November - December 2003

Notes;
If there is a step that the Lord has used to restore your life, job, or relationships and you would like to share your story, we are presently working on the AC big book. Please send your testimonies to the AC office. No less than 250 words and no more than 500.
Please remember that if you send a personal check/money order for the group’s contribution, please, please say on the memo line of the check that it is for the group, or include a note saying that it is for the group and not your personal contribution. We want

Greetings

Dear fellow “AC-ers”, Greetings from Nashua, NH! Life seems so busy that we often don’t stay in contact as much as we should. I want to tell you about our awesome trip this summer. The Chairman of our Board of Christian Education at Grace Lutheran and I went to Broby, Sweden in July. I feel very blessed—this is my third trip to Sweden. I stayed with the Johanssons (Pastor who leads the AC group in Broby and his wife Maggan) while Jeff Stayed with the Sarkars. Dan Sakar is the youth Pastor at the church in Broby. We had many opportunities to fellowship, worship and enjoy each other’s company. There is now a link between the two churches, as we feel that we are “sister” churches, both working for the Lord. We had an opportunity to visit a wonderful lady in Smaland, who is named Eva Spangberg. She is a famous woodcarver, who has made Christian figures and integrated the New and Old Testaments in her backyard. As you follow a path around her yard, you see Abraham ready to sacrifice Isaac, the Passover, the temple, Jesus with the adulterous woman, the three crosses with two thieves and Jesus upon them, and an empty tomb with the woman and the angel. She uses natural architecture of the land, the rocks and small hills to depict realistic scenes from the Bible. Although Eva normally does not speak in person anymore (she is 80 yrs.old), we were fortunate in being able to hear her the day we were here. She has told us one of the bishops that “she would not be doing what she was doing if the Pastors were doing their job”. A wonderful, very outspoken Christian!
Perhaps one of the most significant highlights of our trip was our visit to the children of Kiev. Each year two of the churches in the Broby area bring about 50 children from Kiev in the Ukraine to Broby where they spend a month in a dormitory-type setting, studying the word, enjoying the countryside, and they are given much food, clothes and love. These children come from the area of Chernobyl– the largest peacetime radiation catastrophe that has ever occurred on this planet that took place in 1986, but what many people do not realize is that the effects linger on. Some areas are still uninhabitable, and many refugees have moved outward to the Kiev area. There are many street children without parents and many children whose parents are alcoholics and substance abusers. Many of the teenagers become involved in glue sniffing or other drugs. Adoption is considered a stigma in the Ukraine, so as the children grow older, they either live on the streets or in orphanage. It is a very sad situation. Tanya and Nick Tsychuk started a ministry aid to these children by providing food, clothing , Bible time, Christian video –watching and even occasionally keeping a child overnight. They have converted an apartment into a place where children ( and their parents) can come.
Please pray for this ministry, and for the children in Kiev, who face many more difficulties in everyday living then we will ever know. I was blessed to be able to share my experience with alcohol, and Jeff shared Christian music with the children while they were in Sweden. I am always amazed how God puts opportunities in our lives that we never dreamed of. What a blessing and what a spiritual encouragement I have received from my friends in Sweden! In Christ love, Jane – Nashua—NH

WOMEN’S RETREAT

The 2003 Women in Recovery Retreat this year was awesome and insightful. It was evident to us as we listened and learned, that the Christian women who spoke at the retreat have been working the 12 steps for a very long time. Topics were healing in power and process by Sheri Ashley which led two workshops. The healihg in Process group included a 12 step study exercise with a scenario to process through the 12 steps. This demonstrated 12 steps significances in a very practical way. The healing power workshop included introduction to Theophastic exercises which were presented in gentleness and respect by Lillian. Later we had praise and worship along with communion. Microphones were set up for any lady who wanted to publicly thank the Lord or tell the Lord where they were at in their recovery. Robin Ross shared Sunday morning and she was a blessing to many as a willing instrument of the Lord out loud. I started off with the 10 commandments putting sins I had shared about the 4th step and put it into proper prospective. The Lord was in complete control of my words. I had asked the Lord to find someone else to share this day because I was so afraid. I told Him if He could find someone else to speak for Moses– why couldn’t He find someone else for me? Well the Lord is faithful and will never forsake us because He gave me the Holy Spirit to do the talking Sunday morning.. I didn’t really want to share that deep dark sin I had kept hidden all my life but the Lord was really pressing in me to share this. After I did I felt so good for being obedient to Him. I believe many women were truly blessed because of it. I found out that God can use something so sinful and make it good by healing many women. This proves that James 5:16 really works. “ Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” I know the Lord has forgiven me my sins and once confessed He will remember them no more as far as the east is from the west. Thank You Jesus! I pray that you too will receive this forgiveness and also the hard part– to forgive yourself too! I thank Jesus every day for all that He has done for me, I thank the Women’s Retreat Committee for asking me to share Sunday morning. I thank all the women who showed up to the retreat so we all could receive more healing in recovery. We always look forward to the next one. Praise God for His mercies are new every day! Your sisters in Recovery– Robin and Donna– Canada

