news r e s c u e Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission
A Ministry of Rescue & Recovery
a publication of the Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission • Anchorage, Alaska
To God Be The
GREAT THINGS HE HATH DONE!
Holiday Season Brightened
For Those In Need
By Faithful Donors’ Gifts
It was a glorious time at the Mission
over the Thanksgiving and Christmas
holidays as we saw God “open the
windows of heaven and pour out His
blessings”, and work through the
Mission as He has done before, but
never in the same ways! God is so
good. We give Him praise and glory
for the many, many things He has
done for and through the Mission.
David M. Williams
Program Director
However, we know and understand
that God works through people. It
Larry Aldrich
Operations Manager was YOU, our donors and friends that
responded to our pleas for help and
Donald Guynes under God’s leadership, you gave to
Kitchen Manager
the Mission. This made it possible
Randy Hess for us to make life a little better for
Maintenance Supervisor the poor, needy and homeless people
in our community. It also lets them
Larry O’Connor know that someone cares about
Greg Mann them.
Neil Givens
Roger Klein
We always get a little nervous and
Client Supervisors
apprehensive when we look at what
David McKnight we have on hand and wonder if we
Van Driver are going to have enough to meet the
needs of our expectations to provide
Shane Day for those that will come to us for
Maintenance
help. But, you know, God always
May you have a happy and prosperous
New Year!
GLORY
comes through and the needs are met. Praise
God!
We were so blessed and pleased that God
allowed us to serve many Thanksgiving and
Christmas dinners. If you remember I told
you in the October newsletter that we would
be a part of the nationwide
“Great Thanksgiving Banquet”, served
by many of the Rescue Missions across the
country. Well, the number of dinners served
was over 500,000 and the number of meals
we served here was included in that count.
Again, Praise God!
Mike Yankoski was the honorary chairman of
the Banquet this year. He actually lived on
the streets as a homeless person, sleeping in
doorways and scrounging through dumpsters
for food. He is the author of “Under the
Overpass”, which gives a full detailed account
of his life on the streets.
But, the greatest blessing we experience is
the opportunity to give witness of the Lord
Jesus Christ to those that we serve. Folks
come to the Mission for a holiday meal with
and empty stomach and they all leave having
eaten all they want and some with Christ as
their Savior. Our counselors always ask a
person about their relationship with the Lord,
without being obnoxious or intrusive. If they
are not a Christian, then they are given the
y
opportunity to accept Jesus as their
ar
Savior.
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And whatever you do,
whether in word or deed, do
it all in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God
the Father through him.
Colossians 3:17 (NIV)
Have you ever noticed
how an ungrateful person’s
attitude often effects
the way you feel about
everyone you associate
with that person? One of
the byproducts of working
at the Anchorage Gospel
Rescue Mission is ungrateful
people. Unfortunately no
matter how hard you try
to help some people it’s
never enough because they
feel the world owns them
something. Although the
percentage of the homeless
men and women who feel
this way is small, over the
course of the year it can
have its effect on the staff.
2 and suggestions
The Blessings of Gratefulness
te
I often find myself forgetting
the spirit of Paul’s writings
s Thanksgiving and Christmas
in Colossians. Paul is telling
il lia us we have to bring honor
W to Christ in everything that
we do. Although I’ve looked,
there is no asterisk by this
verse leading to a footnote
that says, “We only have to
honor Christ if the person we
are dealing with is grateful
for our help”.
Although I know it’s wrong
to let myself become
judgmental it creeps in and
as the year progress my
strength wanes which leads
to a foothold satin loves to
exploit. I start believing the
lie that all homeless men
and women are ungrateful.
This is when the awesome
Lord I serve steps in and
rescues me from satin’s
clutches. He does this in the
form of a responsibility that
on the surface looks painful
yet in the end is just what I
needed all along. Don’t you
just love the way he does
that!
For the last three years it
has been my responsibility
to shepherd the men,
women, and children into
www.anchoragerescue.org
We invite you to visit us on the web or
drop us an E-mail with your comments
the dinning room for our
meals. Although making
sure everyone is fed in
an orderly manner can be
tedious; the blessing is I’m
also standing at the dinning
room door when those very
same people are leaving.
If you ever doubt the
gratefulness of the
homeless I encourage you
to accompany me at, what
I lovingly refer to as, the
door of gratefulness. You
not only hear it in their
voice or see it in their eyes
but you also feel it in their
touch. The expressions of
thanks are genuine and
often accompanied by eyes
brimming with tears.
As I’m standing at the door of
gratefulness I’m convicted.
The Lord shows me it is I
who have fallen in the sin of
ungratefulness. We have to
remember it is a privilege
to serve the men, women,
and children who the Lord
has placed in our path for
our benefit. This knowledge
renews my strength and
more importantly makes me
grateful to be a servant who
desires to honor Christ.
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I want to say a heart felt:
“Congratulation Mr. David Williams!”
David has accepted the position of
the “Newlife” Program Director. I
commend him for his willingness to
be stretched by God. It is through
these stretching times that God
shapes & molds our character into His
likeness. If we have a willing heart,
we will experience God’s faithfulness
in teaching us His ways. That’s when
our walk with him becomes alive and
active.
I believe that David will bring new
ideas and freshness into the program
and it will have a great impact on
the lives of the men attending the
“Newlife” Program.
I know he has a genuine concern for
the men to complete the program and
to be able to live a life in freedom from
any addiction, a life that is centered
in our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is a big job; therefore let us keep
David in our prayers.
Seeking
New
Heights
As for me, it is time to step up to the
plate and, under the leadership of our
Executive Director, learn all aspects
of operations for the Rescue Misson.
“Whew” this is quite a plateful;
however I have faith in God and His
word. I trust in Him. My hope and
prayer is for the courage and wisdom
to bring newness into this position.
We, the staff of the Anchorage Gospel
Rescue Mission, need to set our sight
on new heights. As a ministry team
we need to seek new ways to be an
impact on the men we serve at the
Rescue Mission.
I want to say Thank You to all of
you who ensure the continuation of
this ministry. Your prayers and your
generosity keep the doors open to
minister to the physical and spiritual
needs of our brothers and sisters.
Thank you again, may God continue
to bless you abundantly through out
this New Year.
3
 ni
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Submission!
Romans 12:1 –Therefore, I urge you, brothers in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices,
holy and pleasing to God….

