Steve Prince of Warriors Set Free, a division of Set Free Ministries, went through this process last fall. “We felt led to go to where there’s more activity in the veteran community. Michigan, where we’re currently based, has no active-duty posts and very minimal retirees” compared to other states, Prince says.

“As we were evaluating data, looking at the numbers, and praying about where we should go, we met somebody from Atlanta or Georgia almost daily.”

Learn more about Warriors Set Free: Georgia here.

Prince and his team stepped out in faith one year ago, launching a new branch of Warriors Set Free in Atlanta, Georgia. Today, “we’re following where God is leading us, and we’re excited about reaching more veterans and spreading the Gospel,” Prince says.

“We are obedient to what God is calling us to do, and there’s a lot of momentum. The doors keep flying open.”

According to a 2020 study, Georgia ranks 10th nationwide for having the most active-duty personnel. The same research placed Michigan at 44th of the country’s 50 states.

GallantFew at The Ranger Outreach Center provides one-on-one transition assistance and veteran support to Army Rangers and veterans in Columbus, Georgia.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

Many veteran organizations are based in Atlanta because “there’s a huge need [for veteran services], both in Atlanta and across the state,” Prince says. During a recent visit, he connected with the City of Refuge, The Warrior Alliance, VETLANTA, and VEO.

“VEO is a property that houses vets [who are] struggling with homelessness. Their CEO participated in some ministry events with us, and he’s excited about us being on their campus,” Prince says.

Support Warriors Set Free here.

Pray for transformation in Atlanta as people find spiritual freedom through Christ. “We specialize in veterans because we are them. As you impact a veteran, you impact their marriage, family, community, and church,” Prince says.

Pray that many veteran and military-oriented organizations will partner with Warriors Set Free as they learn about freedom ministry. Leaders from several ministries recently went through “freedom appointments” led by Warriors Set Free.

“It’s like a one-day spiritual basic training. But for every individual we get to do that with, it has a dramatic impact, helping them become obedient to who God’s called them to be,” Prince says.

“I’ve heard from the staff of one organization that their leader is leading better and has become a more godly individual [as a result].”

In the header image, Steve (left) and Wayne (right) meet with Mitch (middle), a U.S. Army Ranger veteran and point-person for Warriors Set Free in Georgia. (Photo courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

In the past 12 months, a few social media posts and many prayers led to a new branch opening for Warriors Set Free, a division of Set Free Ministries. Warriors Set Free expanded to Atlanta, Georgia, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, in early 2022.

The “soft launch” followed months of research and preparation – and a little heavenly intervention.

“Last summer, we knocked on the door of the state headquarters of the Georgia National Guard, and within about 20 minutes, we were in the office of the commander of the state, the two-star general,” Warriors Set Free Director and Army vet Steve Prince says.

Only God could orchestrate a meeting like this. “We know people are praying for this ministry,” Prince adds.

“Walking into a building and having a meeting with a two-star general without an appointment is a miracle. That just does not happen.”

It would be like having lunch in your state capital one day, “and the governor decided to sit down and grab lunch with you,” Prince describes as an example.

Steve (left) and Wayne (right) meet with Mitch (middle), a U.S. Army Ranger veteran and newest member of the Warriors Set Free team.
(Photo courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

“There’s probably 15,000 people this man (the General) is responsible for. He doesn’t talk to people that don’t have a reason to talk to him.”

The Lord connected Warriors Set Free with the Army Chaplain Corps to start work among active-duty personnel during this meeting.

Plus, “Jeff Struecker was in the actual mission for Blackhawk Down. He’s a pastor [in Georgia] now, [and] he referred Mitch, who we brought on staff,” Prince adds.

These connections lay the groundwork for more veterans and active-duty military personnel to find healing and freedom in Christ. Praise God for opening doors of opportunity that only He could unlock. Pray He will provide the manpower and resources needed for ongoing ministry.

Learn more about Warriors Set Free here.

Header and story photos courtesy of Warriors Set Free.

