I wanted to write something not only to update those of you that have supported us in some way, but also to connect with other believers, to share with other servants of Christ, and rejoice and acknowledge our thankfulness to God, our Father who continues to sustain us.

I am hesitant to write about the reality of the day-to-day work because I don’t ever want to come across as asking for money. I don’t ever want the emphasis to be on the “doing,” but want to share the desire and the basis of Adullam- which is living by faith in Christ alone and learning to trust Him day by day. We have continued for 12 years trusting God and responding to what is in front of us.

It also feels insensitive to share the stories of people in their vulnerability and moments of need. However, I hope what comes across is God’s enduring provision as we look to Him amid our current circumstances and respond to those he brings among us. These are the moments He uses to teach us about Himself. These are the trials which lift our eyes to Him.

These are some of the people we live among:

One woman has been with us for 20 months. She has saved money and is beginning to talk, actually talk—share more about herself and what she thinks and feels. She recently began looking for her own place. She has never lived on her own or been responsible for everything by herself. She is 28 years old. We support her by answering questions that come up and reassuring her when she feels overwhelmed.

Another woman is moving her children into one of our homes with her. She can’t afford rent and utilities at this point because she is still paying back past debts resulting from poor past decisions. Circumstances changed so she had to find someplace for her children. There will likely be much upheaval in moving her children and then reestablishing relationships with them. We will carry her, paying utilities and whatever else is needed and revisiting the arrangement in the future as she gets settled and stable. We also must walk with her through the turmoil that will likely come with her children. We don’t know what all that might entail: likely school pickups and filling in where needed, most likely at inconvenient times. We feel we should support her in this way at this time.

One of our men had been incarcerated for over 40 years. He came to us out of prison and then moved on. He can’t read. He was living on the street but then came back to us because he was sick and needed more support. He has congestive heart failure. He can’t pay rent. We arranged with him that he could do yard work, etc. in exchange for rent but now he is unable to maintain that because his body is breaking down. We feel we should continue to support him at this time.

Another person is schizophrenic. He has not been wanting to work but we continue to talk with him about doing what he can to pay his bills. He will receive some social security next spring but it will barely cover his rent. He let his other government supplemental help lapse so we are helping him reapply for that for help with food and following up about his medical coverage so he can continue to receive the medications he needs. We feel, in prayer, that we should continue to support him.

One of our other men was incarcerated at age 16 and did 16 years in prison. He has been with us a little over a year. He is diagnosed schizophrenic and has the emotional maturity of a middle-schooler. He has done well but needs much support facing the daily requirements of life: work, healthcare, and maintaining relationships.

Another person moved out of our house after coming to us from prison but continues to be a part of our Adullam family. He has health problems that went unaddressed for some time. He had an opportunity to bid a construction job due to his extensive knowledge but crumbled under the pressure, most likely due to all the time spent in prison. He does well at the maintenance job he has at a hotel, and he is happy in the one-bedroom apartment he rents. He continues to help out with our maintenance that comes up and we continue to check in on him as he navigates life back in the community. We have a relationship with him even though he no longer lives in one of our homes. We feel we should continue to support him however needed. So far, that means sitting in doctor appointments with him so he doesn’t have to deal with it all alone.

This is the daily reality.

These are the people God brought among us. 

These are some of the daily decisions that we make: Pay for this man’s rent, pay for this man’s phone, pay his rent, pay what’s needed to transport this woman’s kids from out of state, sit in appointments and be present, wait on hold with Medicaid, make decisions on who to take next, knowing we will not receive money to pay our bills until they get established and can contribute.

We go on, day by day, month by month and here again is another end of the year time of reflection.

And God continues to sustain us.

We don’t know what is best for anyone.

There are basic expectations and rules that we must present and enforce as an approved transitional home for men and women coming out of prison.

Then, there is our responsibility before God to those He brought into our path. What authority does God have over our lives as Christians?

Do we just want to hear more stories?

Do we just want to hear promises of success?

Do we just want to see potential?

Do we just want to see gratitude from those that are receiving?

These people we serve within Adullam have been convicted of murder, rape, theft, drug possession, and child endangerment. They are guilty of destruction- of hurting themselves and hurting others. But above all they are guilty before God, unholy and lost and yet the darkness of their known external crimes are no darker than my own hidden sinful heart, in God’s eyes, before I was given life and experienced spiritual regeneration.

Thanks be to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Christ came to earth to die for me while I was not only indifferent to Him; I was His enemy.

He gave me Life and brought me to the point where I am living day by day trusting Him, learning more of the depth of the grace He showed me. I am unworthy.

I am learning of His Love through His leading in the midst of endless uncertainties every single day. The needs around us are endless, but Christ’s promises are endless that he’ll meet the needs of those who trust in Him alone; not our own understanding, not our abilities, not our vision, not our own potential, not our own accomplishments of what we do “for” God.

