A History of Faith in Action ..................................................................pg. 17
The Dangers of Christian Nationalism...........................................................pg. 18
Taking the Hand of a hurting person.pg. 19
The Hope for America..........................pg. 20
The Love of Christ Shines Brightly in India..................................................pg. 21-22
Cry Justice A Maturing Memory........pg. 23
The Hope For America
In the 1960’s Americans finally had to accept the fact that their political system had serious flaws. America was in the midst of a moral, cultural, and spiritual crisis. While many were turning to drugs, Eastern religions, materialism, Spirit filled believers went to God in prayer for a mighty move of the Holy Spirit. They knew it was not political might or power that would change the crisis they faced but only the Spirit of God.
The answer to their prayers took place through the Jesus Movement among young people and the charismatic movement in the churches. When this outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place, great numbers of individuals turned to Jesus and received the help that only the Holy Spirit could give. As a result, those addicted to drugs, alcohol, and materialism were set free. The lost were saved, and racial barriers were struck down.
(Continued on pg. 20)
A Vision for America
A compassionate vision involves a person feeling the pain of another and reaching to relieve the pain whenever possible.This is what happens when love meets suffering,when love meets the broken. (Romans 12:5, Col. 3:12)
John 13:34-35 shows us that a vision of compassion means to suffer with another. A vision for justice and compassion must work together. Justice without compassion is too heartless, and compassion without justice is too short sighted. When compassion and justice each function independently of each other, it results in powerlessness, but together they empower us for reconciliation. The absence of a compassionate vision is apathy. Fear perpetuates such apathy and kills vision. We cannot let fear dictate our lives.
We must, “Commit to the Lord whatever we do, and your plans will succeed.” (Proverbs 16: 3) But do not forget in the pursuit of vision, “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.” (Proverbs 19:2)
“A person’s wisdom gives him patience; itis to his glory to overlook an offense.” (Proverbs 19:11) “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done.” (Proverbs 19:17) Proverbs 19 has a tremendous amount of practical advice when it comes to pursuing the vision God has given.
Remember, Jesus has called you to be a very important part of the mighty work He is doing at this time. Do not be afraid. Trust Him and He will do far beyond what you can even imagine.
“I’ve been homeless for 7 years now. I am doing everything I can to get off these streets. My body is so sore because I slept on some concrete steps. This water and hygiene kit really helps me keep going.”
---Joanne
A Community With A Vision
The hurting and the homeless, trapped in pain with disappointment that turned into despair, they cry out to God for deliverance. These prayers of the homeless are often quickly answered with miraculous deliverance. But for many they feel they are continuing to live in a hopeless rut, which is actually a grave with both ends knocked out.
It is for that reason God created communities like New Life Evangelistic Center. At NLEC, He is able to use others who have also been on the streets, to plant a vision of hope in the hearts of the homeless and hurting.
As time passes those who allow this vision to take root in their lives through daily studying the scriptures and helping others in need, discover the reality of Philippians 4:13 where it says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
In the community of New Life Evangelistic Center, the Holy Spirit allows the previously homeless individual to learn from their mistakes without being paralyzed by them. Jesus shows the individual, at NLEC, the need for childlike faith that dares to believe in spite of the obstacles or disappointments.
“I used to be homeless in St. Louis County. Now I get the opportunity to serve God and help others. I love serving the homeless with a smile, and encouraging them with prayer. God loves them, and He calls us to love them too.”
---Richard on Outreach
A Compelling Vision
Dreaming the impossible dream and pursuing our vision is the fuel and the energy that creates action. It is the compelling vision that changes the world.
“It’s hard out here on these streets. Without these bus tickets, food, and water, I can’t imagine what I would do. I need help, and NLEC came through.”
—Willie Mae
In Proverbs 29:18 we read, “Where there is no vision the people perish.” This means they are unable to focus. Without vision we lose the focus that helps us to be more than conquerors through Christ who strengthens us.
God has rekindled a vision for New Life Evangelistic Center to complete a job He gave us years ago. We can complete this job as we trust in God daily. It is His power and provision which makes it possible for us to be “more than conquerors through Christ who strengthens us.” (Romans 8:37)
We have been in the wilderness long enough. After years of victories, defeats, challenges, opportunities, and disappointments, I believe we need to let the vision, that God has given, move us into the promised land.
For fifty-four years, New Life Evangelistic Center has had a vision burning in our hearts. This vision goes far beyond the provision of food, shelter, and other emergency assistance, as important as that mission is.
It involves turning lonely, lost, hurting and homeless people into being leaders in the Kingdom of God. II Corinthians 5:17 sums this vision up when it says, “If anyone be in Christ they are a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come.”
This team by the grace of God, continues to daily achieve the impossible as these new creations in Christ operate radio stations, maintain the NLEC Outreach and farms, host renewable energy fairs, plus assist hundreds of hurting and homeless individuals daily through the love of Jesus Christ.
The fifty-four-year-old vision now extends from Mid America to as far away as the country of India. When the Spirit of God moves upon the homeless prodigal sons and daughters, awakening them from their ‘pig pens of life,’ the Holy Spirit knows that it can direct these hurting individuals all the way from 806 N. Jefferson in Springfield, MO or St. Louis City to New Bloomfield and beyond.
At these locations, along with the other NLEC shelters and training centers including Springfield, St. Louis, Overland, Marshfield, Southern India, Africa, and Haiti, the hurting and homeless experience the love of Jesus in word and deed. This New Life community, although it is commonly referred to as the training program, is actually the Kingdom Dream Team that God is raising up at this hour to provide refuge and help to the lost and the lonely.
In April 2017, all of us who are part of this NLEC Kingdom Dream Team, experienced a major testing of our vision. This happened when the city issued a cease-and-desist order for the 1411 Locust building. During this time of testing God is trying to teach us deeper truths about Himself, His purposes, and His promises.
Now we must have a vision for how New Life can assist local churches to open shelters and resist local government’s attempts to keep them from directly providing for the poor and homeless, according to the mandates of scripture.
The time has arrived for us to pursue a vision for a state-of-the-art facility that will provide a wide range of services to help the homeless to be set free from the cycle of homelessness.
Set Free to Experience More Than You Can Imagine
In the New Life Evangelistic Center community, participants are learning that Jesus is the celebration of hope, which He proved through His resurrection from the dead. His coming was prophesied to bring a social revolution where his Kingdom would turn things upside down, “the mighty would be brought low, the rich sent away empty, the poor exalted, the hungry satisfied.” (Luke 1:52-53)
Jesus identified himself with the weak, the outcast, the downtrodden; the ones who have lost their ability to dream. His Kingdom undermines all economic systems that reward the rich and punish the poor. In Luke 6:24-25 Jesus declared, “Woe to you that are rich for you have received your consolation. Woe to you that are full now for you shall hunger.”
