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| A few of the FCC-Belle Celebrate Recovery peeps |
I sent out private Facebook messages to several preachers I know from our days together at Central Christian College. I wrote several more blind private messages and e-mails to churches in rural Missouri that I found in the Directory of the Ministry.
I also reached out to David Fincher, President of Central Christian College, to ask if he knew of any such community outreach programs among CCCB's supporting churches. I've gotten some of my best story ideas from David, and he didn't let me down this time. He sent me a short note in response:
"You should talk to Mitchell Seaton at First Christian Church in Belle, Missouri. They have had a great outreach to many of the hurting people in their community."So I wrote an e-mail to Seaton and received back an 800-word detailed description of First Christian Church's experience with Celebrate Recovery (CR), a very small part of which was included in that article.
I knew, though, that the time would come when I would tell that story in more detail.
A Sunday morning drive through the hills and hollers of the Ozarks followed. Mitch invited Karen and I to "interview" the members of one of the Sunday School classes. There wasn't much interviewing required, as this crowd of friends, all involved in one way or another in the Celebrate Recovery program, led me through a wild and crazy hour of stories and confessions and tears and laughter.
My editor, Michael Mack, after reading the finished manuscript, told me "Dude, love the quotes. Very compelling and I laughed out loud several times."
There were plenty more quotes that didn't make it into the 1,500 word article. So here's your chance to hear more from the people at First Christian Church in Belle, MO. You will laugh out loud, you will be challenged, and you might even cry.
Tim Long 3, on what happened after he got arrested in the parking lot of the church after a Sunday morning service:
“I came back the following Sunday to church. I couldn’t take it no more. June 14, 2014, was my first day clean and sober. It was Father’s Day. I went to church because my daughters had asked me.
I said, I’m done. I was done with it at that point. 12 days later they start the recovery program and I’m in jail again. I had warrants that I was still cleaning up. It took a while to clean the mess up that I had created behind me. . . I felt God’s hand on me when I was in jail, I said we’ll work this out. I’ll sit here, I’m good. I’ve run out of options.
The following week I came to the recovery program. I was at the ground level. The second week of the program they handed me a book and said, here, why don’t you do the lesson. I kind of giggled a little bit. “You know who you’re handing this off to?”
I’m in a position now as ministry leader of CR, and I get to watch what guys like Kevin, Tony, and Mitchell got to watch through me, those aha moments. I get to watch them through guys like Todd and Pete, not just their recovery from drug addiction, but their recovery from life, moving forward, being the men and women god has intended them to be. When you’re going through it yourself, you don’t see it, but people like Kevin can tell me about the progression he sees people go through.
The church people have been 100% supportive, and they’re not afraid to let you know where you’ve fallen short, or what you need to work on or give you the praises that keep you pushing forward."Anna Long:
"I told him (Tim 3, her husband), he said he was coming to church, and I said, if you have a warrant, Tony will arrest you. I warned him and he said, I don’t but if I do I’ll deal with it.
I came in a year before the recovery program started. I came here as a child, and then came back. I came in because I was at a low point in my marriage and everything else and needed to be around people. There was a lot more space in the pews. This Sunday School class at the time, there was like five of us. The stories that people were willing to share helped so much.
CR has opened things up. We’re a little louder, so it opens it up to talk to everybody. We’re kind of loud and crazy but we love Jesus.
A lot of times people will come to CR first and then everyone tells them, come to our church. It doesn’t matter if you’ve tried church before, try our church. And then a lot of times then, again, Mitchell’s sermons are very relatable and they feel welcome and accepted when they come in the door."Tim Long 2 (Tim 3's dad):
"Yesterday is 21 months clean and sober. I spent over 40 years out on the dark side, doing my will only. When i was a kid I used to spend my collection money by skipping church and going to the bowling alley.
First time I came in here I heard Mitchell speak and he was right in my head talking to me. I even asked him, what did they teach you at that college, mind reading? You need to stay outta there!
