ANNUAL SAFER COMMUNITIES MINISTRY BANQUET CELEBRATING TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF MINISTRY MAY 4, 2013 ***PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS***   First Baptist Church Indian Trail - Family Life Center Key Note Speaker:  Dr. Jeff LaBorg Please join us for special music, testimonies about transformed lives, and an anointed message!     (More details soon!) Safer Communities Ministry 704-283-2573

SCM January News Letter

                                   “I WASN’T ARRESTED…

                                                      I WAS RESCUED…”

                                      Proverbs.24.Nan.1.24.13

Nan reminds us that there is spiritual war-fare in our lives as she shares: Help us to stand up and be Soldiers of Love! Help us to battle our flesh and the world and love as You love.

Wow. Soldiers of LOVE. What a challenge. As you ponder that challenge today you must also be sure and:

Remember Jesus loves you today and so do John and Al. Have a great day in the LORD.

“…..Please…..do not forget your Spiritual tie.”

Comments/Insights: In vs. 29 the Lord tells us not to repay in kind….an eye for an eye.

Opening Prayer …. Dear Holy Spirit, open our ears and hearts to your Word. Help us to battle our flesh, our own desires. Help us to be the men and women You have called us to be.

Basic Scripture Truth: Verse 29: “Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me;
    I will pay the man back for what he has done.”

In Matthew 5, right after the Beatitudes, verses 37-48 Jesus tells us not to repay an eye for an eye…. But to love our neighbor as ourselves…to repay evil with good. To Pray for our enemies.

Application to my Life: Is this hard? YES!!!! It is for me anyway. My flesh goes against everything the Lord says here. AND the world agrees with our flesh….We want to justify our retaliations… “He did it to me!” But the Lord wants us to love, forgive, be kind and pray for them…Help me Lord!!!!!

Closing Prayer …. Jesus, You told us how to live, how to love… Help us to stand up and be Soldiers of Love! Help us to battle our flesh and the world and love as You love. Amen.

Dear Faithful Friends & Supporters,

     Wow! The above statement came from the lips of a 40 year-old inmate at the Union County Jail.  “Tom’s” story is like so many others that we hear.  In his case, he first started using drugs prescribed by his doctor for pain about 10 years ago.  His pain was because of his injuries in a car accident.  At the time of his wreck, he had a wife, and kids, a nice home, and even owned his own trucking company.  In every sense of the term, Tom was living the “American dream.”

     But when Tom’s injuries were healed, and the pain was gone….the drugs would not let go.  He was addicted.  That began his horrible journey of a life of misery; for Tom, and for all of those around him.  As he sank deeper and deeper into the life of a drug addict, his life began to crumble.  His business suffered and eventually failed.  He would eventually lose his nice home too. 

     Tom’s wife fought a valiant fight to save her husband, and her marriage.  She loved him without question, but could not survive with his new “mistress.”  She even told him that if it was another woman she was up against, she could win; but, not against this.  Eventually, Tom would lose his wife and his kids.

     Tom wrote, “I will never forget my beautiful, sweet wife pleading with me, saying, ‘If you loved ME enough, you would quit.  It’s me or them.’  But, it was never a question of “love.”  I loved her with all my heart.  But, I just couldn’t let go of the drugs.  They had me in their grip and would not let go.  I tried many times, but always failed.  It broke my heart because I loved her and my kids so much, but I didn’t know what to do.  I had been through several rehabs, but always went right back to the drugs.  I was broken and ashamed.  I even cried out to God for help, but nothing ever worked.”

     Tom’s life of drugs eventually led him to a life of crime.  With no job, he turned to stealing and selling drugs to keep up his heroin habit.  He was arrested and lost his freedom several times over the years.  Then, he was arrested in Union County.  He was so strung-out on heroin, and for so long, that he could not keep any food down for nearly 12 days and spent about a week in the hospital due to his withdrawal.

     “During that time, I prayed to die, and I really meant it.  But after I got over that, my new cellmate told me about Life Skills.  I had heard some good things about it, but was not into ‘religion.’  But, my bunkmate mentioned it again, and I felt something drawing me.  I was so desperate, and hopeless; and all of a sudden I felt that I had to get into this program.”

