Freedom from Addiction - Ben Groenwald (submitted by Marty Groenwald)

My husband Ben had been a smoker for decades of his adult life. He had tried to stop several times during our marriage with no success. 

In February of 1994, we were at a church conference in Evergreen, Colorado. At one point during one of the meeting, the leader noticed that there were several smokers present and asked if any of them would like to be set free from that addiction. Ben responded and went forward for someone to pray with him. As they prayed, Ben was completely and miraculously set free from his desire to smoke. 

God not only took away the addiction, but also graciously and supernaturally healed Ben of a deep and persistent cough that he had developed from years of smoking. That wasn’t the end of the miracle. God took away Ben’s addiction, healed his lungs and his cough – but when we returned to our home we were amazed to find that there was no smell of smoke anywhere in the house. 

Despite decades of smoking, there wasn’t a hint of a scent of smoke in Ben’s favorite chair, there was no residual smell in his closet as there had been for years, there was no smell on any of his clothes. Even the ashtrays that Ben had used so often had no smell of smoke whatsoever.  

God had completely set him free, healed him, and removed every sign from our home. It was a complete, thorough, and miraculous occurrence!

Wednesday, May 31st - Saturday, June 3rd - YOUTH CAMP

Sunday, June 4th

6:00pm - 8:00pm I Homegroups I Chapel Youth D-Groups I Chapel Kids I Nursery [get involved]

Monday, June 5th - Thursday, June 8th I 6pm - 8pm I MEGA Summer Camp [sign up]

Wednesday, June 7th

REMINDER: No family dinner, adult discipleship groups or chapel kids groups during June & July. Activities resume August 23. 

No Chapel Youth because of MEGA

Saturday, June 10th - Sunday, June 18th I Paraguay Missions Trip

Wednesday, June 14th

REMINDER: No family dinner, adult discipleship groups or chapel kids groups during June & July. Activities resume August 23. 

6:30pm - 7:30pm I Chapel Youth

Sunday, June 18th I 9:15am & 10:45am I Fathers Day

(No HomeGroups due to Father’s Day)

Wednesday, June 21st

REMINDER: No family dinner, adult discipleship groups or chapel kids groups during June & July. Activities resume August 23. 

6:30pm - 7:30pm I Chapel Youth

Wednesday, June 28th

REMINDER: No family dinner, adult discipleship groups or chapel kids groups during June & July. Activities resume August 23. 

6:30pm - 7:30pm I Chapel Youth

Our Wednesday night Adult Discipleship groups and Chapel Kids groups do not meet during June and July. We take this short break to create more time, space. and volunteer capacity for our summer events and activities. Our normal Wednesday night schedule resumes in late August. 

Sara and Shaun Morton are dedicated and active members at Christian Chapel. You can find them smiling and shaking hands in our hallways, inviting friends, and serving at various events. Even as they serve so faithfully in Tulsa, half of their hearts are in Paraguay.

When Sara was a teenager, God spoke to her about following Him to go wherever He would lead. Shaun experienced a call into some form of ministry as a teenager. The couple married during college. After marriage, Shaun went on a mission’s trip to Mexico where he felt God was calling the Morton family to serve as missionaries in another country. By this time, Shaun & Sara had welcomed their daughter Abi into their family. The Morton’s spent one year in Guatemala serving different ministries. During that year they discovered a God-given passion to serve children that had been removed from their families. 

Following the year long commitment in Guatemala, they began to search for open doors to work with orphans. After knocking on doors all over the world, they discovered a ministry in Paraguay looking for directors at a small children’s home. Although they didn’t hear any special word or direction from the Lord, they were willing and there was a need. Sight unseen, they moved their family to Paraguay in February of 2009.

Upon their arrival in 2009, only one of the ministry's twelve homes were open. They were caring for ten children. Most of the property was abandoned and overgrown. At that time the school on the property was being staffed, paid for, and run by the government. God gave Shaun & Sara a vision to see lives transformed through the love of Jesus. Through these transformed lives future leaders could be raised to know Jesus and help transform the future of the nation of Paraguay. 

Today, there are three homes for minor children and two homes for aging out teenagers and young adults on the campus of Serving Paraguay. The model for their children’s home is family based environments, where children are placed in a loving home with a full time, Christian mother and father to care for their needs. The school was privatized in 2011 and grew from 66 students in 2010 to 300 students today. It has expanded from an elementary and middle school to a K4-12th grade Christian school. Serving Paraguay also established a scholarship program for graduates from their high school and have seen the community begin to be transformed through Christ’s love.

The Morton’s have witnessed God’s miraculous power in big and small ways as the directors of Serving Paraguay. They have endured numerous financial struggles, and been amazed as God has met every need from regular supporters and unknown one-time donors. They heard powerful testimonies and seen so many lives transformed by Jesus.

After years of leading Serving Paraguay as bi-vocational minsters, Shaun & Sara are transitioning into full-time ministry with Serving Paraguay this year. This move will enable them to travel to Paraguay more often, host more teams, develop a broad team of supporters in the US, and devote more time to leadership training and development at the school and children’s homes. You can learn more about Serving Paraguay at www.servingparaguay.org.