Holding a sign on an off-ramp in Atlanta, stating that I was “homeless and in need of any blessing” was not exactly what I thought I would be doing at 50 years of age. I didn’t think either that I would have been brutally raped, beaten, robbed and living in constant fear. Yet, I succumbed to it every day. Day after day for a couple of years I was drinking to find some more empty courage.

I prayed all the time, being brought up Catholic in a very religious home and having attended twelve years of parochial school. I truly thought I knew the Lord. Ah! How I was wrong! Darkness was not just for nighttime, it was with me all day. Wallowing in self pity, I drank more thinking it would ease the pain of my despair. Wrong again!

One day a very precious, beautiful young woman named Mary opened her car window to ask me to meet her a block away to have lunch with her at Subway. I did – and so began the most glorious, awe-inspiring, divine intervention I ever thought was possible. I knew God the Father, His precious Son, Jesus Christ, and His dear Holy Spirit had designed this plan just for me. Every prayer that I had thought had gone unanswered, every possible prayer I could have in the future was truly in the Lord’s hands. I just knew because I knew this truly Jesus-anointed woman was handing me the key to a world filled with joy and peace and all the things bright, beautiful and right, which could have only been from the Lord!

Guided by the Holy Spirit

She told me how the Holy Spirit had talked to her and guided her with His strength and wisdom. It could not have been easy for her. I was frightened, disbelieving and trapped in a dark hole that had become so familiar it was my comfort zone. Living under a bridge and then in the woods next to the railroad tracks was my home. I was diagnosed legally blind and had lost my front teeth when I was attacked. Too locked and lost in darkness, I feared that if I turned to my precious son, sister or brothers who I loved very much they would be so embarrassed of me. Relentlessly, Mary chipped away at the walls I had surrounded myself with. The Holy Spirit guiding her, she helped bring me to a life with Jesus. She called her mother Cathy, who drove several times from Huntsville to Atlanta, to help chip away some more.

She had looked up a mission, a true haven, she had heard about online – the Downtown Rescue Mission. Here I am almost seven months later. Together with our very devoted, insightful and compassionate women’s director and Cathy’s very special friend, I am surrounded by warriors of God who I will never let out of my life. They found a dentist who wanted to do something for Jesus and he gave me my smile back for nothing in return. They found an eye surgeon who, again, wanted to do something for the Lord and he operated on my eyes out of the kindness of his heart and love for Christ. I could see!

With my self-esteem returning, I got up my courage and wrote my son. I was answered a week later with his beautiful words saying how much he loved me and how grateful he was to God for bringing me back to him. As if this wasn’t enough, Cathy and Kim introduced me to their families and friends who are all true warriors in Christ. Now, the only true longing, desire and necessity I need in my life is the love of Jesus and how to share Him with others. If home is where your heart is, I have found it here surrounded by the love of Jesus at the Downtown Rescue Mission, my son and my family back in my life, my true sisters in Christ, a great job working in their Agape Shoppe and a beautiful garden to tend every day. We are all traveling this truly anointed road together!

P.S. Since writing this last September, I have completed the recovery program at DRM, been baptized with my siblings in the Atlantic Ocean while visiting them in Florida, reunited with my son and am the first resident intern at DRM assisting with the women’s ministry.

Glory be to God!

Patti Moody

– Proverbs 4:20-22

There are so many things that I learned from my dad. How to fish, how to hunt, how to throw a baseball, shoot a basketball, change the oil and so much more. My dad taught me

 how to be a man, treat a lady, discipline, and most importantly, to have a relationship with God.

Now that I am a father myself, I am beginning to teach my children some of the very same things my dad taught me. No matter how much earthly wisdom I can give to my kids, the most significant thing I can share with them is to place their hope and trust

in Jesus Christ. Our heavenly Father wants us to seek His word and His face for wisdom and direction. And as the text says, His direction is life and healing to all their flesh.

For some of you, your fathers may have never been there for you, but I know a heavenly Father that will never leave you or forsake you. A God who wants a personal relationship with you and has already written His love letter to you: the Word of God. Take time this Fathers Day and thank God for fathers and most importantly, make your ear attentive to His Word.

