Young said the ministry saw more than 1,000 salvations across its facilities last year, and has already seen 25 in January of this year.
Isaiah House is not the only ministry showing recovery from drug addiction is possible.
Shane Fore serves as the executive director for Stepping Stone Sanctuary, a homeless shelter in Trumann, Ark., and helps lead the Celebrate Recovery ministry at the Main Street campus of Maple Grove Baptist Church.
Fore helped plant the church campus as well as begin the Celebrate Recovery ministry there.
It’s deeply personal for him. He and his wife were addicted to methamphetamine before turning to Christ almost 10 years ago.
“As bad as our lives were, we made a commitment to Jesus that we would spend the rest of our lives trying to undo some of the damage that we had done and try to help people out of the lives we used to lead,” Fore said.
In the few years of its existence, the Celebrate Recovery program at Maple Grove has assisted in starting several CR ministries at other churches.
“We just try to share the hope of Christ with people,” Fore said. “When I’m able to preach the Gospel in the same jail I was an inmate at before, it helps them hear what I’m saying in a different way. My passion for developing leaders in recovery ministry gets me out of bed in the morning.”
Fore agrees fentanyl has become a popular and dangerous drug, but says he sees recreational addictions happening to older adults.
“The number one reason for the increase in fentanyl is that it’s cheap, available and easy to hide for dealers,” Fore said.
“Some youth do experiment with fentanyl, but that’s not normally where people who do drugs start. It’s not a gateway drug,” he said.
According to Fore, the solution for churches to address both accidental overdoses and addictions must go beyond awareness and move toward education and training.
He recommends churches take their church leadership through Narcon or Naloxene training.
Narcon is a nasal spray that reverses the immediate effects of fentanyl. Fore says being trained to administer Narcon will serve multiple purposes.
“It’s a way for churches to be proactive and be on offense about the issue,” he said. “Education is the way we combat this, and your training is also serving to reinforce the idea that this is a very dangerous substance.
“It creates awareness, and it is a wonderful vehicle to not only stress the danger of it, but also the effect that it has in the community. It really is the magic bullet that hits everything.”
Fore wants his life to prove there is hope for addicts.
“My testimony serves as a stern warning for people,” Fore said. “I love sharing my story, and I don’t ever get tired of it because Jesus is the hero of it, and I don’t get any glory from it.”
This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.
