Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
Worship attendance at The Assembly church in Warner Robins, Ga., has grown from 600 to 1,500 since it introduced the Celebrate Recovery ministry five years ago. Terry Theus approached the pastor, Darrell Yarbrough, and asked them to start the recovery program.
“I was drinking a beer and smoking pot when this guy walks past me, but then turns around and said, ‘Hey, can I ask you a question? Are you a Christian?’” Theus said, according to “AG News.” “I told him I was, even though I didn’t know anything about God or being a Christian. The guy responds, ‘Good. We all need to serve God’ and walked away.
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“I got down on my knees and asked Jesus to come into my life. He did. Instantaneously God saved me, delivered me and set me free from even the desire for drugs”
The Celebrate Recovery program is designed to help people overcome “hurts, hang-ups and habits.” Theus refers to it as a “safe place for people also struggling to find acceptance, love and recovery.” When the church he was attending cut funding for the ministry, he approached The Assembly.
“Terry came by and started talking about the situation and how he didn’t know what he could do,” Yarbrough recalls. “I knew this was a ministry we could use, so I asked him about bringing it here, to The Assembly.”
Yarbrough said that not only was the church board 100 percent in agreement with adding the Celebrate Recovery ministry to their church’s outreach efforts, but when he gave the congregation an opportunity to give to help establish the ministry that following Sunday, $10,000 was given. In addition to Celebrate Recovery, Theus created a 90-day course for those struggling with addiction, but who can’t take off from work for an extended time period to attend a program such as Adult and Teen Challenge.
Although not all the growth of The Assembly can be attributed to the Celebration Recovery or Recovery Way programs, as the church has many other outreaches, Yarbrough pointed out that the programs have brought a real awareness and sensitivity to the congregation.
“It sure has opened our eyes to a need that we just can’t ignore,” Yarbrough said. “With drugs and all of that so prevalent today along with the desperation people feel, the economy and life in general, the church has to be aware of and acknowledge these are real problems, but we can’t just sit on the sideline, we have to be a participator in the solution — we have to get involved and make real change.”
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
