At Blazing Grace we’re blessed to have four core team members: myself, Sandy England, Tim Peterson, and Rebekah Genung. If you’ve worked with Tim or Sandy you know what I mean. We also are blessed with seven volunteers who lead prayer and support groups for men and women, which play a critical role in the healing and recovery process.
Every day we receive emails and phone calls from men and women all over the globe who are hurting from sexual sin, including North America, South America, Africa, Asia, the UK, and Europe. Many come to us with a marriage in crisis. The men usually have a lifelong addiction to porn or some other sexual sin. Depression and anxiety are common. Spiritual warfare is a given. Most have little to no resources or help locally, including from their church. We hear from persons at every level of the church, including pastors, pastor’s wives, youth pastors, and counselors. Stories of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse are common. A few are in legal trouble and facing prison time, usually for illegal pornography or inappropriate sexual contact.
The ages of those ensnared to porn or other forms of sexual sin run from ten to eighty.
It’s not uncommon for a first-time caller to be in tears. Many are sharing their story for the first time; the church isn’t always a safe place to open up. One man called for a friend in his seventies who had a lifelong addiction to porn and was too ashamed to call himself. Sandy England, who facilitates our wives ministry, will sometimes spend more than an hour on the phone with a wife who is calling for the first time and sobbing as she pours out her story.
One wife told us she felt that Blazing Grace is more about the wives than the men. While we put equal emphasis on both sides, there are few Biblically based resources out there for wives; we are an oasis for many women.
Spiritual abuse in the church is rampant, especially against women. It’s not uncommon to hear that a wife was told by a counselor or pastor that her husband’s porn addiction was her fault, or that she needs to submit to him, or that this is all about her supposed codependency.
Spiritual warfare is a way of life for our team. Those who aren’t committed prayer warriors won’t last long here.
Blazing Grace radio is propagating in the US and abroad. Many appreciate our no-holds barred approach to the tough issues that desperately need to be addressed in the church yet are rarely touched. We hit the real-world topics God’s people are struggling with, including sex, porn, the occult, youth issues, spiritual warfare, suicide, depression, anxiety, and the Rogue Christian way of life. Letitia Shelton from Australia, who was interviewed on our show, said, “Thank God He saved me from a boring Christian life.” We want to help save you from a boring Christian life too. There is always a heavy emphasis on prayer, which is the barometer of the Christian’s spiritual power and relationship with God.
Many who contact us from outside the States have little in the way of financial resources; we’ll often send books at no charge and pick up the freight as these needs arise. (Shipping costs to send books abroad can be $60.00 or more). Some participate in our zoom support and prayer groups or receive one-on-one counseling. Churches in many countries outside the US don’t have paid staff. I treat my trips abroad as a missions trip; we pay all our travel expenses. We also give away a lot of books during the trade shows and other events we attend abroad. We may print between $1,000.00-$2,000.00 of books for an event and give away 80% of them. We’ve also made investments in our partner ministries and other projects in the UK and Europe. Then there is the cost of the trade shows we attend.
Your stories are the driving force for our story; it’s a blessing to walk with you on your journey. Here are some of the messages we’ve received.
“My husband is in recovery. His sex addiction ran the gamut from porn/masturbation to one-night stands to full blown affairs. I was clueless and devastated when I found out about his double life. In one of your articles you wrote: “Many don’t understand the depths of how sexual sin has corrupted every part of their life. Porn has a hollowing effect on the heart; an empty man will be compelled to use any way possible to resolve his inner misery.” I wish I’d understood this. During all his years of active addiction, my husband was emotionally hollow. He continued to function as a provider and partner in rearing our children, but something was missing. Now he is a vibrant man with such incredible emotional depth. Thank you for your amazing work. It has been key to his recovery, and ours as a couple.”
“I’ve killed every one of my relationships including my marriage due to my addiction to pornography. I want to thank you, Mike, for your articles and videos.God has really spoken through you to men like myself.”
“I have just read your article about healing women who are hurt by their husbands addicted to porn. I am one of them. You said a lot of things that resolved many problems toward my self-esteem and false guilt feelings. You suggested to talk to other women. I need one, please. I need to talk to someone. I’m depressed and even physically sick because I hold it inside. I confronted my husband before and he became angry. After he admitted it was wrong to watch porn I still discover he keeps watching it, even when he clears his history. I’m so much hurt.
I’m 30 years old, and Egyptian.”
“I have read nearly all your blog posts and content on your website. I am a woman who has been impacted and changed by your story and the insight you provide of how to become free from sex/porn addiction. My husband stumbled upon your website while helping me through this very painful addiction. He has supported me every step of the way. It’s by God’s precious grace that i have been able to learn here what I have not learned anywhere else. Thank you. I realize how painful your struggle was. This ministry has blessed me sooo much just by reading and answering very important questions for me. Thank you for your insight, obedience and the wisdom you have shared. This ministry is the best by far! Everybody and every church should know about Blazing Grace. Please don’t stop what you are doing! This information changes lives and i am a life that has been changed!”
