Monthly Update - February 2017

Making a difference update, from the recovery field – February 2017 edition…

Below are some bullet points of the highlights that happened in the Life Issues ministry over the last month:

- I forgot to mention it last month, but when I was in India in January, I received a text from a friend of our ministry, Bill Corum, who said that after 22 years and 5 governors, Missouri’s out-going Governor Nixon signed his pardon. Bill was elated and “in shock and awe of God’s mercy”!

- One of our leader’s children accepted Christ while in Jail in February, and is starting through our program!

- A friend of one of our student’s came to church right out of jail / prison and accepted Christ on 2-5!

- Yet another man, who came to one of our meetings thru a divine set of circumstances, accepted Christ as his Saviour on 2-10, hallelujah!

- One of our students, Sara T, got baptized on 2-12 and became a member of HBF !

- One of our leaders, Wendy N, completed HBF’s How To Disciple class in February!

- One of our students, Christina O. was awarded the “Employee of the Month” at her job in February!

- HBF’s Invest Bible study sent childcare workers to help us on 2-14 & 2-21, and will be sending another delegation on 3-10 to minister to Life Issues children!

- The Tuesday night edition of Life Issues just celebrated its 2-year anniversary on 3-3, with Pat Lee at the helm!

- Darin W. gave a great testimony on 2-28; God is really using this man in our ministry, for His glory!

- We cancelled our Life Issues meeting on the final Friday of February (2-24), and sent a group of 16 to Butler MO, to watch the Rocked World drama production, called “Bad Brad”. It was a great program and many tears were shed, as their message of child abuse, which led to substance abuse, resonated with many in attendance!

- Below is one of our students, Chris Coen’s (whom we’re very proud of) written testimony:

I did not grow up going to church, but I was saved at the age of 11, at a nearby church where we lived in Kansas City. When I was 13, we moved from Kansas City to Garden City, MO, and I started smoking weed and drinking beer. At 15, I started drinking heavy liquor, and at 16, I took my first prescription pills. By 18, I had tried various other drugs like shrooms, acid, cocaine, and meth. I ended up being addicted to prescription pills, mainly opiates.

Even during all these times of drugs and partying, I still did well in school, and when I was 15 or 16, I began committing petty crimes. In the beginning of 2009, I got a DWI, but I did not tell anyone; I tried to take care of it on my own, without my family’s help, but the legal troubles started piling up!

When my addiction was at its worst, I committed a 1st degree robbery in Harrisonville. With that crime and all my others, I just could not keep looking over my shoulder anymore, so I turned myself in. I sat in Cass County Jail (CCJ) for over 13 months. I ended up getting a 13-year sentence, but CCJ was where I started walking with the Lord. Between my grandma writing to me, and a guy in there asking me if I needed a Bible, and reading Psalm 119, I rededicated my life to Jesus Christ.

Being in prison was tough, but God continued to bless me throughout the entire time. He brought me out of my addiction, He gave me a family that supported me, but one of the biggest blessings that he gave me, was that I got released almost 3 years early! I was supposed to be in prison until 2019, but I got out in September 2016; that is something that only God can do!

While I was in prison, I got into contact with Steve Fleshman and completed the TATs program via correspondence with him. I home-planned out of prison into the Joshua House, which was a true blessing to live while re-entering society. Once I was able, Life Issues was the first place that I went, and Heartland Baptist Fellowship (HBF) quickly became my church home. I am currently going through HBF’s discipleship program with Pat Lee, and God has blessed me with many new & good friends, and I’m trying to reach some old friends for Jesus!

God has truly blessed me and it just goes to show, that if we walk with Him, He will bless us! The verse that my grandma wrote to me, when I was in CCJ was Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” If we are able to do that, then God can bring us out of anything!


Sincerely, Steve Fleshman – Life Issues pastor and founder, Proverbs 4:23…