David Howard
Student Pastor
CrossPointe Church

As we prepare to celebrate this special day that has been set aside for fathers, let us look to the Author and Finisher of our faith as our example and our measuring stick of what a father is to exemplify. When we search Scripture, God gives us a plan or pattern of what a father’s tasks and duties are to be in Christ: teaching our children the Word of God and showing them how to live Godly lives, being the man of the house and making provisions for the family and, of course, loving his wife as Jesus loves the church. These are just a few instructions that God has given men as fathers to honor so they may be transformed into what God’s Word says a father is to become.

The downside or reality to this picture is when we as men (fathers) don’t comply with the Word of God. We become a generation that knows not of the living God. Instead we begin to worship idols and become wanderers, never understanding the real peace and joy that is given in Christ Jesus. For those who may be growing up without a father, know that God in His mercy and grace is the mother to the motherless and the father to the fatherless. There is no better example to have than the perfect example God provides for us who are willing to follow. So my cry to men and fathers is let us follow God so that we may be able to lead a lost generation back to the order in which God set up for fathers. May God be with us and become the object of our goal as fathers. I love you all.

Happy Father’s Day,

Rickey Vinson

Our youth group just completed our annual Disciple Now Weekend. This year’s theme was OVERCOME HUNGER, based around World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine project. We had 60 students fast for 30 hours and serve the Lord and their community during that time. We were blessed to serve at the Downtown Rescue Mission for some of this time. We took our students over and put them to work! Their volunteer coordinator did a great job delegating students to different jobs around the Mission campus. We normally take smaller groups to serve meals at the Mission, but we were able to meet other needs around the campus for this particular trip. We had students washing windows, hauling trash to dumpsters, stocking food in their warehouse, sorting and shelving books and even pulling weeds outside.

Before this trip, I always related serving at the Mission directly with serving meals. This particular trip changed my thought process. I learned there are so many areas and opportunities to serve at the Mission. Serving in different ways around the campus gave our students the chance to put their Faith into action!

The theme verse for our youth group is John 3:30 which says, “He must increase, and I must decrease”. Serving at the Mission allowed our students to put this verse to play in their lives. It changed their focus from themselves to instead impacting others for the sake of Jesus Christ!

We are so thankful for the work of the Downtown Rescue Mission and may God continue to be glorified through this ministry!

In HIM,

Will Harbison

Gilliam Springs Baptist Church

They had just witnessed the death of the carpenter from Nazareth; now all their hopes and dreams were dashed! They were returning to Emmaus devastated. What their hopes had been built on was now in a grave. They walked in despair with no hope of consolation, no where to go for comfort, no one to restore their misplaced faith.

Just then a stranger showed up questioning why they seemed so lost and in despair. They wondered how anyone could be so ignorant of the things that had gone on in the last week. They tried to explain the unexplainable, how that the One in Whom they had placed all their hope and faith had died such a horrible sinners death.

Just then, as the Stranger spoke, a light of hope once again broke through the darkness, as He recounted to them Moses’ and the prophets’ hidden things about Himself. As He tried to go on His way, they begged Him to stay with them so they could hear more of His life giving words.

Then the Visitor took on the role of the host, breaking the bread and distributing it, as they had seen Him do so many times before. As He blessed it, they made the startling discovery, that the Stranger was in fact the Christ of God, and with that revelation, the joy of their salvation came flooding in.

This good news spread through the city, the land and the world. Jesus Christ of Nazareth was not only alive, but was indeed the conqueror of death, hell and the grave. Live on, Jesus! Live on, followers! Live on, you beloved of the resurrection and the life- live- live – live

Dr. Larry Mann

Assistant Director of Men’s Ministry

More and More
Growing in my Relationship with Christ

My name is Bridgette Clowers. I started using drugs at an early age. By the time I was seventeen, I had my first baby. At eighteen, I lost custody of my child to my mother. Then I started using meth. A few years passed and I had two more babies. I also lost custody of them because of my drug use.

Now I’m 30 and I came to the Downtown Rescue Mission on August 2, 2011 to change my life. I have been saved and I have let God into my heart. My relationship with Christ seems to grow more and more every day.

