Justin’s heroin addiction had gotten to the point where his family was “just waiting for his funeral.” That wasn’t the way his story ended after his life was radically changed at Mn Adult and Teen Challenge.
Today, Justin is the program manager of Redemption House where residents worship their way out of addiction.
“The underlying cause of addiction is rooted in the heart. The Bible is clear that the root of all this mess is sin. We have exchanged the worship that we were created for for worship of something else. At Redemption House we come alongside and try to help guys identify the idols of their heart.”
“Hopefully, by presenting the Gospel and the good news of what Jesus Christ has done, residents can actually, it says in Thessalonians, ‘turn from idols to serve the living and true God.’ We want to see people turn away from their idolatry and turn to the living God. He does do what he did for me, he replaces the affection for drugs and alcohol with a new affection for him.”
“When we’re on the the throne of our heart, so to speak, life is miserable. When we trust our lives over to King Jesus for him to sit on the throne of our heart we’re actually happiest and most healthy.”
Worshiping your way out of addiction can sound like a pie-in-the-sky idea, but Justin knows that worship involves practical, real life connection.
Worshiping out of addiction“The theme of our program is to worship your way out of addiction and (residents) do that with a real, tight, intimate gospel-centered community where they’re encouraging one another. Hebrews tells us that, ‘as you see the day draw near, don’t neglect meeting with one another.'”
“We need each other in this fight because there are days where we can’t see the reality of the Gospel and sin looks more appealing, but we need others to remind us, ‘Don’t go there,’ and to encourage us.”