A 2014 study found nearly one in four active-duty members showed signs of a mental health condition. Today, over a million veterans live with invisible war wounds like post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, depression, or anxiety.

Warriors Set Free, a division of Set Free Ministries, points wounded warriors to healing in Christ.

Your mission isn’t over; you still have a role to play. We need you. Your fellow veterans need you.
(Graphic, caption courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

“We know veterans are hurting, and they’re trying just about anything they can to deal with their pain. Then they go, ‘Well, maybe I’ll try faith; maybe I’ll try Jesus’,” WSF Director and Army vet Steve Prince says.

“We need prayer to connect to them in that time, at that moment, and we need an introduction.”

The Lord is doubling Warriors Set Free’s impact and reach through a recent expansion. Along with a residential program for veterans, WSF partners with the Army Chaplain Corps to help active-duty members.

Right now, the Army Chaplain Corps is studying WSF methodology and results. “Once that [study] publishes, that’ll be open to the entire Army. So, somebody at Fort Hood, Texas, [could] read about this study a year from now, call us up and say, ‘Will you come to train my staff?’” Prince says.

“We will be training active-duty chaplains how to do what we do: bring freedom in Christ to active-duty service members who are, just like veterans, at high risk for suicide.”

Warriors Set Free needs help from prayer warriors. “Please, please, please pray for these hurting veterans,” Prince requests.

“Pray God would move them to grow closer to Him and not try some of these other things that don’t work.”

Additionally, Warriors Set Free is a Christian nonprofit and depends on gifts. Support WSF here.

“I love the $10 a month donation. That’s where my heart is; I love the giant donations too, but for a little old lady somewhere to send us $10 a month means a ton [because] I know she’s praying for us,” Prince says.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Diego González/Unsplash.

Steve Prince leads Warriors Set Free, a division of Set Free Ministries. Based in West Michigan, Warriors Set Free helps veterans from all branches. Learn more about their approach here.

“As a current member of the Army, Warriors Set Free is important because I know that I don’t have to combat lies and fear alone.”
(Graphic, caption courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

“Bringing Jesus to veterans helps them with PTSD, suicide, depression. We assist them, we guide them in healing from the past and winning those battles,” Prince says.

Last year, the Lord put a more expansive vision on leaders’ hearts. “Michigan has no active duty posts at all. So, we started praying about it, and all roads led to Georgia,” Prince says.

“Out of faith, we got on a plane, went down to Atlanta, started meeting people, and connecting with different organizations.”

Today, Warriors Set Free has one full-time staff member in Atlanta, and “in December, a man in Holland, Michigan, connected us with Terry Tucker, who runs a property [in Atlanta] that’s going to house 400 veterans,” Prince says.

“They’re doing complete (holistic) care, and they were missing the spiritual element, so we’re going to be a part of their collective impact.”

Plus, “God keeps opening doors. A week ago, we did a Zoom call with a colonel who’s in charge of finding new approaches within the (Army) Chaplain Corps, and they’re going to study the freedom appointments specific to veterans,” Prince says.

“We already know it works. This will be scientific proof to the Army, to the other branches, that freedom in Christ [works] and warriors who are set free are set free indeed.”

Ask the Lord to strengthen and sustain Prince and other believers on the Warriors Set Free team. The ministry is growing at an incredible pace. Support Warriors Set Free here.

“I’m holding on and praying and telling the Lord, ‘this is more than I can handle,’ so He better be driving. I’ll sit down in the backseat, shut up, and do what I’m told,” Prince says with a laugh.

“We want to be in the will of God; we want to be going where He leads us and not forcing things on our own,” he adds.

“As He opens doors, we need the courage and the wisdom to go through them.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of israel palacio/Unsplash.

Super Ball and Human Trafficking

This year the Super Bowl is being held at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Here the New England Patriots will play the Los Angeles Rams. Per CNBC Make It, over a million people are expected to pass through Atlanta for the Super Bowl.

But, did you know the Super Bowl is one of the biggest events of the year for human trafficking, particularly sex trafficking in the United States?