Jesus sets free those whose only dream consisted of getting more money and things. Luke 12:15 says, “Take heed and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ no matter how poor, homeless, or sick one may be, they can dare to dream again. Everyone can have hope despite your failures because Christ is risen.
As a person gets older and their bodies get weaker it becomes increasingly critical that they are fully persuaded that God is able to make your impossible dreams a reality. Moses had to learn that as he was called forth at the age of eighty to deliver the children of Israel from captivity.
Abraham had to accept the fact that God was able to make him the father of a great nation when he was over ninety years of age. Romans 4:21 says that Abraham was “being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised.”
If you are going to accomplish that which God has called you to do, you must be fully persuaded that God is able to make your impossible dreams and visions come true. You must accept the words that Paul declared in Ephesians 3:20 when he stated, “now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more that all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.”
In order to understand this power at work in you, you must know what it means to be in Christ Jesus. II Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
This power is a result of repenting of your sins and committing your life to Jesus and living daily under His direction. As a result, you are not just reformed, rehabilitated or re-educated, but you are recreated (a new creation) living in union with Jesus Christ. “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:6-7)
The time has come for us to dream the impossible dreams and know in the depths of our being that God loves us and will meet every need.
“Where there is no vision the people Perish." (Proverbs 29:18)
If My People...
who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
II Chronicales 7:14
Jesus has come to set the captives free. (Luke 14:18)
Real Freedom
True freedom involves the reality that Jesus has come to set the captives free. This involves freedom from the hurts of the past and the fears of the future. Experiencing real freedom liberates us to help others who are enslaved to also be set free. It is the re-establishment of “shalom” or the way things ought to be, or God’s will done on earth as it is in heaven. As individuals freed through the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, we desire to bring peace to our fellow human beings and the rest of creation. God is a God of relationship. He proved He was not a solitary or isolated God when He sent His son to set us free from sin through Christ resurrection. We are free to now work to bring freedom and relationship back to a world whose relationship with God, other humans and the rest of creation has been destroyed by sin.
Daily we see this sin in a materialistic world where some live in luxurious homes while others are homeless. Many don’t even have a fan while some stroll through the air-conditioned malls buying junk they don’t even need. God calls each of us as a liberated people to strive to bring freedom and shalom (peace) to not only those enslaved hopelessly to the streets, or homes which are like ovens, but even to those who are miserable in their affluence. In each and every case as a people liberated through Jesus Christ, we declare in word and deed, “There is hope for you, be free because Christ is risen.”
God created all things in love and through the redemptive love He invites them to be free and enjoy a complex web of relationships that includes all of creation. It is when sin and greed takes over that these relationships are destroyed and the slavery of homelessness and isolation results.
Presently, things are not the way they are supposed to be. Relåationships are broken. People are alienated and enslaved to their own sinful self-interests. All of creation is groaning (Romans 8) for redemption. Our anxious lives are crying out for this redemptive freedom. We are given the opportunity daily to walk in the freedom and shalom that Christ provides. At New Life Evangelistic Center God gives us the opportunity to live in His freedom and to come up with creative ways of sharing that freedom with others. Such a walk of freedom among the hurting and homeless takes faith and courage. It means turning loose of that which we want to possess (time, money, etc.) in order that we might help someone else who needs the love and freedom of Christ flowing through us. This freedom is demonstrated as we share food, shelter, fans, and a host of other services with the hurting and homeless.
Life can be a place of hope, promise, and freedom as we let Jesus be Lord of our lives. We are now free to engage with joy in the ministry God has given us. This involves loving God and letting His love flow through us into the lives of our fellow human beings and the rest of Creation. As this happens, then and only then have we discovered real freedom.
For more information and to find out how you can live with REAL FREEDOM contact:
New Life Evangelistic Center
PO Box 473
St. Louis, MO 63166
(314) 421-3020
A Community in Solidarity with the Homeless
Presently all over America too many people are being left alone, depressed, and homeless. These hurting individuals need to know that there is hope and that God has a purpose for their lives. According to Scripture the people of God should be doing this.
Now we must challenge local churches to join us in sharing the gospel by seeing that no one should have to sleep outside and that every church member can discover the joy and purpose that comes from helping others.
Believing that the provision of hospitality is a function of worship, we must now directly resist those principalities and powers that want to stop the gospel of Jesus Christ from being shared in word and deed. New Life Evangelistic Center is doing this as it continues to be a bridge between those in the pews and God’s homeless children on the streets.
Please pray for the army of prayer warriors, volunteers, and donors that are now needed at New Life Evangelistic Center. Daily NLEC must continue to stand up against the evil forces which desire to seek, kill, and destroy the broken lives of the homeless and hurting along with the vision God has given us.
The New Life community is in solidarity with the hurting and homeless. We are a community of resistance to the spirit of materialism and commercialism which has paralyzed the revolutionary teachings of Jesus in the lives of so many. The NLEC Staff have learned from over fifty-four years of community living that abundant life means reducing the distance between us and the oppressed.
Daily we have the opportunity to meet the resurrected Christ in the life of each homeless, hungry, and hurting person we come in contact with. These are the brothers and sisters that condominium owners consider a nuisance. They are the ones that may are tired of helping, loving, feeding, funding, and living near.
New Life Evangelistic Center is continuing to seek God on how it may be a sanctuary for the disinherited even when it is becoming increasingly difficult to follow the scriptural mandates to shelter the homeless and hurting. Yet, we have no choice. This is what Jesus has told us to do. He has promised that He will “never leave us nor forsake us.” Now we must believe in Him and be faithful in all that He has called us to do.
Jesus said the Kingdon of God is at hand. This is the time for members of the body of Christ to arise and join New Life Evangelistic Center as it works to share the hope that is provided by our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Let us dedicate ourselves to helping those in need, discover the joy of fulfillment that comes from being a part of the Kingdom Dream Team. Pray that the Holy Spirit will bring in the lonely and homeless int the NLEC training programs and that we may continue to bridge between the man and woman in the street and those in the pews.