When I first arrived, there was no hope of seeing my girls. After two months, we contacted the adoptive parents and asked if I could see them upon completion of the program. At Christmas I had been here four months and God blessed me. I got to go home for Christmas to see all three of my children. It made my holiday happier. I’m happier now than I have ever been. I have truly been blessed by God!

Never Give Up

Luke 13:34 :”O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing”. [Jesus]

Being a chaplain at any mission can, at times, be discouraging. We see lives shattered and shackled by substance abuse. Many times we pray over and plead with hundreds to join our one year program so they can get their life straight and be set free from bondage. All too often, we hear “no thanks”.
Recently, a particular homeless person who has frequented the mission for over two years returned as an overnight guest. I can remember several stories about his drunken escapades. Many times I have prayed for this gentleman. Many times I talked with him about his life and for him to possibly join our recovery program, to no avail.

Many times a person gets weary in witnessing to the same person. It’s easy to write people off after a few times. However, recent polls show a person must be witnessed to at least seven times before accepting the truth of God. It is never too late.

I must admit I was dragging my feet this time; however, God wasn’t dragging His. This gentleman entered my office and said he was tired of the life he has been living; however, he couldn’t change on his own and wanted to join our program. Wow, I was taken back.

Never give up on witnessing; it’s never, ever too late. This gentleman is now in our program learning to trust God and is changing his life away from the bondage that controlled him.

Jesus tells us a parable of two sons in Matthew 21:28-32. First, the man in our program said “no” like the man in the parable but then he did what the father asked of him.

Thank you for your support that made this happen.

Chaplain Clyde Thompson

This month marks the beginning of a new, improved recovery program. Along with the newly revised program, many rules have also changed for these individuals. To help explain these updates, I have sat down with our Sr. Director of Men’s Ministry, Dr. Kerry Walker and Sr. Director of Women and Children, Cara Henderson.

CB: How has the recovery program changed in 2012?
KW: We have condensed our class schedule to hold classes five days per week instead of two days with a goal of completing the program in a one year period.

CB: What new classes are we teaching?
CH: We are so excited about the new classes we are introducing this year! We have added “Understanding Addiction”, “Basic Christianity”, two life skill classes as well as a life application class about moral excellence based on Biblical precepts and principals.

CB: How will the revised program better help those dealing with addictions?
KW: First, they will have more time spent in classes and in study. This will overcome some of the extended down time our residents experience. Second, we are trying to remove obstacles we have identified which have been causing some of our residents to relapse. The goal is to have a much higher success rate for all our clients.

CB: What rule changes have been made for residents?
CH: We have shortened the recovery program to one year. Our residents will no longer be able to have cell phones (phone rooms are provided on campus to keep contact with family). Our residents’ time off campus will be limited with more family visitation time on campus. We have also made outside work or school an option only after graduating from our yearly program. We are adding a new transitional program to help residents after their year of study. All of the new rules are designed to help those in our program keep a better focus on their recovery while growing in their relationship with Christ.

CB: Who will be teaching the new classes?
KW: We use primarily our staff to teach our discipleship classes, but we have used specialist volunteers to teach things like financial skills and resume’ writing.

CB: In years past, the mothers staying with us have not had much of a program. What are we doing with them now?
CH: Because resources are so saturated and they are not transitioning as quickly as in the past, we want to better equip our moms with the life changing Word of God, parenting classes, life skills such as finances, resumes, etc. We are also looking to add nutrition and fitness classes.

Following Christ to a Life of Freedom

My name is Donald Jones. I came to the Downtown Rescue Mission seven months ago looking for help in getting my life back together. I had broken a twelve year sobriety after losing a good friend that I had taken care of for five years. He was very sick and needed attention 24/7. I tried other rehabilitation centers but they weren’t doing anything for me. I needed a good Christian recovery center. That is why I came to the Downtown Rescue Mission. There is a lot of Christianity here. They provide for each of my needs, even taking me to the free clinic when I need to go.

Since being in the Rescue Mission’s classes, I have learned how to cope with life. There are some really great people who care. Our men’s ministry directors have really helped a lot. I have learned about having a better and closer relationship with God. I really appreciate all that the staff has done for me. They are a true blessing!

I love these two Bible verses. Apostle John wrote in Revelation 22:14, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” John also wrote in his gospel, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Donald Jones