- [Gordon] She grew up without a father

and her mother struggled with addiction.

- I felt alone

and misunderstood.

- [Gordon] So she turned to men and drugs.

- If I didn't have a pain pill

I couldn't get up out of bed.

- [Gordon] See how she found freedom.

- I was a hopeless drug addict

and that I was gonna die that way.

- On today's "700 Club Interactive."

welcome to the show.

Three people were killed recently

after a shooting took place

at the West Freeway Church of Christ,

located in White Settlement, Texas.

The gunman came in to the church

during the Sunday serviceand then started shooting.

An armed security guard, Jack Wilson,

took down the gunman with a single shot.

- A longtime West Freeway Church member

John Richardson survived the shooting.

John dove to the ground

and laid on top of his wife

when he heard the shots ring out.

John says he feels no illwill toward the attacker

and urges his fellowChristians to have grace

in their response to the tragedy

rather than expressing vengeance.

His response has gone viral.

Take a look.

- We have to understandthat this poor man,

I don't know what his mental state was,

but my heart goes out to his family

because they have to live with this.

And we have, we have, Iknow he took some lives,

but we have to remember he's a creature

of God also, just like we all are.

And it was a sad thing that he had to

come into the congregation to hurt people,

and it's a sad thing we had to hurt him.

But I don't have any hate for this person.

I can't, we can't havehate for these people.

We can't have hate for anybody

that does hate for us.

We have to go, we have tolive that life of Christ

that wants us to teach and preach

and be that example of his on Earth

to every person we meet.

And that's, that's all we can do.

We just have to pick upthe pieces and go on.

Just take care of who we can.

Take care of, appreciateevery moment you have

and love everybody with the love

of Christ that you can love.

- That's a strong statement

and a courageous statement.

The church says they are grateful

for all who have sent their prayers

and comment in the wake of the incident.

- That's quite a remarkable video

they have of the wholething as it played out.

- As it played out,

and then they had a security guard

who was trained.

And I encourage churches look at this.

- Yes.

- Look at this.

What would happen if an active shooter

came into your congregation,

what would you do?

And there the church was ready

and they took decisive action.

And it's an unbelievable tragedy.

You look at this and thewords of Solomon are true.

I see the oppressed,I see their suffering.

And I see there's no one to comfort them.

But he also says I looked at the oppressor

and I see their suffering.

And there's no one to comfort them.

And to be thinking

of the family of theshooter in this moment,

what they're going to have to live with,

what they're going to have to go through.

Who is there to comfort them?

- Absolutely.

Well speaking of beingan example to others,

Newport News Virginia residents

Sheryl Barnes along with Sharice Tisdale

and Ms. Marvel joined together

three years ago to starta free breakfast stand

outside a local school bus stop.

They set up every Tuesday around 7:30 a.m.

and serve around 70 kids

ages five to 12.

They call themselvesthe Bus Stop Ministry.

Cheryl says the idea to start the ministry

came after looking out of her window

and seeing a childsharing her bag of chips

with other hungry kids.

- [Gordon] Cherylbelieves a child's success

starts with their firstmeal of the day, breakfast.

She wants to encourage children

to dream big and be kind.

So there's even a bus stop chant.

Here's a few lines from it.

This is going to be a great day.

I thank God for waking me up today

because I'm a scholar

and I'm going to school

so I can learn.

So I can go to college if I want to.

So I can be the leaderGod created me to be.

- Well if you'd like to learn more about

the Bus stop ministry or donate,

you can via Venmo underbus Ministry Newport News.

What a great idea.

Talk about see a need meet the need.

- And to say let's havea positive affirmation.

And how important that is.

How important it is to instill in children

that they have the capacity to be leaders.

They have the capacity to be overcomers.

You can be a scholar.

You can go to college.

You can make a difference.

It all depends on how you view yourself.

And so if you're speaking thatinto them when they're young,

start thinking of the number

of negative words achild is going to receive

or you are going to receivethrough your lifetime.

Psychologists tell us that 80%

of what we tell ourselvesis real high negative.

And you replace thatwith position affirmation

and start the day with that, that's great.

- You know the otherthing I love about this

is it's not just an that to the kids,

it's really an encouragement to all

of us because what they did

was something any of us could do.

I mean they didn't look

and say wow isn't it a shame

there are a lot

of children that are hungry here,

I mean they just joinedforces with what they had

and they're making a difference.

I love it.

- Yeah don't complain about it.