NEW LIFE EVANGELISTIC CENTER
From when I was younger, I never had stable housing, my family moved all the time. When I was in foster care in the 10th grade, they could not find my school records. I moved to 22 different schools in 10 years. Then I married my husband and we lived under bridges, under trees, then we found a place and he told me, “I am not moving unless I am dead.” He passed away in my arms on 10/19/2019. I have been homeless since then. I am very thankful for New Life. I was in the hospital; I had to have a spinal fusion and due to complications, I had to return to the hospital for another surgery. I ended up in ICU with pneumonia. I was discharged from the hospital, and it was very scary, but I had the Lord by my side. ---Kim
Losing my mother and Godfather by the age of 20 was no walk in the park. I had a newborn, no support, and I was spiraling. God held onto me. He never left me nor forsaken me. I still cry out and lean on him to provide. He answered my prayers by making it possible for me to get a home at New Life Evangelistic Center. At the Safe House I’m living with other women and getting job training at the same time. I’m learning the meaning of His Word and seeing how he has walked with me so much and has not failed. ---Briah
A New Beginning
I ended up homeless when my mother was told by her landlord that I had to leave her home in Hannibal, MO. I then went to Quincy where I stayed at the Salvation Army for 30 days. When my time ran out, I was still homeless. After that I was raped and went back to Hannibal where CSU sent me to a woman’s shelter in Lebanon. After leaving there I was back on the streets where I was raped a second time. It was then I had Amber from the free store ministries take me to Springfield. While I was in Springfield, I went to the NLEC Veterans Coming Home Center. It was there that I learned about the New Life Residential Training Program. Marsha came from St. Louis and picked me up and took me to one of the New Life Evangelistic Center Safe Houses where I am staying as I work the NLEC Training Program. Now I have a purpose as I serve Jesus in His ministry. He has given me security and stability at NLEC. I know that my Lord has never left me nor forsaken me. ---Sherrie Dixon
Free At Last
Meth took away everything. It took my teeth, my family, my self-respect, and my home. Meth only left me with scars. I was a slave to methamphetamine until Jesus set me free. Now I know He will never leave my side and that He will guide me on the right path. I thank God, He led me to New Life Evangelistic Center. Each day I am growing closer to Him as I serve my Risen Savior. I have been set free to have a better life for me and my family as I let the light and love of Christ flow through me. ---April Brady
A Special Thank You! To Exec. Dining Express, who is helping provide sandwiches, and other food for the 250 bagged lunches New Life Evangelistic Center daily gives to the homeless living outside.
Freed from the Cycle of Homelessness
Women’s
Freed to Serve Jesus
I came to New Life Evangelistic Center in 2015. I restarted my life—again—after a very messy divorce. I lost everything in 2014. I had no savings left, no job, no car, but I had a plan, and I knew I would be okay. It was time to do something different with me. I had always been a good wife and mother to my children and now I had nobody but me to take care of. That was different for me, almost surreal.
New Life Evangelistic Center became a part of my life in 2015. I went through the 2-year leadership training program at 1411 Locust. I actually helped move out of our church downtown. Everyone involved was broken at that point. The fight we gave as they were shutting our church down was tough. All of us that had called 1411 Locust our home had to be relocated. It was such a mess. We had God and we fought the good fight. There was little else to hang onto. We rallied till the end.
Some of us were sent to Marshfield, MO. I got the chance to learn some radio broadcasting there as I finished the program in 2017. It made things difficult to deal with because everyone of us at NLEC still kept going mentally, physically, and spiritually as if nothing had changed. It took a while for me to grasp it all. The fact was that our church had been shut down, meaning everything was different. There wasn’t any time for me to catch my breath and think things through until something better happened. The only thing that kept me going was, God has a plan. The back of my mind screaming ridiculous things like...I have patience, but God does not work in real time. I knew that was just hysterics talking nonsense.
I left Missouri in 2017 for Kansas where I had a job, a car, and an apartment waiting for me. I visited churches and I carried New Life Evangelistic Center with me. All the while telling people what happened in St. Louis. I came back for a visit in 2018. It had been 1 year since I had been back to our church at 1411 Locust. It was quite moving for me to be there again. Indeed, things were very different. The silence around the church was empty. There was absolutely nobody there. The entire ambience was different now. I stayed in St. Louis through the National Day of Prayer that year. I drove over to 2428 Woodson Rd. and I made a donation.
To my surprise, I saw someone who recognized me! I didn’t know what to say. So, I said, “Hi and I gave Neal a hug.” It was amazing to see a friendly face. Then I went home to Kansas. In 2023 I was able to get NLEC TV again, finally, and I binge watched and listened to the programming at work. I did that for a year. I had no idea at the time that I would be called back to St. Louis. My life has been purpose driven for a long time, but I never expected this. I was at a gospel get together called Praise Fest in Manhattan, Kansas and I remember writing down on piece of paper that covered a table in a prayer tent, please pray for New Life Evangelistic Center. That was in 2023.
It wasn’t long after, I started making arrangements to head into Missouri. I have no idea why, but I knew I had to go to the Veterans Coming Home Center in Springfield first. I got to see a few faces I recognized. I was so happy to see Chris Rice, I almost cried, I hugged him. He was genuinely happy to see me too. I stayed in Springfield for as long as time allowed. Then I was offered the chance to enter the Residential Leadership Training Program. I have been in Overland for 18 months working in the main office where I am learning new skills. God still has a plan, he always does. Wherever He leads me, I do it true. I learned that at NLEC. ----Billie D.
Toni working in the business office.
Marsha Randall intake coordinator
Bible Study.
Making Poverty Personal
Mother Teresa stated, “It is very fashionable to talk about the poor...unfortunately it is not as fashionable to talk to the poor.”
Ash Barker in the book, Make Poverty Personal stated, “God is in the business of rescuing people from the hells they experience on earth, and God is asking us to love people out of these hells. God is asking us to taste the salt in the tears of the broken, to hunger for justice with the starving masses of our world, to groan with all of creation in the birth pains of the Kingdom of God. God is asking us to make poverty personal.”
Many in pursuit of comfortable Christianity purposely avoid making poverty personal lest they start feeling depressed because they can’t meet all the needs of the poor they get to know personally. Such a fear is the result of the inability to experience the personal needs of the poor and then transfer them to God through prayer.
It is a dangerous thing for one to claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ and then ignore the 2,000 Scriptural references to the poor. Passages like Proverbs 14:31 explicitly declare, “those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy, honor Him.”
Making poverty personal is a central part of Christianity. In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do may mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Jesus made it very clear that following Him meant being obedient to His directives which involves making poverty personal to the extent He declares in Matthew 25:40, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
Ash Barker in his book, Make Poverty Personal stated, “Jesus experienced poverty personally. Jesus was conceived out of wedlock. He fled persecution as a refugee to Egypt. He lived in an oppressed land as part of an oppressed people at the hands of the colonizing Romans. Jesus experienced hunger (Matthew 12) and homelessness (Matthew 8:20) and was discriminated against by both Romans and other Jews because He was from Nazareth. He was tortured, falsely tried, and murdered. Jesus taught insights that offered authority to transform poverty on “earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus prayed for God’s reign to come here on earth as in heaven (Matthew 6:10) and warned of a final day when the sheep and goats will be separated according to how the treated the “least of these.”
The goats included people like the rich man who missed the beggar, and the rich fool who stored up wealth. Jesus taught that the lure of wealth was like weeds that choke seeds. He cursed the rich and blessed the poor but offered a kingdom community life, where labels of rich and poor were not allowed. The Christian faith is not an invitation to join a club but a call to die to oneself and follow Jesus as He stands in solidarity with the poor.”
