James 5:16

I moved into a new office recently. After a few weeks of settling in, there were still a few items left to be tucked away. In a stack of books I found an old pocket-sized Bible tucked inside its original box. I opened the box, pulled out the Bible and began to flip through its pages. The old Bible brought back a lot of memories, good memories in fact; like the semester when I started each morning with God’s word, a banana mocha and a biscuit sitting in a corner booth at the Virtual Bean Coffee Shop . Or the late nights lying in bed face up reading the book of James everyday for a month. It was a challenge set forth by an elder at the Stillwater church of Christ that really impacted my spiritual life early on in my time at OSU. With the pages loosened from its binding it was obvious that this Bible and I had been through a lot…or should I say it got me through a lot.

I thumbed over to James curious as to what God’s word was teaching me at that point in my life. I was surprised to find James 5:16 underlined.

It reads: Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. 

This verse has come to mean so much to me in my recovery, but why did I have it underlined so many years ago? I know I wasn’t putting the verse into practice. It got me thinking about how at that point in life, my pain had not yet become greater than my fear of change. I was living two separate lives at the time. The Nate that everyone knew was active in ministry and growing in God’s word.  I believe that as I read James 5:16, I saw the need to confess my sins- after all I was neck deep in pornography, but Satan had convinced me that if I became vulnerable, that if I put God’s word into practice, that the only thing waiting for me at the end of it was rejection, humiliation and more loneliness.  I didn’t trust that God would actually bring healing to my life.

Praise God, He didn’t give up on me. He stayed faithful to me through the following years and as my pain slowly became more than I could bear, He revealed His promise to me once again. Celebrate Recovery is an answered prayer in my life. Its the fulfillment of a deep longing for healing and change that, in my case, goes back more than 15 years. I remember the first time that James 5:16 was brought up at C.R. Its as if a light bulb went off in my head. It clicked. I got it. Forgiveness comes through confessing to God and healing comes through confessing to each other!  

I’m so thankful for these lessons learned and for the gentle whisper of the Father in Heaven,  who loves us enough to keep bringing us back to the same life lessons, the same promises and the same scriptures over and over and over again, until our hearts finally comprehend.

Grateful Believer,

Nate

The Rest of the Story

Lying, cheating, manipulation, using whatever I had to, to get my way!  Controlling situations and being so self centered that I took no one else into consideration, I only thought of myself, what I needed and wanted.   You may think I’m reading a script from Desperate Housewives, but I’m not...It’s my testimony!

Be there, this Friday night, 7:00 PM for the rest of the story….

Grateful Believer,

Karyn

The Beginning of CR@MRCC

God works in mysterious ways.  Often times, he works in ways we cannot see, but sometimes he works in ways you simply cannot deny.  In the summer of 2005 one of our elder’s wives approached me about starting a recovery ministry at Memorial Road.

I told her that I would “pray about it,” which was my way of politely saying, “Leave me alone about it.”  However, over the course of the next few weeks God brought three other people it my life requesting the same ministry.  It was then that I started to consider how God might use me to start a recovery ministry at MRCC.

I was five years into my own recovery from alcohol at this point.  My recovery beginning was in AA; but, I was not convinced AA would be helpful for others who were not alcoholics.  So, with the help of these three other people we began to research recovery programs across the nation.  This is when we found out about Celebrate Recovery (CR).

CR was exactly what I was looking for.  It was not only recovery for the person with the hurt, hang-up or habit, but it was also for their entire family.  Also, CR was not only for people with addictions.  It was for people with any kind of life struggle.

We were encouraged and excited about CR.  We found out about it in July and booked our airplane tickets and conference admission for the 2005 CR Summit at Saddleback Church in August.  We took seven people on this research trip.  It was an amazing experience to see over 3,000 people at the Summit hungry for Jesus’ grace, healing and forgiveness.  It was here that we learned how to kick-off CR in the proper way.   

2006 Kick-off

Friday night, January 13, 2006 was our kick-off service.  With much anticipation we awaited what would happen.  We had 12 people who had completed a step study and were committed to leadership for the first year of our program.  We really had no idea what to expect on that first night.

God blessed us with about 55 people that first night.  We had folks with all kinds of hurts, hang-ups and habits show up.  Some were from our church family, but we also had many from the community show up to see what CR was all about.  Over the course of the first few weeks something happened that we did not expect.  People who had left the church for various reasons were showing up at CR; and, I am humbled to share that many of them are now faithful members of the church due to what Jesus did in them at CR.  It was a great beginning to a ministry that continues to change lives in the name of Jesus Christ!

What God has done and continues to do… 

In my wildest dreams, I could have never imagined all that Jesus has done through CR.  The biggest blessing for me is that my life is changed as I have the opportunity to witness life change in others.  In the past five years, countless individuals and couples have come to CR and Jesus has given them hope, strength, healing and freedom from all sorts of hurts, hang-ups and habits.

Marriages have been saved.  Individuals have found their way out of darkness. The chains of pornography, drugs, depression, anger, resentment, alcohol, codependency among other life struggles have been broken through the power of Jesus Christ.  And as Jesus sets us free from these life struggles, he restores us and prepares us to be servants in this wonderful ministry.  CR is a leadership factory; but, not just any kind of leader.  I believe Jesus equips servant-hearted leaders out of CR.  Why?  When I experience the amazing grace, forgiveness and healing of Jesus and see that come to fruition in my life, I am in response ready and willing to share those gifts with someone else.

And that is why I love CR.  It is a Christ-centered recovery program that provides the opportunity for anyone to find freedom from any of life’s hurts, hang-ups or habits; but, in return, the Lord through this ministry calls us to “give it back.”  We do not keep recovery to ourselves; instead, we share it with as many people as we possibly can.

My prayer is that the Lord will continue to bring people into our lives that we can share the good news with.  That Jesus will lead us to some soul today and that we would share with that person how Jesus has changed our lives forever.  Please join us this Friday night and experience this Jesus who has changed my life, and I believe will change yours too.

Grateful Believer,

Micah

Welcome to CR@MRCC

We believe in the power of this Biblical program to change lives. We open the door to sharing our experiences, strengths and hopes with one another. In addition, we become willing to accept God’s grace in solving our lives’ problems.

Join us Friday night at 7 PM!