Illinois Illinois CREDO Recovery BROKEN CHAINS NEWSLETTER Breaking the chains of addiction one day at a time! May 2015 FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT UPCOMING EVENTS LOCAL WEEKENDS MEN’S CREDO #19 May 14-17 2015 Bishop Lane Retreat center Rockford, IL ABUNDANT LIFE TRES DIAS MEN’S WEEKEND #33 Dates to follow 2015 Inspiration Center Walworth, Wisconsin WOMEN’S WEEKEND #33 Dates to follow 2015 Inspiration Center Walworth, Wisconsin CREDO BOARD MEETING ARE HELD THE THIRD TUESDAY OF THE MONTH AT P.A. PETERSON 1311 Parkview Avenue Rockford, IL 61107 ADVISORS TO THE BOARD Terri Parrish [email protected] Ed Boling [email protected] Bobby Woods Salvation Army Mike Hedrick mikehedrick@rockfordrescue mission.org Where was Thomas? I was reading from John 20: 24-29 the other day. It’s the story of Jesus appearing to Thomas. As I read this story I was wondering why wasn’t Thomas with the other disciples? I know they were all scattered at the crucifixion but why didn’t Thomas come back when the others did? He missed all the excitement. Why didn’t the other disciples question where Thomas was? Weren’t they very close, hadn’t they just spent 3 years together. We don’t know the answers to these questions, but if I was in Thomas’s shoes and found out that Jesus had appeared to them and I didn’t get to see it, I think I would have been very hurt and felt left out. I know a lot of time we have people that come to us and they are on “Fire for the Lord”. They have had visions, or had answered prayers and everything seems to be going their way. God is blessing them in everything they do. We feel left out because we feel God should be doing this for us too. Thomas had done the same things as the other disciples yet he felt left out because Jesus had appeared to everyone else but him. I think this is why he said to the other Disciples that “unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it” John 20:25b. How many times do we lash out at people that have received something that we wanted and didn’t get? That’s what Thomas was doing here. He wanted so badly to be a part of the group that was able to say they had seen Jesus. I’m not sure what Thomas did for the next week but Jesus didn’t come back to the disciples for a week. Thomas stayed with them for that time. We know this because it says that a week later Jesus came through the locked doors and stood among them. (John 20:26) And Thomas was with them. Jesus knew Thomas anger, his hurt, and unbelief, so he turned to him and said “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” John 20:27 I don’t think Thomas ever really did touch his hands or put his hand in his side. He know the minute that Jesus spoke to him it was “His Lord and God” I think sometime we forget that God is near us all the time. He sent the Holy Spirit or Comforter to be with us. If we are having trouble seeing Him, we need to look at the things around us and see God in them. If we start focusing on the things God has made or done we can see God too. I love the song we sing on weekends that is called “Have you seen Jesus” Have you seen Jesus my Lord? He's here in plain view. Take a look, open your eyes, He'll show it to you. Have you ever looked at the sunset With the sky mellowing red, And the clouds suspended like feathers Then I say... You've seen Jesus my Lord. It’s time to stop doubting and believe! In His Service Lynn Illinois CREDO Recovery BROKEN CHAINS NEWSLETTER Breaking the chains of addiction one day at a time! May 2015 BOARD of OFFICERS President Lynn Lott [email protected] Vice President Terry Tague [email protected] Secretary Derek Sherman [email protected] Treasurer Randy Reints [email protected] BOARD of DIRECTORS Executive Director Edward Johnson [email protected] Spiritual Director Pastor Anita Stuart-Steva [email protected] Pre-Weekend Tanya Muzzarelli [email protected] Weekend Ron Winkler [email protected] Post Weekend Helen Meier [email protected] Information Tom Miller [email protected] Development Ed Caputo [email protected] Property John Grotjohn [email protected] Anecdotes from Pastor Anita So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 2 Corinthians 5:17 Not all churches observe the season of Lent, but my denomination does. This is a Lenten devotion. A church that I served as a youth director did something different for their children’s sermons. Each week a child received an empty shoebox into which they were to place an object for the next week’s talk. The goal was to try to stump the pastor. One Sunday the child placed a wad of dryer lint in the box. The pastor looked at it, stumped. Then, he remembered that it was the first Sunday of Lent, changed lint to Lent and proceeded to tell the children about this season. Needless to say the child felt the talk was lame because it really wasn’t about lint. Since then I have thought about the relationship between lint and Lent. While I probably wouldn’t have been able to come up with anything on the spot either, I have found a strong connection between the two. Lint is the byproduct of the filtering system of the dryer. As cloth sloughs off tiny fibers they are caught in the filter and create lint. If the filter didn’t catch