Atlanta, Georgia (Photo by Jessica Furtney on Unsplash)

Human trafficking is the second fastest growing industry worldwide. It comes right behind the illegal drug industry. Each year, human traffickers profit $150,000,000,000 from exploiting vulnerable people.

Slavery has been around for centuries. But today, it takes a different form than what some history books might portray.

Modern-day slavery can look like human trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, child marriage, and more. This is happening in nearly every country, including the United States.

What is trafficking? The legal definition per the Merriam-Webster dictionary is below.

Human Trafficking: noun : the business of inducing a person to perform labor or engage in prostitution through force, fraud, or coercion.

About 40 million people worldwide are slaves. Of that number, 24 million (or 60 percent) are women and children. To break it down even further, 12 million (or 30 percent); are underage children. The average age of a slave—12 years old. And every 30 seconds, someone else becomes a slave, too.

Find more facts on modern-day slavery here.

The Freedom Challenge’s Super Bowl Prayer Challenge

(Photo courtesy of the Freedom Challenge via Facebook)

Atlanta is already a hotbed for human trafficking because it hosts events throughout the year and is home to one of the busiest airports in the world.

But this year, the Freedom Challenge (an initiative through Operation Mobilization) is participating with It’s a Penalty and the International Institute of Human Trafficking during the Super Bowl.

It’s a Penalty is a campaign working to use major sporting events to raise awareness and globally prevent abuse, exploitation, and trafficking.

During Super Bowl weekend, the Freedom Challenge is inviting people to do one of the easiest and more powerful things they can do to end human trafficking—they’re inviting folks to pray.

How?

With the Super Bowl Prayer Challenge 2019.

Through praise and worship, the Freedom Challenge is encouraging people to trust God and through that trust, face modern-day slavering by putting it in His hands.

The Super Bowl Prayer Challenge 2019 begins February 2 at 9:00 am to 8:30 pm and will resume February 3 at 1:30 pm until 4:30 pm.

“This strategic partnering with the international institute of human trafficking in Atlanta and ‘It’s a Penalty’ around the Super Bowl and creating that prayer challenge where we’ll be having two full days of very focused long prayer, I would one, welcome anyone who would want to participate in that way and two, prayer for that,” Director of the Freedom Challenge Tracy Daugherty says.

Get Involved

Will you join in a time of intercession through prayer and worship and ask for protection, prevention, and the rescue of those enslaved by human trafficking?

Learn more about the Super Bowl Prayer Challenge 2019 here.

Passionate about ending human trafficking? The Freedom Challenge is rolling out new initiatives for women in 2019. Find them here.

“I think the prayer is that God continues to build a movement of women who care, who are resourceful, who are passionate, and who are willing to use their body, their soul, their spirit for the benefit of other women and children. And that is our prayer and we’re not stopping until we see a difference made,” Daugherty says.

For an insider look at the Freedom Challenge, click here.

(Header photo courtesy of the Freedom Challenge via Facebook)

The Passion 2011 conference stems from a nearly 15-year history of conferences meant to engage college-age Christians in "worship and prayer for spiritual awakening in this generation."

The first Passion conference in 1997 arose out of Louie Giglio's Choice Ministries, a campus-based student ministry at Baylor University. Within ten years after its founding in 1985, the ministry had grown so large that it gave birth to a vision for a national conference for passionate young followers of Christ.

Over the past 14 years, the conference has grown rapidly from hosting 2,000 in '97 to 22,000 students and leaders in 2007. Passion has consistently hosted the 22,000 students a year from every U.S. state since then. The January 1-4, 2011 conference, going on right now, is sold out.

Passion 2011 is focused as always around the Isaiah 26:8 proclamation: "Yes, Lord, walking in the way of Your laws, we wait for You; Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts."

This year's Atlanta conference features the musical talents of Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band, Charlie Hall, Matt Redman, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill, Tenth Avenue North, Lecrae and Gungor. Speakers include Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Beth Moore, John Piper, Andy Stanley, David Platt and Gabe Lyons.

In addition to the numerous worship and break out sessions that have occurred over the last three days, students have also had the opportunity to mingle with representatives from several Christian ministries. One featured ministry this year is CURE International.

