These experiences leave mental and emotional scars that only Jesus can heal. Warriors Set Free, a division of Set Free, helps veterans and first responders find freedom in Christ.

“John 10:10 sums up what happens in a freedom appointment. Jesus says Satan – the thief – comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but He has come to give you life fully or abundantly,” Warriors Set Free Director Steve Prince says.

“It’s all about Jesus and destroying the work of the enemy.”

Hope and healing

Through one-day freedom appointments and four-day “Warriors Battle” freedom events, Warriors Set Free connects the hurting with the Healer. Learn more here.

Are you a military veteran or first responder struggling with your faith, identity, or feelings of loss? When you’re ready to talk, we’re here to listen.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

After unpacking the trauma of their past, “More times than not, people will say, ‘I just feel lighter.’ One guy [said], ‘It literally is physical; I feel like I weigh less than I did when I came in here,’” Prince says.

“They feel the weight of the pain of the past, of all the trauma they’ve been carrying, and we get to see God heal their spirits and destroy the work of the devil.”

The ministry plans to host four “Warriors Battle” events in Michigan, Kentucky, and Georgia in 2026. “We have veterans come from all over the nation for those,” Prince says.

The new year also brings new territory for Warriors Set Free. Learn more here. “We have two women’s events for both female veterans and the wives of veterans, because they go to war too when we deploy,” Prince says.

“We’re honored to be a part of women getting involved and coming to know the Lord and getting healing from their past as well.”

Participants at both events follow a four-step healing process called “TRIP.” Learn more here.

“A friend of mine helped me develop an acronym, and it’s the word TRIP because I love the phrase, ‘Everybody’s on their own faith journey,’” Prince says. “So TRIP is truth, relationships, identity, and purpose.”

Volunteers play a vital role

Warriors Set Free depends on people like you to fulfill its calling. “The volunteer base is the strength of our mission,” Prince says.

If you want to join us in serving your fellow brothers and sisters, reach out at info@warriorssetfree.org
(Photo, caption courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

“[When] volunteering in a freedom appointment, you are presenting the Gospel and discipling someone,” he continues.

“You literally sit down at an appointment and fulfill the Great Commission.”

Connect with Warriors Set Free here to learn how you can help a veteran or first responder find freedom in Christ. Alternatively, you can send a message through one of the ministry’s social media channels, such as Facebook or X.

“When someone goes to a freedom appointment, we destroy the devil’s work,” Prince says.

“We confess, repent, forgive, and really undo a lot of the schemes of the enemy. And then we get to replace that with the fruit of the Spirit — with love, joy, and peace.”

Header and story images courtesy of Warriors Set Free. 

Steve Prince from Warriors Set Free, a ministry of Set Free, says, “the universal veteran experience is facing the real evil of combat and the worst of humanity”.

Recently, the ministry connected with Ukrainian veterans to help equip them to guide and support others. This includes suicide prevention, mentorship, and practical pathways toward healing.

Prince explains that for Ukrainian veterans, the transition home can be just as difficult. The soldier may feel lonely in the church and misunderstood in his feelings.

It will take many years for Ukraine to recover from war, especially in people minds and hearts; Kyiv park (photo courtesy of Nadiia Yahaha via Pexels)

“Typically, it takes a warrior mindset and someone who’s had a similar experience to be able to relate, communicate and disciple someone who’s been in combat,” he adds.

That’s why churches are being encouraged to lean on experienced veterans — men and women who understand combat and are grounded in faith. With their help, the goal is to walk alongside Ukraine’s defenders.

As Prince puts it, returning warriors need help so “that they will be able to process the loss of friends in combat, the tragedy of it, and the hell they’ve seen on the battlefield.”

It is important to understand, Prince adds, that unless someone feels ready to hear a warrior’s testimony — possibly including graphic details, painful memories, and hard parts of the story — it’s better not to get involved until they are truly prepared.

“Pray about that before you volunteer to go deep with them and help them unpack their story,” Prince adds. Not to cause more harm.

There is an urgent need for prayer as soldiers carry the heaviest burdens of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while defending their people. Equally important is the need for Ukrainian churches to learn how to be safe, supportive environments for their defenders.

As you pray for Ukrainian soldiers:

“Pray that the Holy Spirit will heal them of their trauma, and that they will be able to return to a state of peace when the Lord brings them back home,” says Prince.

Visit Warrior Set Free website if you want to learn more about helping veterans and about the Freedom Appointments ministry.

Header photo courtesy of RDNE Stock project via Pexels.

Their signature event, the Warriors Battle, is a three-day, camp-style retreat aimed at helping men confront the past and walk in biblical freedom.

Steve Prince, director of Warriors Set Free, says, “We’re training them up to win life’s battles. The war has been won. Jesus has conquered everything — but we have battles to fight to live this life victoriously.”