The problem with living sacrifices is that they tend to crawl off the altar. This is as good an analogy as any to
describe me and my life. When I entered the New Life Discipleship Program here at the Anchorage Gospel Rescue
Mission on July 7th, 2006, I was a broken man.

I was raised in the Church, and accepted Jesus as my Savior but not as Lord of my life. As a young teenager I
began to experiment with drugs and alcohol and became rebellious, as so many teenagers do. At the age of 15 my
parents separated and subsequently divorced. I immediately began to take advantage of the situation to throw off
the restraints of parental authority and live my life as I saw fit. Not surprisingly I rapidly fell into addiction to drugs
and alcohol, and ever since then my life has been one big roller coaster ride.

The Lord would let me continue in my ways for a time and then would allow circumstances to bring me into account.
I would repent and try to live my life as a “good Christian”, but always it was on my own power and on my own
terms. When things didn’t go exactly as I thought they should my rebelliousness would crop up and I would turn
my back on God and go my own way once again…..until the next time when my life would spin out of control.

When I entered the program here, I had been to treatment 9 times, in and out of jail so many times I had lost track a
long time ago. My past was a blur of drugs, alcohol and sexual immorality. Broken promises, broken relationships
and lost dreams lay scattered in my wake. Not only was I a broken man but I was an angry and bitter man as well.
Now, looking back I can begin to see how the Lord Jesus had shown grace and great mercy to this sinner. How also
the unconditional love and fervent prayers of a Mother and her fellow believers sustained and preserved me, when
others had not been so fortunate. Also, the love, patience and understanding of the staff and my fellow brothers in
Christ here at the mission have lifted me and, guided me when I was
incapable of loving myself

Experiencing the Love of God has begun to effect a change in me and the
“eyes of my heart” have been opened through the power and indwelling
of the Holy Spirit. I have come to believe that for me repentance must
be a lifestyle not a one time affair. Living in submission to God and
his will for my life, not mine, is what I desire. I now understand that
being a disciple of Christ is a lifetime commitment that will take me
a lifetime to fulfill. Thanks be to God I don’t have to do this alone for
He has promised to be with me always and to never leave me even to
the end of the world. Praise His Holy Name!

Psalms 51:17 –The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and
contrite heart, O God, you will not despise

4
 n ’s
co
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wer
y 2007?
l ai Bo
ap o n
ch . D been 23 years ago. I also recall here by remembering us in your