At Passion 2010, CURE asked attendees to help provide surgeries for 50 children in Afghanistan with cleft lip conditions. 100 children will receive treatment, thanks to the group's response.

This year, CURE hopes for similar results for 50 infants in Uganda. Often in Uganda, children born with hydrocephalus are deemed as cursed and thrown into the river to appease the spirits. (Watch a CURE video exposing the mindset here.) CURE continues to go into tribes, showing them Christ's love and explaining that their children can, in fact, be healed. The ministry is asking Passion attendees to help them continue this process and perform more surgeries to save more children.

Pray that Passion students would be moved to help these voiceless infants through CURE. Pray that the Lord would use the conference to build leaders in the faith and to raise up a generation passionate about the Truth and eager to spread it. Pray that as students go home tonight and as the spiritual high from the event dies down, the commitments they made at Passion would remain firm and lives would truly be changed.

You can read more about what's been going on at Passion this week at their blog.

About
four years before, absence from a drug treatment program and the discovery of
marijuana in her home had resulted in Frank losing custody of her three oldest
children. Frank was determined not to
lose a chance to do better for Isaiah and Jayden. She called a 1-800 crisis number affiliated
with Bethany Christian Services and found a lifeline in the form of Safe
Families for Children.  

Safe
Families provides temporary homes for children while their parents focus on
resolving issues that threaten family stability, such as sudden loss of
employment or housing, post-partum depression, acute illness, physical injury, financial
instability, relational stress, or teenage pregnancy. The idea is to help parents resolve crises
before they escalate, children are hurt, and families break up.

"I cried all night thinking about
being away from my boys," Frank recalled about her decision to place her boys with
Safe Families. "But I was suffering. I
knew what I had to do: I told myself I needed to take this opportunity to find
a job to be with my kids and to make things better." Jayden was placed in one family, and Isaiah
in another, with the Gordons. Later, the
Gordons went out of town, and Isaiah came to live with the Oakes family. 

Bethany
screens and trains the host families, who not only care for the children but
also build supportive relationships with their parents. In Frank's case, the Gordon and Oakes families
helped her find an apartment and revise her resume, as well as providing
encouragement throughout the job hunt. 

"I think I would have felt like
giving up if it weren't for the emotional support," Frank said. "They were not judgmental. They were there to
help."

The program did not burden Frank
with strict requirements, but it did put her on a treatment plan that set goals
such as finding a job and daycare for her kids. For three weeks, she spent 10 hours every day looking for a job. She found a telemarketing job that pays $25
for every subscription she sells. 

"Christina has a really great
personality, and she has a lot going for her," said host mother Mary Oakes. "I
know the blessings we bestow on her, she will bestow on someone else."

The average stay of a child with
Safe Families is 45 days. During that
time, the parents are kept in touch with their child and kept up-to-date on how they
are doing.  Host mother
Kelly Gordon said this communication is key to helping the child's stay go
smoothly. 

"The parents will tell me what
the routine is," she explained. "Some
kids like to take a bath right before bed. Some kids like it when you sing to
them before bedtime."

The program began in Chicago in
2002 and has now spread to 14 different locations. In Atlanta, the state government covers the
$199,700 annual administrative costs but plays no role in running the
program. 

"What's not to like about it?" said
B.J. Walker, commissioner of the state Department of Human Services, whose
office oversees state child welfare services. "I think most people would love
to help someone who has been trying to do the right thing and they stumble. .
.These children have not been abused or neglected."

To learn more how you could make
a difference in the life of a needy family, visit http://www.safe-families.org. 

Some 21,000 students from 49 states and 32 countries have gathered for a week of worship and dedication to discipleship and ministry. Organizers are asking students to reach into the pickets and give what they can to help people across the globe.

They hope to raise money for a variety of projects from wells in Africa to translation work in Indonesia. They are hoping to raise some $500,000.

Several musicians are performing this week, including The David Crowder Band, Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman. Speakers include Rev. John Piper and Beth Moore.