#51 Pastor Bruce Stewart

The Resilient Heart Podcast

Pastor Bruce Stewart is originally from Australia. He likes to say "Deep South Texas." Bruce is a pastor, he was the lead pastor and founder of a Church in Spring, Texas. He left there to become the first Director of the Stronger Alliance. He is the pastor for reflective life Ministries, and he serves on the advisory board for Care Force, an organization that provides crisis training, response, and organizational development for the community and first responder organizations.

He has quite a few hats that he has to wear. He used to work at HPD, and now he works also with a precinct of three constables. He is a chaplain there, and then he also helps veterans with PTSD, teen suicide, and then helping with veterans for child rescue and just a bunch of things. Things He loves, all-volunteer, so he loves it. He is part of the We are Stronger film that's just really grown and taken off.

Yeah, that's been fantastic, he says. “You know, you've obviously seen the film and, and we had such an amazing response to them. So for those listeners who haven't seen it, it's basically a movie about a veteran coming home, who has PTSD and finds healing through Christ. And with the film, we realized that this is going to open a lot of wounds for a lot of people, not just for veterans, but for their families and how that will affect them. And so we wanted to provide services that would allow them to get help after seeing the movie. And so that's what the stronger alliance is and we provide Christ-centered organizations to hopefully, give them hope and give them joy and find a new way forward through difficult times, and most of us know the needs of that during COVID and, and everything that's going on in the world the desire need for hope. And, and obviously, we find that in Christ also”

It just breaks your heart and to see that people that have signed on the line to serve our country feel that they have reached a point of darkness that that's their only option out.

Yeah, and unfortunately that's a lie. Veterans. It's also a lot of first responders. You know, as I started working in the first responder community, particularly in law enforcement, I’ve come to realize, in fact, something that a lot of people may not know, we actually have more first responders die, by suicide than we do in the line of duty. . And so that in itself should be enough to be a wake-up call to our community. And so, I saw the need, I saw that just a real hunger for, for hope, as I said, just a desire for something more, you know, you train these men, you train these first responders to be warriors to go out onto the frontlines and to do the things that most of us can't do, or unwilling to do. And then they come back, and of course, you know, they're looking for that purpose again.

We have to learn to be that person we would want at our darkest time.

What can we do as Pastors?

More than 90% of Pastors have not been trained in suicide prevention.

Where do Pastors go when we need help.

For more information or to connect with Pastor Bruce, contact him at: [e-mail]

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