Rev saying that “in the year 2000 I

We trust that you have had a
wonderful Christmas and that
your New Year has begun with a
happy note. Activity has been
furious here at the mission as
you might expect. It seems
that with the winter weather
more and more folks show up
here with their needs.
We have used your gifts wisely,
and they enable us to minister
in Christ’s name. Our prayer
is that the Lord would enable
us to continue to minister in
2007. 2007? Can you believe
the year? I can remember when
I thought that 1984 of George
Orwell fame would never
come. Nevertheless, 1984 has
n eeds
special
ewlife ram
The N
c o v e r y Prog
Re ds
e r a t e ly nee
desp .
Bibles
study
u h a v e an o
If yo g it to u
r i n
one B
c a n use it!
w e
would be and old man.” Well
prayers and be being obedient
to whatever the Lord might
it is 2007 and I am an even lead you to do to help us. God
“older man” of 59. In spite of Bless you in 2007!
the years, I am looking forward
to what the Lord is going to Chaplain Bowery
do in this New Year. I have
long ago given up the idea of
making New Year’s Resolutions,
as they hardly ever work out,
expect encouraging one to try
it again next year.
I mentioned 1984, Orwell’s
(real name Eric Arthur Blair)
horrible vision of a totalitarian
society caste as a “negative
utopia” first published in 1948.
The fear of “Big Brother’s”
watching in many ways fits the
reality of our contemporary
post 9-11 world. It is certainly
true a good reason to be
good is that the government
is watching. However, we all
know this is not enough. That
is why Jesus Christ came to
earth, God as man, to make a
way that we can be righteous
irrespective of the laws of “Big
If you have an old dog-eared copy
Brother,” or of feeble New of Total Forgiveness or if the Lord
Year’s Resolutions. I praise
the Lord that in 2007 there is
touches your heart to purchase a
copy for our “NewLife” Recovery
a real way to be righteous, and
ld Program we would greatly
love the Lord our God, and our appreciate it. This is a book that
s neighbor as our self. Which has proven itself valuable to
brings me back to the mission.
We trust that the good Lord
those who are unable to forgive
themselves, God, and family.
will continue to enable many
of you to join in our efforts

5
 Living Memorials A New Years Resolution
And Prayer
. . . .touch lives as they honor the memory
of loved ones and friends. Jesus, I have promised,
In Memory of
Pauline Burkher To serve Thee to the end;
by Alice E. Brewer Be thou forever near me,
In Memory of My Master and my Friend!
Evelyn Michow I shall not fear the battle,
by Lawrence and Linda Michow
If Thou art by my side,
In Memory of
Dean Thompson Nor wander from the pathway,
by Wes Steele If Thou will be my guide.
Alpha Iota Chapter #2992
Epsilon Sigma Alpha O let me see Thy footprints,
In Memory of And in them plant my own!
Esperanza M. Casas My hope to follow duly,
by Martha Cashen
Is in Thy strength alone.
In Memory of
Rich Downing O guide me, call me, draw me
by Janie Downing Uphold me to the end!
In Memory of At last in heaven receive me
Gene Damron My Savior and my Friend!
by Scott and Loretta Railing
In Memory of
Bill and My Dad
by Roy J. Evans
In Memory of
Chalmers Kellec What Are Your Plans For
by Sharon Kellec
In Memory of The New Year?
David McKinney
by Herbert and Jean McKinney
In Memory of
Maebelle Nielson Have you made any New Years Resolutions?
by Jeff and Kim Duncan and Family How About These?
In Memory of 1. To grow spiritually!
Myrtle Sherbahn
2. To pray more intensely and regularly for yourself
by Carole I. Miller
In Memory of and for others.
A.J. “Whitey” Yurman 3. To take a more active part in your church
by Jane Yurman activities.
4. Teach a Sunday School Class, if
In Honor of God so leads.
Al Atkey and Billy Charles 5. To develop a real concern for those that are not
by Susan Hoefner Christians. Offer a personal witness to them to
In Honor of
Betty McCullough
accept Christ as their Savior.
by Rev. Don McCullough 6. To help and volunteer some time to serve God
In Honor of through a local agency like the Anchorage
Dr. and Mrs. Ken Collins Gospel Rescue Mission and others.
Thom and Elaine Hathway 7. Then add your own personal resolutions that
Larry and Bette Ross
Pat and Laurie Marifjeren
you always break—like losing weight, stop
Jim and Sally Copen smoking, exercise more and etc…
John and Tammy Reading
by Vickie Turner What Are Your Plans For Christian Growth?

