2021 was a wonderful year, and we are looking forward to 2022. Our blessings last year included:
We began the process of integrating our ministry into the ministry of our local church.
God blessed us with an amazing group of godly leaders to help us launch this ministry.
Our church has approved a doctrinal statement for Redemptive Hope.
We have a 15-page rough draft of a church policy on Domestic Oppression and Abuse. This is tentatively scheduled to be published to church leaders in a couple of months. (Pray for us.)
We continue to make new contacts and are reaching out cautiously and with counsel to recruit new helpers.
We were privileged to work through Chris Moles' Men of Peace curriculum with three groups of men.
We were blessed to have two men, one from our local church and one who we met on the Safest Place, work with us.
We were blessed to have several of the wives of our guys join the Ladies With Lovingkindness online support group. (More on this momentarily.)
God blessed several of our men with good progress.
We attended in-person training with Chris twice this year, continued in PeaceWorks University, and read numerous excellent books on the topic of Domestic Abuse.
We were blessed by the testimonies from victims, perpetrators, counselors, pastors, and pastor's wives from several countries about our book, There Is Hope (<-This is the Amazon link. Let us know if you would like a discount code for multiple copies.).
We have done most of the work for an update with a bit more of the happy ending and a LOT fewer typos.
We were blessed to have a lady from a Muslim country in the Middle East reach out to Suzanne after she read our book. With so few copies in print, it amazes us to see where the book goes and what impact it seems to have had.
Suzanne's support group, Ladies With Lovingkindness, has had a wonderful mix of ladies join us. These sisters are truly a blessing to Suzanne.
The group has recently taken up Sydney Millage's book, Sanctuary, as the text for the instructional part of the meetings.
The ladies have formed meaningful, supportive friendships.
God has blessed us with wonderful helpers and guest speakers. Special thanks to our beloved sister, Debbie. Our Canadian/Floridian friend has gone above and beyond to help.
Special thanks to John Wilkerson, Jean Sheaffer*, Chris Moles, Chelsey Gordon*, Joy Forrest, Jim Upchurch, and Ben Marshall for excellent help in 2021. (*Sorry folks, we didn't have a good Internet link for Jean or Chelsey. If you reach out to Pastor Wilkerson, you'll work with Jean. If you reach out to Chris Moles, you'll be talking to Chelsey.)
2022 dawns with hope and promise.
We look forward to new partnerships in Lake County, Indiana and the Chicagoland area.
We are reaching out to local law enforcement.
We are making contact with professional Christian counselors.
But wait! There's more!--except that we're not at liberty to tell you all of our plans. Trust us; we're excited.
The leaders in our ministry are engaged in collectively reading scores of books as we prepare to help our own church members.
Suzanne is planning to start the Called to Peace advocacy training Tuesday!
We count Joy Forrest to be a friend, and we are thankful for her partnership with us and for her tip-of-the-spear, pioneering leadership in advocating for women.
There is much more, but as mentioned before, we cannot reveal everything just yet.
Please pray for us as we go forward.
Pray for the LORD to direct and bless this ministry.
Pray for the right partners.
Pray for finances as we approach more direct support to certain groups.
Finally, please let us know if there is any way that God could use us to be a blessing to you or yours.
In Christ,
Jim & Suzanne