The ministry welcomes veterans, first responders, and even civilians—if they bring a veteran with them. The retreat follows an acronym called TRIP: truth, relationships, identity, and purpose.

Warriors Battle retreat (Photo courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

“We teach biblical principles to overcome suicidal thoughts [and] PTSD symptoms,” says Prince. “We have them tell their story, apply biblical principles of confess, repent, forgive, and we get to watch God help them unpack the pain from their past.”

The retreat’s impact is often immediate. “We have wives who are shocked when their husbands come home and they notice the difference from day one,” Prince says. “We encourage the guys, ‘Don’t go home and tell your wife that you’re different. Live it out, be present, love your wife, spend time, serve.’”

One man told Prince he wouldn’t have made it to his 25th anniversary without what he learned through Warriors Set Free.

Another veteran, Jeremiah, accepted Christ at the retreat and began praying for his estranged son. Prince says four days later, Jeremiah’s son texted him — angrily. “Jeremiah is like, ‘You’re right. I was wrong.’ In his humility and in his honesty, his son wanted to reconnect…. God restored that relationship because of Jeremiah’s obedience.”

Warriors Set Free also offers one-day Freedom Appointments in person or over video call. “It doesn’t matter where the warrior, the veteran, the first responder is — we can set up a video appointment and share what we do.”

(Image courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

Upcoming Warriors Battle retreats are posted at warriorssetfree.org/battle.

“If you have a veteran in your life that’s hurting, first pray for them,” Prince urges. “Then check out Warrior Set Free and see if they’re willing to connect with us.”

Header photo courtesy of

“We guide veterans and first responders in building their faith, healing from the past, and winning life’s battles,” says Steve Prince with Set Free.

During these four-day weekends, veterans receive teaching from Set Free staff and volunteers, and space to be alone with God. 

“These weekends, one of the first things we tell participants is ‘We want you to be selfish.’ We carry their bags, we serve their meals, we serve their drinks — we try [to] show them that they can receive as well as serve,” says Prince.

“The goal is to set the table for them to have very real, authentic, intimate interactions with God. He does what He does — He changes lives, He really transforms men.”

Both men’s retreats and women’s retreats are led by other veterans. 

“We really are deliberate on showing them how much God loves them. We share our own story, pretty raw, which allows them to share their stories and be open and honest about who they are and what they’ve been through,” Prince says. 

Ask God to guide the staff and volunteers in the truth of His Word. 

“We need prayer. We are destroying the enemy’s work,” Prince says. “Pray for the next veteran that hasn’t yet reached out to us.”

Connect with this ministry to veterans and first responders on Facebook, or contact Warriors Set Free Georgia Director Eric Brew directly at eric@warriorssetfree.org. Learn more about this ministry based in Michigan and Georgia at warriorssetfree.org. 

Header photo courtesy of Warriors Set Free.

75% of post-9/11 veterans self-identify as having PTSD.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

“It is pretty apparent through the national suicide rate that we’re carrying things that we just shouldn’t be carrying,” says Eric Brew, a veteran and the director of Warriors Set Free Georgia, which is a ministry of Set Free.

According to data gathered from 2001 to 2021, the national suicide rate was twice as high among veteran adults as is was among non-veteran adults. (More on that here.)

“We want to spend time with these guys and help them to figure out how to empty that rucksack, lay stuff at the foot of the cross, and to walk away from it,” Brew says. 

This is the fourth Warriors Battle gathering since the Georgia division of Warriors Set Free started last year. From October 23–26, the group (all men) will deal squarely with truth, relationships, identity and purpose in a God-centered way. 

One important thing is that they’ll do it together. 

“We don’t just tell someone that they should lay things at the foot of the cross, and we don’t just tell them how. We actually walk through it, hand in hand; we stand shoulder to shoulder with them while they do it,” Brew says. 

“Christ Himself said healthy people don’t need a hospital, right? This is not about getting ourselves right. This is about an opportunity to come and have your heavenly Father meet you right where you are.”

Do you want to see God touch more peoples’ lives? Brew says there are multiple ways that you can be part of the ongoing stories with Warriors Set Free. 

“The first [way] is not only the simplest, but it’s also the most heartfelt, and that is we want people to pray over us,” Brew says.

Warriors Set Free needs strong believers from all generations, services, and backgrounds.
(Photo courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

“Pray that hurting veterans, hurting first responders, people who have got roadblocks between them and their Heavenly Father, might just find their way to us so that we can simply present an opportunity for them to have a face-to-face encounter with their Father, to do business with God and to stand on this side of freedom.”

If you are a veteran or first responder who needs to talk, get in touch with Eric Brew directly at eric@warriorssetfree.org.

Connect with Warriors Set Free Georgia on Facebook, or learn more about their ministry based in Michigan and Georgia at warriorssetfree.org.

