NCS New Canaan

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The Youth Drug Crisis (and the Power of Jesus and Friends) (Panel – 1/21/22 – NCS New Canaan)

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The drug and opioid crisis is ravaging America’s youth. With amazing courage and vulnerability, a panel of NCS brudders share how drug addiction has personally hit them and their family. More importantly, they describe how their faith in Jesus and the prayers and support of friends, particularly NCS brudders, were powerful allies in each of their spiritual battles against darkness and evil.

In the face of societal stigma around addiction, the panelists emphasized the importance, particularly for parents, of admitting the addiction problem and seeking help. They also strongly encouraged family members of addicts to seek their own support.

Doran Wright (NCS New Canaan) shares about the battle he and his wife fought alongside their son Josh, who tragically died of a Fentanyl overdose in 2020. A photo montage of Josh can be seen below.

James Lillis (NCS New Haven) shares about his own uncontrollable addiction and how he was completely and miraculously freed at Teen Challenge after turning his life over to Jesus.

Armen Abrahamian (NCS New Haven) shares with amazing transparency and specificity the long journey he and his wife have been on with their daughter, who thankfully has now been sober for the last few years.

Before the panel share their stories, retired NYS Trooper Greg Porteus (NCS New Canaan) describes a program he is launching to raise awareness about the opioid crisis and equip parents and children to be prepared in advance with “a way out”. He invites all NCS brudders to “Join the Patrol”.

Following the panelists, Rev. Richard Williams (NCS New Canaan), Executive Director of Pivot Ministries (www.pivotministries.org), shares a bit of his own story of addiction and explains the Pivot recovery program available in Bridgeport, CT.

Let Us Play the Man (Ken Fish – 12/17/21 – NCS New Canaan)

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Ken Fish is not known for mincing words or dumbing down Biblical truth to make it more palatable. He laments that fatherhood is in crisis in our world, and looking to the words of Joab in 2 Samuel 10:12 KJV (“Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God“), he issues an urgent “call to action” for men to “play the man”–or “man-up”–as fathers. We must do it for the sake of our families, our cities and our nation.

Ken shares that, as he travels the world, the #1 prayer request from women in every nation and every country is for God to bring “a Godly man who will lead my household”. He explains ways in which many men are failing to fill the Biblical role of fathers as “priests” of their family and lays out a straightforward Scriptural path to turn things around and “raise a generation of the righteous”:

  • Be of Good Courage.
  • Play the Man.
  • Give Yourself To Others

Ken asserts that the best way for Satan to destroy a country is to destroy families, and the best way to destroy families is to destroy fathers. He also explains why the restoration of righteous fathers is a necessary condition to revival.

Emphasizing that the key to this simple three-point formula is the execution, Fish walks through various Biblical passages that provide guidance on fatherhood and manhood.

You may support Ken’s ministry at this link: https://orbisministries.org/support-orbis/

Lighthouses in the Middle East (Mohammad Yamout – 12/17/21 – NCS New Canaan)

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In our “Keepin’ It Real”, Pastor Mohammad Yamout brought an update on the turmoil in Lebanon and the amazing progress of his ministry to share the Gospel by loving Muslims and refugees in the name of Jesus.

In addition to a Christian church in Tyre, Lebanon (the headquarters of Hezbollah), Pastor Mohammad explains other ministries that include:

  • The Tyre Center for the Proclamation of the Gospel & Humanitarian Aid
  • Family care and care for widows and orphans
  • Currently rebuilding an old hospital as the River of Healing Medical Center
  • Jacob’s Farm, raising dairy cows, sheep, goats and chickens both to supply their ministries and sell.
  • The Father’s Storehouse
  • The Joy of Music School
  • The Good Shepherd School
  • Camp K-Love & Camp Refuge
  • A vision for King’s Kids Family Homes
  • A Food Court and Grocery Store

You may support the work of Pastor Mohammad at this link: https://1000lighthouses.givingfuel.com/1000-lighthouses

Following Jesus (One Less Sin at a Time) (David Montoya – 10/22/21 – NCS New Canaan)

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With unbelievable honesty and humility, David Montoya shares a life and faith journey that brings to life the promise in Ezekiel 36:26: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”  

David vulnerably shares difficult and pivotal moments of his early years, including the time his fiancé died in his arms on the way to the hospital–events that he says changed the course of his life. At that time, a therapist told David he had the greatest fear of death the therapist had ever seen.

With tremendous transparency, Montoya tells about his later years as a lawyer and a venture capitalist, describing himself as “evil”–having no regard to the carnage left behind on the road to “winning”. He explains how that heart of stone began to transform when a friend invited him to a New Canaan Society event in San Francisco.

While David’s heart transformation has been ongoing since he first began attending NCS in 2015, David reveals a recent and extraordinary near-death experience that had a profound impact on his fear of death–he says it is gone.

Think About Noble Things (Kevin Mackay – 10/8/21 – NCS New Canaan)

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Kevin Mackay served as a Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps and for 17 years as a Stamford Police officer. With tremendous humility and vulnerability, he shares about the “moral injury” he experienced and the miraculous healing that came through his new-found faith in Jesus.

Kevin explains that the most debilitating “moral injury” came when he was a computer forensic expert with the Stamford Police investigating cases of child pornography. With amazing transparency, he reveals how having to examine unspeakable images and incomprehensible search terms drove him to a mental break. Although he began self-medicating, Kevin shares how he turned to the Stamford Police Chaplain for support. Kevin explains that he was an atheist not interested in hearing about God or Jesus, but he believed he could trust the Chaplain (NCS brudder John Revell of Life Line Chaplaincy) to listen confidentially.

Mackay explains how Revell shared with him Philippians 4, particularly verse 4:8: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” He describes how shifting his mind to the “noble” took his focus off the images of evil he had experienced. It also led Kevin to begin exploring the idea of God in various faiths. Ultimately, applying his analytical mind to Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel, Mackay knew that what was missing from his life was Jesus Christ.

Although a reluctant convert just like C.S. Lewis, Kevin goes on to share how his new-found faith has both healed him and given him a new perspective on life. It has transformed him from someone always trying to control his circumstances to someone able to look through circumstances and see the hand of a loving God with a wonderful plan. He tells how anxiety and anxiety drugs have been replaced by the healing peace promised in Philippians.

Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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