This is the Christian life: knowing Him.

This is the daily reality within Adullam. There are endless needs: financial, emotional, but above all, we pray that God reveals Himself to those among us. We start each day on our knees, seeking Him, dependent on Him as there are no office hours for His servants, and we are often empty and blank.

We pray for opportunities to present the Truth about the One to Whom all power and authority was given.

Who am I to think I know what is best for anyone?

My life is not my own. But we serve the Living God, we trust Him, not our own understanding.

He promises to direct our steps.

Any support from elsewhere is a reminder to us of the care of our Father, and how He tenderly provides for our needs, in ways we could never anticipate, from wherever He chooses.

I wanted to share some of the current needs in the hope that others pray for salvation for these people who, so far, appear indifferent to what God truly offers them, as well as give an honest glimpse of the daily reality of struggling to not trust our own understanding, but wait on our Father and learning more and more to step out in faith and wait upon His leading. 

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We end 2022 and begin another year, grateful for His leading as we don’t know what the future holds.

And yet, we rejoice in what we’ve further learned of our King Jesus Christ as we continue to experience His faithfulness. At the end of 2022, we were asked to rent another house. We were grateful to witness, yet again, God provide money, furnishings and painters, as well as men to live in the new home. And we continue to trust Him with the continual arising needs.

Our hope continues to be that people put their trust in Christ alone.

We are not simply praying for converts that verbally assent to Christ’s existence, death and resurrection.

We continue to pray for evidence of Life in the lives of those that claim to follow Christ. We pray that each person that is brought through our homes as well as those that serve the homes and the people living in them, witness the Living God providing and working in each of our lives as we depend on Him each day.

As we bring needs before Him daily, we continue to learn that each situation is not just a problem to be solved by God according to our requests, but that in bringing our requests and needs before Him, the Holy Spirit reveals our ever deepening need of a Savior while reminding us that God will continue to provide for and sustain what he built, moment by moment, day by day.

For we lack nothing.

Your support, those of you that give occasionally and those of you that give monthly, (even if just a small amount), are our consistent reminder, that God is sovereign, and continues to provide – moving people to give, and to pray.

Our lives are not our own, as we live day by day, each a working part of the body of Christ, with Christ as our Head.

Thank you for thinking of us, praying for us and supporting us.

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We wish to share a brief summary of our experience of the Faithfulness of God over the last ten years; Not to show success, accomplishments, or what we have done, but to share what God, our Father has done by the Holy Spirit to exalt Jesus Christ our Lord.

In 2012, Adullam began as a transitional home with 5 beds for men with a $1500 monthly budget ($18,000 per year). Over the last 10 years, we have grown to a budget of up to $240,000 a year with as many as 45 beds for men and 15 beds for women; from renting one residence to renting 13 residences.

We have grown only by prayer and not by design. We have had no strategy, plan, or vision. By the Lord’s guidance, with nothing intentional on our part, we became primarily a transitional home for the incarcerated.

Adullam houses people that have done long-term stretches in prison which means many individuals with violent offenses or sex offenses in their pasts. Over the years, we have encountered more people with health problems, both physical health issues and mental health issues. 

We have acquired new residences that the Lord supplied in miraculous ways, yet always financed by prayer and sole dependence on our Lord. We have not sought out grants or fundraisers, but continue to exist and grow through God’s provision through private donations, anonymous to the world, where then solely our Lord Jesus Christ may incur the honor.  

We have had whole years where our bank balance has only averaged three to four thousand at the end of the month while our monthly budget has been $20,000 with leases totaling over $13,000. Yet our bills have never once been paid late.

Despite the consistent monthly expenses, we have continued to spend according to scripture on needs that arise day by day. We do not withhold because of bills due in the future, but trust that God will provide what is needed. If someone comes to us out of prison with no money, we buy them food and clothes to get them by knowing that we are to lend freely, since this is the Lord’s ministry. He is responsible. We live completely dependent on Him, understanding that we cannot ask the Lord to fill a need if we have money left that we are not willing to give.

We have put aside 10% of donated funds aside for missions and in the 6 years as an independent nonprofit organization, we have been able to set aside approximately $34,000 for missions, We have not touched that money for Adullam’s financial needs, trusting God’s faithfulness to provide and to lead in where to give the missions money each year.

Adullam is not staffed and no one receives a salary. Those that are a part, fulfill different roles, whether it be living in the houses, or filling in where the needs arise. We each live seeking to know more of Jesus Christ and each has witnessed how Adullam is the vehicle God is using to reveal Himself.

