• Make friendships
• Show them Jesus
• Lead them to Jesus
• Disciple them until they can walk with Him alone

The Japanese symbol for crisis has two points: problem and opportunity. Therefore, I feel when we reach out to people in their crisis we have the opportunity to show them the love of Christ. In the prison ministry I was involved with we had a saying I incorporated into my life - make a friend, be a friend, lead a friend to Jesus.

One of the great forefathers of psychology, Abraham Maslow, believed that all humans are in pursuit of human goals and needs according to a definite hierarchy: a ladder with many rungs. The lower rungs of the ladder are the fundamental drives for food, shelter, and safety from external threats. The middle rungs are the more precisely human set of needs and goals - the "higher order" needs of dignity, a sense of belonging, and love. At the summit of Maslow's ladder are the highest human aspirations: independence and excellence. He calls this state "self-actualization." Of course, we never reach the top, but the hope of attaining that goal keeps us going. As Christians that goal is to be more like our Savior and that is accomplished when we lead others to Him. We can walk with them until they can walk with Him alone. As Oswald Chambers says, "you have to be the nourishment for other people's souls until they learn to feed on God...Until others learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus directly, they will have to draw on His life through you."

Through discipleship and classes on their bottom-line issues, hurting people will learn how to walk with Jesus and not lean on their own understanding of life. Then, they too can turn around and do the same for another person.

Roger says, "the church has always taken the role of witnessing to the lost seriously, and that is fine as long as the person has no emotional problems. I believe we need to equip called members to reach the segments of our membership who feel disconnected, even those who have been members for a lifetime." Veteran Christians, who have survived life's battles, can be trained and placed with wounded women who:
1) were not raised in Christian homes,
2) have little understanding of God's ways, and,
3) whose wounds go deep.

• The sins of the fathers have reached a drastic dynamic
• Wounded people wound people - they need Jesus
• Wounded healers can help
• Each one can reach one

We understand that the word "dysfunctional" is used much too often. Yet, when we compare pain or dysfunctional homes in many ways we are comparing apples with oranges, and that is impossible. The sins of the fathers have been handed down in certain families in unbearable amounts of torment. Thus, although we cannot compare apples and oranges we can compare apples and we can compare pain.

A cut to the finger is painful, but in a matter of weeks the wound is healed and the scar begins to fade away. However, a knife wound to the heart takes a considerable amount of intensive care and follow-up. When the wound is healed, it leaves a scar. God taught Roger and me that these scars represent complete wholeness and purity in that area. Thus, as Isaiah wrote, our sins (or our wounds) become white as snow.

There are people in our society whose spiritual and emotional wounds are like knife wounds to their very souls. As the church, we have a responsibility to walk with them to wholeness. We believe that once healed, God wants us to remember the pain and allow Him to use our woes as wonderful opportunities for witnessing His amazing grace to others who are hurting and without hope.

• Church Members need Christ
• New Christians need a foundation
• Carnal Christians need to mature
• Mature Christians need to serve

Without a doubt we are experiencing a major revival in our nation. One of the major evidences of revival is when church members begin to recognize their lack of genuine faith in Christ. As volunteers receive training in mentoring they will also recognize that their wounds of existence need to heal and they will begin to allow the living water of God's love to flow from their minds to their hearts.

Few will disagree that new Christians need a firm foundation, but as veteran Christians face the renewal process, even their faith will be strengthened by taking an active role as mentors. In this way two groups of people and their foundation in Christ will be firmly established.

We believe that many mature Christians with the gift of encouragement often do not become Sunday School teachers and their gifts lie dormant for years. With this ministry, these Christians can receive training and begin to operate in the power of their gifts.

Wounded people need to know Jesus cares in the midst of their crisis. They need a "Jesus with skin on" reaching out to them in a mentoring relationship with grace and accountability. People who have walked in the wake of a wounded person and have experienced healing from their wounds of existence remember the pain, but the bitterness is destroyed. With proper training and with the purpose of exalting Christ these people can walk with those who are going down the road where they have already been; equipped with knowledge of how Satan will next attack.

Even people who have not been wounded can be mentors of mercy. Although we may know Jesus personally, there is always room for better understanding of Him and as we grow in the understanding of how He ministered, we will be better equipped to love, as He loves. Each one can indeed reach one.