Dear Friend of the Mission,

Perseverance is one of the most important qualities that our men need to possess.  Without it, the obstacles, challenges and set-backs they face will cause them to give up.  And if they give up, then nothing will ever change for them, and they will stay stuck in a hopeless pit of chronic homelessness, crushing poverty, acute hardship, personal degradation, compromised health, and they will more than likely suffer an untimely death. So in all that we do, we work hard to encourage our men to persevere, to never give up, to ask God to move the mountains in their lives, to believe that the Lord can make a way when there is no way, to keep on keeping on.

Our chapel and graduation services abound with testimonies of how God brought our men through overwhelming trials and difficulties.  Recently one of our graduates, Robert, shared how he almost left the Mission within a week after he came here, but his fellow residents encouraged him to stick and stay.  Robert told how the Lord wonderfully blessed his decision to stay even though everything within him was crying out to leave. Staying at the Mission is one of the best choices he ever made.

Another recent graduate, Gerry, shared how he was determined to persevere and graduate from the Mission’s program in spite of numerous set-backs.  When Gerry first came to the Mission, he did quite well and obtained a good job.  However, Gerry had a trial pending.  At his trial, he was sentenced to a work-release prison sentence and lost his good job even though his general manager tried to get his corporate headquarters to make an exception to their policy so Gerry could keep on working at their company during his work-release prison sentence.  Gerry was assigned to another work site but then was hit by a car during one of his work assignments.  He was pretty banged up but eventually completed his prison sentence and came back to the Mission to finish our New Life Program.  However, because of his injuries from being hit by the car, Gerry needed to have knee surgery which prolonged his graduation from the Mission’s New Life Program.  But eventually Gerry did successfully graduate from the New Life Program – his perseverance paid off.  Today, he continues to press on by God’s grace.

Thank you for your kind and generous support which is used to help our men persevere, to never give up, to trust God to make a way when there is no way.  Your gifts to the Mission are a sound investment in the lives of our men that pay dividends for years to come.  Thank you for helping us to keep-on-keeping-on so we in turn can help our men to keep-on-keeping-on.

Pressing on by God’s grace,

Robert A. Emberger. D.Min.                                                                                                          Executive Director