the lint eventually the dryer would get clogged by the fibers and wouldn’t work properly. Lent is a season when we should take time to look into our hearts and minds to see if there is anything keeping us from a right relationship with God. The tiny fibers of our humanness, our sin clog up the line between God and us. The free gift of grace through Jesus Christ filters these out and we become transformed into people who can serve God more perfectly. We move from death into life. Just like in the dryer this process is ongoing. It doesn’t matter how many times a piece of clothing is dried it will still produce lint. Likewise, until we get to heaven we will have “lint” in our lives clogging our relationship. The season of Lent is the perfect time to look at your life with the filter of God’s grace. Allow God to remove the “lint” in your life and make you a new creation. In everything we do we do it… All for Jesus, 1643 N. Alpine Rd. #179 Rockford Il. 61107 Phone 815 516 3958 [email protected] ILLINOIS CREDO RECOVERY Search for Marketing Manager Illinois Credo Recovery is in need of a person to develop a website, Facebook account, video for promotion, create brochure and format a letter for fund raising. We would like to find someone that could accomplish all of the above but if necessary will consider Individual people to accomplish parts of what is required above. We are willing to compensate for finished products. What Is Credo Recovery? Credo Recovery (CR) is a dynamic FOURTH DAY COMMUNITY established from the Cursillo and Kairos Model. It is designed to help men and women who desire recovery from addiction through the indwelling power of Jesus Christ. Credo is a highly structured community-building method centered upon a team approach to a Weekend Retreat. The Weekend retreat grows out of a strong Pre Weekend Team Formation, and concludes with Bi Monthly Post Weekend follow-up meetings. The ministry is led by lay-persons with assistance from ordained clergy. Credo Recovery (CR) is delivered in facilities labeled as camps, retreat centers, rescue missions, or Adult Rehabilitation Centers like those at the Salvation Army. CR is a team effort that begins with approximately 30 hours of spiritual team formation before engaging the new participants in a 3½ -Day event, usually conducted on a weekend. The 3 and1/2 day Weekend is followed with a planned program of Bi weekly instructional reunions, monthly reunions and weekly prayer and share accountability groups. What Does Credo Recovery Do? The Credo Recovery Movement, like the other flourishing FOURTH DAY Movements, which have sprung from the Cursillo root, are based upon the teachings of Jesus from the New Testament. Credo focuses on seeking intimate friendship with God in order to break unhealthy attachments and addictions. Credo’s goals are similar to all the other Fourth Day Communities formed around the Cursillo Method. Our goals are designed to offer redemption, teach spiritual disciplines for developing personal devotion to God through Jesus Christ and encourage love of self and others through Christian Community. . Credo Recovery is a relative newcomer. Illinois Credo Recovery is a nonprofit organization. ( 501 C3 ) JOB DESCRIPTION FOR MARKET MANAGER • Must be able to create a website for Illinois Credo Recovery and be willing to teach someone how to maintain and update it. • Develop / create a video production. • The video production is to be created to attract donors for fund donations, primarily church’s and Christian organizations. We feel that material such as testimonies and short videos about Credo weekend would be beneficial to us. • Must have the ability to create and or improve our brochure that explains what a Credo weekend is about. • Develop a Facebook page that informs the community about events. • Also experience in working with nonprofit organizations and experience in appealing to public with fund raising letter. These are our main objectives for Illinois Credo Recovery. We would like to have you give us a proposal on how much it would cost and a time frame for each of these objectives. Our priority for these goals to be accomplished is: Facebook, web site, brochure, letter and video. . We have several people willing to give testimonies for a video and also go and do public speaking to promote our organization. If you are interested in helping us in this journey please call Ed Johnson @ 815 516 3958 or email at [email protected]. News from the Board Results from a resent community survey regarding the Mission and Vision Statements have prompted the CREDO board to revise both statements. They are as follows: New Mission Statement CREDO walks alongside those who seek to stop addictive behavior as they encounter and follow Jesus. New Vision Statement CREDO: Breaking the chains of addiction through Jesus Christ CALENDAR OF EVENTS THE FOLLOWING EVENT DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE DON’T MISS AN EVENT READ THE NEWS LETTER CREDO WEEKENDS Men’s #19 May14-17 ,2015 CREDO #19, will be experienced out at Bishop Lane Rector Randy Reints Head cha Brock Sampson Training dates are March 21st Westminster April 4th Alpine Lutheran April 11th Westminster May 