6
 sk A Letter of Appreciation
de
’s is
t or
Bett
c
re on
di .D at their facility. Once I got there, I was pleased to find
e v I want to share this letter a very generous and genial staff. Although I arrived
R with you. It does not happen after hours, they were kind enough to find room for
very often and it seems like we are me to stay there. I found the staff very hospitable and
in a thankless job of service to anyone that needs the professional in their treatment of me and my situation.
things we provide. But when somebody takes the time It was a wonderful experience that I will remember for
to say thanks and even sends us a letter of appreciation a long time. I want to publicly thank the Anchorage
it is really an uplifting and exhilarating experience for Rescue Mission for such kind and generous assistance
us. The person sent this letter to the Anchorage Daily in my time of need.
News but I know they will not print it. So I wanted to
share it with you, our supporters, it is meant for you The residents of Anchorage should be proud of the
too. work being done at their Rescue Mission. If not for
Here is the email sent to the Mission: the Mission, many people in your community would
I just got back to Fairbanks after a quick trip down to have no place else to go. I highly encourage all of
Anchorage. Had the great pleasure of spending the Anchorage to support the Anchorage Rescue Mission.
evening at the Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission. I
was so impressed with the service and congeniality of Sincerely,
the staff. Everyone that I dealt with was kind, friendly
and professional. They went out of their way to make Ken M.
me feel welcome. Fairbanks, AK
The letter to the Editor of the Anchorage Daily Thanks Ken. I thank you for acknowledging the
News: reception and the treatment of you by our staff. I
On Friday, December 8, 2006, I traveled to Anchorage want everyone to know that this was not just a one
from Fairbanks to assist a friend and his family in time incident. We do out best to treat everyone the
getting to the airport. After dropping them off, I found same without exception. We are here to help and to
myself in need of a place to spend the night, and with show the love of God in everything we do; we treat
no money to afford a hotel. everyone like we would like to be treated if we were
in their place.
Having few options, I contacted the Anchorage Rescue
Mission. The folks there invited me to spend the night Bro. Don Bettis
Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission P.OB Box 230510 Anchorage, Alaska 99523-0510
Here is my support gift: For Credit Card Donations:
Food and Shelter: $_____ I would like to charge my total donation of $__________________
Check One: Visa ˆ M/C ˆ Am/Ex ˆ Discover ˆ
Facilities Maintenance: $_____
$46.25 For 25 Meals ______
$74.00 For 40 Meals ______ Card Number __________________________________________
$132.20 For 72 Meals ______
Exp. Date: ______/______ Signature _______________________
$277.50 For 150 Meals ______
______Other: All credit card information is kept in strict confidence
Make checks payable to the Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission
______ I Will Pray for this Ministry.
You will receive a receipt.

Name:________________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________
Please send this coupon with your donations. 7
Our Ministry of
Chapel Services for January
u e Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
e s c 1 2 3 4 5 6
r is to
Abbot Loop
Community
Anchorage
Pilgrim
First
Anchorage
Anchorage
Vineyartd
First
Presbyterian
Calvary
Baptist
Church Nazarene Gospel Fellowship Church Church
the least 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
God’s Church First Change Alliance Calvary Wasilla
the last Place of God of Assembly of Point Bible Church Assembly
the lost Prophecy God Church of God
14 15 16 17 18 19 206
“URGENT” God’s Sherbahn Anchorage Christian Sherbahn Sherbahn Lighthouse
Place Evangelistic Native Evangelical Evangelistic Evangelistic Christian
Our supplies of these Team Assembly Church Team Team Fellowship
items is constantly in 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
need of replenishing Grace
Victory
Calvary
Baptist
Attorney
Greg Grebe
Calvary
Baptist
Evangelical
Covenant
In His Name
Sandy
Southside
Church
† Prayer Fellowship Church Church Church McCollum of God

† Paper Towels 28 29 30 31
New Light Trinity Grace Change
† 45 Gallon Trash Bags Community Presbyterian Brethren Point
Church Church Eagle River
† Fresh Meat
† Coffee
† Bathroom Tissue
† Laundry Soap
† Disposable Shavers STATEMENT OF FAITH
The Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission is a Non-Profit, Non-Denominational
† Cleaning Supplies
organization. We receive NO municipal, state or federal funds. We are not a United
† Liquid Dish Detergent Way Agency. Your financial support and In-Kind donations makes it possible for us to
† Dinner Napkins provide for the poor, needy and homeless people in our community. Also, your donations
† Shampoo allow us to provide a Drug and Alcohol Recovery program. All Donations are fully tax
“URGENT” deductible. We will give you a receipt for your donation.

Anchorage Gospel D
Non-Profit Org.
Rescue Mission Anchorage P
ue
U.S. Postal

Board of Trustees Gospel c PAID

s Anchorage, AK
re Permit # 290 L
O
Mark Soquet, President Mission GOD BLESS AMERICA

Bob Collins, Vice President A Ministry of D

(and acting treasure) Rescue & Recovery info@anchoragerescue.org K
Ed Shelton, Secretary www.anchoragerescue.org
ue
Enoch Adams
Brad Young

Emeritus:
r es
news
c

P.O. Box 230510•Anchorage, AK•99523-0510•(907) 563-5603

R
M

L
Cliff Hodgins G
Rev. Willard leisy RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
N
Advisory Board: R
Paul Kelly
C

Rev. Don Bettis, Exec. Dir. D

Charlotte Bettis, Asst. Dir.
V

S
MEMBER M
Association of Gospel ue
sc Missions
re
An association of Rescue Ministries