Monthly Update - April 2019

Making a difference update, from the recovery field – April 2019 edition… Below are some bullet points of the highlights that happened in the Life Issues ministry over the last month:

The Tuesday night meetings are going well and are well attended, Pat Lee is doing a great job of leading it!

We gave away 3 boxes of food in April!

Our group signed and sent a card to an inmate on 4-1.

One of our students started our program, The Journey Home on 4-3.

Several of our students went door-to-door to invite folks to HBF’s Easter service!

One of our students completed a 30-day in-house treatment and is now back home and coming to meetings; this person had court recently too and was allowed to stay in the free world and on probation, and they are thankful!

One of our ladies is now 8 months clean, and her husband is 6 months clean, great team-work!

A couple of our men went to a men’s retreat on 4-12 & 4-13!

The Prisoners Of Hope (POH) jail ministry had a young man trust Christ as his saviour in mid-April – Luke 15:10!

We supported another fundraiser that’s trying to get Bibles into the Philippines, on 4-22.

One of our students got out of jail and into Aminta House in late April.

One of our student’s aunts joined HBF on Easter (4-21).

Our recovery group cleaned the church on 4-26; I appreciate all those who pitched in and helped us old folks!

I visited one of our graduates, who has cancer on 5-1 and is struggling with the side-effects of chemo.

We helped a man with some gas money on 5-2.

One of our ladies graduated from our program (TJH) on 4-2; she also phased-up to her final stage in another program that she’s in, below is her testimony…

 I grew up in a home where violence and drugs were okay, God was never a part of my life growing up. When I got older, I decided to try drugs, something I always swore I’d stay away from. From 2013 through 2017 I was with a very abusive man mentally, physically and emotionally I ended up having two kids with this guy. In July of 2017 I decided to numb my pain with cocaine and meth for the very first time, biggest mistake of my life. It’s like once I started there was no slowing down.

 A few months went by that only felt like days and next thing I know my life fell apart overnight; my son and I got shot, cops ended up raiding my house and finding a lot of drugs etc. The state stepped in and took my kids they went to my grandparents, thank the Lord for that blessing. That should have been a wakeup call, but it wasn’t, it just sent me lower than I already was. May of 2018, they issued a warrant for my arrest I couldn’t take the pain of losing everything and going to jail so I tried to hang myself. The Lord was looking over me that day, as soon as I did it one of my buddies walked in and grabbed me. Cowardly way out, but I wasn’t thinking about anybody’s pain but my own. A couple of weeks later, the Johnson County Kansas police caught up to me and I ended up going to jail there to wait for my transfer back to Missouri.

When I got transferred back to Bates County, I stuck to myself. I always thought the woman in the pod were strange, they prayed every night before bed, till I realized all you got in life is your faith. A few weeks in there and I started to go to church, reading my bible, and doing bible studies with the girls. I can’t tell you how many times a day I prayed to God.

 In August of 2018 God answered my prayers and I got released to the Lily House, a shelter for women. Being there I would have to go to groups; Life Issues was one of those. This program excepted me for who I was, they didn’t judge nothing, they just encouraged me to be better and gave that helping hand of support that every struggling person needs. August 12th, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Since this day I have stayed involved with the church, completing the Journey Home and going to Life Issues. I continue on the path the Lord wants me on and in return he keeps blessing me with many things. The state released my custody case with my kids an they’re back with me full time, I have almost a year of sobriety and I have a job to support my family again, the right way. Without the support from the Lily House and the church I would not be at where I am today. 



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