FIREPROOF FIREPROOFMINISTRIES.COM
2018
JOIN US THIS HOLIDAY SEASON FOR A LIFE-CHANGING OPPORTUNITY
I can hardly believe that the holidays are approaching.
GOD DID SOME BEAUTIFUL THINGS HERE AT
FIREPROOF MINISTRIES THIS YEAR CONTENTS 01 // A NOTE FROM CRAIG GROSS 02 // RESENTMENT 04 // WHAT IS THE RESENTMENT SERIES? 06 // ABOUT OUR STORIES 10 // YOUR GIVING CAN CHANGE A LIFE!
God did some beautiful things here at Fireproof Ministries this year. We stretched and grew as a team, and He revealed Himself to us in countless ways.
“AN OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE BEYOND SHORT-TERM FIXES. TO OFFER COMPLETE HEALING FOR DEEP-SEATED ISSUES.”
Recently, during a time of self-reflection and prayer, God revealed something new to me.
I’d love for you to walk it with us.
It has changed my life, and I believe it will change the lives of thousands of the people we serve.
This Christmas, I am asking you to consider Fireproof in your tax-deductible giving to help us bring this project to the finish line.
God gave me a word: RESENTMENT. I sat with that word for weeks. I studied its meaning. I studied the Scripture, and its author met me there. We have ahead of us yet another opportunity to serve the thousands of people He has placed within our reach. An opportunity to explore and uproot pains that dwell far beneath our surfaces. An opportunity to move beyond short-term fixes. To offer complete healing for deep-seated issues. An opportunity to address this word: RESENTMENT.
This ministry is donor funded. We need your help now more than ever. This year alone, our team responded to over 10,000 emails, countless phone calls, Facebook threads, and social media communications from people who are spinning in painful cycles and stuck in ruts full of despair. That’s why I think this word matters as much as it does. In this publication, I will show you exactly how important this project is. Please partner with us, and thank you for your support.
The word felt like a command. Like I couldn’t ignore it. Like I couldn’t hear this word from God without doing something with it. So here we are – doing it. The Lord has done so much in and through this ministry over the course of the past seventeen years. I am both thankful for our journey thus far, and excited about the path that lies ahead.
Craig
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The textbook definition of the word resentment is: “bitter indignation at having been treated unfairly.” And – though we might not be able to put a finger on it, or clearly discern why – no one is filled with that bitterness without reason. At some point, there is always a trigger. A pain point. An origin. And more than likely, that origin is buried deep. This revelation has changed everything in our approach to helping people. We came to realize that we can’t just treat the symptoms. We have to help people dig up the root.
In church, we talk a lot about the things that we run to. Pornography. Sex. Food. Alcohol. Drugs. Money. Maybe these things can make us happy. There is an abundance of ministries and support groups for people in recovery. Don’t get me wrong – those are great things – but I think that we often talk too much about the things we run to, and not enough about the things we run from. This is what God was showing me with the word “Resentment.”
Creating the resources to do so – shovels, if you will – is not an overnight task, and our team works diligently to provide the very best resources possible for the people we serve. Because Fireproof is a donor supported ministry, we need people like you to help us bring this project to a countless number of people who are drowning in their pain. Pornography is a problem, sure, but what unspeakable suffering are people trying to numb when they use it? Maybe it’s not a so-called “major Issue” like porn use is considered to be. Maybe it’s overeating or overspending, or overcompensating in some other area of life. Our question remains the same: Why? Why are people constantly seeking out distractions? Why do we self-medicate, and for what? Why do we suppress our anger? Our sadness? Our fear? And from what do these feelings grow?
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These questions aren’t born from mere inference. We know, statistically, that people turn to things – and often unhealthy things, at that – to numb their pain:
• MORE THAN 15 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES STRUGGLE WITH ALCOHOL ADDICTION. • ONE OF THE LARGEST “FREE” PORNOGRAPHIC WEBSITES REPORTED 87.8 BILLION VIEWS ON THEIR WEBSITE LAST YEAR. • 54 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES OVER THE AGE OF 12 USED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS FOR NONMEDICAL REASONS. People are running to these “drugs of choice” to help them get through or avoid or numb something in their lives, and many likely don’t have even the slightest clue as to why. This year, we began creating a new resource in an effort to help others answer that question. We want to give you a firsthand, look at this resource because we believe that when you see it, you will want to participate in what we have already begun to witness as a life-changing project. We will make this series available for FREE to anyone and everyone.
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This is just a small glimpse into a powerful series – one that offers hope through real-life stories and solutions.
We want to give you access to all of it so you can see and experience it for yourself at www.X3Christmas.com.
I’ll be blunt... we can’t roll this out without you. This is more than a one-and-done video course. We have big plans for this series and a lot of ongoing support that we want to be able to provide for the people who are going to need it. These issues – as with everything we pursue here at Fireproof – require community, accountability, and hands extended toward people who have little else to grab hold of.
Resentment is a video series we created in an effort to help others become aware of why they’re experiencing the bitterness that so consumes them. It is an effort to reveal when and where the anger began, and to uncover what caused it to grow. And – because so many people feel so alone in the fight to keep their heads above water – we created it in such a way that they may clearly see how not alone they are. We asked six individuals (and one married couple) to share their stories with us. Each person in this series details the impact resentment has had on his or her life. They risk vulnerability by exposing the experiences that gave birth to their bitterness. They discuss the ways that resentment underlies emotion and behavior. They talk about what broke them, and they talk about how to put the pieces back together and heal.