Header image courtesy of Warriors Set Free.

Eric Brew is the director of Warriors Set Free Georgia, a ministry of Set Free, based on the western edge of the state. He says the storm swung east of them and hit hard as it went north. 

“I think we’d be remiss if we didn’t say we need to be praying, right? Some folks have lost everything, so asking God for His peace and His provision to cover them is first and foremost,” Brew says. 

“Secondly, I think that we need to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to step out in faith and offer help, comfort and some practical assistance to those in need.” 

More than 160 people have lost their lives from Helene, at least 25 from Georgia. That count is feared to go up as rescue efforts continue. In the meantime, consider how you can help. It’s going to be a long rebuilding process. 

“We’re going to continue [the] mission that the Lord’s given us and then figure out ways that we can get involved to help those who have struggled [after Helene],” Brew says. 

“If there [are] any veterans, active duty, or first responders out there that want to sit down and have a conversation about some of the things that they’ve seen during this devastation, we’d love to stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters, love on them and assist them in finding ways to lay things at the foot of the Cross.” 

Connect with Warriors Set Free Georgia on Facebook, or get in touch with Eric Brew directly at eric@warriorssetfree.org. Learn more about this ministry based in Michigan and Georgia at warriorssetfree.org. 

Header photo: Georgia National Guard 1st Sgt. Michelle Abbot, senior enlisted leader with the Columbus-based Alpha Company, 876th Engineer Support Company, 878th Engineer Battalion, 648th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade gives route clearance guidance to her Soldiers at the Augusta Readiness Center in Augusta, Georgia, Sept. 28, 2024. (Photo and caption courtesy of Georgia National Guard via Wikimedia Commons)

“Veterans have all the same life trauma that civilians experience,” says Steve Prince, Director of Warriors Set Free, a division of Set Free.

“But then on top of that, we’ve asked these young men and women to go off and, at a minimum, leave their family for long periods of time, and on the extreme end, to kill bad guys and risk their lives.”

Warriors Set Free uses the acronym TRIP to describe how it helps veterans and first responders discover and live freedom through Christ. Learn more about Warriors Set Free’s approach here.

The “T” in TRIP stands for “truth.” “We focus on biblical truth because there are a lot of versions of ‘truth’ that aren’t accurate and, therefore, not even true,” Prince says.

For example, “A lot of veterans and first responders believe that if there was a tragedy during their service, it was their fault. And that’s simply not true; these individuals have volunteered to run towards the fire and combat, and bad things will happen.”

(Photo courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

The “R” and “I” in TRIP stand for “relationships” and “identity.” “Your highest highs and your lowest lows will come from relationships,” Prince says.

“Your identity is how you view yourself. We focus heavily on your identity in Christ, but typically, for military veterans and first responders, we put our identity in our career and job.”

Finally, “P” stands for “purpose.” “Some guys are retired [from military service] at 38 or 40 years old, and they still have quite a bit of life in front of them,” Prince notes.

“Making disciples is way, way, way more important than anything we did in our career.”

Use the buttons at the bottom of the page to share this report with a veteran in your life. Then, encourage that veteran to connect with Warriors Set Free.

Header and story images courtesy of Set Free.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testified Monday about security lapses leading up to the shooting, but lawmakers received few answers to their many questions. On Tuesday, Cheatle resigned from her post.

Grief and frustration remain high in the first responder community. Hundreds of firefighters, police, and EMS from Pennsylvania and beyond gathered last week to honor the shooting’s sole casualty, fire chief Corey Comperatore.

A fatal shot struck Comperatore as he shielded his family when gunfire began at the rally.

“When one of your own dies, it’s hard because you’re so close. You have the strongest relationships with the people you spend the most time with,” says Warriors Set Free Director Steve Prince, describing the tight-knit relationships among first responders.

(Photo courtesy of Eric Mclean/Unsplash)

First responders develop these strong bonds based on shared experiences.

“People [who] put on those uniforms go from the worst moment of one person’s life to the worst moment of another person’s life every shift.”

Sometimes, these experiences lead to secondary trauma. Warriors Set Free, a veteran and first responder-focused division of Set Free, helps struggling responders find freedom and healing in Christ. More about that here.

For example, one first responder “showed up to a car accident, and there were multiple people [needing] help. The person he worked on lived, and the others did not,” Prince says.

“We talked through that, and I said, ‘God knew who would live and who would die that day. If it weren’t for you, that one person might not have made it,’” he continues.

“‘If you [had] made another decision, all four of them might have passed.’”

Making life-or-death decisions is a heavy burden. Pray that first responders will have God’s wisdom and protection as they help people in need.

Describing an example prayer, Prince says, “‘Lord, if there’s a firefighter [or] policeman in danger tonight, I ask for Your divine protection. I ask that You would guide them to pull over the correct car that has a criminal in it who’s doing bad things so that the innocent can be saved from evil.’”