Adullam has housed over 400 men and women over the last 10 years. We have seen true salvation, which is rare, for it is the narrow road that few have found. We have seen lostness and death. But always our focus is on our Lord, not the work, and so we have gotten to know Him deeper, desiring to share this through our daily living.

As this is written I am overwhelmed with thankfulness to His faithfulness to us; how He has used a few broken people to house over 400 in need, including supplying all the needs for all the residences.

We do not wish to boast in numbers and cannot explain all that has been done. We desire to show and testify that the Lord, by His sovereign will choose a few of His children to display Himself to the world. That every need, no matter the cost, will be met by Him for His Namesake. In the words of Hudson Taylor, “God’s work, done in God’s way, will never lack God’s supplies.” And God’s way is dependence and prayer every morning, every day. And this is how He reveals Himself. We have taken the scriptures, and with them, followed the example of George Müller, Anthony Norris Groves, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael and have witnessed once again, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever to His Glorious praise.

My desire is that as we go forward, He continues to display Himself so He can be known and others can see tangible evidence of His word and promises that can be trusted.

~ His servant

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We are ordinary, faithless people, who, over the last few years, have come to know more of our Father by Him revealing our great weakness and helplessness.
We have come to know Him.
We belong to a great and merciful, faithful God.

The obstacle has not just been that I am weak, the obstacle is not realizing HOW weak I really am.
What God has done over these years is show me how weak I am- which drives me to Him in prayer- not because of great discipline, or righteous conduct, but because I need to. 
I need Him.

It is my need that drove me to Christ and it is my need that makes me hunger for Him daily.
Despite my weakness and daily failures, God does not fail.
I am entrusted to Him and my life is not my own.
Adullam is His: built, sustained, and provided for by Him through people whose flesh and hearts fail;
But He is the strength of our hearts and our portion forever.

Oh, what joy learning more of my Lord as He reveals the depth of my weakness and teaches me to trust only Him.

– another servant of Christ

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I remember as a child, my mom reading stories from George Müller about how God supplied for the needs of so many children, in what seemed to me absolutely incredible ways. It sparked a longing in me to experience God working in such ways.

Now after so many years of my own complacency, God has been faithful to that desire He gave when I was a child, to draw me away from all the systems and establishments that I hid behind and I am humbled and overwhelmed with gratitude towards my Heavenly Father that He would allow me to experience Him in dependence and to witness His sovereignty and faithfulness. 

Seeing the lostness, brokenness, and bondage in people’s lives has been a continual reminder of what my life would be like had I been left to myself and God in His mercy had not saved me.

Time and time again, He has gently shown me how I defer to myself and my own abilities, and despite that, He reveals Himself as a faithful, loving Father, who walks with us in such intimate ways as I have no words to express how cherished I feel.

– Gratefully His

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2021 Year Financial Summary:

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We would like to thank those who supported us with a financial donation last year. We feel incapable of explaining the answer to prayer your support was. Not only did God use you to meet our financial needs, He used your action to encourage us, teach us more of how He provides as our Father, and draw us even more into full dependence on Him. Your donation was another reminder, an encouragement of how God is the same, faithful, Living God.

Our hearts hunger for Him: to know more of Him, to learn His ways, and to witness His care and provision through each day.

As we end another year and reflect back, we are amazed at how God continues to wonderfully lead, day by day, and to provide for each need.
We don’t seek to build a system to address the problems in our society, we don’t seek to fix behavior or to fill empty lives; we wait on Him and deal with what He places in front of us, trusting Him to teach us, give words to speak, and protect us.

This year, God set things in motion that resulted in two more houses, one with 8 beds for men, and one with 3 more beds for women. That brings us to a total of 15 houses, 12 for men (40 beds) and 3 for women (9 beds).

As we witness His direction in putting new houses within Adullam, we realize our ever-deepening dependence on Him. We are to the point where we are dependent on Him for everything: financial needs, who He brings, how to address the specific needs, and in how we are overwhelmed by our own inabilities. He is the only One that can sustain us each day.

Like John 6:67-69, we have come to know that He is the Holy One and there is nowhere else to go. We are seeing that we have nothing else to rely on, nothing else that gives security, nowhere else to find anything of value, except know Him, trusting Him.

Each day we have to go to Him to lead us and show us what to do in each situation because we have been brought past the point of relying on our own abilities. To be dependent in this way has been most difficult but yet extremely satisfying; in being privileged to see God work, provide and make ways that would have been impossible had we been leaning on our own understanding.

In spending time with Him and seeing how He is faithful in these ways we get to see how He is trustworthy to provide for these needs and He is also trustworthy and caring for us individually as a loving Father. Which draws our spirit to desire more intimacy with Him and longing for His Kingdom. We’re not looking to be involved in some specific ministry or service we can do, but we hunger to know Him and be awed by His wonderful ways.