Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Monthly Update - October 2018

Making a difference update, from the recovery field – October 2018 edition… Below are some bullet points of the highlights that happened in the Life Issues ministry over the last month:

- Kevin Frost was awarded the House Manager position @ Joshua House on 10-10, and it became effective on 11-3; we are so proud of him and thankful that the owners of this facility are trusting him to perform this role! Kevin was a homeless drug addict 2 years ago, then he met Jesus and got saved; now he has a steady job (a good job), a vehicle, he’s almost completed discipleship, he leads small group, has given his testimony on occasion, and is planning on preaching a message tomorrow night @ Life Issues, hallelujah!

- In addition to our discipleship course, Kevin has started attending our “How To Disciple” class, so that he can be equipped to disciple others! Kevin has also recently attended and completed the first phase of becoming a “Life Coach”!

- Three of us participated in a community outreach to represent Life Issues @ the United Methodist Church in Harrisonville on 10-13, it was called Project Connect. This was the first annual event of its kind in Harrisonville and there were 29 service providers and 114 volunteers, and the mayor gave us a charge prior to starting that day. This was a wonderful event and we made some good contacts!

- We corresponded via mail with some inmates during the month of October, and the Lord is becoming known and even famous in parts of the incarceration population via the propagation of the gospel in written letters as well as through our Prisoners Of Hope (POH) jail ministry! Upon release from Cass County Jail, one young lady has begun attending our recovery meetings as well as our church and has now signed up for our one on one sponsor led program!

- We got to deliver a couple of boxes of food to a family near our church recently (10-23), and to bless this home with some sincere fellowship. The leader of the home has some serious medical hurdles and physical infirmities and has been so thankful that we’ve reached out in a tangible way.

- Two people connected to Life Issues have accepted Christ into their lives this month, one on 10-14 (CP) and another on 11-4 (TE). The first one has already signed up for discipleship with his wife, so we’re thrilled about these decisions and blessed to have an path to direct their growth!

- One of our students that completed our course recently told us at a meeting that it would probably be his last time in attendance, because he joined a different group that catered more to his specific-recovery but gave a wonderful testimony of how Christ has worked through our program to change him and save his marriage! We will miss this man, but I’m touched personally because I was the altar worker the day this man came forward and I’ve interacted with him and prayed with him several times over the course of the last year. Another one of our leaders walked him through our recovery program, so it’s wonderful to see him doing well and continuing to walk with Christ.

- I also wanted to communicate how proud I was of our group at HBF’s recent Fallapalooza event (formerly called Harvest Party); we hosted 3 different booths and assisted with others, it was good for me to see others pitching in and helping to make this a successful event on 10-27!

- One difficult thing for me to witness that happened in the middle of last month (10-14), was to visit a student who had OD’d on methamphetamine and was taken to Research Hospital and was under suicide watch. I visited him twice and the first time he was incoherent, so I just read him a couple of chapters out of the Bible and prayed over him. I’m not usually this close to the effects of drugs but seeing him nearly die and to know that he was driving his vehicle at the time, just a few blocks from where my grandchildren ride their bikes, makes me hate drugs and alcohol all the more. I dearly love the folks that I minister too and have devoted my life to helping them, but I do hate drugs and alcohol. What Jesus said in John 10:10 resonates of the spiritual warfare that we’re in, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

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



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