Dear friends,

Recently, I was asked to do something I’ve never done before: officiate a funeral service. I’ve officiated many weddings over the years and spoken a bit at many funerals, but I’ve never officiated one from beginning to end.

The service was for Mr. Roy Heathcoe, the stepfather of a dear friend and a man I’ve known for many years. He has been a faithful prayer and financial supporter of our ministry for many years. It was an honor to perform his funeral service.

As I was preparing for Roy’s memorial service, I asked his dear wife Shirley for some of the details and background of his life.

Born and raised in Florida, Roy graduated from the University of Florida in 1958. It is said he walked across the commencement stage at UF and right into a job with Boeing. A year later, he went to work for Hoffman Electric. This is where Roy’s story gets very interesting.

Roy was sent to Scotland to work on the world’s first nuclear-powered American submarine, the Abraham Lincoln. This submarine was completely self-sustaining and could stay underwater for an unlimited amount of time. It carried the world’s most powerful guided missiles. But it had one major flaw: it couldn’t communicate while it was underwater. Roy was tasked with the job to fix this problem, so he engineered and installed a telescopic antenna on the submarine. His successful work on the Abraham Lincoln resulted in him receiving two letters of commendation in 1961. I have read that Roy’s work on this submarine is believed by many to have been a major deterrent during the Cold War.

One man tasked with one project that had a profound and lasting impact on countless others.

Roy’s life demonstrated the “power of one”—not just because of his engineering accomplishments, but because he was a faithful prayer and financial supporter of our mission to reach at-risk youth with the Gospel of Christ.

Roy Heathcoe, and many like him, enable us to reach young people like Jordan who is now studying to be a cardiovascular surgeon. And like John, who just graduated from Florida A&M in three years, finished at the top of his class and is now going on to grad school. And like a young man named Charles, who has a beautiful wife and four girls and who just told me he’s going to keep having kids until he has a boy who can be in our boys’ group. I get phone calls, texts and emails all the time thanking me and our team because Leverage Ministries has changed their lives.

We know there is potential in the power of one life—including yours. It’s the power of your unique life that God uses to bring about transformation in the lives of others. What a gift it is to allow God to use you to help us reach the abused, abandoned and arrested youth. It brings comfort after trauma and can even reveal a glimpse of heaven here on earth in the lives of our hurting young people.

“For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son…” — one Life that changed the world.

As you spend your one and only life on things that truly matter, would you consider supporting Leverage Ministries as we continue to reach at-risk youth in central Florida??

In His Service

Scott Hirdes

Dear Leverage friends and supporters,

Recently, I was talking with one of our Breakfast Club students, and I’d like to share our conversation.

Adam asked, “Pastor Scott, why do you like Christmas so much? You start talking about it in October and you don’t stop until January. If you had gone through what I have gone through at Christmastime, you would see things differently. During Christmastime a couple of years ago, my dad was deported back to Mexico, and my mom was sentenced to prison. So why I should like Christmas so much? I guess I like Christmas a little bit, but just not nearly as much as you do.”

I looked at the student sympathetically and asked him if I could share my own story.

I said, “A number of years ago, a couple days before Christmas, my mother-in-law was in a serious car accident. She underwent multiple surgeries, spent Christmas in the hospital, and died a few days after Christmas. A couple years later, right before Christmas, my dad passed away. Two days later, my wife’s dad passed away. That same year, in January, one of our ministry staff member’s father passed away—a friend of mine. So the way I see it, I am ahead four bad times at Christmas to your two.”

He looked at me in disbelief. “REALLY?? Then would you please tell me why you like Christmas so much? It seems like you have had nothing but death and disappointment. At least my dad and mom are still living.”

“Adam, you asked me why I love Christmas so much,” I said. “It’s because of what the Bible says in Luke 2:11: ‘For unto you [you, Adam, and me, Scott] is born this day in the city of David a Savior.’ Christmas is about our Savior being born so He could die and take away my sins and yours. Because of Christmas I will be able to see my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, and my dad and Joe’s dad too. This is because each of them trusted Christ. They will enjoy each Christmas in Heaven with Jesus, and that is where I will also enjoy Christmas after I pass from this earth.”

“Wow,” he said. “I really thought nothing bad ever happened to you. I thought bad stuff only happens to us. You know, Pastor Scott, we really are not that different.”

Friends, would you please continue to pray for Adam and the many other youth like him as we share the true meaning of Christmas them in the upcoming weeks? Pray they would be open to the gospel and will trust Jesus as their Savior this Christmas.

Would you also be willing to include Leverage Ministries in your year-end giving so we can continue to reach the abused, abandoned and arrested youth of Central Florida? You can give a gift online at https://leverageministries.org/give-now.

From our family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

In His Service,

Scott Hirdes

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10

 
Not long ago, I was taking Kasey, one of our camp boys, home. As we got to the front of his neighborhood, I noticed three police cars with their lights on. Kasey said that happens all the time because the church by his house is letting out and the police are directing traffic.
 
Kasey told me that a lot of the people in his neighborhood attend that church, along with his older brother and several friends. He was excited to share all of the good things the church does in the neighborhood.
 
Sounds encouraging, right?
 
But it broke my heart because the “church” Kasey was talking about is an Islamic Mosque. On any given day, anywhere between 500 and 1,000 people attend — including Kasey’s own family. The teachings of Islam are dangerous, and it is disheartening to see how many in the community are being influenced by a false message that goes against the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
My cousin who is the Executive Director of Bangla Ministries Worldwide faces this threat every day in Bangladesh, but now we in central Florida face a very large and active Islamic threat as well.
 
In Colossians 1:13, Paul writes, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”
 
Leverage Ministries is working to push back against the darkness of not only the Islamic movement we continue to face, but against the daily struggles our young people face every day.  For example, recently at one our ministry sites, a young girl told our volunteer that she was raped by her father and now has nowhere to go.  Another young man told me that when he turns 18 in less than a week, he won’t be welcome home again and doesn’t know where he will live.
 
I encourage you to continue praying for and supporting ministries like Leverage Ministries, Bangla Ministries Worldwide, and many others as we stand shoulder to shoulder to bring light to a dark world and the message of salvation through Jesus Christ to those who need it.
 
In His Service,
 
Scott Hirdes
Executive Director, Leverage Ministries