"I put the bottle up to my lips and then I could just feel this tingling sensation in my fingertips and all the way down to my toes. And then I actually swallowed the. And man that's exactly how alcohol worked in my body. It gave me this feeling of invincibility. It gave me a feeling of power."
This is Ryan. He's an alcoholic. These were the scariest words he ever uttered. The first time he said these words, he did so with fear and trembling. His voice was shaky. His hands were clammy. He didn't know if he would say it when it came around to him. His head was swirling. All he could think about was: “I'm a pastor. What will people think about me? I don't want to do this. I don't want to be here. How did I get here anyway...how'd it get this bad? It was never supposed to be like this.” But he said the words. He admitted it. And he felt lighter...a burden had been lifted in a way he never could have imagined.
In the Spring of 2018 his wife, Tami, and him started asking the question: What would it be like to start a faith community that centers on issues of addiction and recovery? Not to go to the inner city and start something, but to start it right here in their own backyard [literally], in the heart of the suburbs. They put together a leadership team of 12 people to begin the conversation of starting something new. Starting a new thing is scary.
The need in the community is real. He was tired of seeing his friends die. The sub-story was growing old too: they didn’t feel like they belonged with God or the Church.
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Here are some of the topics we talk about in this episode:
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