WINTER 2004

This past year has been very exciting for us. In March, we were granted non-profit status and, due to the financial support from many of you, I was able to leave my outside employment in September and go full-time with the ministry. In April, we started a support group for former Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Colorado Springs area and witnessed the salvation of Dave who had been one of Jehovah’s Witnesses for 27 years. Beryl, also saved out of 32 years of involvement in the Watchtower, has been my roommate this past year and an incredible resource in reaching out to victims traumatized by their experience in the organization.

One of the families we’ve seen God work in this past year is Tressa’s family. Having raised all five of her children as Jehovah’s Witnesses, they cut off communication with her when she left the Watchtower for Jesus several years ago. Then, in October 2002, Tressa’s daughter Meriah left the organization, and Grandma Tressa was able to lead Meriah’s daughter Jasmin to Christ. Although Meriah has yet to ask the real Lord Jesus into her life, her questions on the Trinity doctrine opened a door for me to have an excellent two-hour discussion with her brother Israel, who is currently serving as a Jehovah’s Witness elder at a local congregation. Please pray for the salvation of Tressa’s children: Paul, Mark, Meriah, Israel and Isaiah.

This Summer, we were blessed to have Valerie Acuff (who had been one of Jehovah’s Witnesses for 24 years and had served at Watchtower headquarters) speak at one of our support group events. Others who blessed our group were Pat Knapp, a Denver seminary graduate and cult-recovery expert, and Julia Rae, a former Jehovah’s Witness now serving as a Christian missionary to cults in the country of Belize. In June, I was privileged to co-teach a local seminar on cults with Paul Carden, President of The Centers for Apologetics Research ministry, headquartered in California. His ministry is refining some of our Spanish material for use in counter-cult outreach around the world.

This Fall, we witnessed Susan’s salvation out of Mormonism and her husband Mitch’s recommitment to Christ. For the past several months, we have been following up with them and their children in weekly Christian discipleship Bible studies. In August, speaking at an ex-Jehovah’s Witness conference in San Francisco, I was able to encourage many in sharing their faith with others and, in October and November, we presented two full-length Jehovah’s Witness seminars at local churches. We also completed the audio production of our Mormonism seminar package that can now be ordered on-line through our website.

MINISTRY NEEDS AND PRAISE REPORT!

We are grateful to you and to our Lord for your generous support this past year. Your monthly support and additional year-end gifts have enabled us to pay all of our expenses and have given us a good financial basis to start this coming year. Thank you! We are still in need of monthly partners to join our financial support team base. Currently, we are at 73% of our budget in monthly pledge commitments. Your Spirit-led support is appreciated.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1. Beryl, Tressa and Jasmin reaching out to Jehovah’s Witnesses family members.
2. Ex-JW Dave’s Christian growth and salvation for his JW wife Diane and their children Katia and Daniel.
3. Discipleship with Ex-LDS Mitch and Susan and acceptance of Jesus by their kids Geoffrey, Magen and LDS family.
4. Salvation for people studying our website and re-evaluating their studies with Jehovah’s Witnesses.
5. Mormons who are reading our website and corresponding with the email ministry team.
   

All of us here at Witnesses for Jesus thank you for your prayerful and financial support this past year, and we wish you the Lord’s blessings in 2005!

In His Grace,

Christy Harvey
Director of Witnesses for Jesus Inc.

We are a 501(c)3 charitable non-profit corporation and are supported by your financial contributions. All gifts are tax-deductible.