Header image is a representative stock photo depicting U.S. firefighters. Photo courtesy of Styves Exantus/Pexels.

Trump was shot in the ear in the attack. Additionally, two rally attendees were seriously injured, and one was killed. The person who died was Corey Comperatore, a volunteer firefighter who was shot while shielding his family.

Donald Trump ushered off the stage by US Secret Service after taking a bullet through the ear. (Photo courtesy of Evan Vucci – Original publication: https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-photos-secret-service-rushing-blood-ear-2024-7Immediate source: https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-photos-secret-service-rushing-blood-ear-2024-7, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77350262)

For American citizens, the incident was a shocking event. However, for military service members, law enforcement officers, and veterans, the attack had a unique and profound impact.

Steve Prince with Warriors Set Free, a division of Set Free Ministries, recalls, “I got a notification on my phone, and I was in a grocery store and I was highly upset…. At that point, we didn’t know if he was dead or hit or not. It was an odd moment for me because people that hadn’t heard were in this ‘everything’s normal’ state.

“I know that assassinations have started World Wars. So I immediately go into a combat mindset of, okay, what could happen next? If this is a coordinated attack, are there other people attacking other places in a 9/11 scenario? It instantly brought me back to a tactical mindset of evaluate your environment, look around, make good decisions, and expect the worst and prepare for that.”

Available evidence points to this being a lone-wolf attack. But more information continues to emerge about the leadership and security lapses that allowed the attack to occur.

“We’re all trained to think like the enemy,” says Prince, a veteran himself. “If we were to get an attack, where would we set up? You put your mindset in the enemy’s head of like, ‘If I knew what I knew about us, where would I set up?’ Then you go and you take out that opportunity.”

Prince says through the ministry of Warriors Set Free, he often talks with veterans and law enforcement who struggle in the aftermath of events that end in tragedy or near-tragedy — due to either personal error, red tape from leadership, or other circumstances outside of their control.

The weight of guilt, trauma, and grief can sometimes be too much to bear. Warriors Set Free steps in and bears up these veterans, law enforcement, and military personnel with the unwavering support of biblical truth while helping them create a support system.

(Photo courtesy of Martin Jernberg/Unsplash)

Prince says, “I’ve been in houses with intoxicated veterans with firearms on the table, and we’re having the conversation. In that moment, I get to be a part of that person’s personal protection team. I’m there to protect them from themselves and God shows up and the Holy Spirit has given me words to say in an effort to be that guy who lays my body in the way in an effort to save a brother”

Amidst conversations surrounding the shooting of President Trump, Prince says it emphasizes the critical need to pray for our law enforcement and military personnel who put their lives on the line to confront evil.

“It’s our responsibility and their responsibility to fight that evil nose-to-nose…. When most people run from the gunfire, first responders and military run towards it,” says Prince.

“When we pray for law enforcement and you think about the worst places that the worst times, that’s where they have to be. Pray for divine protection, pray for divine decision-making, [and] pray for them to be alert.”

Please also pray specifically for Comperatore’s family as they grieve his loss. Ask God to surround and comfort them.

Connect with Warriors Set Free here.

Header photo courtesy of Israel Palacio/Unsplash.

Not all but many of the country’s 16.2 million veterans “are in the fight for their [lives], whether it’s depression, anxiety, suicide, [or] divorce,” says Warriors Set Free director and Army veteran Steve Prince.

“They’re fighting to be happy, healthy, and whole again, based on the trauma they’ve been through.”

A division of Set Free, Warriors Set Free focuses specifically on veterans and first responders. Learn more here.

“We fight alongside them, train and encourage them in the spiritual fight so they can have victory over the spiritual enemy,” Prince says.

“John 10:10 says Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came to give us life and give it fully. That’s what we want for these military veterans and first responders.”

Based in West Michigan, Warriors Set Free started a second branch in Georgia in late 2021. “Michigan doesn’t have any active-duty posts, and veterans don’t flock to Michigan to retire [but] Atlanta is the hub of the South,” Prince says.

“There are over 30,000 veterans in the county that Fort Moore is located in.”

In 2024, Warriors Set Free: Georgia is planning four freedom events for struggling veterans.

(Photo courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

“We call it (the event) ‘Warriors Battle,’ and the [tagline] is ‘You are worth fighting for,’” Prince says.

“I love the idea of taking the physical fight from our physical enemy and bringing it to the spiritual and fighting for these men and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedom.”

Know someone who might benefit from these events? Connect with Warriors Set Free here.

Prayer is the first and best way to help Warriors Set Free, Prince says, but “we [also] love to see people coming alongside and supporting us financially. People give $20 a month; we have people write huge checks; they all matter.”

Give safely online to help Warriors Set Free reach more veterans.

Header and story images courtesy of Warriors Set Free.