Programs Aired in 2005
Episodes 2821-2871
2871 Bill Marshall
Bill’s father is a cowboy whose drunken abuse drives Bill to drink and use drugs. A school counselor is no help. After his father yanks an earring from Bill’s ear and throws him out, Bill uses intravenous drugs and his life spirals down. He marries Pam and they have two daughters, but his drinking, drugs and neglect drive her away. A cousin who urges him to go to church and a couple that gives him a New Testament lead to his conviction and salvation. God restores his marriage, and he goes to Bible college. Now an evangelist.
2870 John Ruhlman Classic
John is a hopeless drunk with eight children, whose wife, Sophie, stands by him. Told through daughter Grace, who sees her mother pray against all odds, John goes to a revival one night, where his old drinking buddy leads him to Christ. John and Bob start a church, and John visits a Tuscarora Indian Reservation where he becomes pastor, serving for 27 years. He adopts orphaned Indian boys, serving until he dies at 75.
2869 Merlyn Dillow
Merlyn pretends to be saved when he is fifteen just to impress his girlfriend. He likes to drink and surf and does poorly in school. He works in a grocery store where a Christian witnesses to him, but Merlyn disdains the gospel. He meets Joyce and they marry while both are in different high schools. His drinking drives her away after their daughter is born, but they reunite. He works at a paper mill and goes out drinking after his shift. Through her job at a bank, Joyce meets a preacher having revival, and Joyce persuades Merlyn to attend. On the last day he is saved. He’s now in prison ministry.
2868 Jeanne Haverstick Pt 2
Jeanne loses her job but Gloria, the babysitter, befriends her. Dave sends flowers, beginning a friendship that turns into marriage. Gloria tries to warn Jeanne against marriage so soon after the death of her husband; but Jeanne ignores the warning. Dave’s drinking turns Jeanne into a nag. Gloria continues to disciple her. Dave is pronounced dead after a bad accident, but is revived at the hospital. He promises to quit drinking if God spares his life. He lives but their marriage is still rocky until God tells Jeanne to drop the mask. Dave commits his life to Christ. Jeanne is now a public speaker, giving her testimony.
2867 Jeanne Haverstick Pt 1
Jeanne’s father dies when she is three, and her mother marries a rich but cruel man who verbally abuses Jeanne. The family lives a pretentious life, and Jeanne longs for truth. Jeanne’s stepfather dies after she graduates but the inheritance goes to his first wife. Jeanne falls in love with Ed, whose mother doesn’t like her. They marry, and he becomes a policeman. After five years and the birth of their daughter, Ed is killed on duty. A week later Jeanne’s mother dies. Jeanne’s babysitter, Gloria, is a Christian whose compassion carries her through the suffering. The first part ends with Jeanne’s desire to die.
2866 Doris Martens Pt 2
Doris and Pete marry and have five children in four and a half years. But Pete’s family doesn’t accept her, and she becomes increasingly stressed and bitter at his demands and indifference. Christian women invite her to Bible study, but she is so “works” oriented, that she’s unable to grasp the gospel. In despair she runs away to her sister where a doctor puts her on anti-depressants. She and Pete return home where another Christian helps lead Doris to the Lord. A few years later Pete is saved. Twenty-one years later Doris learns to forgive the man who molested her and she now shares her testimony.
2865 Doris Martens Pt 1
Doris is the youngest of four children. Her parents leave her alone to go out drinking, and she is molested, leaving her bitter. Friends invite her to Vacation Bible School where she learns the gospel but doesn’t repent. Ashamed of her poverty, she rebels as a teenager and falls in with a rough crowd that steals cars and vandalizes. She ends up in reform school several times, then tries to straighten up. She drops out of school and begins dating Pete, whose family is part of an isolated, doctrinally strict church. The first part ends when they secretly marry because she is pregnant.