Pray For Justice
“And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off?” (Luke 18:7 NIV) As we encounter injustice, we must never forget the importance of earnest prayer. Never underestimate the power of crying out to God, day and night concerning the injustice you are aware of.
I can’t help but recall the miracle resulting from the Missouri inmates who were being abused in Texas, some years back. After their families cried out to the Lord, a video was miraculously released showing this abuse, and before long the Missouri inmates were returned to Missouri.
As we pray, we must believe God and know that He cares about the issue of justice. As Psalms 140:12, in the Amplified Bible states, “I know and rest in confidence upon it that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and will secure justice for the poor and needy.” When we pray, we must also seek God as to what He wants us to do to address these issues of injustice.
Much of Evangelical Christianity today concerns itself with the two issues of abortion and homosexuality. As a result, many Christians vote for candidates exclusively on how they relate to these two issues. This allows oppressors and perpetuators to use these two issues to exploit the Christian vote as they continue to engage in actions of injustice against the poor and elderly.
What does the Scripture say that God Desires of His people? “To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man, who is of the earth, may not terrify them anymore.” (Psalms 10:18 ESV) “Learn to do good! Seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead for the widows’ cause.”
(Isaiah 1:17 ESV)
As you read these words, you need to ask yourself what you believe needs to be done to correct the oppressor, defend the fatherless and plead for the widow. How do we respond to the ongoing misuse of eminent domain, which takes the homes of the poor and elderly in order that rich developers may make more money? What do we do about the control of big utility and oil companies, whose ever-increasing rates not only cause the poor and elderly to become slaves, but also continue to pollute the environment with their use of fossil fuels?
Then there is the issue of justice for the homeless in communities like St. Louis, Springfield, and Kansas City where the rich and powerful would love to drive them out, not only from their downtown areas but from their cities as a whole. “Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong; do no violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.” (Jeremiah 22: 3 ESV)
Being Set Free at the Farm
Homeless men are being set free from the cycle of homelessness, drugs, alcohol and more at NLEC farm in New Bloomfield.
I Almost Died
I have been homeless off and on since 2014, as a result of Fentanyl. I slept behind trash cans, gas stations, parks, and vacant buildings. I almost died. I went to the hospital and was told I was going to die. Shooting it put bacteria in my body and blood. I couldn’t speak. They had to put emergency surgical equipment in my spine and neck. They pumped 6 pints of blood into my body. I got to thinking, “I wasn’t ready to die!” I surrendered to Christ. My mother and sisters prayed. I prayed. My sister Latanya told me about NLEC’s Training Program. Larry Rice helped my mother, Annie. I’m glad the Lord brought me through this. Now I know what I really want. Drugs took me away from all the things that kept me going. I overdosed 9 different times! I want to be closer to Jesus so that I can go to heaven. ---Etheria Harris
Finally I Have A Place to Be.
I lost my job at Buffalo Wild Wings in St. Peters due to my manic Bi-Polar behavior. Then my father, who I was sharing an apartment with, went to the hospital! As a result, I ended up homeless and found myself sleeping under trees and pavilions in the park, wherever I could lay my head. One day I got so hungry I stole food out of 7-11 and ended up getting arrested. When I was released, I went to a homeless encampment in St. Louis. One of the men there let me sleep on the ground in front of his tent.
A few days later I was mugged by a meth addict, on my way to McDonald’s. It was then that I ended up in the hospital and my mother got me in a psych ward. Upon being released, I went to a motel. When my time ran out there, a friend of my mother’s told her about the New Life Evangelistic Center’s farm in New Bloomfield. After contacting Pastor Ray Redlich, he made it possible for me to come to the NLEC Mid-America Care Center and farm in New Bloomfield. Now I have a place I can call home. Daily I pray, read the Bible, and work together with other men who have been delivered from the cycle of homelessness. I am so thankful Jesus has made it possible for me to start all over again. ---Brandon
I am 70 years old. When I was released from the Springfield Medical Facility after serving 39 years in various federal prisons I was brought to St. Louis where I was dropped off in front of Barnes Hospital. I have chronic kidney failure and no family members living. It was then that God miraculously led me to contact the New Life Evangelistic Center. The staff there sent me to New Bloomfield, MO. Now I have a room of my own as I daily help make sandwiches which are used to make sack lunches for the homeless who still live outside. ---Paul Kooence
Finally Free.
What I Love About America
“I am a Native American from the Meskwaki tribe from Tema, Iowa. I love America because we still enjoy freedoms that don’t exist anywhere else in the world! The freedom of speech. The freedom to peacefully protest. The freedom to travel from state to state without restrictions and the freedom to control and decide the future of our lives. I became homeless when my car stopped working. I could not keep my job without a vehicle. I prayed to Jesus and I recently regained employment! My nightmare will soon be over! I thank the NLEC and the VCHC for being there in my time of need! And I thank the Lord Jesus for His peace, protection and love.” ---Elizabeth
I Wanted To Just Give Up!
