Winter 2025 Ministry Newsletter

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Subject: Winter 2025 Ministry Newsletter

The Story of Mike Dee

This is my story of how God took the wreckage of my life, redeemed it, and is now using it to help other men find freedom.

At age seven, while my parents’ marriage was coming apart, I was molested, teaching me to hide and planting deep shame in my heart. I covered up the pain I felt by striving to perform. I became skilled at pleasing people, appearing fine on the outside, and at hiding brokenness on the inside.

In eighth grade, I met Jesus at summer camp and felt internal peace for the first time. Yet beneath the surface, shame continued to shape my thoughts and choices. It followed me into adulthood as I became a husband, a father and as I pursued a career in ministry. I continued to strive and perform. Outwardly I looked good, but inwardly I still struggled with my secret sin.

This went on for ten years until in 2005 my life collapsed into a pile of rubble. In one day, all pretense was stripped away as my secret sin was brought to light. The lies that I had been living with for decades destroyed my marriage, my family and career. But truthfully it had only exposed who I truly was by shattering my false identity.

Isolation followed my divorce until God, in His mercy, led me to Pure Life Ministries.

I entered the Overcomer’s At-Home Program broken, devastated, and desperate for hope. Pure Life stepped into my wreckage and began teaching me who God says I am. They helped me give shame a name and bring it to the cross. They didn’t try to simply repair what was broken—they led me to the One who could make me new.

Through His Word and the Holy Spirit, God began to rewrite my identity—not in sin, failure, or my past, but in Christ alone. The chains that bound me were broken, and that truth set me free.

PLM didn’t just offer me a program or a quick fix; they gave me tools to walk in daily repentance, renew my mind, and live in the freedom God intended. For the past 20 years, I’ve been learning to surrender daily and walk in grace. It hasn’t always been easy. The journey has had challenges, but God’s presence has been constant and faithful.

Recently, a young man who was headed down the same destructive path I had gone down came to me at his wife’s urging. I introduced him to Pure Life because of the impact it had in my life all those years ago. He embraced the hard work of heart restoration, trusted the process and submitted himself to the PLM team. This may have very well saved his marriage and family.

I will always be grateful to Pure Life Ministries for stepping into the places of shame and desolation in my life so that God could do the work in my heart to fully redeem me.

Chapel Updates

Many of you already know we began major renovations to our chapel back in April. While we know it’s God’s presence, and not looks, that transforms lives, we knew after 25 years it was time to make some changes.

We first added a beautiful accent wall behind the cross, repainted the other walls and stained the trim and cross to a darker finish. But in July, it was time for even bigger changes.

Over four weeks, we installed new carpet, added laminate flooring to the stage, built a new pulpit, relocated the sound booth, and installed a brand-new sound system. We also added accent panels and lights along each side wall.

We’re grateful for the Lord’s direction every step of the way and look forward to 25 more years of worshipping God in this beautiful space!

Overcomers At-Home Program Updates

Our Overcomers At-Home Program (OCAH) has been a core part of the Pure Life Ministries mission since 1991. Through it, we strive to help men who cannot come to our Residential Program find victory over sexual sin in the Lord Jesus and learn to walk that victory out in daily life. This has always been, and will continue to be, our main goal.

That being said, our leaders determined the OCAH curriculum needed to undergo some changes. We are currently updating the content of the curriculum to make it more accessible and beneficial for our students.

The first step was reorganizing the content into modules that focus on specific topics we want every man in our program to understand. These include concepts like worldliness, faith vs. feelings, and pride vs. humility. We believe that these targeted studies will point men more clearly toward the Lord as they pursue Him.

Part of developing the modules involved reordering how the material is presented. We found that much of the content was not being introduced early enough, leaving little time to help students apply what they were learning. The new structure allows each student more time to practice what he is being taught under the guidance of his counselor.

For each module, we filmed round-table discussions to address these topics. In these, counselors share first-hand testimonies and biblical insights. We believe the variety of voices and their wealth of experience will provide our students with an excellent resource to help them recognize and work through these heart issues in their own lives.

Additionally, we replaced all of our audio sermons with video versions that correspond to each module. This offers a more engaging and up-to-date way to interact with the material. We also added several new sermons to address topics that were not sufficiently addressed before, giving a more complete picture of what each man needs in his battle with sin.

We are looking forward to what the Lord will do with the updated curriculum in the lives of the men we counsel. It is always a blessing to watch Him change man after man. This update is by no means a change of direction in any of our beliefs or core values — only an effort to provide the best possible counsel to the men who come to us for help through the Overcomers At-Home Program.

A Powerful New Testimony Video

Maybe you’ll remember our “testimony marathon” we mentioned in our newsletter late last year. In September 2024, we filmed the testimonies of three couples who were radically transformed through the ministry of Pure Life. We promised one day we would get those testimonies produced and so far we’re 2/3 of the way there!

