Setting Captives Free: A Year in Review

Dear friends,

I am writing to you just now to provide a review of the year 2006, as it relates to the ministry of Setting Captives Free. It is often good to look back and see the grace of God by reviewing events that have transpired in the past. That is what I hope to do in this short letter to you.

First, God has enabled us to keep our focus on His glorious gospel, the gospel of salvation and freedom from habitual sin. This is no small thing, in light of all the "worldly wisdom" seeking to come into the church and distract God’s people from the glory of the cross and all that Jesus accomplished there on our behalf. Our hearts still beat with the good news of a Savior Who left the glories of heaven, came to a sin-trapped world, wrapped Himself in a human body, suffered and died on a cross and then three days later rose from the dead, having purchased eternal life for all who would believe. He now lives to intercede for us and is making a place for us, because He wants us to see His glory and be with Him throughout all eternity. We love this gospel; we love the people who have embraced it, and we love those who need to embrace it. May God keep us always happily addicted to this beautiful, life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ!

Secondly, this past year God brought along many volunteers who gave freely of their time and abilities to translate some of the courses at Setting Captives Free into other languages. These are men and women who contacted us to ask if they could give of their time and abilities, and have asked for nothing in return. To our translators, "we continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 1:3). Current works in progress include The Cross in Spanish, The Lord’s Table in French, New Wine in Indonesian, The Way of Purity in Croatian and German, and the mentorship course in French and Russian.

This year we saw the completion of the "Puur Leven!" course, which is The Way of Purity course translated into Dutch. We have watched God do a work in Holland, beginning with two men who gained freedom in Jesus, and now spreading to many other people. These two men are the "good soil" who "heard the Word and understood it" and now are "producing a crop yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown" (Matthew 13:23).

Also completed by a dear brother in the Lord are Puerta de Esperanza, (the Door of Hope course in Spanish), El Vino Nuevo, (the New Wine course in Spanish). We look forward to captives of sin in many countries finding the joy of freedom that comes from Him Who said, "Asн que si el Hijo los libera, serбn ustedes verdaderamente libres" Juan 8:36. ("So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.")

This past year brought in the completion of two additional courses: Glorifying God - A Practical Handbook and Men of Honor (a group study).

Next, again in answer to prayer regarding "opening doors of ministry," God brought along the opportunity for an audio ministry by way of local radio broadcasts and also Internet audio through Sermon Audio and One Place. These forms of ministry are typically quite costly, yet God has been blessing us with volunteers and supporters who wish to supply our needs financially, so we might proclaim the gospel of forgiveness and grace in an audible manner. You may visit our audio page, if you like. And, when you do, would you please pray and ask God to give us much fruit in this particular ministry venture? We depend on Him every day to reach people with the gospel, and your prayers will be much appreciated.

We have also continued to hold Setting Captives Free conferences throughout the USA and were able to plant seeds of hope internationally by holding conferences in the Netherlands, Guatemala and British Columbia.

Finally, this past year brought the completion of the Higher Stakes (freedom from gambling) mentorship course and The Way of Purity (freedom from sexual impurity) mentorship course in Spanish (days 21-120), both of which were labors of love completed entirely by volunteers.

Speaking of volunteers, our ministry thrives on the love, dedication, and faithful service of all of our mentors. They walk with our students who come to Setting Captives Free day after day, month after month. These faithful servants seek to speak a word in season and pray for their students’ freedom, asking that God would "send forth His Word and heal them" (Psalm 107:20). Their ministry makes the difference between some poorly-written material placed on the Internet, and a thriving gospel ministry that has helped more than 33,000 new students last year. I echo what Deborah said in Judges 5:9, "My heart is with Israel’s princes, with the willing volunteers among the people. Praise the Lord."

Well, that’s about it for this past year. We rejoice as we look back with thanksgiving at all that the Lord has done. At the same time, the understanding that God has been at work in the past year gives us much hope that He will continue to work in the years to come. This hope has led us to continue to seek Him for ways to minister to Him by serving His people.

As we look forward to the coming year, we have already been praying for new ministry opportunities. So far in January, we have completed another course entitled Psalm 1: The Fruitful Tree. And, I’m very excited to tell you about another new ministry we have just begun, entitled In His Image, which is a course for those who are captive to "anorexia" and/or "bulimia." This course is co-written by Kim Schmidt, a lady who has an amazing story of a life changed by Jesus Christ. When it is completed, it would be worth your time to read through this course, just to read Kim’s story of complete deliverance from the bondage of habitual sin in this area. In addition, we received news in the past two weeks that a dear missionary brother is assembling a team to translate our courses into Italian, which is more reason to praise God for His grace so undeserved, but so freely and richly given.

I will close with some prayer requests for the coming year. If you would, please join us in praying for the following:

1. That God would keep our hearts beating with the gospel of grace. Pray that we would not become sidetracked in any area, but that the gospel will always be central in all that we do.

2. That God would provide the financing that would allow us to expand our radio audience. This would take miraculous supply, but we know God is a God of miracles.

3. That God would keep pride far away from all of us who work in this ministry, as we know that pride would kill this ministry, just as it has many others in the past. Ask God to help us remember that "neither he who plants, nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow" (1 Corinthians 3:7).

Thank you for partnering with us in ministry. May God richly bless each of you, as you continue to seek Christ first and enjoy him most in the coming year.

grace and truth,

Mike Cleveland

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