Thursday, May 21, 2015

My Help Comes from The Lord

My Help Comes from The Lord

121 I look up to the hills,
    but where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let you be defeated.
    He who guards you never sleeps.
4 He who guards Israel
    never rests or sleeps.
5 The Lord guards you.
    The Lord is the shade that protects you from the sun.
6 The sun cannot hurt you during the day,
    and the moon cannot hurt you at night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all dangers;
    he will guard your life.
8 The Lord will guard you as you come and go,
    both now and forever.

The sanest part of recovery from addiction is the revelation that The Lord is our only source of real help.  He is the only help that doesn't lead us to defeat or let us down when we are in trouble.  He is the shade when the heat of the day seems too much for us to handle.  Matthew Henry said that some people call Psalm 121, "The Soldier's Psalm".  It was believed to be written when King David had a battle that seemed insurmountable.  

The men who walk into 180 have been in a battle that seemed insurmountable.  They turned to everything and everyone but God to deal with life's battles.  They are now learning to trust God as their place of safety and help.  It is amazing to see how the process happens.  The life of hopelessness turning to hope and hope turning to trust.  Trust then begins to peel back the layers of the past and brings healing.

Bryan sharing hope to the homeless
Food donation
Bryan shares with people who knew him before he entered 180.
They were in tears as they saw that it is possible to find freedom.
Passing out goodies to the homeless.

Agents of reconciliation

"If a man is in Christ he becomes a new person altogether—the past is finished and gone, everything has become fresh and new. All this is God’s doing, for he has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ; and he has made us agents of the reconciliation. God was in Christ personally reconciling the world to himself—not counting their sins against them—and has commissioned us with the message of reconciliation."  
2 Corinthians 5:17,18 Phillips translation

Broken lives become a brook of hope for the broken.   That is exactly what happened yesterday. The 180 Center received a donation of food  early in the morning, but there were lots of food items that we couldn't eat.  Don felt that we should make a quick trip to the overpass to give the food to the homeless living there.  We passed out the food and Bibles and prayed for them.  Most of the people just looked at Don and me and must of thought, "What do you know about being homeless?", but Bryan started sharing how God has set him free from addiction and how the program helped him get off the streets.

Bryan's testimony helped open the hearts as we saw the miracle of love pouring out of a broken vessel to the broken lives.  We were only there for about 10 minutes, but I believe that the seed planted will produce fruit in the Kingdom of God forever!




Thank you for praying for The 180 Center, Restoration Center For Men.  Don and I are missionaries under Victory Fellowship and are very grateful for one-time and monthly gifts of any amount to help us with our expenses.    Click here for Victory Fellowship's online giving link. Designate the donation for Don and Mary Bryant   You can also mail checks to: Victory Fellowship 5708 Airline Dr.Metairie LA. 70003.



An easy and secure way to give!
We are not able to send a tax credit through Paypal gifts, but God will surely reward you


This is the website for The 180 Center, Restoration Center for Men, has all the information and an application for entering The 180 Center on the website:

Please feel free to write us or call us:
The 180 Center:  (504) 309-1050

Email:  mbryant@victoryfellowship.net or dbryant@victoryfellowship.net




Thursday, May 14, 2015

Changing from Glory to Glory

Changing from Glory to Glory

Changing from Glory to Glory!

It is the work of The 180 Center, Restoration center to take in the men who are ready to surrender their lives to God and the program.  It is the transforming power of the Word of God and The Holy Spirit that changes them!  One part of the program for the men is to be part of every church service and receive prayer during every ministry time.  This time is a very powerful time, and is where we see anger and depression break off of people and lives are changed! 

 "Now all of us, with our faces unveiled, reflect the glory of the Lord as if we are mirrors; and so we are being transformed, metamorphosed, into His same image from one radiance of glory to another, just as the Spirit of the Lord accomplishes it."
2 Corinthians 3:18, The Voice translation

New Student

Bryan walked into the doors of 180 eight days ago.  He had a rough past but has some friends and family who helped him to find this ministry.  Bryan's story is a painful one and made my heart cry out for him.  He has deep wounds that he tried to fill with drugs and eventually resulted in Bryan living in a friend's backyard.  His friend took him to Goodwill for clothes and bought all the toiletries he would need too!  We brought Bryan to 180 straight from church where he had a clean bed to sleep in, food for his belly, and shower.  His rough exterior began to gave way to tears as we prayed for him.  He still has a long way to go, but I believe in the miracle of redemption to change Bryan from the inside out!

"Father of orphans, champion of widows, is God in his holy house.
God makes homes for the homeless, leads prisoners to freedom" Psalm 68:5-6a, The Message (MSG)

Morning visit from our neighboring pastor
The pastor is from the Brazilian church that meets next door to us.  He wanted to give the men some books as gifts. The library is slowly growing thanks to contributions of books from several different people!  We can still use donations of school supplies, laundry detergent, deodorant, and other daily supplies.  


Thank you for praying for The 180 Center, Restoration Center For Men.  Don and I are missionaries under Victory Fellowship and are very grateful for one-time and monthly gifts of any amount to help us with our expenses.    Click here for Victory Fellowship's online giving link. Designate the donation for Don and Mary Bryant   You can also mail checks to: Victory Fellowship 5708 Airline Dr.Metairie LA. 70003.
An easy and secure way to give!
We are not able to send a tax credit through Paypal gifts, but God will surely reward you

This is the website for The 180 Center, Restoration Center for Men. It has all the information and the application for 180 on the website:

Please feel free to write us or call us:
The 180 Center:  (504) 309-1050
Email:  mbryant@victoryfellowship.net or dbryant@victoryfellowship.net

Thursday, May 7, 2015

The Grand Opening of The 180 Center


The Ribbon Cutting from the Grand Opening

The Grand Opening 

What a grand day!  The day was beautiful and we are happy to report that nearly 300 people walked into the doors of 180 to give a show of support for the launch of the new ministry. 

Denny and Sam Baptized!

It is amazing to see the lives of those who come into the doors of 180 begin to change.  Denny and Sam both wanted to get baptized after the BTG service.  Praise God!
Turning cartwheels of JOY!  There are things that I have learned over the years of serving God.  One of them is to not let any trials or difficult times keep me down.  The 180 Center is all about turning lives around.  My heart overflows with joy as I see how He comes through every time!
"Though the cherry trees don’t blossom and the strawberries don’t ripen, Though the apples are worm-eaten and the wheat fields stunted, Though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns empty, I’m singing joyful praise to God .
I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God. Counting on God ’s Rule to prevail, I take heart and gain strength. I run like a deer. I feel like I’m king of the mountain! (For congregational use, with a full orchestra.)"
Habakkuk 3:17-19 The Message Version

I had to take a class to be certified as a servsafe manager.  Frank Sclafani was the instructor, who taught me a lot about how to make sure our kitchen and food stay safe.  He was a hoot as he told us all sorts of stories from the good old days of New Orleans.  It made the massive amounts of material that I had to absorb a little more entertaining.  I should have my certification very soon!  

There are so many reasons to doubt our qualifications when God calls us to do a huge task, but God is the One Who calls, equips and sends.  God calls us to do things beyond our ability. He delights to draw us towards total dependency on His strength.
"This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God’s way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians.
God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities. And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ."  Ephesians 3:7-9 msg


Thank you for your continued prayer and support given to support us in this ministry.    Click here for Victory Fellowship's online giving link. Designate the donation for Don and Mary Bryant   You can also mail checks to: Victory Fellowship 5708 Airline Dr.Metairie LA. 70003.


An easy and secure way to give!
We are not able to send a tax credit through Paypal gifts, but God will surely reward you