job heading up this event, and Jim said that we also gave out several of our new Bibles, but not the whole box that Heartland Baptist Fellowship (HBF) gave us, so he took the remainder to Cass County Jail and gave them to the deputies to give to the inmates. As Jim was walking to his car from the jail, he heard a lady yelling for him, and he responded to her and found out that she heard him giving away Bibles, and she wondered if she could have one for her son. Jim was so touched that he was at the right place at the right time, and was able to go to his car and give her another Bible that he had there, PTL!

We’re almost done with the video from our Next Step Walk, so look for that link in next month’s update! 

I’m currently working on 2016’s ministry plan and budget, and I will be sharing those things with our leaders at our annual meeting at HBF on 11-14. This will be a closed meeting, but please pray that all invitees will be able to come, and that God will give me his vision for what portion of his business that Life Issues needs to partake in. We should have all of the TATs questions completed by that time, so as to be better equipped to correspond with inmates, as well as to sponsor our students.

I’m humbled by all that is going on with our ministry, we are truly only a small part of what God is doing in these last days, and I only see a small part of that small part! I always enjoy seeing fruit and hearing about changed lives, and one thing that happened at the Burnt District Festival, is that one of our students got to witness to a young man in the Drug Court, and lead him to Christ! Also, on 9-30 Jim Stovall got to lead an inmate to Christ while on the phone with him! 

On Sunday (10-11) I will be baptizing two of our students, one is a lady that I got to lead to Christ in August, and one is a man who has been coming with Dale Newkirk. In addition to these two souls who are becoming HBF members, Cindy Mundorff will be transferring her membership to Heartland Baptist Fellowship! We have had a lady start discipleship with HBF, and a man start TATs last month too, “This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes."  Psalms 118:23

Steve Fleshman Life Issues Pastor & Founder 816-896-5621 steve.fleshman@att.net