I became homeless for the very first time in my life at 65 years old. I was in a semi-truck accident and suffered from severe trauma, deep anxieties, and depression. My employer treated me badly and refused to hire me back. I spent the cold winter sleeping on Springfield’s freezing streets. One day, I saw a group of other homeless persons entering the VCHC. I followed them. The VCHC has been a blessing for me ever since I walked through their doors! The center, their staff and Pastor Mark, encouraged me to not give up! To continue to have hope in the Lord for His deliverance! I filed for retirement and I am gathering my documents to move into an apartment. I know Jesus is still in control, that He remain sitting high on His Throne, despite my circumstances. What I am going through is a test to give me a Victorious testimony! ---Michael
The Freedom I’ve Found
“I found the freedom through Christ to be me. The real me. The me God intended me to be since before the foundations of the earth! Through His freedom, even though I am presently homeless, God blesses me to help my fellow unhoused brothers and sisters at the Veterans Coming Home Center. I do this because I love Jesus and it feels good to unselfishly help others!” ---Nicole
Transformed women
“I have served in the Leadership Training Program for over 5 years. The Program has given me the freedom found through Christ for real peace in my life! I have been transformed into a more disciplined man. I pray more. I read my Bible more. And I can now testify to the unhoused how surrendering to Christ has blessed me with real love, real hope and real freedom. The LTP and Jesus has made my previous crooked paths straight! Within the next couple of months, I will continue my journey with Christ with my own employment and my own apartment! Thank you LTP and Jesus for restoring me to New Life.” ---William
(Continued on pg. 13)
“I was homeless and sleeping on St. Louis City streets. God sent me NLEC Search and Rescue Team to my aid. Reverend Ray invited me into LTP and literally saved my life! Through the LTP, I have discovered honesty and discipline. I have now a servant’s heart for my fellow unhoused! I encourage all those who are suffering from homelessness and hopelessness to join the LTP and to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ!”--John
Why I Love America
“I served our country in the US Army for 8 years and the US Navy for 22 years. And I would gladly serve again. I love America because it welcomes people from every part of the world. I love America because of its diversity—this country is truly a melting pot of many different beliefs, cultures and heritages! America acknowledges the worth and value of everyone and gives us all the opportunity to succeed. God proved His love for me in protecting me from harm while I served my country. He also continues to demonstrate His love in protecting me as I experience homelessness, due to health reasons. I am closer to God in my life than ever before! I trust Him to heal my body and to restore my life. I fought for the freedom of America and God fights for me everyday! Please keep me and this country in your prayers!” ---Kevin
Not In My Backyard
While I did not engage in direct combat, I served our country in the US Army for 3 years. I was honored to serve. I love the freedoms we have in our country, especially the freedom to worship as we choose. But in our country’s exceptional freedoms, we must not abstain from treating the poor, the needy and the homeless differently than how God wants them treated. And we need to be a kinder, gentler, more compassionate nation. It should not only matter or become of importance to us, when the plights of the disadvantaged show up in our backyards! Ask yourself: What Would Jesus Do? THEN DO IT!! I am homeless due to my 2heart attacks and my wife having cancer. Please keep our health in your prayers!---Buddy
Opening Doors of Hope Project
The Veterans Coming Home Center (VCHC), Springfield, Missouri’s only daytime shelter serving unhoused veterans and those experiencing homelessness, is launching its “Opening New Doors of Hope Project.” We urgently need to replace our worn front entrance doors with safer, welcoming, and updated doors, while removing hazardous carpeting and installing clean, sanitary flooring throughout the facility. These improvements will provide dignity, safety, and a healthier environment for our unhoused, creating a more relaxing and restful place to dine, find encouragement, and rest in comfort.
This important renovation project will cost approximately $50,000. We invite our friends to partner with us through prayers, financial gifts, and volunteer service. Tax-deductible donations may be mailed to:
VCHC, 806 N.Jefferson Ave., Springfield, MO 65802, Attn: Opening Doors Project, or delivered in person to the Center. For online gifts designated to the Opening New Doors of Hope Project, please visit: vchcenter.org or nlecstl.org.
For more information, please contaci Chris Rice or Pastor Mark Glenn at (417)866-3363, Thank you for your prayers, support and for standing with the VCHC and helping to open new doors of hope for our unhoused neighbors.
“And do not forget to sow good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:16)
Freedom That Cannot Be Taken Galatians 5:1-6
This summer, America turns 250 years old.
Flags will fly. Fireworks will split the sky. Politicians will invoke the word freedom more times than you can count. And they won’t be wrong to celebrate. The liberties secured by the American founding — of speech, of conscience, of assembly, of worship — are genuine goods, hardwon and worth honoring.
But Paul would have something to say about the way we talk about freedom in this country.
Not to condemn it, but to clarify it.
“For freedom Christ has set us free.” So opens Galatians 5:1 — one of the most compressed, explosive sentences in the New Testament. Paul doesn’t say Christ set us free for something else, as if freedom were merely a means to an end. Freedom is the end. The liberation itself is the point. And then, in the very next breath, he issues a command that changes everything: “Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
Again. That word should stop us.
Paul is writing to people who have already heard the gospel, already believed, already been set free. And they are walking back into chains — not Roman chains, but religious ones. The Judaizers had come to Galatia insisting that faith in Christ was not enough. You must also be circumcised. You must also keep the law. You must earn what God has already given you in Jesus. Paul calls this what it is: a yoke of slavery (v.1). He says anyone who accepts circumcision as a condition of justification has “fallen away from grace” (v.4) — not because the law is evil, but because mixing law and grace as a basis for standing before God destroys grace entirely.
Here is where this word lands for us today.
The false freedoms are not hard to find. We live in a culture that defines freedom as the absence of all constraint — do what you feel, be who you want, answer to no one. That is not freedom. That is slavery with better marketing. Paul knew that a person could throw off every external law and still be in deeper bondage than any Roman prisoner — enslaved to the flesh, to self, to sin’s momentum.
But the church can fall into its own version of the Galatian error. We add conditions. We dress up performance as discipleship. We quietly communicate that God’s acceptance of you depends on how you’re doing this week. That is not the gospel. That is the yoke — and Paul says do not submit to it again. True freedom — the freedom that Christ purchased at infinite cost — is the freedom to stand before God not on the basis of what you have done, but on the basis of what He has done. It is freedom from the verdict. Freedom from the treadmill. Freedom that holds even when you fall. And it is not passive. Paul closes this passage in verse 6 with a phrase that pulses with life: “faith working through love.” The free person is not the person who sits still. The free person is the one whose faith becomes kinetic — moving toward the neighbor, the stranger, the suffering.
That is the heartbeat of New Life Evangelistic Center. For more than fifty years, this ministry has believed that the gospel is not just a message to be spoken but a freedom to be extended — to the man sleeping under a bridge, to the woman fleeing a dangerous home, to the young man whose addiction convinced him he was unreachable. We serve because we have been served. We give because we have been given to. We are free — and that freedom moves.
You can be part of that movement every single month.
When you join one of our Monthly Giving Clubs, you become a steady, faithful stream of grace into lives that have known too much bondage. Your gift funds the farm in New Bloomfield, the safe houses in the St. Louis area, and the street outreach teams that go where few others will. Monthly giving is not just practical — it is a picture of the faithfulness of God Himself, who does not love us in fits and starts. This Independence Day celebrate the freedoms this nation has given you. They are real. They matter.
And then go deeper. Receive again the freedom that no government can grant and no election can take away — the freedom that Christ secured, that grace sustains, and that love compels outward. Stand firm in it. And let it work.---Chris Aaron Rice
Remembering Angel
This is Angel Shorter, one of the sweetest ladies that I’ve met, who happened to be homeless. I only knew her for a very short time, which started in April when the City of St. Louis decided to force tenants out of the Concorde apartments on Illinois Avenue in South St. Louis. Angel had stayed there with her husband James for over a year.
It was far from easy for Angel Shorter who was suffering from cancer, and so every day was a struggle. It got even harder when the city decided to force out the building’s tenants, from the building, which had been condemned about a month earlier.
Angel and others didn’t have much time to leave, and most say they didn’t see much help from the city government in relocating. There wasn’t much shelter space available for them.
On top of that, they were all given a government summonses for occupying a vacant building, charges that the prosecutor later dismissed.
After moving out of their apartments, having to leave much of their belongings behind,
Many including Angel pitch tents right in front of the complex that was formally their home that they were forced out of.
Angel always had a good attitude believing that although life had gotten harder between homelessness and cancer, it was something she could overcome.
