Testimonies of Changed Lives

Client Testimonies

Layed Off in a Devastated Economy

"I would first like to say thank you for the Diaconate's effort, commitment, and hard work. The Diaconate is really an incredible tool for helping those in need. I had been layed off from work a few months after 9/11/2001. For anyone who has been layed off in what was, at that time, a devastated economy, you would know the fear that grips you. It is a fearful thing to deplete your savings while watching your debts and bills get higher.

When I became a client of the Diaconate, I was assisted and supported financially until my situation improved and I was able to stand on my own again. I can say honestly that I don't know what I would have done if Redeemer hadn't stepped in to help carry the load. Therefore, I am so thankful. I am also very appreciative of the kindness and emotional support that my deaconess has given me. She has been such an encouragement to me for which I am grateful. She is a wonderful worker on your team. I hope that the Diaconate continues to be a strong arm in reaching out to help those in need."

Order Out of Chaos

"Through the Diaconate, the Lord provided a capable friend to help me change my financial situation. She helped guide me to lay a good foundation, slowly eliminate bad habits and, out of chaos, began to bring order."

Getting Out of Debt

"It was Christmas time. I was holding the phone in disbelief listening to this woman speaking in a threatening, icy tone: 'If you don't send us the money tomorrow, we are taking legal action.' The woman was from a collection agency, which had already sent me a threatening letter. Because I had fallen behind in my credit card payments for the past few months, the credit card companies had transferred the debt to this collection agency. That was the first of many calls that came fast and furiously every day at work and at home - I was afraid to pick up the phone - each time it would be this woman.

It wasn't that I did not want to pay my debt off. I had a job, but I just couldn't keep up with the payments. Finally, one friend suggested I call the Diaconate at Redeemer. I met with a deacon and deaconess and they were empathetic and willing to listen to my tale of woe. I began to feel that someone was willing to bear the burden with me. We began to work on a plan. They arranged with the collection agency for a repayment plan, helped me set up a budget to keep all my other bills up to date and provided me with food gift certificates to get me through the next few weeks.

Over the next couple months I met with my deacon and deaconess and each time felt so cared for and accountable to them. As God fed Elijah and cared for him in the desert, He cared for me too. It really gave me hope. Now my debt is paid off and I look at my finances differently - I take them more seriously and am a better steward of my money. This whole process has changed my life. I learned that God is a loving God who wants me to have faith in Him."

Financial Freedom

"I didn't know where all my money was going and never had enough at the end of the month. I was in desperate need of some financial management! The deaconess sat with me and patiently helped me put together a weekly budget with goals to help me pay off my credit card bills. It's really helped me to get organized."

Faith in Action

"When I was going through emotional, verbal and physical abuse and when I felt lonely and lost, the Diaconate was there to help. They listened to me and provided childcare so I could keep my job and my home. I never expected such great help. They showed me that God was never going to leave me and would always be there for me.

The Diaconate always made sure that my family and I didn't go without the things we needed. They advised me and showed me their deep love by their actions. They also suggested Christian counseling to help me deal with the difficult things I had been through in my past, which I thought was a great idea.

When I moved to a new location, the Diaconate helped to make my move a breeze. I don't think I could have managed by myself with the three children. As soon as the deaconess who was working with me learned that I was about to move into a new apartment that lacked both gas and electricity, she opened her home to me and my children, making what might have been a nightmare situation, a very pleasant experience. She was always there for me, not only financially, but what is more important, spiritually as well.

Words cannot express what the Diaconate did for me and for my family. They showed me what being a Christian is really about. It has been a delightful experience knowing Christians that serve God as Christ did."

Prayer Support

"I appreciate the weekly prayer times I've had with the deaconess who's working with me. If we don't have time to get together, we pray on the phone, sometime two or three times a week when I need it."

Counseling Made Available

"I felt like there was a dark cloud hanging over my head. I was depressed and knew I needed counseling, but there was no way I could afford it. I am so grateful for the Diaconate - I called them and told them of my problem. Within two weeks, I was seeing a Christian counselor!"

God's Holiness and Love

"Dr. Keller has often described God as being both holy and loving at the same time. Being a part of the Diaconate has deepened my knowledge and experience of God, for I've seen His holiness and love for justice, as well as His mercy and compassion, at work in the lives of His people (including my own) through this ministry." Deaconess

Courage Witnessed

"The courage that my clients need to face the painful truths of their past and present, along with their fears of the future, challenges me to face my own fears, idols and brokenness. As my courage to bring these unpleasant truths into God's light has grown, so has my hope that one day all things will be restored by the One who calls us His 'beloved' and was broken that we might be made whole." Deaconess

Trusting in God's Resurrection Power

"When I was nominated for the Diaconate several years ago, I thought you must be kidding; I'm not godly enough for this position. I haven't read the entire bible; how can I possibly serve? Don't they know what a sinner I am? When they read my testimony, there's no way they're going to want ME! What do I know?

My FG leader at the time told me just to go through the process, and I did. It turns out it wasn't all about what I know, but what God does thorough me, and trusting in His wisdom and strength.

Throughout my time on the Diaconate I've had to wrestle with the same questions I thought about after I was nominated - what is godliness - am I godly? How can I really encourage clients? What is real encouragement? How can I trust that God will work out my client's life and not try to fix things myself and to deal with the doubt about the strength of my 'knowledge'?

