I. Benevolence
· We gave a couple of boxes of food away over the last two months, one on 6-26 to a man who called the church and asked for food, which was the last one that we had. Since then, Pam J. and Theresa G. have reorganized and made up 3 more boxes and will be purchasing some food items needed in order to restock and keep up with the needs of our Morsels for Many food pantry.
· Life Issues paid a security deposit for an inmate (5-22), to secure housing upon release (10-23).
· We helped one of our leaders with a need on 5-11.
· We paid the electric bill for a lady student on 6-9.
· We also paid a car payment for one of our men students on 6-10.
II. Jail update
· I wrote to an inmate on 5-23.
· One of our ladies gave a lady inmate a ride home to Pleasant Hill on 6-15, from the Cass County Jail @ the request of the Public Defender’s Office.
· We worked out a plan with an officer at the Cass County Jail in Harrisonville MO, to hand deliver a box of Bibles to them every other month and we began on 5-9, and another on 7-6!
· I am also please to announce that our Prisoner’s Of Hope (POH) jail ministry will soon be starting again, we are discerning who the leader will be and will be building a team around him and hope to be ready to start going into the Cass County Jail around Labor Day (I’ll share more as I know).
· One last thing about jail ministry that I’m excited about, is that Word First Bible Publishing (wordfirstpublishing.org) will be printing some Life Issues Bibles this fall, meaning that they will have our custom Life Issues cover on a King James Bible, and will also include the plan of salvation, discipleship lessons, as well as some Life Issues content inside of each one, hallelujah!
III. Church
· Our recovery group cleaned the church on 6-30!
· Several of our students and leaders are involved in discipleship:
o Caleb L. completed How to Disciple on 6-25, so he can be ready to mentor others!
o D1: These folks are in our one-on-one continue discipleship material –Brian R. is with Pat L., and Sarah J. is with Pam J.
o D2: Suzanne R. and Pam A. completed D2, and Belinda F. is enrolled to start D2 in August!
o HBI: One of our lady leaders, Pam J., is taking all 4 classes, so pray for her to press towards the mark. Pam is also taking a summer course in Kansas City about the role “Emotions” has in our lives.
o TJH (The Journey Home): Kayla C. completed TJH in May, and Conner F. completed TJH in June! Nichole D. is on lesson #1 with Suzanne R.
IV. Recovery
· We ordered 24 Recovery Bibles on 6-29, we have them available for purchase and we also give them away to people when they complete our program.
· One of the greatest confirmations that we are on the right path and that we need to keep our doors open, is when I see people returning to us after having gone back to the world. In the last 2 months, 2 folks have come back to us and more importantly, to the Lord.
· Kevin F. is one of the two and he is a bright spot in my life, and we welcome him with open arms. The other is Jenny G. and she shared a before and after picture with me that I want to share with you; she is very zealous for the Lord and hungry for truth and we’re very excited about the next chapter in her life – see pic.
· Caleb L. received his 2-year milestone tag in June and Molessa A. got her 3-year tag on 6-30 – pic.
V. Events
· Luke Fleshman finished a 3-part series called "Planning for Life's Issues" with our group on 5-26 - see pic of him and I. This series wasn’t as well attended as I had hoped but I think that all present were given things to think about as we try and be good stewards of our monies. I believe that this is one of the classes that we need to offer each year in order to give a holistic approach to recovery, so hopefully we can.
· We typically have someone give their testimony on the last Friday of each month and at the end of June, we had Sarah Elizabeth Jeffries give her testimony and we also had 6 of HBF’s youth share their salvation testimony, so it was a special night – see pic of Sarah or you can hear it yourself if you go to the link below, her testimony starts at about 38 minutes into the video. Testimony Night! - YouTube
· I think Sarah gave one of the best testimonies that we’ve heard, it is certainly one of the most dramatic ones, and it is clear that God has done a work in her life, and I hope you will take time to listen to it. Not only were her words spirit filled, but I gave an invitation at the end and one man responded and accepted Christ into his life, PTL!
· Each 4th of July, HBF hosts an event called “Spark in the Park” at the Harrisonville City Park. Pat Lee leads this outreach and all HBF members are encouraged to come and pass out patriotic gospel tracks and share the gospel with all who come out to watch fireworks. Pat said that there were several HBF members and several Life Issues folks who came out to help and that God gave them some divine appointments.
· HBF will be sending a team to the Dominican Rebublic in August on an evangelistic Mission Trip, and I’m excited to say that 2-3 members of the team will be our Life issues leaders; I’ll be able to rehearse what God is going to do in my next update in September.
· On Friday September 1st, 2023, Life Issues will be hosting our 11th annual fundraiser. This year, instead of our Recovery Walk, we are hosting a “Homecoming Fundraiser” in which we will attempt (by God’s grace) to raise $12,000 as former and current students work this Pay-It-Forward project to help future students that God brings our way. We will be contacting businesses and individuals in our efforts to raise support and we invite you to participate in our fundraiser by choosing one of three levels of sponsorship:
o Gold level sponsor: $250 or more. Your business name will be featured on the back of our event T-shirt and will be recognized in our social media and promotional material. (NOTE: we must have your donation pledge by Aug 20th in order to make the t-shirt printing deadline)
o Silver level sponsor: $100-$249. Your business will be recognized on social media and on big screen signage on the day of the event.
o Bronze level sponsor: Non-monetary gifts, i.e., gift certificates, coupons, etc. Your business will be recognized on social media and on big screen signage on the day of the event.
· All our staff are volunteers, so your generous donation will go entirely to offsetting the ongoing costs of the program that includes activity expenses, benevolent expenses, meeting expenses, technical expenses, and supplies for our students and their families / children. To donate online, visit our website at www.lifeissuesonline.org and click the “Donation Button” on the right side of the home page.
VI. People
· Debbie Corum's most recent post: Ark Building 101 (debbiecorum.com) Debbie is Bill’s wife, and both of these folks are prolific speakers and friends of our ministry (Bill will be at Life Issues on July 28th, 2023), and we are trying to enlarge Debbie’s reader base, so feel free to pull up her blog and subscribe to it!
· We also picked up a homeless man for church on 6-11, and after church, our own Pat Lee led him (Ronnie W.) to Christ. This was one of the clearest “darkness to light” conversions that I have witnessed, and Ronnie kept saying to us in the car after church, that he physically felt different and that his eyes were opened and he had the “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Php. 4:7). After that day, we connected him with Chris Newby’s ministry in Clinton, where Ronnie worked for a few days before getting a bus ticket to go back home to Colorado. I never tire of seeing people’s names being written in the Lamb’s book of life!
· Please pray for God to use us mightily in 2023, for without him we can do nothing, but through Him we can do all things! Sincerely, Steve Fleshman – Life Issues pastor and founder, Proverbs 4:23…
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