OUT OF THE WILDERNESS

Honoring His Abusive Christian Father and Mother

Our news media seems to have daily stories of individuals who have been abused by clergy, church leaders, and even church organizations. Countless numbers of formerly faithful people avoid church because they were abused, while others, who are not religious participants, avoid experiencing faith communities because of what they have been hearing in news stories.How do clergy, church leaders, and congregations help in the healing of these abused people and assist them to move beyond the pain of abuse toward healing and even forgiveness?Although the names and places have been changed to protect the innocent, this is the true but tragic story of a Christian man who had been abused by both parents, who were elders in the church, but found enough healing to fight to keep his mother from being abused three decades later.It is a story of a woman who abused her son in response to her own abuse.It is a story of a Christian man, healed from abuse, who chose to be a rescuer instead of an abuser.It is a story of a Christian community uniting in prayer and action to support a son as he helped his mother escape from the evils of sexual abuse.This is a story of a son and his mother who walk out of the wilderness of abuse and into a better, safer, more prosperous place of healing, peace, and forgiveness.

THE CIRCLE OF SEVEN

When His Servants Are Weak

When a traumatized minister has nothing left to give and is on the brink of despair, how can he find the strength to go on? Who is going to minister to his wounded and broken spirit?

Along the path to hope and healing, Reverend William de Plore learns that true ministry is universally challenging, pastoral care is intense, and no one is immune to human limitations. Can restoration be found in a circle of seven ministers?

The Circle of Seven: When His Servants Are Weak is a book for ministers who have been wounded by the giving of intense pastoral care. It is also for Christians who care for ministers and wish to help and support them. Ennis takes the reader out of the clean sanctuaries and into the dirty streets, where pastoral care can be messy, bloody, and traumatizing. Readers are shown the genuine struggles of ministers as they seek to be Jesus to those who have been victims of the evils of a fallen world.

The stories presented here are real. They are not clean and pretty, but they are filled with faithful people in difficult circumstances who find their wounds healed by God’s grace. While specific details have been necessarily fictionalized, the reality of the traumatizing wounding and the restorative healing is entirely factual and based upon actual events.