Celebrate Recovery Re-Energizes This Fall
Written by Zach Hedrick, SMT Writer
Dexter, Missouri - Celebrate Recovery (CR) is forming in Stoddard County once again. Living Water Worship Center in Bloomfield is launching this program on September 12th, 2012 and will hold a service for CR every Wednesday night at six o’clock.
Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-based program that helps you get over your “hurts, hang-ups, and habits”. Although it is similar to a twelve-step-program, the founder of CR believed that Alcoholics Anonymous was missing something: Jesus Christ. With services and minds centered on the Bible, CR has a success rate of nearly 85%.
Living Water Worship Center plans to reach out and touch many lives in the local area. The leader of this program is Bryan Gentry, a former member of Celebrate Recovery. He believes the program will be a great success and many lives will be changed.
“My wife, Tish, and I, are Ministry Leaders for Celebrate Recovery at Living Water Worship Center. CR is a Christ centered recovery program that helps people deal with and recover from all kinds of issues that make our lives become unmanageable,” Gentry explains. “Married for 28 years, Tish and I have always felt God's call on our lives to serve together in ministry. We had no idea that I would end up struggling with alcoholism that took our family to a very low place. Knowing God was the answer, He helped me make the decision to turn around. Celebrate Recovery and His Amazing Grace has kept me sober for three and a half years. God has given Tish and me the burden for others to find sobriety and healing for the entire family. With Celebrate Recovery, God will bring victory and healing for life's hurts, hang-ups and habits, including life controlling addictions.”
Living Water Worship Center reaches out helping hands to those lost or in need. With God’s grace and much needed support, many lives will be altered. Even those without “hurts, habits, or hang-ups” are welcomed and are offered a chance to have a closer walk with God.
Services will start on September 12th, beginning with Praise and Worship. Two different services will be held each night, one large group meeting and many smaller group meetings. Small group meetings are broken down into chemical dependency and life struggles, each lead by a different staff member of the church.
After services, members have a chance to get to know each other during fellowship at the Solid Rock Café, which will be held in the church’s fellowship hall. Small snacks and drinks will be served every Wednesday night. This allows members to talk one-on-one with other people or leaders, just in case they do not feel comfortable talking about certain topics in small group sessions.
CR also offers programs for the youth and kids. Teens and kids will both have their own groups and younger children will be taken care of in the nursery. The youth group leader, Josh Gilbert, is excited about the youth becoming part of this big change in the church.
“Celebrate Recovery isn't just a great program created to help those addicted to drugs or alcohol,” says Gilbert, “It's also a program to help and prepare teens for the world that lies ahead. Living Water Worship Center wanted to give our youth every opportunity to live their lives the way God intended. Our youth face challenges now at a younger age, and if the church can prepare or help them then that's what we're going to do. I'm excited to see what God has in store for us through this program.”
Date: September 05th 2012