2nd Westminster CONFIRMED INFORMATION ON THE NEXT WEEKENDS NITD WEEKENDS #46 NITD 46 Fall Weekends… NITD #46 Team Meetings- Aug 22, Aug 29, Sept 18/19 Men’s Overnighter, Sept 25/26 Women’s Overnighter, Oct 10 NITD #46 Men’s Weekend October 22-25, 2015 NITD #46 Women’s Weekend November 5-8, 2015 ALTD WEEKENDS #33 November 2015 TRES DIAS INTERNATIONAL 36th. ASSEMBLY Rockford, IL July 10-12, 2015 ILLINOIS CREDO RECOVERY NEWS Do you have a news item you would like to get into the Broken Chains News letter? See below where to email the item. Have you visited our web site lately? It can be reached by typing credorecoveryil.org in Internet Explorer. While you are there you can click on “Prayer Vigil” and that takes you to 3dayol.org. Click on “Prayer Vigil” in the rainbow on the left side of page. Click on “Check out a list of prayer vigils” and scroll down to “Credo Recovery Illinois” sign up to pray for the men and women on the next CREDO. It can’t get much easier than that but we are continuing to build the site and to make it accessible through several search engines. You can download the Team and candidate applications. You can make a donation thru Pay Pal. You can join or decline our emailing. If there are items you would like to have on the web site please forward those comments to [email protected]. Or [email protected] May~ 2015 Newsletter Join us at CREDO GIRLFRIENDS (Our IL Women’s Credo Recovery Fellowship & Support Group) WHEN: Every 2nd Friday of the Month, 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM, next gathering- Friday—MAy 8th WHERE Alpine Lutheran Church basement, 5001 Forest View Ave., Rockford, Illinois For Rides or Questions call-- Coleen M at 815-871-1353 ~ Hope to see you soon, Girlfriend! ~ CREDO MEN’S GATHERING Come and see That is the first step in the Discipleship process. We are continuing to grow. We have finished the 40 day of purpose campaign from Rick Warren's book "The Purpose Driven Life." We are now digging into some new studies. We continue to have close to forty men gathered at Calvary Lutheran Church as we practice some of that Iron Sharpens Iron that we are preparing to experience on CREDO #19. The men coming out every Monday night are engaging in fun, food, fellowship, worship, teaching and prayer. So, if you know any men that need some of the above come and join us and bring your friend.. When: Monday Nights 7:00p.m.Till 9:00p.m. Where: Calvary Lutheran Church 1715 9th St., Rockford, IL 61101 Come as you are. The only requirement is that you are a man. No prior weekend experience needed. Come out and welcome the new Pescadores from weekend 18 and new men that may be going on #19. Ed Caputo Your Fourth Day Connection For the men at the Salvation Army Adult Rehab Center (ARC) Stop in on Thursday for chapel at five thirty ... or for dinner at four thirty ... if you would like to encourage these men… write a note or send a card. The address is: ARC – Rockford Attn: their name 1706 18th Ave .Rockford, IL 61104 WEEKLY MEDITATIONS National Association for Christian Recovery By Dale and Juanita Ryan If you wish to read daily recovery meditations copy and paste this address in your browser. Please let CREDO Information Director know if this was beneficial to you. hhtp://www.nacr.org/nacr-daily-meditation CREDO COMMUNITY ARTICALS FOR THE BROKEN CHAIN NEWSLETTER MUST BE TO THE INFORMATION DIRECTOR BY THE 20TH OF EACH MONTH TO BE PUBLISHED ON THE 2ND OF EACH MONTH. INFORMATION DIRECTOR TOM MILLER [email protected] BIBLES and CHRISTIAN Books A CREDO brother in Christ is looking for Bibles and Christian books. He is helping an organization called Christian Resources International (CRI) out of Fowlerville, Michigan. They ship Bibles and Christian Books to churches around the world that have had a fire, flood, tornados, hurricanes and typhoons. They are currently preparing to send six sea containers to the Philippines. Virgil Peters will be accepting Bibles and Christian books up to the 5th of September when at that time he will deliver all donated material to CRI for the shipment to the Philippines. Anyone interested in donating some books, please call Virgil at 815-558-7771 to make arrangement for pickup or delivery. Hi everyone! Hope you are having a blessed day so far! Hopefully you still have power! What in your life is giving you a “Copter Conundrum?” Please keep praying, as the Holy Spirit leads you, (pray for the things that are breaking the Lord’s heart and your heart) for this great nation and her leaders. Lord, we pray for world peace, especially in the Middle East and in the Ukraine, and protection for Israel. As the Lord leads, please pray: (Let’s keep being persistent in our prayers until they get answered!) Tom S. Do you have a prayer concern? You can voice that prayer to the credo community and at the same time reach other communities with that prayer concern. Simply email your request for prayer and /or praise for an answered prayer to: [email protected] Palanca and Agape letter requests can also be fulfilled by emailing your request to Tom and Pam Shore at: [email protected] Articles to put a smile on your face Photos From the Weekend
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