Addiction can have many different faces and does not discriminate. For some, “traditional” recovery processes may not work, which is why a church in Minot is taking a different approach.
Rick Warren and John Baker started Celebrate Recovery in 1991. Like many other programs, it’s 12 steps. It helps people facing alcoholism, sexual addiction and even eating disorders. The main component: it’s faith-based and Christ-centered.
“John Baker was a recovering alcoholic and he didn’t think AA was doing it for him. He needed that spiritual component and so he went to Rick Warren and said, ‘I have this idea’ and Rick said, ‘Let’s do it,'” said Susan Ladlee, Program Coordinator for Celebrate Recovery Minot.
Since then, the program has come to be known worldwide. It stretches from churches to prisons all over the U.S., including in Minot.
Ladlee added, “We started with a program called Life’s Healing Choices, which is an eight-week, small group study. Just to see what the interest was and from that, we had some folks go through it and really wanted to join us in this effort and that’s where our leadership came from.”
Ladlee says people who have tried other avenues may be able to find what they’ve been missing, at the church.
“For Celebrate Recovery, our higher power is Jesus, and it’s through his power that we can share our struggles, we can share our faith,” added Ladlee.
Each Friday, men and women come together to work through their problems and can lean on one another.
“We start with worship to get our minds right and just to mentally calm down and focus on what’s going to be taught to us that moment,” said Jared Crain, men’s ministry leader
Crain says leaving his family in Texas for the military was a hard decision and forced him to face addictions of his own.
Crain added, “For myself, I started with selfishness, a little bit of pride and codependency.”
“Well, we all struggle with something, whether it’s an addiction to a substance or whether it’s a food addiction or whether we are a people pleaser, anger issues. There are just so many things,” said Ladlee.
Crain and Ladlee say the first step to getting better is wanting to get better — and their doors are always open to help.
The group meets every Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Minot.
