On March 24th, 1986, I attended a lecture in Seattle given by an Air Force Colonel who was the highest-ranking military officer taken hostage and imprisoned in Iran during the Iran Hostage Crises. He was imprisoned for 444 days. At the end of the lecture, the Colonel gave the one thing we must always cling to at all costs and under all circumstances. This sermon will cover seven ways in which we can cope with, and grow spiritually from, the severe trials and adversity that we go through in life. All these points directly relate to us in God's Church today.

Steven Shafer

Elder, United Church of God

Steve Shafer was born and raised in Seattle. He graduated from Queen Anne High School in 1959 and later graduated from Ambassador College, Big Sandy, Texas in 1967, receiving a degree in Theology. He has been an ordained Elder of the Church of God for 34 years and has pastored congregations in Michigan and Washington State. He and his wife Evelyn have been married for over 48 years and have three children and ten grandchildren.