Many of the people forced out of Concord apartments had nowhere to go. Angel ended up moving to an abandoned railway building downtown near the riverfront.
I visited her down there along with Reverend Larry Rice, and both him, and I helped her out. She told me life was a lot harder for hersince leaving Concord Apartments. Even the tent she lived in in front of the complex was better than this .
But, for better or worse, this was where she was living. Today I just got some sad news. Angel who had endured a lot of troubles and challenges had passed away.
Many people did not know a lot about her, people just knew she was a very nice woman with a strong will to survive the hardships that came her way ---Elliott Davis for Elliott Davis TV
James, Angel’s husband, Larry Rice and others at memorial service
Angel Shorter
Our dear brother in Christ, Chris Ohnimus went to be with Jesus on Jan. 25, 2026 after many years serving on Outreach to the homeless.
NLEC
30 Years of service
Because of the grace of God flowing through caring people, this year marks 30 years since the Route 66 New Life Free Store in Marshfield, MO came into being. Serving the needs of the community in Webster County and the surrounding area. This labor of love has been staffed by formerly homeless men in the NLEC Leadership Training Program who live on site and maintain the free store and the grounds. The program allows men to live and work together and learn the Scriptures and prayer together and alone each day. It teaches them to care for and maintain the free store and be a witness to those coming in for clothing, food, and furniture. We marvel at the way God has provided for NLEC all these years and we are committed to being there for any who need us in the future. In addition to the Free Store is the radio station 1510 AM and 107.1 FM, part of the Here’s Help Radio network.
A History of Faith in Action
After our time in California, we returned to Illinois, where Sherry’s parents lived. We were given the name of Larry Rice in St. Louis as an option for temporary service, unto the Lord, until the door to the PRC opened for us. Larry Rice was happy to put us to work. After a short training period, he sent us from St. Louis to Columbia, Missouri to establish and manage a New Life Evangelistic Center (NLEC). A ministry involved in personal evangelism, sheltering, and relief item distribution.
Our Savior Jesus Christ provided donors to donate food and clothes. He provided financial supporters for us. Even our parents joined us in doing street corner ministry.
Throughout 1984, my wife Sherry and I worked hard to develop the NLEC ministry. By the end of the first quarter of 1985, we reported to Larry that we had distributed massive amounts of food and clothing, 250 blankets, 100 checks of $35 for utility assistance, 113 kerosene or wood-burning heaters, 73 weatherization kits, over 100 infant car seats, and numerous cases of Bibles and devotional booklets. We shared God’s Word with the applicants. Seven people professed Jesus Christ as their Savior. We provided emergency shelter for women, married couples, and children. We held worship services for the shelter guests on Saturday evenings.
Debbie and Clarence Williams were guests at our NLEC shelter. One day, Debbie had a seizure while standing on a ladder. She fell to the ground. Clarence called me from the hospital to tell me that their unborn child was dead. Upon receiving this news, we bowed our faces to the floor and prayed that God would raise their baby to life. The next day, Clarence told us that their baby revived and lived.
After the baby was born, Clarence phoned to tell me that they named their baby Gabriel because he was their angel.The Lord also did a miracle for a lady named Ronnie Bell. She came to us at a time when local food banks lacked meat. She told me that her child’s doctor prescribed meat for her child because he was anemic. I told her that we had no meat. She asked me, Then, what am I to do? “The Lord spoke to me, He said, ‘Tell Ronnie that she will have meat before the day is over.” So, I told her. She wanted to know how God would provide. I told her that He did not tell me how, but He would surely supply her meat before the day was over.
We did not see Ronnie again until the next time she had a need. She needed help to prevent her electricity from being shut off. I asked her, “Ronnie, what happened on that needed meat? She replied, “A neighbor bought a side of beef and could not get all the new meat into her freezer without getting rid of some of the older meat that was still good. She gave us that. We had a lot of meat. “Then, the Lord told me to tell Ronnie, “The Lord says that your electricity will not be shut off.” She doubted me because she already had received two cut off notices from the power company. I told her not to worry. The power company granted her a third extension that day. A rare occurrence! Glory to God!
We prayed much while tending to the needs of a family of six. The Lord told Peter, “If you love Me, feed My lambs.” We love the Lord, so we trusted Him to provide food for the lambs that He wanted us to feed. He did!
I witnessed Christ’s love in Sherry as she cooked for and spoke with the people in the shelter. I witnessed His love in our Christian volunteers as they denied themselves to help others in need. God had given them new hearts and new love for people. Grace, our first child, was born on October 31 at the University of Missouri Hospital.
When Sherry and Grace came home from the hospital, Sherry was exhausted. Grace started crying. I laid Grace on my chest and gently
patted her on the back until she fell asleep. What a very special experience that was! We had our own baby. We named her Grace because she was born on Reformation Day. We did not give her a middle name because we knew that grace was sufficient. Leading up to Grace’s birth, God delivered us from trials by grace. The first trial was that I came down with mononucleosis in August. This illness started with a high fever of 104. The second trial was insufficient funds to pay my hospital bill. A social worker at the hospital asked me how I intended to pay my bill. I replied, “A little at a time.” We had no insurance and less than $100 to our name. So, although I was not better, I left the hospital. During the next 28 days, I was bedridden. Sherry ran the shelter with the help of a volunteer named Bunny. My medicine was the Word of God. I read the Bible from cover to cover.
God won battles for us. The State legislature wanted the psychiatric care ward cleared of people. They passed legislation to force these patients out. Ours was the only shelter in town, so the hospital started sending the homeless to us. Someone on the hospital’s Board of Regents heard that we sheltered the homeless patients and asked the Board to cancel my $1,400 debt and to reduce the price tag for Sherry’s prenatal care and delivery from $3,000 to $500. After they did that, a check arrived in the mail for us. The amount was $500. The Lord healed me. He paid our debts. Glory to God!
I recently testified at a Church and at a Christian gathering about how the Lord Jesus used our time at New Life Evangelistic Center to build my faith in God’s faithfulness. The Lord met our impossibilities with His possibilities. People heard the Gospel. They were fed, clothed, and sheltered by the mercies of God and His people.--Mark Czanderna
Each day hundreds of homeless people living outside receive food, water, and much more! Please give so others may live.
The Need is Becoming Greater
As the need becomes greater due to budget cuts, economic downturn, and rising gas and utility costs, more and more people are coming to New Life Evangelistic Center at this time for direct help.
NLEC is working to be there when people are hurting by providing direct help, hope and so much more. make a difference in the lives of the poor and needy by supporting the work of the New Life Evangelistic Center.
Send your much needed tax-deductible gift now to: New Life Evangelistic Center PO Box 473 St. Louis, MO 63166 Or go online at www.nlecstl.org
You can also send a TEXT to Give by sending: NLEC-Giving to 1-888-364-GIVE (4483) You will receive a reply with the link to give.