“I’m interested in joining a group for myself and also for my wife and as a couple to deal with my issue of sexual sin. We’re based in Singapore, so we need to join groups which use conference calls.”
“I’d like to share with you the impact you have had on my life. You were so right, Mike, when you said I came to the wives retreat pretty beat up. I was a mess. The retreat provided an ideal environment for such healing and restoration in my heart. I was so scared when I arrived at the Easy Yoke Ranch back in June. I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew when I got there was that I was a broken mess. You and Sandy England loved me with the love of God and poured out your hearts with such grace. God showed up in such a powerful way!”
“I just discovered after much suspicion and attempts at conversation that my husband has been looking at porn at least twice a day, every day. He lied to me and now he is angry and refuses to get help. He keeps saying I am a terrible person so I shouldn’t be talking about his problem. I need to talk to a woman who has been through this. I am in the Netherlands. Please help.”
“Mike, thank you for addressing the issues of porn and sex addiction. Your upfront delivery style is so needed in the Church. I’m 55, single, never married and struggle with same-sex lust, porn, and a 42+ year habit of masturbation. I was able to abstain from porn for 9 months, which is record for me since late 2010. I just recently fell back into it, but I’m determined to keep going. I find great encouragement from your article about what to do when we slip back into any of these sins. Thank you and thank God for ministries such as Blazing Grace.”
“It was good to meet you and Rebekah at CRE (trade show near London, England) on Wednesday. I was very impressed with your message, passion and delivery. Please be encouraged that what you are doing is very important and so needed.”
“I read your story about your battles with depression and spiritual warfare. Two days later, on Thanksgiving day, my husband, who is struggling with depression never showed up to our home. I finally found him sitting in his van in a parking lot. He was contemplating suicide. Nothing I said helped, not even telling him I loved him and so did God. Then I remembered your story. I got my phone out and read it to him and his eyes started to show hope. He held my hand and we prayed. He identified with your story on so many levels. Thank you so much for sharing, it saved his life that day!”
“Thank you for telling it like it is. I thought I was the only one feeling spiritually empty and hungry in church most Sundays. A lot of the youth at our church, including our own children have either left the church or rarely come at all. I desire for us to be a church on Fire for God; I know we have missed the point.
Is it too late for us?”
“My wife has been my strongest support through my recovery from sex addiction. I know that losing her was my immediate motivator, which may have been the wrong reason for a healthy recovery, but I’m now at a point of rediscovering her, my family, and life. I appreciate your writings as they are words that hit me.”
“I was addicted to pornography for 15 years. I was at the lowest point of my life and my relationship with God. I found your website after searching for addiction help, and watched your video called Putting on Grace. At that point I realized I was addicted and had to do something about it. I asked for forgiveness, confessed to my wife and put accountability software on my phone. As of December 13, 2016, God delivered me from the chains of pornography addiction. I’ve been clean ever since. Your video changed my life. Thank you for being obedient in your ministry because it changed my life.”
This is just a small sample. The porn epidemic continues to explode everywhere and the numbers of people needing help in this arena is on the rise. Meanwhile, sexual sin is untouched by most churches which gives the enemy an easy doorway to destroy many lives.
So I want to make an appeal to you. We’re at the point where financial resources are needed to keep up with the growing number of requests and opportunities that come our way. Blazing Grace doesn’t pay rent. I don’t take a penny from the ministry. We don’t have a large overhead which allows us to remain lean and mean and use our financial resources for ministry purposes.
So what would we do with more funding?
Last year we invested $21,000.00 to broadcast BG Radio on 4 stations in the US and one in the United Kingdom. We would be able to expand our broadcast base and promote the show.
Fund ministry trips for trade shows, conferences, and other events, especially outside the US.
Provide partial scholarships for groups or counseling as needed and fund books that we give away to those without financial resources.
Continue to upgrade the websites (Blazing Grace, The Rogue Christian, and Roadtograce.net, which are our lighthouses on the internet. In 2022 we spent $11,000.00 on updating the website. We would put more into the website and getting the message out.
We’re stretched thin and need to hire someone. This would help free up more of my time to write and do other things.
We would make more investments in the UK and Europe on projects there, and other countries as opportunities present themselves. Of course, our home turf here in the States is always in the mix too.
And, I’ve always thought it would be great to have a small retreat center where people could come for retreats, counseling and healing in a serene setting.
If you believe in what we’re doing, please consider supporting Blazing Grace financially.
Donations can be made online by PayPal. PayPal also has an option where you can set up automatic monthly withdrawals. If the link above doesn’t happen to work, go to https://www.blazinggrace.org/donate/.
Or donations can be mailed to our office at:
Blazing Grace
4603 E. Superior Rd.
San Tan Valley, AZ 85143
Blazing Grace is a non-profit 501c3. Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by US law.
And as always, we covet your ongoing prayers.