I came to CR to see about getting rid of my addiction, and I was in it for a while and then I asked Jesus Christ to take my addiction and he did. It’s now not about the addiction anymore, it’s about the recovery to change my life and living my life the way Christ wants me to live.
That’s why I’m here. All these people here, the whole church they work with you, they help you, they lead you. The whole church is my accountability partner now.
When some of us started coming, we asked Mitchell, are you going to be able to keep your job with all these rough people coming in? He said ‘This is a hospital for sinners, not a house for saints.”
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| Celebrate Recovery members playing with kids at FCC-Belle VBS |
“When I came to CR, I’d been an addict my whole life. It was OK to come. I felt like everybody from all walks of life are being real here.
It’s OK for me to come in and talk to others. They’ll help you through it and carry it.
The realness of other people helps because people come in and think that can’t tell their story because their problem is so dark CR has made it OK for people from all walks of life to come in and be accepted. These are good Christian people who will take you as you are and say, we’ll help you with this. We all have problems and everyone can see.Tony Baritech:
It’s OK if you’ve got a problem. This is where you should be if you’ve got a problem. Romans 3:23. I’m one of those people. We’re family here. We walk through it all together.Mitchell Seaton:
The impact and scope of CR: “It's been an adjustment for sure. And we're still adjusting. But they're still coming, and they're lives are being changed by the power of Christ. This has brought on all kinds of changes to our approach. it's not just addiction. But really any of life's "hurts, habits, and hang-ups" (which is a Celebrate Recovery line). Depression. Anger. Sexual Addiction. Codependency.
Church discipline: "Though we are patient to allow God's Spirit to convict, we also know we must play a role in that, too."Clayton Johnson:
"Before I started coming to CR I was an atheist. I didn’t believe in Christ. The only time I went to church was for a wedding or a funeral, and I thought I was going to get struck by lightning for walking through the doors.
I had multiple people tell me to come to CR and through CR I found Christ, I started coming to church, I’ve been baptized, I’ve been redeemed.
Becoming one of the leaders for CR, as encouragement leader, has been wonderful. I believe last year we had more CR baptisms than we had baptism out of the regular church program. It’ changing lives. It changed mine. I went from a non-believer to a faithful, grateful believer, and I tell everybody now.".Sundi JoGraham, on the close-knit community of CR and FCC-Bel:
"A friend said, the other day, I feel like the Sunday School class is the church. The people in this room, we do life together.
We go to Carrie and Kevin’s to play whiffle ball. I remember going to my first whiffle ball game and seeing all this diverse group of people from all walks of life. You’ve got ex-convicts and ex drug dealers and a cop, you’ve got all these people. We were all playing whiffle ball together and eating hot dogs together. That’s the body of Christ, is doing life together. We have cried in this room together, we’ve been real and raw. It’s been amazing to watch.Margie Baretich:
"When I came there was maybe 50 or 60 people. Now we have probably as many children here as we did adults back then.
The CR program here, I can’t even express the amount of hope that it gives me.
We have a boy that’s in prison. Watching the transformations that I’ve been to see, gives me hope that’s still possible for my son.
It has given me a different perspective in my work as well. I’m a paramedic, 28 years, and I go get the same people time after time after time for the same abuses, the same drugs, or for the same beatings from the same person and I have been jaded in the past. Here we go again.
Now I understand addiction so much better and the life struggles than I did before. Now I have a diff perspective in my work. I can say with all honesty now, when I’m picking up somebody for the 43rd time, there really is hope. I know it’s there.
Contact CR in your areas and give it a chance, you’ve got everything to gain."
An exchange during the group decision that highlights the unexpected and extraordinary relationships developing at FCC-Belle:
Tim Long 2: We tried to get Tony to come work for us, but he wouldn’t.
Tony Baretich (police officer): No joke, I was offered a large monthly stipend to look the other way, but no.