God has refined me in many ways and he has used the ministry of the Diaconate as a catalyst in his refinement. In the process of working with clients, I've been forced to depend on God more - specifically to depend on prayer, on counseling with others and on the power of the Holy Spirit. Before becoming a deacon, I had limited experience praying up brokenness in people's lives. My experiences were limited mostly to giving advice or providing a listening ear to friends who confided to me. My work on the Diaconate changed the way I approach counseling. Bringing the gospel into broken situations is a counter-intuitive approach, and is not always easy or convenient. It is particularly hard for me (a major people pleaser) not to immediately want to be friends with clients, to tell them that it's all going to be OK — that 'you'll work this out'. My default program mode was and often still is - to offer a solution and usually a worldly one.

One of the most powerful things I experienced as a deacon was an equipping talk given by a fellow Deaconess on encouragement that really changed my interaction with my clients and made me think about how I thought about advice. To summarize what she said, she said, "Real encouragement is not pointing us to human solutions, but pointing to God - Not a you'll figure this out, but that God has died for us on the Cross" in other words - encouragement is pointing to the Truth - specifically the Gospel. This really resonated with me - that the only solution is an ultimate one, and that Christ completed it through his death and resurrection. I think that deep down inside I connected with the inadequacy of offering my own advice and solutions. This idea of pointing clients to the Gospel challenged my innate desires to glorify myself through giving great advice or by being the most compassionate friend, and reminded me that it's all about Him.

• It has shown me my inadequacy and God's awesome power.
• It has forced me to rely on prayer and the Holy Sprit.
• It has forced me to go vertical to lift up my clients rather than staying in the horizontal with my own ideas.
• It has forced me to step out of my comfort zone and really think about what we do as the Diaconate and what my role is as a Deacon - to be Gospel proclaimers and encouragers - that it's more than just providing financial assistance, but it's about praying up problems, letting God be strong where I and my clients are weak.

Witnessing God's work in the lives of my clients and their trust in Him has been a tremendous testimony in my own walk to God's resurrection power through the Gospel. It's shown me that as a Christian, as a deacon, as a friend, as a son and as a husband that when I depend on God's equipping to serve with love and to proclaim the Truth of the gospel in prayer and in word - transformation happens. The ministry of the Diaconate has encouraged me to be weak in myself and strong in Him." Deacon

Messenger of Christ

"When I pray with a family waiting anxiously for the decision of a co-op board, or connect with a seriously ill person facing the choice between food, rent or medicine, in word and deed I become a messenger of Christ bringing his love and peace to them. And when I do this, repeatedly I find myself also experiencing the love and peace of Christ." Deacon

Stepping Up To The Plate

:"It was September 7, 2001, and I was driving into NY, anticipating my re-entry back into the City, into friends' lives, into Redeemer - after a 5-year exile. Tuesday morning, 8:15, I arrived at my new job, and half an hour later, the world changed - the Towers were attacked! My beloved New York was broken!

Immediately I went into action! I wanted to help bring comfort, compassion, relief, to the city. While I was able to do that with my work thru both Campus Crusade & Chosen People Ministries, I went into deaconess autopilot and made myself available to the diaconate as well. As it turned out, I was limited as to how much I could contribute at that time but it was interesting that the spirit emerged in a time of crisis.

That next nomination time, I was asked if I would be willing to be nominated, and I refused, as I did each subsequent time until this past November. Why? Well, I was gun-shy about the workload and time demands, in light of a very heavy load I carry with my work. Yet, having served two terms in the early Redeemer days, I also yearned to be a good steward of the heart, skills and experience that God had allowed me to gain through that. If only there was a way that I could serve without undertaking the full load.

Last November, an outgoing deaconess asked if she could nominate me. Again, I declined. However, she would not leave it there and exhorted me to at least begin the process of candidacy and let God work it out. This seemed reasonable to me, especially seeing the need: first, the new service site, Westside AM, as well as the large post-9-11 class that would be cycling off. Fewer people serving so many more! I was also reminded that "once a deac, always a deac" - even when our terms are expired.

So, apprehensive of the commitment, I embarked on the "next steps" - interviews, training, etc., before learning that something new had been instituted! In order to capture the wealth of experience of the outgoing and inactive deacons and deaconesses, second and third tiers of service - mentoring, advising, taking on clients, and covering prayer duty - can be offered as our time and energy permits. So, this spring I have taken the office of being a Deaconess Level C, and have just taken on my first client.

Reflecting on my resistance to step up to the plate, it says in John 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last." I am so glad that God changed my heart, and I was willing to take the next step in the process. What a joy to return to the Diaconate and serve Him and Redeemer in this way, to be able to exercise my gifts and experience and bring mercy and compassion to our church. What a privilege to work alongside wonderful, Godly fellow deeks!" Deaconess

An Instrument of Change

"Through the Diaconate, God has shown me that He calls me to be an instrument of change in people's lives. We have resources available to help people in their circumstances; but what God is really calling us to is heart change. As people talk to me about their struggles, I take a look at myself and how I respond to my own struggles. As I talk to a client about their fears, I have a chance to look at my own fears and idols. When I talk to a client about God's love and mercy, I see God's love and mercy at work in my own life." Deaconess