This is a raw and powerful testimony from Dr. Ron Archer. By age ten he was living in such pain he contemplated suicide. He has an amazing story. I encourage you to take eight minutes to hear his heart about God’s love for the downtrodden. No matter what we’ve been through, God is able to redeem us and His living and active Word will not fail to change us.

Also, and completely unrelated, I want to invite anyone near Portland, Oregon area to a free three-session conference (no registration required, just show up) at Good Shepherd Community Church this weekend, November 8 and 9. Good Shepherd is our home church, where I was one of the two original pastors when we started the church on May 1, 1977.

In each session I’ll be interviewed by lead pastor Alan Hlavka, answering questions about giving and how it affects our hearts, habits and happiness. The emphasis isn’t on the duty of giving, but the joy of giving.

I’ll open God’s Word in response to the questions. The sessions are at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, and 9:00 & 10:45 on Sunday. (These are the normal weekend service times, but each session will be different, building on the previous, like a conference, so they won’t be the normal duplicate services.)

For more information see www.goodshepherdcc.org.

Here’s a short video I recorded with my friend Alan Hlavka, about the conference and the joy of giving: