A National Directory of Drug Treatment Centers and Alcohol Treatment Centers, Therapists and Specialists. A free, simple directory providing assistance and guidance for those seeking help regarding alcohol addiction, drug addiction, dependency and many other conditions that affect the mind, body and soul.
Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Alcoholic turns to faith for help

John Baker is a quiet, unassuming man.

When he says he deserves no credit for starting Celebrate Recovery, a Christian 12-step program now in 12,000 churches, he means it.

Baker, who is in Tulsa this weekend for a Celebrate Recovery leadership training seminar, was raised in a Christian home and said he accepted Christ when he was 13 years old.

But he never felt he measured up to the expectations of his parents, his teachers, his classmates.

That feeling of pain and emptiness ended when he took his first drink at a fraternity house at the University of Missouri.

“For the first time, I felt like I really fit in,” he said.

Baker continued to drink regularly as he married his college sweetheart, began his career and started raising a family.

By his mid-30s, he was “really addicted” and could no longer choose not to drink, he said.

He was never arrested for drunken driving, and never lost a job over it, but his addiction ruined his marriage.

By age 40, his wife, Cheryl, was gone, and he hit bottom.

He turned to Alcoholics Anonymous, stopped drinking and began to attend Saddleback Church, a large Baptist church that met in a gymnasium near his home in California.

Five months later, he and Cheryl renewed their wedding vows.

But Baker had difficulty fitting in with the men’s group at the church. The group didn’t want to hear about his alcohol problems, and he also felt uncomfortable at Alcoholics Anonymous, which was not openly Christian.

“There was never any doubt that my higher power was Jesus Christ,” he said.

He said he felt compelled to develop a plan for a Christian 12-step program and spent six weeks putting the vision on paper, 13 pages, single-spaced.

He took it to his pastor, Rick Warren, who said, “Great, John. You do it.”

On Nov. 21, 1991, he held the first Celebrate Recovery meeting in a gym at a psychiatric hospital. Forty-three people came.

The group grew over the next three years, as Baker wrote curricula for it, and another group started in Santa Cruz, Calif. A third group started in Austin, Texas.

From there, Celebrate Recovery grew into an international ministry, with 12,000 churches in the U.S. The curriculum has been published in 19 languages.

Baker went on staff at Saddleback and eventually devoted all his time to Celebrate Recovery.

The ministry will get another huge boost in August when Reader’s Digest devotes its “Purpose Driven Connection” publication to Baker’s book, “Life’s Healing Choices.”

Baker said he thinks Celebrate Recovery has taken off because it offers a solution not just to addictions, but to the “hurts, habits and hangups” that all people struggle with.

Only about a third of participants have drug and alcohol problems.

“It’s Bible-based, not addiction-based,” he said.

And he takes no credit for its success.

“This is all God and very little John Baker,” he said.

“I truly believe that if I had not surrendered to it, someone else would have done it. This is God’s project.”

source: Tulsa World

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Quaker faith helps alcoholic to quit drinking

A recovered alcoholic from Maldon said he has his Quaker faith to thank for helping him stay alive. Anthony told BBC Essex’s Ian Wyatt he started to drink when he was 20, shortly after joining the Air Force. Having had a religious upbringing as a Pentecostalist, he had never previously drank or smoked. After 25….

Continue reading

The seriously inconvenient truth on drugs

For those who warmly applaud Gordon Brown’s declared desire to toughen up the law on cannabis, raising it from a Class C to Class B drug, there is always a simple question. How would you react if your son, or perhaps your grandchild – otherwise law-abiding and blameless citizens – were caught with that drug….

Continue reading

Choosing the Best Inpatient Heroin Treatment Centers

Heroin dependence can lead to serious side effects, overdose or even death if left untreated. Withdrawal during detox can be challenging and dangerous, inpatient heroin treatment centers provide the safest methods of treatment and care. Consider the safety, cost, location, medical care and effectiveness of inpatient heroin addiction treatment before making a final decision. Heroin….

Continue reading

Risky Drinkers Less Likely to Take Good Care of Themselves & Seek Medical Care

Kaiser Permanente Study Finds Heavier Drinkers Have Worse Health Care Habits Women and men who engage in frequent heavy drinking report significantly worse health-related practices, according to a Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research study in the journal Addiction Research & Theory. For the study, researchers surveyed 7,884 members of the Kaiser Permanente Northwest integrated….

Continue reading

Booze putting teen brains at risk

A Generation of Victorian teenagers are drinking themselves into oblivion, with more than a quarter of 15-year-olds bingeing until they black out – the point at which brain damage is likely to occur. Research has also found that more than a third of 11-year-old boys have consumed alcohol. The figures, contained in a study by….

Continue reading

Calls to the general helpline will be answered by a paid advertiser. By calling the helpline you agree to our terms of use.

I NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE NOWI NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE NOW 888-647-0579Response time about 1 min | Response rate 100%
Who Answers?