OCTOBER  2008 NEWSLETTER                                                                                          

Our next Living Waters session
will be starting on October 13th. 

Living Waters is a Christ-centered discipleship/ministry program for men and women seeking healing in areas of sexual and relational brokenness including pornography addiction, sexual addiction, homosexuality, sexual ambivalence, childhood sexual abuse, transgender issues, and difficulty in establishing and sustaining healthy intimacy in relationships.

Meetings are held every Monday night from 7pm – 9pm at The Fisherman’s Net Church in Utica.  The program runs for twenty weeks, and includes worship, a large group teaching time, and small group ministry with an emphasis on healing prayer.

Read some powerful testimonies from participants of the Living Waters program on the Life Stories section of this website.

Dear Friends

As far as I know, this is the first Reconciliation Ministries dedicated to caring for pastors, missionaries, and church leaders.  According to various resources, 60-70% of pastors do not have someone they consider a close friend or confidant, 45% have experienced depression or burnout and desire a leave of absence from ministry, 60-70% are more insecure now than when they first entered the ministry, and 80% of ministers say their family is adversely affected by their ministry.  With Christian workers facing such challenges, it’s easy to see how they may also be susceptible to sexual sins and addictions. In 2004, Christianity Today wrote that 37% of pastors say cyber-porn is a current struggle.  As congregation members, it’s so easy to forget that our ministers are people just like us who struggle with life’s pressures and temptations.

Reconciliation Ministries and many other organizations are here to help those in vocational ministry.  Inside this month’s newsletter is an article from Dick Sochacki of Barnabas Ministries, an international ministry dedicated to helping ministers and their families.  We at Reconciliation Ministries are also here to help Christian leaders with confidential, Biblical counseling and ministry.  Having been in full-time ministry for over 15 years, serving as a pastor, teacher, counselor, and in short-term missions work, I’ve experienced many challenges and trials along the way.  There are times when leaders need an Aaron and a Hur to hold their arms up during the battle.  (Exodus 17)

If you are a pastor, missionary, or church worker and you are struggling with emotional issues or sexual sin, I urge you to reach out for help and call Reconciliation Ministries at 586.739.5114 or Barnabas Ministries at 586.465.9072.  All calls with be kept strictly confidential.  If you are a church leader who knows a minister who needs help, please pass this newsletter along to him/her and encourage him/her to reach out.  I also encourage you to spend some time praying for your pastor and his/her family.  We all need each other.

Dan Hitz, Director, Reconciliation Ministries

Sexual and Emotional Healing for Church Leaders
Dan Hitz                                                                                                 
Dan was in the ministry for eight years while still struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction.  He entered Living Waters as a participant in 1999 after a “Jacob wrestling with God” season in his own life.  Dan has been the executive director of Reconciliation Ministries since 2003, is an ordained minister through the International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies, and is a limited licensed professional counselor.  He has served in leadership trainings and seminars in Southeast Asia.

The Lord has been planting an intense burden in my heart for some time now for pastors, missionaries, and church leaders who are struggling with their own hidden sexual temptations, sin and emotional pain.  They are laying down their lives for those around them and yet dying on the inside.  While all church members experience spiritual warfare, Satan seems to have special tactical weapons designed to take out ministry leaders.  The effect on their families is devastating.  The spiritual cost is intense.  The ripple effects in their ministry are enormous.  When a leader falls, it puts his/her entire family, walk, and work at risk.

Christian workers may have very limited resources for help.  Finances are tight. Missionaries are often isolated in third world countries with limited opportunities for counseling or pastoral care.  Pastors are hesitant to go to their own denominations for help and leery of participating in group settings where they may be seen and heard by others in their congregation.  Without safe, confidential, Biblical help, many in the ministry grow weary, burn out, and fall deeper into sin; leaving their families and those they minister to an emotional train wreck.

For the first eight years of my ministry, I was trapped by intense temptations towards same-sex attraction and emotional dependency.  With this internal struggle came hopelessness and depression.  Often I felt like I was trying to minister to others with a chain around my own neck.  I could speak from the pulpit and touch so many hearts but could find very few whom I could confide in, and no one who understood my internal struggle.  At the very lowest point in my ministry, I wanted God to take me home and end this struggle before I hurt those I loved the most and those whom God sent me to serve.

It doesn’t have to be this way.  God is raising up an army of skilled, confidential, Biblical warriors to walk side by side with wounded leaders and help them find the healing they need.  Organizations like Barnabas Ministries and others were created to be a refuge for leaders in need.  Reconciliation Ministries is also available for ministers struggling with emotional pain and sexual sin.  Services include individual counseling and prayer ministry for those within traveling distance to this ministry, and webcam or phone counseling for those unable to receive counseling in person.