Your sharing and caring makes a big difference in the lives of those in need.
The Dangers of Christian Nationalism
We as Christians are called to love the way God loves. This should speak to us about what it means to love our country. There is no mention of the United States of America in the Bible. But we are told in John 3:16 that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Now if God has a love for this world (and the root word here is cosmos referring to the whole created order) why should our own affections be limited to one country?
There’s another passage of Scripture that refers to the negative side of love for this world. 1 John 2:15-17, by the same author, the apostle John, says, “Love not the world or the things of this world. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. For everything in this world---the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not from the Father but is of this world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” The root word for world in this passage is again cosmos, referring to the whole created world. Now you might ask, “Why would God love this world, and then turn around and warn us not to love this world?” Because we are sinners and we live in a sinful world.
If we hold too tightly to this world we become just like the things in this world, prideful, lustful, fleshly. God alone is capable of the sacrificial gift of his innocent, perfect son for the life of this world. We are called to give of ourselves in Christ to this wicked old world, but not to come to worship the created world instead of our Creator. And that’s the danger. The world because of sin will always vie for our affections because it wants us to love it completely. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is---his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
There’s a strong belief in this country right now that we are to honor our nation exclusively and unquestioningly. It’s called Christian Nationalism. It’s a belief that is neither Christian, nor particularly unique to America. There are dangerous forms of religious nationalism all over the world. I believe in the power of prayer, and that we should pray for our country, but when Christian Nationalists call our nation to prayer it is for the purposes of control and indoctrination. Now I do believe that our country deserves honor and respect, but not worship. This is a unique country, but not exceptionally righteous. We must never forget the way the genocidal treatment of Native Americans and Black Africans in this country were both justified and sanctioned using prayer and the Scriptures.
1 Peter 2:9 tells us how we should be instead. It says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” As Christians we are called to be set apart to God. We are a multi-ethnic and multi-national and multi-generational people. And we can see right through the dreams of a country that claims for itself what can only be claimed for the Kingdom of God.
Where we as a people do not live up to the Scriptures in the way we worship (finding people just like me), we must strive to become better----more inclusive, and more welcoming. But when our nation wants to use its laws to single out particular peoples as illegals and beats on our doors in order to take them away we must speak up and speak out! In the Kingdom of God whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Not just who look like us or have the proper papers or the right credit history. The early church was made up of disciples from all walks of life, rich and poor, people from countries all over the world. That call to “make disciples (of Jesus Christ) of every nation” has not changed. If you are interested in learning more about Christian Nationalism in our country and its implications for the churches, visit http://christiansagainstchristiannationalism.org/about.
By Chris L Rice, OFS
More on Christian Nationalism
From the beginning, the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ have been central to the proclamation of the Good News.
The resurrection gave new meaning to the cross- an instrument of cruel and painful capitol punishment and state- sponsored terror. The teaching of the New Testament on the cross is two-fold: First the cross is what God has done for us to offer salvation. Second, the cross is how God expects Jesus’ people to live in the world as agent of reconciliation.
Christian Nationalism undermines that second aspect of the cross so clearly taught in the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. It conflicts the mission of the church with the agenda of the nation state and is willing to use violence to implement that mission even though Jesus clearly indicated otherwise, when He told Peter in the Garden to put away his sword. In the wilderness Jesus rejected the temptation to have all the kingdoms of the world. Christian Nationalists would have taken the offer. Christian Nationalists pay up service to Jesus as Lord while enthroning Barabas in their Tactics. Christian Nationalism makes the state A rival to the church’s mission and seeks to employ The church as a prop for state policy.
In the book of Revelation, there is a vision of people Gathered from every tribe and nation and language and race. Christian Nationalism tribalizes the gospel seeking to return the God of Israel to a tribal deity. Christian Nationalism rejects the image of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah as a slaughtered lamb and seeks to erase that image because it is incompatible with its objectives.
Christian Nationalism is incompatible with the life and teaching of Jesus and the mission of the gospel. For the followers of Jesus, the cross is not a weapon of conquest, rather it demonstrates God’s extreme empathy for the world.
----Allen R. Bevere
(Continued from Front Page)
The Hope for America
From the very first passage in the Scriptures (Genesis 1:1) to the last chapter in the Bible, Rev. 22, we see the Helper, the Holy Spirit at work. In the beginning, “The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Gen. 1:1) The same Helper is there to bring order in the midst of the darkness, chaos, and confusion in our lives and in the life of the USA.
Today in the midst of the bitterness, division, and hopeless America is experimenting, please pray for another great movement of the Holy Spirit. In Rev. 22:17 we read, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” I remember that time in my life when the Holy Spirit had come upon me in a supernatural way. I was a theological student who wanted more than just a superficial relationship with Jesus Christ. When I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, I started praising God with heavenly prayer language I had never experienced before. The word had become flesh and dwelt within me in a new and powerful way. As the Holy Spirit moved in my inner being I became convinced that God loved me and had a plan for my life. I was so excited about Jesus and His love that I wanted to tell everybody about it. Now I want to invite you to pray for America. As you pray come drink of this living water that Christ provides. Receive the power from on high, for He has promised in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” Experiencing this power involves first accepting Jesus as Lord and Christ in every area of life. In John 14:6 He declares, “No one comes to the Father but by Me.” Acts 4:12 declares, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men (and women) by which we must be saved.”
Our Helper the Holy Spirit directs us to Jesus Christ, “For is Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.” (Col. 2:9-10) Unless you experience this fullness, you will feel dry, dead, and alone like Ezekiel did in that valley of dried dead bones. (Ezekiel 37) If you are feeling that way, I would encourage you to pick up your Bible, get alone with God in the wonders of His creation, and ask Him to send the Holy Spirit to fill you with the fullness of Christ. As you receive the power of the Holy Spirit, you become part of the mighty army of God which shares the love of Christ in word and deed. This power enables you to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, confront and drive out, through the name of Jesus, principalities, and powers, heal the sick and proclaim liberty to the captives. The end result is that Christ may be glorified and recognized as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. (Matt. 28:18-20, Luke 24:49, John 5:23, John 15:26-27)
The help and power provided by the gift of the Holy Spirit means more than strength or ability. The movement of the Holy Spirit, in the book of Acts, in the lives of believers, resulted in their ability to witness with great boldness, (Acts 4:29) united as one, freed from slavery to possessions. (Acts 4:32) “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them.” (Acts 4:33-34) The hope for America involves those who receive the gift of the Spirit will proclaim the good news of Christ’s resurrection with power and authority. The Helper will work through them to perform many signs, wonders, and miracles. (See Acts 4:4, 6:7, 8:8, 9:33-35, 11:21, 24, 12:24, 14:21, 16:5, 19:10, 20)
I Forgive Them
While in Springfield my family betrayed me and stole my money and my belongings!