Don't say well why isn'tthe church doing something?

Be the church.

Be the person that intervenes

and says I can make a difference here.

Well we have anotherstory that's going viral.

Special Ed teacher Carrie Bremmer

met Jake Manning and his mother, Jean,

four years ago

and found out Jake's mom was battling

terminal breast cancer.

Jean was a single mom

and the only famyily Jake had.

And after talking to her husband

and their children,Carrie made Jean an offer.

Take a look.

- I fell in love with him instantly.

And as she got sicker that year

I just thought what is she gonna do?

If you need a backup plan for Jake,

then our family is happy tomake him part of our family.

And she said I'll sleep better tonight

than I've slept in a long time.

- [Terry] That's a wow.

As you heard, Jean accepted the offer,

and the two families startedspending time together.

Well sadly Jean passedaway this past November,

and as planned theHemmer's opened their home

and Jake moved in.

Carrie says the transitionhas been tough for Jake,

but he's happy overalland is a blessing to them.

Wow.

- Wow that is a wow.

That is an incredible wow to say

okay I'm gonna be the backup plan.

- Get a larger family.

Well another teacher's changing the lives

of her children.

Keisha Yearby is a second grade teacher

in Chesapeake, Virginia,

and after school she hosts Ms.Yearby's Reading Adventures

on Facebook live.

Keisha believes reading isvital for so many reasons.

It helps with focus,

with concentration,imagination, communication,

language development

and intellect just to name a few.

- Keisha reads books to her students

through Facebook live.

And during the live videoshe teaches her viewers

reading tips, encouragesthem to answer questions,

and helps parents connectto their children.

Keisha says she wants children to realize

that they are worthy

and that they havegreatness inside of them.

Here's a clip of Keisha reading

from a book called Nathan Strong.

- He's only four years old,

and even though he'shaving all of this pain,

he's being strong, he's being happy.

When he has to have aneedle put in his arm

he's being just like a statue.

Did I read this?

Yes.

Every day he battled, friendsand family by his side,

the Nathan Strong armywas along for the ride.

As Nathan grew stronger so did his crew.

This little boy inspired themall to keep pushing through.

Nathan Strong.

So even though he has had something

really horrible that happened to him

and he has cancer,

he's inspiring other people.

Can you guys think of someone else

who had something bad to happen

or something unfortunate

that you don't expect to happen?

- What an incredible idea.

I love this.

And it's using all that toolsthat are available to us now.

It's so easy now to create video.

And to create connection.

And to say I'm gonna use Facebook live.

I know children aren'tsupposed to be on that

but they are anyway.

(laughing)

- (mumbles).

- I'm gonna use this toolto connect with them.

And it's wonderful.

So you can do something like this.

Just start saying what great ideas

can God give me thatwill really help people.

- Once a teacher always a teacher,

but she's got the gift.

- Yes she does.

- That's great.

- Well speaking of stories,

we're very excited to bring you

the epic story of St. Patrick.

It's coming to theaters this March,

with tickets on sale now.

Here's a look at the trailer

for the new film "I Am Patrick."

- [St. Patrick] It wasnot my grace, but God

who conquered in me andwho resisted them all.

That I might come to the Irish nations

to preach the gospel.

- The preconception that we've got

about St. Patrick is completely wrong.

(screaming)

(tense music)

- [St. Patrick] Ireland was a place

of Barbarians at the end of the world.

- Get going boy.

- [Woman] It is slavery for life.

- [God] Patrick.

You are to travel to your home land.

- Patrick.

- Patrick.

- [Man] You're alive, you're alive.

- [Man] To hear the call

to go back to Ireland terrified him.

It was asking a lot ofthis man to do this.

- This does not have to be, Patrick.

- [St. Patrick] It is the will of God.

- Go into all the worldand preach the gospel.

- Who among you heeds the call?

- Why would this man put himself in danger

among enemies who do not know God?

- People thought thatthis mission was crazy,

that his efforts to Christianize Ireland

were doomed to failure.

- Tell us this secretyou know about Patrick.

- Things in the past cancome back to haunt us.

(suspensful music)

- Take him.

(tense music)

- It's time to go.

- I'm not finished.

(yelling)

- Well this St. Patrick'sday you can see the film

I am Patrick.

And it's taken from his confession.

The entire movie is based on the writings

of St. Patrick that have survived.

And there are just two.

One is his confession

and the other is the letter to Coroticus.

