While waiting on this ministry, my Facebook friend died …

I noticed recently that a Facebook friend of mine — I’ll call him Joe — had disappeared.

He had done that before, but usually not this long.

Then, a couple weeks ago, I discovered he had died.

I met Joe via social media a couple of years ago. He was a sharp guy, having a Masters degree in counseling and experience working with people in need.

But he was also a troubled guy.

While he had the heart and some training for helping others, he was very much in need of help himself.

Like so many others, Joe contacted me inquiring about the clinical services of Scott Free Clinic. Unfortunately, I had to tell him since we were lacking in resources to fully launch the ministry, we could no longer take any clinical cases until we were fully launched. He immediately responded that wasn’t a problem, he would hang on until we were launched, but then he’d like to get our help. I tried to find out in what way Joe needed help, but he wouldn’t answer the question, instead saying it was okay, he’d wait until we had the means to fully offer ministry.

Over the couple of years I knew Joe, I persistently tried to find out what his needs were, but he stubbornly redirected our interactions, saying he understood our need to wait until we had resources.

I made sure I maintained some sort of connection with Joe, but I noticed as time went on he would disappear from social media for a while, seemingly longer each time. But he always came back.

Until he didn’t.

When someone finally responded to my inquiries, they were just as cryptic as Joe regarding my questions about what had happened to him. All they would say was he was a “good guy” but was “battling demons” and just finally lost the battle.

I was heartbroken hearing this news.

I can’t say with certainty that if this ministry was fully resourced that I could of helped Joe completely change his life. But I do believe that if we had been properly resourced, we could have helped Joe enough that he would be alive today, and would want to be alive. I believe that, even though I don’t know it for certain.

I do know that for more than three decades, God has enabled this counseling work to be used by Him to change thousands of lives. The news of Joe shook me deeply — I’m contacted either daily or weekly by people who are in desperate need of significant help. Most of these people either have sought help from other sources and that didn’t work for them, or they don’t have anywhere else to turn. I don’t know how many Joes are out there, battling demons and coming too close to losing the battle.

On the one hand, we are so grateful to God that so many people across the country and in different parts of the world trust us to seek out help from this ministry. On the other hand, I’m troubled that the only lack this ministry has ever had is in response to our need to raise funds to fully launch. While the requests for help seem to be never-ending, the willingness to help this ministry financially has, thus far, been almost zero from our audience or those who know about us.

We know the vision and mission of this ministry was crafted by God, and we keep this ministry bathed in prayer so that we can know and follow the will of God for this work. We trust Him to provide the financial needs to make the vision and mission He has given us become reality. We don’t expect God to meet that need by raining money from heaven like manna, He’ll provide through people who capture the vision of this ministry and want to be Care Partners with us. Whether that’s through a thousand people giving a little every month, or a major donor writing a check that will launch us, the “how” is unknown — however God provides is fine with us!

But we need to do our part while trusting God to provide. That entails the one thing — the only thing — I don’t enjoy about this work, which is asking people like you to donate to this ministry. I’d rather have all my attention on providing ministry to people in need instead of asking for money. But if asking you for your financial support will enable us to serve the Joes out there, then I’m happy to do it.

That’s what I have to do this week in particular, and every day until we’re finally able to launch.

But we have a new problem — not only don’t we have the means to fully launch this ministry, we don’t have the funds to provide ministry in 2017. We worked diligently to minister to people and to offer 10 different Couple Communication workshops in four different cities during 2016, and all those efforts have depleted our funds. So, in addition to needing to raise the funds to launch this ministry, we also need to raise the funds to provide ministry in 2017. We believe there’s a lot we can do during the remainder of this year if only we had the funds needed.

That’s where you come in.

We need the many, many people who know of this ministry and who appreciate what we’re committed to, to join us as Care Partners. Whether that’s making a donation each month, or quarterly, semi-annually, or annually — whenever! — we just need people to begin to say, “I want to help all the Joes out there, I can do something …” and then do it. We also would greatly appreciate it if you would share the need of this ministry with people you know who may be willing to make a contribution.

Let me ask you to please consider making a donation TODAY if possible, or this week at least. Join us as Care Partners and know that your gift goes to help us minister to all the Joes out there — individuals, couples, families, pastors, and even churches who are in desperate need of help that we are capable of providing if only we have the financial resources to do so. To make a donation, or get information about how to make a donation to Scott Free Clinic, just click here.

Let’s make 2017 a much better year for a lot of people by helping them change their lives!

Dr. James Scott, Jr.
Founder & President,
Scott Free Clinic