The Father's Heart: Restoring His Sons

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I am heading back to Newton this morning to serve as chaplain at the Iowa Speedway. From 9a.m. - 1p.m. I will be running the A.D.A. shuttle to help people get from the handicap parking area to the main concourse. In the afternoon I will make the rounds visiting with the fire safety people and emergency responders. And when I am not doing that I will be hanging out on the concourse visiting with race fans who come by our ministry tent. Hopefully I will be able to pray with some folks and encourage many to serve God and to be a light as they live out their faith.

Pastor Bruce Rouser speaking in Chapel at Teen Challenge of the Midlands

This past week I was privileged to host Pastor Bruce Rouser at a Teen Challenge chapel service. Pastor Bruce has served the past few years at First Assembly of God church in Knoxville, Iowa. He preached a great message on The Heart of the Father. As part of his message Bruce shared his testimony about how he had always felt called into vocational ministry but as a young man did not want to go into debt attending Bible college. Then he met the love of his life, settled into a career and started raising his family. Though he enjoyed his life and being actively involved in church, the desire to be in vocational ministry never left him.

One day he heard about Global University and the opportunity to complete his educational requirements for ministry through correspondence and online studies. So he did that and upon receiving his credentials he accepted his first pastorate in Knoxville, Iowa as a 49-year-old and with seven kids. It was a great testimony that he used to encourage the guys at the beginning of his chapel that no matter how far off track they may feel they are from where God has called them, God always has a way to bring us where we need to be for Him to use us and for us to be fulfilled in building His Kingdom.  

Students during chapel service

The day before Bruce spoke in chapel we had checked a guy into the program who was the same age as Bruce and who was very broken. His son had committed suicide last month after battling PTSD after returning from Iraq. Our new student confessed that he had spent most of his life squandering the opportunities God had given him. He said he too felt God had a calling on his life to be a pastor and that now he was glad to be at Teen Challenge because now he was in a place where God building him into the man he knew God had called him to be. It was truly amazing to see how God had orchestrated Pastor Rouser to be at chapel to share this message for a man who had not even been in Colfax for 24 hours. What an awesome God we serve.

As you pray for this ministry, please pray that God will help people hear about this ministry who are hurting and struggling with life-controlling problems. Our call volume has dropped from over 100 calls a week to around 75 calls last week. But it seems the calls we are getting are much more serious about getting help. We currently have 16 people who are working on getting their application requirements completed. Please pray for these individuals and their families, churches and/or friends who are striving to help them enter Teen Challenge!

And thanks for reading this blog! You are loved!