     When “Tom” walked into E block, he looked like he had been in a gang-fight; and his gang didn’t show up.  But, within a couple of weeks, he was alert, asking questions, and even smiling at times.  Then, one day, he gave it all to the Lord.  Tom wept as he poured his heart out to God in total remorse and repentance.  I was amazed at the transformation that took place in him.

     As he left to go to DOC to serve his sentence, he left with a huge smile on his face.  His final words to me and the class were, “Chaplain Wally, you tell everyone that has anything to do with Safer Communities Ministry, that I said, “THANK YOU!  Thank you for rescuing me.  I wasn’t just arrested, I WAS RESCUED.  The drugs would have killed me, but now I feel the freest, and the best I have ever felt in my life.  Thank you.”

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     Dear friends, this is just one story among many of transformed lives.  Thanks to you who pray for us and help us financially, we will continue to reach out to those who have lost all hope—both inside the jail and prisons, and those who are now out.

     Would you please PRAY about supporting us financially?  We need your help to keep this ministry going for the glory of God.  No matter how small the offering, God will bless you and this ministry because of it.

     Please PRAY also about the SCM ANNUAL BANQUET on Saturday night, May 4^th!!  Our guest speaker will be Dr. Jeff LaBorg.  Please mark your calendars and make plans to attend this exciting time of praising God for what He is doing in our midst.  Your support is GREATLY appreciated!

Please PRAY for our Addiction Recovery Ministry (ARM) on  Tuesday evenings, and for our mentoring program. 

PRAY for Chaplain Sharon Carter as she ministers to the ladies each week.  And for Bob Elzey who does the jail book cart and takes care of many of the requests from inmates.

PRAY for the many volunteers who come into the jail to do weekly Bible studies at night and on the weekend.

 

Finally, please PRAY for our Columbia Crusades in March, June, August, and December!  We want you to COME GO WITH US!  (Just call the office at 704-283-3573 or email me at: wally.gilmer@gmail.com.)  God bless you!!

                                                                      Because ALL need to hear,

                                                                      Wally Gilmer

                                                                      Wally A. Gilmer,

                                                                      Executive Director 

ANNUAL FUND RAISER

Safer Communities Ministry Presents:

Launch Out Into the Deep!
April 24, 2010 - Saturday - 6:00 PM

First Baptist Church of Indian Trail, Family Life Center

Tickets $20.00 Per Person

To Register: CLICK HERE

Luke 5:4
"... he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets..."

Rev. Al Lewis cordially invites you to his annual fundraiser banquet for Safer Communities Ministry (SCM). Don't miss this night of food, fellowship, music, testimonies, and a casting of the vision, as SCM expands its outreach to include that of the Addiction Recovery Ministry (ARM).

Rev. Lewis (founder of SCM) and John Hurley (founder of ARM) are two men who are "no strangers" to the world of addiction and the broken results brought on by a lifestyle of perpetual sin. Having been set free by the power of God for over 30 years, these men are CALLED, EQUIPPED and DETERMINED to come against the powers of darkness that have created an epidemic of substance abuse in Union, Mecklenburg and surrounding counties. Through divine appointment, their life-long friendship was rekindled, as God reunited these men for His purpose of reaching men and women BEFORE they wound up in prison, divorced, in poverty, or even dead.

As fishers of men, Safer Communities Ministry (in conjunction with ARM) invite you to participate in this exciting expansion as, TOGETHER, we cast a larger and wider net under God's plan to restore broken humanity to Himself.

Please join us as we "Launch Out Into the Deep" for the purpose of creating Safer Communities... empowering men and women to be set free - once and for all - through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Your support is greatly appreciated! In addition to individual tickets, sponsorship donations are available at Platinum ($1500), Gold ($1000), Silver ($500), Bronze ($250), and Table ($160). Check the details at our web event details page.

John 8:36
"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."

　
Dr. Maurice Henson
Keynote Speaker
Doors open at 5:30 pm and the dinner will begin promptly at 6 pm
Please RSVP by April 16, 2010

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"Our vision is to build safer communities by transforming the lives of prisoners and ex-offenders. Our communities will be much safer when the broken find healing, takers become givers, and tax liabilities become tax payers and law abiding citizens.” -- Rev. Al Lewis Jr.