Hey Everyone, I hope this update finds you doing well! It is hard to believe that it is May already. Before we know it Memorial Day will be here and summer will be in full swing, time is moving really fast! I want to give you an update on what God has been doing at The Refuge and on the things that I am working on.
Currently, by God’s grace, I have raised 75% of my needed monthly support, so, to all of you who have committed to partner in what God is doing at The Refuge, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I am very humbled by what God has done! My goal is to be fully funded by June 15th and am trusting God to bring in the rest of the support. If you want to know more about ways you can partner with what God is doing at The Refuge send me an email to benfunkhouser@gmail.com. If you want to join the support team you can do that online by going to www.refugewinterset.com where you can set up regular monthly support online.
One of my passions at The Refuge is to equip local churches to do addiction ministry. My passion is that local churches would see that there is a wide open mission field in their communities ready for harvest made up of people struggling with addiction. The Gospel is the only real and lasting hope for people who struggle with addiction and the church is God’s ordained entity to take the Gospel to the world. I am thankful to be able to serve at Redeemer Church in Winterset where every Thursday night we host Gospel Centered Recovery which is a Bible based, Gospel centered support group for people struggling with addiction. I am also thankful to be connected with Living Waters Fellowship on the south side of Des Moines where they host R & R (Restore and Recover) on Thursday nights and are ministering to lots of people who struggle with addiction. My passion is to see more churches do addiction ministry and to provide help, training, and resources for churches that want to get started.
Another ministry goal at The Refuge is to open a men’s residential program in Winterset. Our hope and prayer is to be ready to launch a program in January of 2020. That time is coming up fast but God is on the move and leading us as we make preparations for the launch of the program. There are three main things that I am working on that will make the program a reality. The first thing is to find a house or facility for the program. We are actively pursuing housing possibilities right now and trusting God to lead us to the right place. The second thing is to find an employer who can provide jobs for the guys who come to the program. During Phase 2 of the program the men will spend 6 months working full time and we are working to make connections with local companies in Winterset and pursue a partnership that will be a good fit for The Refuge. The third thing that I am working on is a discipleship process and curriculum for the men’s program. We want to be very intentional and purposeful with
Taking the light of the Gospel into the darkness of addiction.
discipleship for the guys who come to The Refuge and I am working on putting together everything that will go into that. The goal is that lives will be transformed as people behold the glory of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18) so as we prepare a discipleship process we do that with the goal of everything we do pointing people to Jesus. Please pray for these things, pray that God will open doors for The Refuge and that God will grant us favor as we make connections in Winterset for the program! I am looking forward to visiting several other programs in late July or early August that are doing great ministry for the Lord. I don’t want to reinvent residential addiction ministry; I want to see what works at other ministries and bring it to The Refuge. I am very thankful to be part of The Addiction Connection which is a national network of Bible based addiction ministries. I have been able to meet great people and I am excited to learn from them! Please pray for the upcoming Men’s program at The Refuge, I am not sufficient to put together a good program or to change people, only God can do these things!
The last thing I want to tell you about is the Fall Banquet coming up on September 27,2019. This will be the 3rd annual Fall Banquet and it will be at Saylorville Church again. I am thankful for Saylorville being willing to host it again! The doors will open at 6pm and there will be a silent auction happening before dinner starts at 6:30pm. I am excited to have Justin Lakamacher coming to be the keynote speaker. Justin is the Program Director at Redemption House which is a great addiction ministry in Minnesota near the Twin Cities. Please mark the date on your calendar, individual seats are $30 and if you want to sponsor a table of 8 people you can do that for $200. You can register online at http://refugewinterset.com/events/fall-banquet-2019/.
Lastly, thanks for praying for The Refuge and please continue to support the work God is doing in prayer as we move forward.
Blessings,
Ben Funkhouser