400-408 – Thom Miller, (thommiller.org) is a Cleveland mobster turned minister, who now runs the international prison ministry Special Visit (specialvisit.org), and the ministry Kids Tears (kidstears.org) that helps protect children from sexual abuse at the hands of family and friends.
• There's soon to be a movie about Thom's life (facebook.com/mobstertoministermovie, MobsterToMinistermovie.com).
• In many ways, Ray Liotta's character in Goodfellas is Thom's story, shoe-shine boy to drug dealer to enforcer. Thom was indicted 52 times, convicted 36 times, and the 52nd indictment was for killing a guy in a bar fight. He came to Christ on his own, in solitary, on death row, on his 37th birthday, while serving a 15 year prison term, while reading a stolen King James New Testament as a dyslexic. Broken externally and internally, grieving the crayon pictures his 12 kids mailed him saying "Daddy when are you coming home?," grieving his mother going blind yet crying herself to sleep each night praying "God, save my son." And, grieving the darkness of the only life he'd ever known. But, Jesus changed Thom's life.
• In August 2009, Thom's world was rocked when the youngest of his two step-daughters (Amber & Jamie) just 9 at the time and her older sister was 11, handed him a note that basically said, that the bad man was grandpa and he had been hurting them. They had been having a discussion about "no touch areas" and the "bad people" who hurt children, when the little girl ran into the kitchen and handed him the note and ran off. It ended up that grandpa had been raping them for years! He's now in prison. As a result, Thom is driven to expose the reality of child sexual abuse through his ministry kidstears.org, where he has a lot of free, downloadable resources.
• In October 2011, while on my show, Thom's adult daughter Rene tried to call in to the show to tell him she had been abused by a family member as a child, twenty years previously. Thom didn't know.
• If you suspect abuse is occurring in a situation you've seen or heard about, if you see something suspicious, you can call one of these hotlines anonymously, and they'll follow-up on your tip. (800) 540-4000 – LA Child Abuse Hotline.
413-423 – Thom Miller,
423 – Download a free Daily Devotional from your favorite KKLA teacher, maybe it's Chuck Swindoll, Alistair Begg or Greg Laurie by clicking on Program Guide over at kkla.com.
428-438 – Thom Miller,
443-452 – Thom Miller,
458-508 – Phil Cooke, is a unique mix – a Hollywood producer with a Ph.D. in Theology who speaks all over the world, often advising the top non-profit and faith-based media organizations on how to utilize the latest media technologies more effectively (philcooke.com). His latest book is entitled Jolt, Get the Jump on a World That's Constantly Changing (joltyourlife.com) (Amazon).
508 – Looking for some fun stuff for your family to do? Check out the cool events posted on our Community Calendar over at kkla.com.
512-523 – Phil Cooke,
TH 523 – Don Rohde @ Galpin Ford (818) 262-2092 (galpin.com) For the past 39 years, Don's been sales manager at Galpin, the #1 volume Ford dealer in the world for the past 21 years – "Don, is it going to be 22 years?" (Renewal!!)
528-539 – Phil Cooke,
544-554 – Phil Cooke,
558-608 – Kelly Bradley, Director of the Family Floor at the Dream Center, and Danny Slavens, a Development Officer at the Dream Center, want to thank everyone and update us on what's been happening since our fundraiser for them back on December 15th (and weekends) in which we raised money to provide homeless mothers with young children a new home at the Dream Center, just in time for Christmas.
• The cost to complete a room in the new wing was $2,500, and we had 12 people complete an entire room themselves, and they'll be joining me and pastor Matthew Barnett for a special luncheon sometime in the near future at the Dream Center (NW corner of Alvarado & 101, aka the old Queen of Angels Hospital).
• We were hoping to help 12 families – but, thanks to you guys – we helped a total of 40 families so far!! There's still a waiting list if you'd like to help another family. And, as always, the Dream Center needs help offsetting the ongoing costs of caring for these families – to the tune of about $1000 per month per family to sustain these families in the Dream Center programs.
• To help, call 888-799-4999.
612-623 – Danny Slavens,
628-639 – Danny Slavens,
644-654 – Danny Slavens,
• Fox News (12/28/2011) Teen Loses Cancer Fight After Delivering Son.
• Victor Davis Hanson (NRO, 12/29/2011) The New Old Europe: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
• LAT (12/29/2011) Oregon football player performs Heimlich on man at 'Beef Bowl'.
• Telegraph (12/29/2011) 99-year-old divorces wife after he discovered 1940s affair. An Italian couple are to become the world's oldest divorcees, after the 99-year-old husband found that his 96-year-old wife had an affair in the 1940s.
• Fox News (12/29/2011) Iowa's Record of Picking GOP Winners Spotty Despite Caucus Fanfare.