And here is St. Patrick.

Many people don't know he'sthe first person in history,

this is back in the filth century,

he took a stand against slavery.

He also took a standagainst sex trafficking.

And that's why his voicestill speaks today.

At that point in time Ireland

was considered one of the mostremotest parts of the Earth.

Why would anyone go there?

Here Patrick was taken fromBritain as a slave himself.

He was captured and thenwas a slave for years.

He managed to get free,

and then God called him to go back

to the very people who had enslaved him

and preach the gospel.

So if you want to know the story

of St. Patrick, not the legend

of St. Patrick, the story

based on his actual writings,

I encourage you to go to this movie.

"I Am Patrick."

tickets are now on sale at iampatrick.com.

We're trying to get advance ticket sales

so we can get extrascreens, extra theaters.

It's going to be March 17th and 18th only.

So St. Patrick's Day.

Celebrate it by seeing the story,

the true story of St. Patrick

and how he changed Ireland,

how he changed Europe,

how he changed the world.

Go to iampatrick.com to find out more.

- It's great there is so far in advance

because we can mark our calendars,

know that we can go.

At the same time we'regetting tickets for ourselves

we're making it possiblefor others to see the film.

- And I would encourage groups to go.

Let's have a larger discussion.

What is it to get a call from God.

And how Patrick was led by dreams

to say okay I'll give up my life

of comfort and go to a people

that do not know God.

- Very inspiring.

Very inspiring.

Well coming up, raised by an addict,

a woman vows to be abetter mother than her own.

- When she was there mentally

she was a great mother.

When she wasn't there I felt alone

and misunderstood.

- So how did she wind up 10 times worse?

Find out right after this.

A hopeless drug addict,

that's how Sarah described herself.

She spent years hooked onbooze, drugs and pills.

And she expected to die that way.

- [Man] Sarah Meyers' home life was one

filled with dysfunction.

She grew up in poor Crossville, Tennessee,

where her father left when she was young,

leaving Sarah alone withher alcoholic grandma

and her mother, who struggledwith drug addiction,

bipolarism and alcoholism.

- When she was there mentallyshe was a great mother.

When she wasn't there Ifelt alone, misunderstood.

- [Man] Sarah found belonging with kids

from other broken homes.

As she grew up, heridentity was found in drugs

and a toxic boyfriend.

Then at only 15 years oldhope entered the picture

in the form of a pregnancy.

- Thinking that for once in my life

I was gonna be able to do something right,

I was not gonna be the kind of mother

that I had growing up.

And so I stopped using drugs.

- [Man] She got clean

and began to make positivechanges in her life.

But when she went intolabor three months early

that hope began to fade.

- I had him and they brought him to me.

He was lifeless and a little baby.

I felt completely helpless,

and I felt like I had been dealt a life

of pain and that God hated me.

My way to find comfort through my pain

and my hurt was to do more drugs.

- [Man] Sarah would spendthe next seven years

using IV drugs andheavily abusing pain meds.

She would have three children by 22,

weaning herself off drugs

just enough during the pregnancies.

- If I didn't have a pain pill

I couldn't get up out

of bed to change my son's diaper.

I thought I was okay in my justification

because I wasn't an alcoholic.

- [Man] After she was chargedwith meth manufacturing

her kids were relinquishedinto foster care.

Worried she'd lose her kids for good,

Sarah once agan tried to get clean.

- The shame and thepain of abandoning them

was eating me alive.

So for eight months I foughtto try to get them back.

I got a job.

I almost had my own place.

- [Man] When she learnedher son had broken his leg

in a foster home,

Sarah felt the pain of not being there.

- It pushed me over the edge

and I went and I got a case of beer,

and I started drinking.

My drinking led to mecompromising with pills

and then I was shooting upimmediately within two hours.

- [Man] Now in jail servinga year long sentence

for burglary charges,

Sarah began the inevitableand painful detox process.

She was forced to face a truth

she had long ignored.

- I had the understanding that all

of a sudden I had became my mother,

but 10 times worse.

And so what I thought about Sarah

was that I was a hopeless drug addict

and that I was gonna die that way.

- [Man] Searching forsomething to keep her busy,

Sarah began attending afaith-based recovery program,

where the women told herhow much God loved her.

- And I kept thinking you don't know me

and you don't know thelife I've been dealt.

Don't tell me God loves me.

Their consistency toshow the love of Christ

about the fourth class inturned my heart to mush.

