Noted Singer, Pastor, Recovery Leader & Maui Ministry

Noted Singer and Pastor Kenny Munds Tells of Recent, Vigorous, Maui Christian Recovery Work and Christian Witness Over a Two-Week Period

By Dick B.
© 2011 Anonymous. All rights reserved

I urge readers to go to two different, lengthy blogs posted by Pastor Kenny Munds of Scottsdale, Arizona. Pastor Kenny is now a participant in the International Christian Recovery Coalition and is supporting our Maui island-wide Christian Recovery Coalition. He spent more than a week on Maui, with his visit's having been arranged by Pastor Rich DiGiacomo (also an International Christian Recovery Coalition participant).

I will briefly summarize in two separate paragraphs the stellar ministry that Pastor Kenny did here over a two-week period on Maui, and then point to the cooperative island-wide Community Recovery Program upon which so many experienced, long-recovered, devoted Christian recovery leaders and pastors have begun work.

Summary of the Broad Ministry of Pastor Kenny Munds Here on Maui

This is to let Christian leaders and workers in the recovery arena see and understand the intended broad scope of the outreach of the Maui Christian Recovery Resource Center in partnership with the County of Maui Salvation Army. Pastor Kenny’s ministry on Maui was a lightening rod for all of us. And here are some of the places where he sang, pastored, witnessed, and fellowshipped: (1) the Maui Correctional Center. (2) Several Maui Christian churches. (3) Beaches where homeless people were living. (4) Bible studies. (5) Twelve-Step Meetings. (6) Neighborhood Place of Wailuku, which endeavors to meet the needs of families and children and help them find a new, successful life and environment. (7) Various meetings current and possible International Christian Recovery Coalition participants played a role. Check Kenny’s blog for more details: http://kennymundsministry.org/2011/06/14/maui-part-1/

The Maui Christian Recovery Leaders and Workers Now Working Together

Again, this is just a brief summary: As Pastor Kenny said, he and Pastor Rich DiGiacomo met with my son (Rev. Ken B.) and me, and Pastor Rich shared a Set Free vision for the entire County of Maui. And they told us the places and people Pastor Rich has contacted to begin converting the vision into an actual program. We learned of Kenny and Rich's meeting with the prison chaplaincy people here on Maui as well as with men and women prisoners. We learned of the great work being done by Pastor Henry Cummings in coordinating believer’s Bible study meetings throughout the Island. We learned of the street and prison ministry of Frank Hobbs on Maui. We visited for several hours with Pastor Greg DeLa Cruz who is a Family Success Coach at Neighborhood House in Wailuku and also Senior Pastor of Living Way Church in Wailuku. We were introduced by Pastor Rich to Pastor Cliff Spencer, CADAC, Director of The Salvation Army Maui County Emergency Disaster Services. And there were others—still to come. See the details of the Kenny Munds Ministry's second blog: http://kennymundsministry.org/2011/06/15/maui-last-week/

The remarkable thing about all of these leaders is their passion for the Lord Jesus Christ and for reliance on the Word of God. All, except my son (who is not an alcoholic or an addict) have had sustained, long-term recovery from alcoholism and drug use. Most have been imprisoned. All have attended either A.A. or N.A. or both. Many have been connected with other programs such as the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Set Free, and YWAM. All have ministered to veterans, to the homeless, to those afflicted with alcoholism and drug addiction, as well as to the families and loved ones of these people. Almost all are directly working with a Christian church. Most are volunteers. Nearly all have become participants in the International Christian Recovery Coalition. And all have put their shoulders to the wheel in establishing a broad-based, Christian recovery resource program on Maui that will publicize: (1) the role that God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible have played in successful recovery work since the later 1800’s and even until today; (2) the role they played in the founding of the original Alcoholics Anonymous “Christian fellowship” founded in Akron in 1935; and (3) the role they can play for those who want God’s help and are at-risk, incarcerated, homeless, without every-day-living resources, facing mental problems, and/or dealing with the ravages of alcoholism and addiction.

Dick B., Executive Director, International Christian Recovery Coalition
Dickb@DickB.com; www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com

Gloria Deo