As I received healing in my own heart, my wife gained a “new husband” and my kids gained “a new dad”.  My internal pain no longer spilled over onto my family or those I was ministering to.  I began to walk into the freedom and healing in Christ that I helped others to obtain, but somehow seemed to be beyond my grasp.  This wouldn’t have happen without members of His army who had a heart to help me as a pastor fight my own personal battles while leading my family and serving the Body of Christ.

If you are a pastor, missionary, or church leader who has been hurting on the inside and wishing you had a safe place to go for help with someone who understands the pressures of ministry, family, and sexual temptation; don’t struggle in isolation any longer.  Call Dan Hitz at Reconciliation Ministries for help at 586.739.5114, or e-mail Dan at dhitz@recmin.org.  All correspondence is strictly confidential.

The Work of Barnabas Ministries – Dick Sochacki   
Pastor Dick and Dee Sochacki of Barnabas Ministries serve as gatekeepers or agents matching hurting church leaders to the resources that can provide the ministry they need, nationwide. If you are a pastor or missionary and find yourself burned out, wounded, hurting, confused, weary, in a problem situation, or are just in need of rest and refreshment, please contact them at 586.465.9072, e-mail them at rlsochacki@cs.com, or visit www.barnabas-ministries.com.

Beginning in the early 90’s, an unheralded move of God was happening. God was planting seeds of concern in certain people, for the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of those in the forefront of ministry. The Lord was gathering people of varying gifts to reach out to hurting church leaders and their families. 

In those early days, I recall sharing with others our vision for Barnabas Ministries as an outreach to hurting, wounded, burned out, sinning, and troubled pastors. For many, it was it was a new revelation; yes, ministers really do hurt.

I teach a seminar on the church as a “school, temple, and hospital.” This comes from Matt 4:23 “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” In using the hospital as imagery, we can see the church doing what Jesus did. 

We live in troubled times. Economic, moral, cultural, and spiritual pressures overwhelm us. Stress seems almost normal and expected. Though we pretend otherwise, the church especially is filled with the ‘walking wounded.’ Suffering is far more normal than we will admit, (even in America).

It’s impossible to ignore Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3:12  “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” We forget that pastors and church leaders are also among the hurting. Their congregations take them for granted, rarely appreciating the truth that they are targets, and many are suffering as much as those to whom they minister.  Despite facing the normal trials of living in a fallen world, their burdens are often multiplied by their people, who demand much more than they can give. 

Marva Dawn, in her book “The Sense of Call” points out that the church is unrealistic in its qualifications for a pastor. She summarizes so many pastoral calls into: intensely charismatic personalities, colossal skills for preaching, supernatural abilities for attracting youth, zealous commitment to growth, and an unflappable dexterity in getting along with everyone. She further says that what the church truly needs is “a pastor who will model godliness in suffering, who can teach people how to suffer, and who will willingly walk along with those who are suffering.” 

Chuck Swindoll recently said that when God wants to do an impossible task, he takes an impossible person, and crushes him. Sadly, church people ignore this. They just dump their hurts on the man or woman God has given them as a gift. These leaders need help and encouragement too. After all, where can they go? Many pastors have told me that their denominational bureaucracies are fearful places to seek help, because of the impact their problems could have on future appointments.

Focus on the Family recently gave some figures showing that over 1800 pastors a month are leaving their ministry.  Reasons are varied; from poor financial support to difficult boards to embracing sinful acts to unrelieved stress.  Few realize that ministry is a 24/7 activity.  Pastors are hurting.

God certainly knows this. As the world around us deteriorates, He is supplying a spiritual medical core (Red Cross) to bring healing to His suffering servants. Ministerial Care Givers have been around since the time of Christ. Early church fathers seemed always available to those called of God into service. 

However, this is the first time I’ve seen a united effort to coordinate this care. This year marks the 20th anniversary of CareGivers. Hundreds of people have identified and drawn strength from the group. Yes, the internet is a wonderful reservoir for ministry to ministers, but indifferent when it comes to trust. Focus on the Family’s Pastoral Care Directory is a huge help, carefully screening and providing lists of qualified resources. Ministries such as ours supply more personal referrals. The need is growing.

My wife and I are blessed to still be actively involved in the Lord’s work, encouraging pastors in their call.   Barnabas Ministries of Michigan is a threefold outreach.  We are a referral center for those in church leadership, in contact with both professional and personal helps to church leaders.  Counselors, prayer warriors, vacation and retreat centers; all are available to ministers and their families.  We also do seminars, retreats, and marriage encounters.  Finally, we do much one on one mentoring.     

There are many who believe we are in the last days. We need to seriously seek the Lord on behalf of our church leaders, and especially pray that the Lord will provide even more ministry to them.

If you need help call...

    Barnabas Ministries  586.465.9072

   Reconciliation Ministries 586.739.5114