Advancing Grace

Each month our Director of Advancement Michael Tooker and Assistant Director of Advancement Michelle Broek will share stories of how the Grace message is impacting the lives of our constituents.

  Are Your Kids Back to School?   As most of our children head back to school for the year, we will begin to settle into a routine of homework at the table, family dinners, and soccer practice. If you’re like many parents, the predictability brings a sense of stability – even comfort – to a family.   As countless families hunker down for this school season, many military families are in flux. As civilian families are packing lunches and heading off to bus stops, many military families are moving to new cities, starting at a new schools, or preparing for overseas deployments. This can leave a lot of military families unsettled with a longing for stability. As these brave soldiers battle for our country, they and their families often battle anxiety, fear, separation, and loneliness. They need a message of hope!  

  One of our Military Ambassadors, Luis Rivera shared that, the message of Grace Based Relationships is the very hope so desperately needed for military families: “The wonderful thing about this message is that it’s universal. It can work for marriages, kids, subordinates, soldiers, and friends. We cannot afford not to pass on this message.  We need to leave a legacy and share this message with future generations.”   The Rivera’s desire is to expose soldiers to the priority of Grace Based Relationships and Family Matters has had the privilege of making that happen. We are providing conferences for military soldiers and spouses, as well as training for Chaplains and Unit Ministry Team members.  All this as part of the US Military’s “Ready and Resilient” campaign. To date, Family Matters has hosted parenting and marriage conferences for dozens of military families and formally equipped many more Ambassadors like The Rivera’s to minister to the 35,000 soldiers and their families at Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM) in Washington State.  Family Matters has also ministered to soldiers and families at Fort Riley, Kansas as part of a recent visit that included a singles chapel, two marriage conferences and a prayer breakfast.  

  The needs of our military families are so great…and this message is so powerful.  As a non-profit, we can only minister to these needs if generous donors stand with us.  Please visit us online at familymatters.net to support our efforts to minister to the men and women of the U.S. Military. We are so grateful for your support of Family Matters and the U.S. Military.   As our school season kicks into high gear, please join us in for praying for our military families who serve us so well.   To our serviceman and woman – THANK YOU for your bravery and sacrifice.