Jails have revolving doors, but not the physical kind. They’re the kind that many inmates face when discharged, especially if addiction is a factor.
A Monday night prayer group noticed this revolving door after starting a ministry for the women in the local county jail. The group kept seeing the same faces. It didn’t take long to recognize that more needed to be done.
“Even though they may have tried to change, nothing about their surroundings did,” said Casey Rice, executive director of The Summit of Fort Payne. “They had to go back to the same place that they had been before, and so it made it really hard for them to have a solid foundation of recovery.”
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However, there wasn’t a place to build the new life that would keep them from returning to the old, so the prayer group started praying about this specific need while also acting in faith that God would answer their prayers.
And He did.
“Some of the men in that group started looking around for real estate. (They found that) the Truett Cathy family had some property, and so this prayer group got together and created a little video showing their vision for the ministry and what they wanted to do,” Rice said.
‘Roadmap for life’
Truett Cathy was the founder of Chick-fil-A, a devout Baptist and four-decade Sunday School teacher who believed “the Bible is a roadmap for life.” In addition, he deeply believed in giving to and serving others.
“My wife and I were brought up to believe that the more you give, the more you have,” Cathy said in 2008 when he won the William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership.
However, Cathy understood loss. Two of his brothers, including one who was his partner in their first restaurant, were killed in a plane crash. Later, one of his first two restaurants was destroyed by a fire. Health problems landed him in the hospital. But he used these experiences and Chick-fil-A was born.
When the Cathy family representatives saw the video of the prayer group’s vision, they decided to donate the property. They knew Truett would have been pleased.
Above and beyond
This wasn’t just an answer to a prayer for a place for these ladies who needed help and a fresh start; it was above and beyond what they could ask or think. The land totaled 96 acres. The main house was 16,000 square feet. There was an additional pool house, as well as two other homes. It was the perfect place for these women to recover and begin again.
The women start in the big house. The additional two homes are for women who finish the program to continue recovery while they can get on their feet.
The recovery program is intensive.
It’s 12 months of about three hours of Bible study each day, including personal or group studies. The program is completely based on Bible study and Christian principles.
Not only do they learn Christian values, but they also learn how to get along with each other. This isn’t easy for any group of strangers, but it is even more difficult if addiction is a factor.
“As a graduate of a similar 12-month recovery home program, I’ve told people that’s probably one of the hardest parts of completing a program like this,” Rice said. “While we deal with it the best way we can, of course, we try to encourage the ladies through Scripture to try and handle it calmly first of all. Then if a staff member sees that there’s controversy arising, she’ll try to pull them out from the group and get them in a more personal setting to try and talk it out and serve as a mediator.
“When you get thrown into a place like The Summit and you’ve got problems on top of problems and your own way of dealing with things, you have to do a whole lot of trying to just accept people for who they are in that moment in time,” Casey noted. “You’ve got different life experiences that cause you to view situations from different points of view and perspectives. There’s really not much that’s going to change that. Plus, you’re not the same person. You shouldn’t be the same person at the end of your first phase (one to four months later) as you were when you got there,” Rice said.
Although there is a core staff, volunteers and program graduates have a huge role. They come and “just love on all the ladies and do projects with them and just spend time with them,” Rice said.
This involvement not only helps the women in the short term, but it builds relationships outside of the program, which is important for the main goal of leaving with a community of support.
“When they leave The Summit, they’ve already got healthy connections and relationships out there where if they are tempted or if they find themselves in a sticky situation, they’re more likely going to call somebody that they got real close with. These relationships that are being built are vital, I believe, and then transitioning back out into the free world.”
To learn more about The Summit of Fort Payne or the thrift store that helps fund the ministry, go to www.SummitofFortPayne.com.
‘In the Stillness’ offers peace in the midst of trouble
One former addict who learned about God’s grace through The Summit of Fort Payne’s program is Stacy Brantner.
Brantner had a decade-long battle with addiction before she found “healing, identity and purpose” through Christ. Through her book of poetry, “In the Stillness: 40 Days of Poems for the One Learning to Abide,” she uses her past and what she’s learned through recovery within God’s love to point to the healing and hope God can offer others.
“In the Stillness” includes 40 poems in a devotional format. Each day includes a Scripture and short prayer that accompanies the related poem. All of these devotions point to a God who can provide peace in the midst of trouble and the promise that He is near. “In the Stillness” is appropriate for personal encouragement, recovery ministries and women’s groups.
In addition, part of the proceeds from book sales go to The Summit of Fort Payne.
To find out more about “In the Stillness,” visit www.StacyBrantner.com.
Examples of poetry from “In the Stillness”:
“No Answers”
What does it mean when I wake up each morning
and Your face I cannot see?
What does it mean when I have no answers?
Why have you hidden Your face from me?
I keep pushing through each day,
and I keep calling on Your name.
For I know Your love is with me
each and every day the same.
So, God, I thank You for this trial,
whether it’s a long or little while.
Keep me in Your perfect peace.
Please hold me close; do not release.
Always pull me deeper still,
keeping me always in Your will.
“Send Your Spirit”
I come to You again tonight,
still struggling with this same old fight.
I’m calling on Your name again
because You said You are my friend.
You told me I don’t need to worry
for You have written my entire story.
But God You know the devil is so bold,
sometimes his antics are hard to hold.
On this night I choose to release,
I’m begging You to restore my peace.
Please forgive me of my unbelief.
Only You can stop this kind of grief.
So, on this night when I cannot speak
I need your Spirit, for I am weak.
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