Tim Long 2: And now we got motorcycles and Tony don’t.
Tim Long 3: I’m very happy that you didn’t take that offer.Tim Long 2:
Broken Chains is part of CR, a Christian biker program. It brought me in to where I could have a bike again. I got rid of my bike and wasn’t going to get another one because of the lifestyle, but it’s allowed me to do other ministry work.
That’s one of the things that is really amazing me is doing ministry work. When I was new, Mitchell would talk about ministry work. The other day I was standing around talking to guys about Jesus and a few months before I would have rather hit you than to talk about Jesus. I came on kind of fast.
It’s crazy, the transformation is totally amazing. The acceptance and guidance they give is great. I’ve never met people like that my whole life.
Kevin Brown:
We came to FCC 5 or 6 years ago. Tony invited Morgan (his daughter) to come. I wasn’t sure how we would be accepted, because I had been divorced, twice. At that point there was 70ish attendance, probably.
I’m thrilled we started at that point. I believe we were put here at that certain time. I didn’t even know Mitchell, but we hit it off immediately and became really good friends after some earnest conversation. It was good.
So we were able to see the beginning and to see the wave start to swell. It was phenomenal.
Everything they’re saying is 100% true. There was hardly nobody in this classroom.
If you can help one person, and I believe there’s been more than one person that’s been helped, that gives me hope.
Yes, we have people out for whiffle ball because God has blessed us to have a place where we can do that, and we absolutely love it. It’s not the whiffle ball, it’s the talks after whiffle ball. That’s the cool part.
I was on vacation and met someone from Redding, CA. They’re from a Christian church out there, and they’re going to start a CR program. I said, that’s fine, but get ready to get your heart to broken. It’s been a huge blessing and it’s been quite the ride.
Margie Baretich:
When our boy was arrested, if that would have happened when I was in that plastic church we used to go to, I would not have had this acceptance, this love, this encouragement. I would have had to hide that, to put on a brave face or go elsewhere. But here, we’re not looked down upon because of what our child did, we’re love and accepted and carried through.Tony Baretich:
The day before he left to go to prison, 30 some odd people from this church showed up. Mitchell got permission from the county sheriff and everybody got to say their piece and I love you’s and the body of Christ was alive and active. It wasn’t just words, they showed up.Tim Long 3:
Everybody’s situation, everything that has happened, is a chaotic mess of just beautiful.
I couldn’t be where I’m at today without Tony and Marge’s struggles. It brought a whole new light.
I always frowned upon . . the way I grew up there was only one way to handle that kind of situation, what he did. But what he did is a sin, but it wasn’t any difference than me being a drug dealer, spreading poison on the street. God used that to open my eyes. I’m on the register to go and see him.
Each person’s struggle is unique, but if you can look at it and put it into perspective of what you’ve done, and the forgiveness you’ve accepted and offered, there’s nothing out of God’s grasp.Clayton Johnson:
A sin is a sin is a sin. God still loves you, god works with sinners. There’s an acceptance for the many different walks of life that everyone has come from. I’ve buried two daughters, I’ve buried my parents. I’ve lost a whole lot in my life. Whenever I was going through all of that, I stayed so far gone, I didn’t know who I was. I literally did not recognize myself looking in a mirror.Sundi Jo Graham:
People don’t let you stay stuck where you are. I was going through a bad time a few months ago. I teach people how to have healthy coping mechanisms and how to talk about their problems. But Tony and Mitch showed up to ask what was going on, to tell me I couldn’t lock myself off like that. If you hurt I’m going to hurt with you. If you celebrate I’m going to celebrate with you.
Tony Baretich:
I love Mitchell so much; I’d bury a body for him. There have been leadership issues, but the one constant is their obedience. Mitchell doesn’t take the easy way out. If I’ve learned one thing, it’s how to have healthy confrontations with people.
If you would like to learn more about the Celebrate Recovery program, go to http://www.celebraterecovery.com/
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