Florala church to help addicts

Look around at what your community needs, then start whatever ministry is needed to meet those needs.”
   
Jonathan Maddox was standing in the men’s rescue mission of First Baptist Church, Leesburg, Fla., when he heard those words.
   
He took them seriously.
   
Maddox, pastor of Chapel Hill Baptist Church, Florala, came back to his community of just over 2,000 people to do just that — and it didn’t take him long to spot a need that needed to be met. “My wife and I started praying and wanted to impact our community, and ministering to recovering addicts seemed to be one of the greatest needs in our area,” he said. 
   
Many struggling with substance addictions in the community surrounding Chapel Hill Baptist were actively pursuing help from sources 20 or more miles away, including Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) groups in other communities and a Celebrate Recovery ministry led by Westview Baptist Church, Opp. 
   
“In the area where we live, there is no kind of program or ministry for that. We want to have somewhere here in our community that can run alongside what these other ministries are doing — somewhere where they can have support-type situations during the rest of the week and let them know someone loves them,” Maddox said.
   
And, he added, the ministry can go a step further than “AA-type programs” — it can be a tool through which to love them in the name of Christ.
   
“It will be specifically designed to not just cleanse them from addictions but share the gospel with them, too,” Maddox said.
   
It’s an idea he said he saw modeled well at that men’s rescue mission when a group of Alabama Baptist pastors and directors of missions traveled to Leesburg, Fla., in January to see how that church is making evangelism intentional through community ministry.
   
“It (addiction) is a hard thing to go through, and we’re just trying to encourage them,” Maddox said. “I don’t care if we pack the pews or not; I just want to see lives changed for Christ.”
   
Maddox said he hopes to have the ministry for recovering addicts and their families running by September.
   
Mike Jackson, an associate in the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions office of evangelism, said Chapel Hill’s ministry could be incredibly instrumental in winning people in the Florala area to Christ.
   
“It will be a tool he can use to meet people where they are and from there meet their greatest need — the need for Jesus Christ.”