OUR SPECIAL SPEAKER, December 6,7,8, 2024, 6 pm, nightly, at Anchorage Moravian Church, 3512 Robin Street, Anchorage, Alaska. We thank Pastor Roy Roberts of Goodnews Bay for making this Overcomers Weekend possible! Folks invite those that are struggling, especially those who want to overcome alcohol and drugs.
The following excerpts of our our speaker Corey Schmidkofer (pic is Corey and wife, Erin) are from Moody Bible Institute:
“Drug addiction nearly killed Corey Schmidlkofer, but in Christ he found a passion to reach broken Alaskans through a New Testament church model. After more than a decade of abusing drugs and alcohol, committing crimes, and bouncing in and out of juvenile detention and prison, Corey had reached his lowest point. Homeless, addicted to heroin and cocaine, severely emaciated, and unemployed, Corey was sleeping on the floor of an abandoned house in Anchorage, Alaska.
Corey’s drug abuse was so out of control that even a fellow addict pleaded with him to seek help. Two weeks later, Corey’s best friend, Justin, died of an overdose. Corey knew he was headed down that same path.
On the day of Justin’s funeral, Justin’s father told a despondent Corey that Jesus could change his life if he trusted in Him.
“I did not know what that meant,” Corey says. “I remember telling him that God didn’t want anything to do with me. He assured me that Jesus died for broken sinners just like me. This was the first time I had ever heard that Jesus came to save sinners.”
For days Corey wrestled with the claims of the gospel. Then, late on the evening of November 10, 2009, cold and alone in the abandoned house, he cried out to God, begging the Lord to save him.
“All I can say is that I went to sleep that night an unbeliever and woke up a believer,” Corey says.
The next morning Corey called the police and turned himself in for drug possession. Because of Jesus, he now had a powerful reason to live. “I remember sitting in the police car more free than I had ever been,” he says.
After a short stint in prison, Corey entered the Salvation Army’s adult rehabilitation program to receive treatment for drug addiction. He voraciously read the Bible each day and began developing a biblical foundation for his new faith and a passion for the good news that had set him free. “I knew I needed to tell everyone about what Jesus had actually come to do,” Corey says.”