Teacher of the faith-based 12 step class

stopped the class and saidthere's someone in here

who wants to give their heart to Jesus.

And I knew that God was talking to me.

And I received Jesus that day.

- [Man] Sarah had every intention

of continuing to follow Christ.

Upon her release in 2011,

with few places to go,

Sarah was back in her old environment

and soon relapsed again.

- I remember thinking God,

I am so back into this

and I don't know howI'm gonna get out of it.

High on meth, when after three days

I remember saying

"God do for me what Icannot do for myself."

And about 24 hours later Ihear boom, boom, boom, boom.

- [Man] It was the police.

Sarah was arrested for parole violation

and was looking at four years in prison.

Awaiting sentencing, Sarahhad an unexpected visitor,

the woman who had adopted two of kids.

- I said "what are you doing here?"

And she said "I came to bring you hope."

I said okay God, all right,

if I go to prison or if I go wherever,

I'm gonna serve you.

- [Man] The court ordered Sarah to

the drug abuse recoveryprogram Teen Challenge.

She followed through on her promise

and began to face her past

and devote her future to study

and pursuing the Lord.

- I learned who I was

and my root issues and whyI used drugs to begin with

was abandonment, rejection, insecurity.

- [Man] After graduating from the program

and working on staff at Teen Challenge,

Sarah returned to Crossville, Tennessee.

There she found an Invitation Ministries,

where they do faith-basedprogram placement

and addiction recovery.

Not only is she enjoyingher second lease on life,

but she's also able to see her kids

and have a second chance at being a mom.

Me and my kids today havea beautiful relationship.

God has mended what was broken.

To know that I have brokenthe cycle with Jesus

from many generations before me

is so rewarding.

I get to share hope.

It's more rewarding than anything

I could ever do with my life.

- You know recovery whenwe're addicted to something

is really difficult because

we have to do what Sarah talked about.

We gotta go back to the root issues

of why am I doing this?

I mean nobody wakes up in the morning

and says gee I think I'd liketo become a meth addict today.

You know it happens becausethere are broken places

inside of us.

And it's very hard towanna sign up to go back

and wade through all thethings that bring us there

because in and ofourselves we can't do that.

It's just intimidating,

it's painful.

You know if we had the answers

we wouldn't be addicted tothe things we're addicted to,

but here's the deal,

when you give your life to Jesus,

you don't walk through that alone.

You walk through it with him.

And the tenderness and the gentleness,

and the forgiveness.

And the healing that he offers brings us

to a place of wholeness

that we could not achieve on our own.

And I haven't even mentionedthose that God brings

around us to hold our hands,

the put their arms around us,

to encourage us in prayer.

It's all part of becoming one

of God's kids, a partof the body of Christ.

If you're listening right now

and you have an addiction,

something you never intendedto have happen to you,

but it has, you know it can be lots

and lots of things.

It can be gambling, it can be pornography,

it can be overspending,

it can be so many things.

And maybe it's not as life impacting

as what Sarah went through.

But if it's got controlof your life it is.

If it overrules you it is.

Wouldn't you like to be set free?

You know you can.

Jesus said he came toset the captives free.

That's you and me.

Every one of us until we understand

that we were created by him,

with a plan and a purposeto live intentionally,

with an end, with an end result

of spending eternity with him.

None of us is worthy of that.

None of us can earn that on our own.

That's why Jesus came.

He paid the price for you and for me.

Now, will you accept it today?

Listen, swallow your prideif that's your issue,

grab hold of him if yourfear says you can't do this

because he's able, he's enough

and he's willing to be there for you.

So today say yes to theinvitation to Jesus.

When he asks I'm standing at the door

and knocking, open the door

and I promise I'll come in

and I'll dine with you.

I'll sup with you.

I'll have relationship with you.

I'll be your all in all.

That's the invitation to you today.

I'll forgive your sin.

I'll heal your shame.

We all have it.

You're invited to the table, come today.

If there's something in your life

that you need to pray about,

then call our toll free number,

it's 1-800-700-7000.

Just call and say to theperson on the other end

of the line, I wanna know Jesus today.

I wanna invite him into my life.

We're waiting to hear from you.

Gordon?

- Here's a verse for youfrom Isaiah chapter 43.

Behold, I will do a new thing.

Now it shall spring forth.

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

and rivers in the dessert.

Let God make all things new for you today.

God bless you, we'll see you again.

(upbeat music)