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We need your partnership to provide Resentment – and every accompanying provision – to a countless number of people living in cycles of pain, confusion, and darkness, but not without hope. With your help, when this is all said and done, we’ll have the opportunity to give an excellent and substantial resource away for the free. It won’t happen without your help. We depend on our donors to make dreams like this become realities.
PLEASE PARTNER WITH US TODAY. Thank you for your gift, and have a Merry Christmas.
Simply put: our costs are ongoing, and our expenses, continuous. We require financial support to allow for technological maintenance, like the video portal where individuals log in and access the Resentment series. We want to support the individuals on staff who provide follow-up care and make themselves available via phone and email. We want to roll out supplementary resources, and attempt to cover behind-the-scenes expenses.
“THIS IS MORE THAN A ONE-ANDDONE VIDEO COURSE. WE HAVE BIG PLANS FOR THIS SERIES AND A LOT OF ONGOING SUPPORT THAT WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO PROVIDE FOR THE PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO NEED IT.”
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ABOUT OUR STORIES CRAIG GROSS introduces us to the why behind the entire Resentment series, as well as some of his realizations about the ways he has harbored bitterness, past hurts, and childhood wounds that continue to affect aspects of life, including the questions that he’s been answering as a result.
BRANNIN PITRE shares his story of childhood abuse and admits that it hurts to look at what has been done to us, or what we’ve done to ourselves. He explains that it is our natural inclination to survive, so we pick up tools in life, along the way, to help us flee the pain. Brannin says that – although he never minimized the abuse his father inflicted upon him – compassion came from recognizing that his dad’s brokenness was as universal as his own, and the rest of the world’s. Because of that, he was able to say, “I forgive you.”
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DAVID TOSTI says, “I’m a feeler, and tend to rely on my emotions a lot, which I’ve been working through. I’ve discovered a real connectedness to trauma in my life, and if I don’t address it, it blows up and becomes a huge part of/creates other problems in my life.” There’s a lot to be said for calling things as they are – including resentment. We have to do it for ourselves, and for others. Otherwise, David says, “We’ll just keep holding on to this quiet thing, and no one will understand why we’re so angry all the time, or irritable, or difficult to be around.”
STEVEN LUFF is a therapist who discusses both his personal experiences and professional findings regarding resentment, and opens with a clear conclusion about what – in fact – it is: “Resentment is a byproduct of me thinking that it [life, marriage, work, etc.] is supposed to be something that it isn’t, instead of accepting what it is…” He shares that our earliest relationships dictate how safe we feel in the world. “The more you submit yourself to the process of being around people in a healthy community – people who haven’t left you in the midst of your turmoil, and love and accept you unconditionally – the more your neurological pathways start to change, and the more you start to turn toward things that build life, rather than substances that destroy it.”
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LEVI MACALLISTER
CARL & KATIE THOMAS
knows that there are certain wounds, losses, and struggles that are ongoing. In Levi’s case, his father’s absence through suicide is a continuous loss. The more memories made, the more children born, the more “possible futures” his dad misses out on, and though it will one day be defeated: the sting of death whispers through it all. Levi discusses the way that he feels compelled to help others recognize that they are not alone in their suffering, but often fails to realize the same for himself.
discuss their experience with pornography’s effect on their marriage. Carl admits that he never thought that resentment might be something he struggled with. Then, he began to realize that the word perfectly summarized the feelings he had toward his work and life, which led to using pornography to “medicate” the pain and unpleasant emotions he was experiencing. Carl’s wife, Katie, acknowledges her anger toward him but discusses the way that God softened her heart when the Lord gave her compassion toward Carl’s pain, and an appreciation for his intentionality in dealing with/recovering from the sexual barrier in their marriage despite it.
BRITTNI DE LA MORA shares how the love she lacked in childhood drove her to seek it out in all the wrong places. She goes on to tell how the love of God (through safe people) enabled her to move past resentments from childhood and a 7-year career in pornography. “When I recognized how loved and forgiven I was, I felt like I didn’t have any room in my heart to be upset and resentful toward others because they’re just broken people, like everyone. People who are walking in darkness simply don’t know better - they’re walking in darkness. I want to turn the light on, or at least: show them who the light is.”
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EVERY DOLLAR GIVEN TO FIREPROOF HELPS US CREATE AND MAINTAIN THE RESOURCES WE USE TO HELP PEOPLE LIVE BETTER LIVES. Your donation is critical to our donor funded ministry.
YO U R G IV ING C A N GIVE ONLINE:
DONATE BY MAIL:
https://www.xxxchurch.com/donate
Send your check, money order or cashiers check to us at:
You have a voice in giving and can designate your gift to a specific area of our ministry. You can make a one-time gift or a recurring donation for ongoing impact.
Fireproof Ministries PO Box 50048 Pasadena, CA 91115
STOCKS, BONDS OR PROPERTIES: Contact Jeanette Gross (jeanette@fireproofministries.com) (626) 628-3387
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“CHRISTMAS IS A SEASON NOT ONLY OF REJOICING BUT OF REFLECTION.” W IN S TO N C H U R C H ILL
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