The vision for the Lost Sheep Ministries, Int. came out of an organic response by Dave Johnson, founder of the ministry, to answering his phone. His number had been posted in several social media sites and went viral. Calls from people were desperate to find help for themselves or their loved ones and friends started pouring in.
Dave was faithful to go out to find them, drive them to treatment, visit them in the jails, comfort them in the hospitals, get them into treatment, pray with them in the streets, counsel them, advocate at their court hearings, marry them, and weep with those who had to bury their loved ones. The work was endless and the laborers were few even though the need continued to grow.
The crisis was reflected the growing number of phone calls he was receiving. God told him He was using him as an “Interrupter” to stop the enemy’s plan to steal God’s sheep. He began to look for someone to help him. Dave formed a non-profit and a board to help him strengthen and establish a more focused vision and stabilize a base of support to help more people. As Willian Booth, founder of the Salvation Army said of his rescue work among the alcoholics in England, “We formed an Army.” We are forming an army of those rescued to rescue those who still are caught in the grip of addiction and death.
The vision has not changed. It has only expanded to include doing more: four to five “Setting Captives Free Intensives” every Fall and Winter, Summer Retreats and Conferences at Mountain Lake, MN Restoration House and Renovation of a nine acre property given to the ministry last year. Dave strongly believes the ministry is to be International in scope and led his first expedition to Israel this Spring. He sees the concepts of truth, deliverance, healing and breaking generational curses as critical to setting people free.
Meet
Board Members
Marjorie Cole, M.S. founder of Life Recovery, Inc. is the President of Lost Sheep Ministries, Intl. she had worked in the field of biblical counseling and addiction recovery for over thirty years, in both inpatient and out patient treatment programs, including 25 years of individual counseling with Life Recovery, Inc. She is a regional and international speaker and has led a team of counselors who worked with inmates, teaching classes on Spiritual Warfare and recovery.
Marjorie has authored numerous books, audios and teaching materials on healing, recovery, generational curses, and spiritual warfare, including “Cravings”, “A Case for Healing”, “A Case for Justice”, “Doing Relationships God’s Way,” “Setting Captives Free,” “The Combat Manual,” and a “Case for Righteousness”. She has also produced a 28 episode Audio Drama called, “God on Trial” along with several other documentaries and dozens of audio and YouTube videos..
She continues to manage Life Recovery Counseling services, seminars, and retreats as well as the Setting Captives Free Intensives. She has served as the President of Lost Sheep since its inception.
John Schmid is a missionary with World Indigenous Missions with his wife Patty since 1998. He has spent the better part of 20 year ministering in Cuernavaca, Mexico. He is working with Healing Rooms Ministries in two locations in the Twin City area. He is the current treasurer for Lost Sheep Ministries Intl doing accounting and payroll for the ministry plus prays for those suffering with addiction at the Healing Rooms and other events.
Mary Akehurst is wife, mother, connector, and a gifted administrator of over 20 years serving the body of Christ. The consequences of addiction touched her deeply with her uncle’s death (in 2001). From 2003-2015, she worked at Metro Hope Recovery Ministries. She and her husband Colin come alongside front-line evangelism ministries locally, nationally, and internationally, as All Things to All, including Lost Sheep Ministries International. Her experience includes coordinating and connecting people and details related to volunteers, events, housing, financial, community partners and team mission trip planning. She has a passion to lead people to the Lord and disciple women in their Identity in Christ. She stays available for women on their path to recovery, helping them discover the root cause and share the connection of spirit, mind, and body for a new life.
