New Beginnings

The Lord keeps bringing Isaiah 43:18-19 to my mind, which talks about new beginnings. We entered into the eighth year of L.I.F.E. Ministries in July 2007, and have been reminded that in the Lord’s system eight often means a new beginning. The last seven years were spent in receiving revelation, developing resources and proclaiming the vision that the Lord gave me for this ministry. That was in Israel several years ago, while at the Garden of Gethsemane; and I was kneeling at the rock with Jesus, saying “not my will but thy will be done.” Then Jesus stood up and I stood beside him, and there was a line as far as I could see with people of all nationalities lined up as an army going toward battle. The Lord later told me that the army was being formed to fight the battle of sexual addiction in the church. Of course, that subject was hardly discussed eight years ago.

We have had glimpses of this army the last seven years. One recent glimpse came at the AACC World Conference. We watched our own volunteers and realized the transformation taking place in each of their lives, as they are now serving the Lord instead of being in bondage to shame. I looked at the glow on their faces as they answered questions and served the people; and I realized again that only Jesus could bring this about and that being Jesus to each other in the support groups will continue to bring this growth into full bloom in the next few years. The statistics speak for themselves: even within the Christian community 47% say that pornography is a problem in their home. Sixty to ninety percent of Christian men and one out of three Christian women are sexually addicted. In an anonymous survey conducted by Leadership magazine, seven out of 10 lay leaders in the church admitted to visiting adult Web sites at least once a week. When pastors were asked the same question, four out of 10 said they did the same. Paul Harvey has reported that internet pornography is the fastest growing addiction in the United States, with 82 million visitors to such sites each year; and one-third of those are women. If this isn’t the biggest problem within the church today, I don’t know what is. Pastor Jack Hayford has said that if the church doesn’t address this problem then it will rob the church of its life and power. Consequently, we need to join forces and be the army that keeps that from happening. Preparing for this new season in L.I.F.E. Ministries will involve building and embracing that vision, by reaching out to the people who are called to be a part of this army. How do we do this?

In order to help the large numbers of Christians struggling with sexual addiction; we need to realize more financial support from the groups to be able to enlarge the ministry, do more training, and develop additional resources to provide a close-knit community to support and reinforce the army with skill and love. To start, we are going to send to a survey to some of our largest groups, asking them to identify their needs. We’ll also have these same questions available on our website for all to answer. We will use these answers to set our priorities and address the needs of the recovery community. Also, starting in February, we are going to have a monthly training for the spouses’ and men’s group facilitators, but all can join in this web based training. And we continue to pray for the finances to have an annual L.I.F.E. Ministries conference where we can all get together for further training and to build community. These are just a few of the things that we hope will build and equip the army, and the surveys should tell our headquarters team where we need to put additional efforts as well.

In this eighth year of new beginning, let’s always remember that love will continue to be the greatest key for the church the next 7 years. Let the L.I.F.E. groups demonstrate this love of Jesus to all those in attendance, and to all in the church. I remember that I had to leave the church for several years because of the shame of my own sexual addiction—it wasn’t’ a safe place. Let our groups and our churches be that safe place for all who need this love, because without love we are nothing and whatever we accomplish without it profits nothing (l Cor.13). Let us grow and mature in love as we seek the Lord’s purposes for our lives. Ask God for a vision of how you can minister out of the healing that He is providing for you. Even within Christ’s Church, this cancer is destroying lives and families; and keeping people from their God-given purposes. We pray that you will be a part of this army; fully engaged in this battle to encourage, empower and equip God’s people to live everyday in sexual integrity—to the Glory of the Lord.

We love you,
Johna