We want to highlight one of those stories, the testimony of Nolan and Kendra — a couple who stands out because Nolan completed our Overcomers At-Home Program. We rarely have the chance to capture OCAH testimonies on film, and theirs is truly inspiring. Nolan and Kendra once lived entirely for themselves and for the things of this world. But through God’s gracious work in their lives, He restored their marriage and led them into a true, wholehearted devotion to Christ. You can watch their testimony on our app or on our YouTube channel.

Baptisms

Recently, the counseling staff decided that each counselor would personally baptize his own counselees. Baptism has always represented a special moment at Pure Life, but this shift underscores the personal discipleship that defines our program—each student being baptized by the very man who has helped lead him to the Cross.

In August, we celebrated as 18 men from the Residential Program were baptized—men who formerly were steeped in sexual sin, pride, and selfishness now testified of their desire to cast off their former way of life and be united with Christ.

The joyful evening continued with three program graduations. Many attendees described the night as powerful and moving. Please continue to pray for these men as they descend from the mountaintop experience and begin the daily walk of faith in the valley below.

Special Meetings

This past September, Dr. John Oswalt from Asbury Theological Seminary joined us to preach a powerful four-part sermon series. Leading up to the meetings, the PLM staff earnestly prayed for God’s anointing on Dr. Oswalt and for the students to have receptive hearts.

On the first night, Dr. Oswalt preached from Psalm 51. The response was overwhelming—more than half of the student body came to the altar, crying out to the Lord for a clean heart. The second night brought a similar response as Dr. Oswalt spoke from Isaiah 43, “Behold, I am doing a new thing.” On night three, another call went forth, this time to lay down any idols, anything claiming a greater devotion than Jesus. The final message on Sunday morning centered on Romans 6-8, declaring that victorious living is possible through a life in the Spirit.

We are deeply grateful to Dr. Oswalt for joining us for this special weekend. He made the life Jesus calls us into not only clear, but deeply desirable. Our counselors will continue to urge our students to walk out what they heard that weekend. Hearing the truth is only the beginning—it must be lived out daily.

We Need Your Prayers!

We are deeply grateful for your loving prayers and faithful financial support which helps us minister to men and women impacted by sexual sin. As we continue this vital work, we invite you to join us in prayer over several pressing needs:

Administrative Building Construction
Our administrative building is currently undergoing much-needed renovations. Please pray for wisdom and unity for our design and construction teams as they undertake this extensive project.

Pure Life Ministries Brazil
Please pray for God’s provision and guidance for Pure Life Ministries Brazil as they are in the process of purchasing property to expand their ministry.

Residential Program Enrollment
Over the past year, we’ve seen a significant decline in student applications. With over 25 beds currently available, we ask you to pray that men struggling with sexual sin would become desperate for freedom and apply to our Residential Program.

Staffing Needs for Counseling Programs
Both our Residential and Overcomers At-Home Programs are in need of more men and women counselors who are passionate about helping others find lasting freedom in Christ. Please pray the Lord would raise up workers for this key part of our ministry.

Join Us for our 26^th Annual Conference

If you’ve been connected with Pure Life Ministries for any length of time, you know our story began with Steve and Kathy Gallagher. Sexual sin had devastated their marriage and lives… BUT GOD. They founded Pure Life Ministries forty years ago as a small support group in California. Only God could have foreseen what the ministry has become. 

Today, we have witnessed thousands of testimonies of God’s ability to change broken hearts and lives—far more than we could ever fit into one newsletter. These stories aren’t about how great we are—they’re about how great God is. And while few in the church seem to be willing to talk about sexual sin, Pure Life boldly proclaims that Jesus rescues the hurting, the addicted, the hopeless, and even the unfaithful.  

As Scripture reminds us:

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

1 John 4:10

2026 marks our 40th anniversary, so with grateful hearts we want to extend a special invitation to our alumni, donors, and friends to join us as we celebrate 40 years of God’s transforming power at the conference this year. Through our counseling programs, resources, and the influence of Pure Life Ministries, countless lives have found freedom from sexual sin and its devastation. Now, we want to gather to honor the One who made it all possible. 

Our theme this year: Wholly Devoted

The Scriptures say no one can serve two masters. Yet most of us have found ourselves repeatedly doing just that. We find ourselves vacillating between living for things in this world and living for Christ. The result of this wavering is often hangups and sin in our lives. We need God to step in and help recenter us on what matters most. 

You may be struggling with something in your own life, or you may be walking out a vibrant life in God! Regardless of where you are on your journey, we invite you to join us for this year’s conference. There’s nothing like coming together to praise and seek the One who is worthy of our wholehearted devotion! This weekend is sure to help you grow deeper in your devotion to Him, whether you are at the beginning of your journey, or 40 years in! 

Bring Someone Who Needs Hope

We also want to urge you, if you know someone struggling in sin or is hurting under its consequences, make plans now to bring them with you. This conference is our largest outreach event of the year, and your testimony (and the collective witness of many others) could be the spark that leads someone to freedom. 

Save the Date!

May 1-2, 2026

The Ark Encounter, Williamstown, KY

LEARN MORE

Let’s celebrate 40 years of God's Faithfulness together!

As always, thank you for your prayers and financial support!

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Subject: Winter 2025 Ministry Newsletter