"He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord." — Malachi 3:3 (NLT)

They came home. But for many of them, the war did not.

America’s veterans carry wounds that are often invisible but devastating — PTSD, addiction, moral injury, and a loss of identity and purpose that no secular program has been equipped to touch. An estimated 20 veterans die by suicide every day. Countless others survive in quiet isolation, carrying what they cannot name and cannot escape.

God has not forgotten them. And He has not been silent about them.

He gave us a vision — a vision of a place where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is brought to bear on every wound that war leaves behind. We did not dream this up in a meeting. It was laid on our hearts the way Scripture says vision comes: “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others’” (Habakkuk 2:2, NLT). This page is us writing it plainly.

The Vision: What We See

We see a place called Grace.

We see a residential property in Genesee County — a place of beauty, dignity, and peace that communicates to every veteran who walks up the drive: You are worth this. God prepared this place for you. For men whose wounds have told them for years that they are worthless, that environment is not a luxury. It is part of the healing.

We see veterans who arrived hollow-eyed and armored sitting at a table laughing again. We see nightmares losing their grip. We see men who medicated their pain for decades discovering that the Gospel goes deeper than the wound. We see brotherhood replacing isolation, worship replacing the silence of 3 a.m., and purpose replacing the question “why did I make it home?”

And at the end of it, we do not see men being discharged from a program. We see them being commissioned into a calling.

“The Refinery burns away the dross. Grace is the furnace where God does His work.”

What Grace Will Be

Grace Discipleship Training Center is the veterans ministry vision of The Refinery Flint, operating under the legal and organizational umbrella of Christ Heart Ministries — our partner in this mission. It will be a structured residential and retreat environment designed specifically for male veterans battling PTSD, addiction, and moral injury.

Grace will not be a treatment program. It will be a transformation — the place where The Refinery’s fire does its most personal and most powerful work. Not in a classroom or a church service, but in the daily life of a man who has been through hell and is ready to let God rebuild him from the inside out.

The three ministries form one integrated body: Christ Heart Ministries is the organizational foundation. The Refinery Flint is the fire. Grace is the furnace that the Refinery built.

The vision takes shape through two tracks:

•         Residential Discipleship Program (12 Months) — a structured live-in environment where veterans will progress through four phases of transformation: from stabilization and safety, through deep Biblical foundation, into owning their identity in Christ and beginning to pour into others.

•         Veterans Retreat Program (3–7 Days) — short-stay structured retreats for veterans not yet ready for residential commitment, centered on worship, Biblical teaching from The Refinery, brotherhood, outdoor work therapy, and prayer ministry. The retreat will often be the door through which a veteran finds his way home.

Both tracks will be grounded in The Refinery Flint’s daily devotional and teaching content, a Christ-centered 12-step curriculum, moral injury processing groups, pastoral counseling, and intentional brotherhood among men who understand what others cannot.

Why Veterans?

For a veteran who has walked through fire, the image of the Refiner’s fire is not abstract theology. It is the most honest description of his life he has ever heard.

The wounds veterans carry home are specific. PTSD brings hypervigilance, nightmares, and rage that destroy families and futures. Addiction becomes the coping mechanism for pain that no one else can see. And moral injury — the deep spiritual damage caused when a person acts in ways that violate their conscience, or witnesses what no human being should witness — is a wound that secular counseling rarely even names, let alone heals.

The Gospel — and only the Gospel — speaks directly to all three. The vision of Grace is built on that conviction.

From Vision to Reality: How You Can Help Build It

A God-given vision is never given to one person to carry alone. Grace is currently in its launch phase — the vision is written, the foundation is laid, and now God is gathering the people who will help build it. Grace will be a faith-funded ministry, and we are seeking:

•         Prayer partners — men and women who will stand in the gap for our veterans daily

•         Church partnerships — congregations willing to sponsor residents, provide volunteers, or support financially

•         Individual donors — people who believe a veteran’s soul is worth fighting for

•         Facility partners — those with property or resources that could serve as a home for Grace

No veteran will ever be turned away from Grace because he cannot pay. That is our promise, and we need your partnership to keep it.

“Are you willing to believe that the same God who walked with these men through fire can walk them through His refining fire too — and bring them out as gold?”

For more on the teaching ministry that powers Grace — see The Refinery Flint.

To learn more, partner with Grace, or refer a veteran:

Peter J. Schmit — pschmit316@gmail.com | 810-922-1473 William R. Pacey — wrpacey@refineryflint.org | 586-404-3316