I left my family home to get away from these thieves. With no where to go and no one to turn to, I became homeless. But even as a homeless person with little or nothing my new homeless friends stole from me! My goodness, what a wicked world we live in when you cannot trust anyone to do good! However, I am not bitter or angry about those who victimized me. I forgive them because Jesus forgave me first. I am now asking Him for His help in forgiving myself for trusting the wrong people.
I know His Love will heal and guide me! Already, He has blessed me with a new job and He blessed me with bus tickets from the New Life Evangelistic Center! God is awesome! ---Rueben
I’m Grateful for the Help
I went to jail. I admit it was my mistake and I was fully in the wrong. And I asked forgiveness from the ones I hurt. But while incarcerated, I slipped and fell. I demolished my rotary cup in my shoulder and tore ligaments in my ankle. Upon release from jail my health continued to go down hill. Not only can I not lift or use my left shoulder, I am unable to keep my balance. I constantly fall face first to the ground, causing me more aches and pains. I cannot hold a job because of my inuries. But I am grateful for the help I receive from the NLEC. Without them, I don’t know how I would make it! It was, at first, easy for me to be angry at God for my present situation. But then I realized how much He loves me inspite of my unfaithfulness to Him. How much He continues to love me despite my poor choices. Knowing He loves me makes all the difference in my life! I know He has me in the palm of His hands and He will guide me if I just keep surrendering my life to Him. Please pray for my continued strength in the Lord!---Randy
I Was Clinically Dead
Several years ago, I was in a terrible car accident. I was pronounced clinically dead. That was when the Love of Our Savior came to me in the form of an angel and brought me back to life! I have never been the same! Jesus taught me how to love myself and stopped me from committing slow suicide through drugs. And He kept blessing each and every day! When I became homeless due to poor health, He sustained me and brought me to the VCHC! There, I not only received meals, showers, and free clothes-- I also received encouragement to keep believing in God despite my circumstances! God has now blessed me with a new job! He is always so good! I praise and love Him with my every breath! ---Adam
THE LOVE OF CHRIST SHINES
BRIGHTLY
IN INDIA
Your Small Change Can Make a Big Change
At New Life Evangelistic Center’s orphanages and schools, destitute children get a home, an education, and most of all a community that loves them. Your small change can make a big change when you share it with New Life Evangelistic Center.
Cry Justice: A Maturing Memory
During the early 1990’s, many families of incarcerated individuals began to find NLEC as a support to their cries of Justice for their loved ones. New Life began to air programs that featured families who were “voices crying in the wilderness.” They were asking for proper investigation of evidence, retrials, and exoneration of their loved ones. Mothers particularly began to voice the wrongs that were perpetrated in the truth and failure of true justice for their imprisoned son, daughter, relative, or friend.
Out of their cries for Justice, New Life was blessed with the opportunity to film and record the images and words of the families and a few of those who had been incarcerated, on KNLC TV 24. Those earlier interviews of the prisoners were by phone with a glass partition between President Larry Rice of NLEC asking questions and recording the interview. The sound quality of the final tape was quite muffled through the phones, but combining the video account of the prisoner with video of their parents, lawyers, and loved ones show a more reasoned understanding of how the justice system worked and most importantly, provided a clearer understanding of why loved ones were verbalizing the need for justice. In other words, the prisoner was “humanized” and a more detailed understanding of the justice system was being shared with the public.
From these initial interviews, New Life decided to increase video tapings of many of the prisoners that were flooding the mail, to have their story published in Cry Justice Magazine. I was asked to take up this charge, travel to, and video tape those prisoners, along with their families, who had been chosen from written letters.
However, the videos would not be done through a glass partition but in a secure environment procured by the prison. This environment would have the person interviewed clearly heard without barriers.
Some of the prisoners interviewed did not have any advocates. But hearing their stories about being processed through the justice system gave a broader understanding of how the system fails to investigate properly, provide inadequate defense for those without money. The interviews also show the treatment of families whose relatives had been charged with a crime and then convicted. Then began the long and slow process to prove innocence.
Over several months, I visited and recorded prisoners at several Missouri Prison Units: Jefferson City, Northeast, South Central, and Western Missouri Correctional Institute for Women. I visited 2 different prison units in Illinois. Traveling to these prisons was always an all-day affair. Most of the prisons were built in rural areas, away from urban centers.
Traveling to these prisons reminded me of the issues faced by families burdened with limited or no resources. In many cases, just to visit an incarcerated relative would have to be a planned event. Including a day off work, finding reliable transportation, plus expenses to get there. If an entire family wanted to visit, someone would have to set up an appointment by phone.
Personally, I only knew of one ministry, in the North End of St. Louis, that provided transportation for families to visit their incarcerated loved ones.
One final fact about families preparing for visits to see their loved ones was not always guaranteed. During the days or week of preparation for the visit the incarcerated relative broke a rule and punishment was no visitors. The family was not notified of the infraction, so they begin this journey early in the day thinking they will see their family member. Once they arrive and go inside the prison then they are told that their loved one is on some sort of restrictions and cannot meet with them. What an assault on the decency of Justice.
The Cry Justice office would set up the interview with the prison and give me a time to arrive. I always tried to arrive, at the prison, an hour before check-in time. I would take a camera, microphone, and a long extension cord. I would arrive at the gate and introduce myself as a reporter for NLEC and give them the name of the prisoner I was to interview that day.
In most cases, I was allowed into a prison, after a personal search was conducted which meant leaving my wallet and other personal items at the entrance. Then, an examination of the microphone and camera to be used during the interview. I was escorted to a library that had no glass partition barriers.
The inmate stories usually averaged between 20-35 minutes. If I needed clarification, another 5-10 minutes would be allowed. When the taping was finished, the prisoner would be taken back to his unit. I would always assure them that they did great and would not know when it would be aired. I thanked them for allowing me to interview them and for sharing their story.
Before leaving I would always pray and thank God for the opportunity to minister for NLEC and these inmates. Also, offering that God would share his comfort and protection with the hope that I had done something to show the love of God.
One key statement made by families of incarcerated individuals charged with capital crimes, “Sell everything you have for their defense!” “High powered lawyers makes a difference.” “Money talks!” Most of the inmates I interviewed had court appointed lawyers. In many cases, they were asked to enter a plea right away. If they did not, many public defenders did not have funds to investigate evidence. High powered attorneys are able to defend, investigate, and provide additional experts to defend their client in the trial. Most people believe they will get a good defense, then find out, they did not have a competent defense lawyer. ---Matthew Carter
“WheRe
To get the NLEC TV app on your phone, simply open your app store and search for “NLEC TV”. Follow the direct links to download for your specific device: Android: Download it from the Google Play Store. iPhone/iPad: Get it on the Apple App Store.
