Victor Instead of Victim

By John Mizerak –

Jeremy Harrell is a recent graduate of the Mighty Oaks Legacy Program held at SkyRose Ranch in California in March of this year. Like many of our alumni, Jeremy’s life was radically changed through Mighty Oaks and he is now preparing to participate in an upcoming leadership training to continue to give back. He wants to expand his knowledge so he can help as many Warriors as possible.
What is different about Jeremy’s story is that he has already been helping Warriors through a group he started late last year called the Veteran’s Club in his home state of Kentucky. Jeremy had a vision to connect with a few guys that have struggled with the PTSd and Traumatic Brain Injury that has plagued him over the years. In November of last year, he started the group in hopes that he could connect with a dozen or so guys. God had other plans, and in just a few short months, his organization has expanded to 500 attendees. The group meets twice a month and does therapeutic horse riding at one event and a less formal recreation activity the other time of the month. In Kentucky, riding and horses are a part of life, and that fact coupled with new evidence that suggests that therapeutic horseback riding might help calm symptoms of PTSd, equine therapy has been on the rise for years. The Veteran’s Club has also been highlighted on Fox News, Megyn Kelly, and several local media stations.
Jeremy, who is married and has 4 children, is an Army veteran who served in the initial invasion into Iraq in 2003. After 9 years in the Army and suffering an injury in Iraq, Jeremy was medically discharged. Even though Jeremy began his faith walk by being baptized during basic training in 1999, he really needed the Mighty Oaks Legacy Program to realign his life with Jesus. Jeremy explains; “Attending the Legacy Program in March of this year, provided me with the missing piece of my commitment to God. The program changed my perspective on what it looks like to be a man, husband, father, and a faithful follower of Jesus Christ!”
In preparation for his leadership training at Mighty Oaks, Jeremy now gets up at 6:30AM every morning and starts his day off with a 21-day study guide in the Book of John, and in prayer and meditation to align himself with God’s will for the day. Every aspect of his life is now different. Jeremy even brought the Mighty Oaks teaching to his own organization and now actively prays with the guys and shares about Jesus as often as he can. Even though his Veteran’s Club was NOT a faith-based program, he now actively shares God’s Truth to all the guys in the program. Jeremy went on to say, “If I share about Jesus and His healing power to the 500 guys I serve through the Veteran’s Club and all but ONE ran the other way, it would be worth it to see that one soul set free!”