NIAGARA FALLS– CANADA

We had our first meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario last night and what a great success. About 30 people came– we had two tables– one for family members and one for substance abusers. We heard a short testimony from the group leaders Rita and Don Wall. Also the Pastor shared how he qualified for the program. He also said he didn’t expect the Church to grow from the Alcoholics for Christ meeting, but that he wanted the ministry to be available for the suffering addict and family to experience freedom by the power of Jesus Christ. I pray all Pastors would have this desire. We were all very blessed with the power of the Holy Spirit taking control of the meeting. We now have seven meetings in Canada with Niagara Falls being the seventh. I know that Father God planned this because Niagara Falls is the one of the “ Seven Wonders of the World.” Praise God! We know who is in control! We thank Him that He is the Great I AM and has given us the power to “TAKE BACK” what the devil stole! God Bless, and we continue to pray for AC around the world. ROBIN– CANADA

KANSAS CITY PROMISE KEEPERS– WOW!!

What a time we had at the Kansas City Promise Keeper Conference! W e set up our exhibit booth and then, since we had some time, we looked around and found a “Prayer Furnace”. This was a room set aside from the Exhibitors and it was filled with young people! ( late teens to early 30’s) and they were praying, praising, worshipping and reading the Word the entire time (24 hours a day) during the conference. They were really dedicated people– and even brought their babies in strollers with them. They came in shifts and some brought sleeping bags and pillows. They are the International House of Prayer (IHOP) from Kansas City, and volunteered to do this for PK. They prayed for salvations and did the Lord ever answer!! There were somewhere around 20,000 men there all told and 4,000 of them either gave their lives to the Lord, or re-committed! It was fantastic! And we had a lot of people, including recovered Pastors, stopping at our booth, asking for prayer and how to get a meeting started. Our Co– founder, Bill K ( from Springfield) and two of our faithful brothers from Topeka ( Gary and Raymond) helped at the booth. And Gary volunteered to go help people get their meetings started once they get a charter.
The Lord was definitely there and the field was definitely white for the harvest! What a blessing it was to be a part of what the Lord is doing for folk who seek him!
Joe and Marie—AC National Office

Indiana Shares
My husband and I are recovering alcoholics. We have been sober for 8 years. Only by the grace of God. I had been in treatment twice. I’ve had some car wrecks and been in jail for drinking and driving. I’ve been to hundreds of AA meetings. Eight and a half years ago the Lord started speaking to me and my husband. We would sit around getting drunk and reading the bible. Sounds nuts, doesn’t it? I was also getting very physically ill from my chronic drinking; mostly stomach problems. I had the “alcoholic tan” - the grayish yellow complexion. I would scream to God daily to take my life. I could not kill myself but I saw no other way out. You see, I had quit drinking so many times before and I know the withdrawal that awaited me if I tried to quit again. Withdrawal can be hell and it would last a month. During all this time, I had (still have) a very good Christian friend, Elizabeth. She never judged me or forsook me. She prayed for me and periodically would tell me about a ministry called “Alcoholics for Christ.” I knew the time had come to quit drinking or die. No other choices. It was a Tuesday and I called the church that sponsored these meetings. The meeting was that night! ( by the way my husband had come to the conclusion that it was time too. He was just as sick as I was.) We went to this meeting. I was sick, nearly in the DT’s. Tim my husband and I sat silent throughout the entire meeting. When it was almost over, they asked for prayer requests. The man started to pray and asked again; then the same again. So the third time I raised my hand and asked for prayer. Afterwards I told them that it was my first day without a drink in a long time. They said “ You gotta come back here with us.” I thought these people were nuts, but what did I have to lose? They took us to an office and sat me down in a chair. All of these “nuts” pit their hands on me. I had no idea what was going on. Then they started to pray. I could feel the alcoholism leave my body! I was healed! I had no withdrawal and within two days the physical ailments I had were gone. We are still with the Lord today. He reached down and pulled from the pits of hell and from the snare of Satan’s imps. I’m telling you all of this because of the ministry you are involved in and say to you “ DON’T GIVE UP”! It is a ministry that saved my life and I know there are others like me. I will pray for you all. Alcoholics are just people who need the Lord and need to be loosed from that demon. So many people out there in the churches distances themselves from alcoholics and drug addicts. It is wrong! We’re not her for other Christians but to guide the lost. Patti– AC Indiana group