2864 “Carolyn Williams”
Carolyn’s father becomes disillusioned with churches and keeps the family away from faith. He falls into heresy, then begins molesting her when she is twelve. Ashamed and despairing, she studies hard to get a scholarship. In high school she meets Gary who takes her to church and leads her to Christ. They marry when she is sixteen; but four years later Gary is killed in an oil rig explosion. A young man in church woos Carolyn and they marry. They serve as evangelists until he slides into exorcism and divorces her after 24 years of marriage. Today she is in prison ministry to women.
2863 Kurt & Agnes Stebner Pt 3
Agnes is an orphan when she meets and marries Kurt in 1941. She goes to live with his parents in East Russia where their first child is born. Her mother-in-law is controlling, and Agnes longs for independence. When the Russian Army draws near, she and her daughter flee to West Germany in 1944. Kurt comes home in 1946 and they struggle to survive in post-war Germany. They apply to immigrate to the U.S., arriving in 1952 where they serve seven years with a mission farm. Kurt becomes disabled and Agnes cares for him as his illness becomes terminal. She is now 83 and still faithful to God.
2862 Kurt Stebner Pt 2
Kurt and thousands of other German prisoners travel by truck to Morocco to a POW camp where some men make an escape. From there they go by ship to the U.S.; Camp Livingston in Louisiana. Kurt’s experiences range from good food and friendship to slave labor and hunger as the war ends. A German POW who is a pastor encourages him to pray for salvation, which Kurt does. From then on he sees God’s hand in his life. In 1946 he goes home by ship and train and is reunited with his wife.
2861 Kurt Stebner Pt 1
Kurt is an only child, born to a farming family in East Prussia. He goes to agricultural college, planning to take over the family farms. He becomes engaged in 1938, the year he’s drafted into the army. Because he can drive, he’s put in charge of the motor pool. After war breaks out in Poland, he travels all over Europe, marries his sweetheart in January 1941, and fights on the Russian front, where burn injuries send him back home. In 1943 he’s sent to fight in Africa. The first part ends when the English capture him.
2860 Shawn Leary
Shawn’s parents receive Christ when he is nine and put him in Christian schools. He hears rock music on the bus, gets mixed up with school rebels and begins smoking pot in public high school. His stressed-out mother has a nervous breakdown and he rebels even more. He drops out of school to drink and do drugs, hanging out with evil kids who threaten to harm him. Accidents, violence and overdose fill his life until his mother helps him go to a Christian drug center where he encounters Christ. Now an evangelist.
2859 John Paul Kejick
John Paul is born in a small village near Ottawa, Canada. He and older siblings are sent to a church school and forced to learn English. At 16 he returns home, starts drinking at 17 and becomes a drunkard. He feels so hopeless he attempts suicide, is sent to a psychiatric hospital for nine months. Goes back to drinking. Then he passes out in a January snowstorm and loses three fingers to frostbite. A Christian couple takes him to a retreat and cares for him. As he studies the Bible, his thirst for alcohol vanishes. He is saved and baptized in 1985, goes to Bible school and is still serving Christ.
2858 Patricia Hanson
Patricia is molested by her stepfather and others throughout her childhood. Her mother works too hard to notice. In high school Patricia works, improves her appearance and dates Steve. They marry and have three sons. They give their lives to Christ and decide to go to Bible school, where Pat grows depressed and even talks of suicide. A friend stops by and Pat confides the past. The friend gives her Christian books to read, and Pat begins to dig out the roots of her depression by clinging to God’s Word. She forgives her stepfather and writes songs about her journey of faith. Both she and Steve are in ministry.
2857 Ernie Pahlek
Ernie’s parents are Auschwitz survivors. Ernie rebels against his Orthodox Judaism after his Bar Mitzvah. He marries a Jew and has two sons, then divorces. Five years later he marries a Christian. His mother dies of Alzheimer’s. His father suffers three heart attacks, dying after the last one. When Ernie sees the look of terror on his father’s face, he knows there is a hell and begins a search for God. He comes to faith through the witness of believers, a radio preacher, and Bible reading. Listening to a Christian song while driving, he prays for salvation. He ministers to the church now by giving his testimony.