Georgia Church Uses CR to Reach Hurting People in Community

By Rheta Murry

COVINGTON, Ga. (PD) — Years before Celebrate Recovery existed, God had prepared Rob Raynor, and others who would be a part of the church he would one day lead, for a ministry that helps hurting people.

Raynor, senior pastor of Eastridge Community Church (ECC) in Covington, Ga., started a church in the 1980s with seven families meeting in his living room. One of the “founding fathers,” he said, was a member of the 80s rock group Kansas.

“We started seeing people with lots of ‘hurts, habits, and hang-ups,’ as we say in Celebrate Recovery. Back then, we said they were messed up,” he added. “We were trying to help all of them and were just being swamped (in counseling).”

It wasn’t long until the church needed larger and larger facilities. The progressive church, Raynor said, played guitars and other instruments in the church made up of people in their mid 20s to early 30s before this style became known as ‘contemporary.’ They also got a lot of rock and roll fans once people discovered that one of our leaders was from Kansas, Raynor said. He described the church as a youth ministry for adults. Raynor himself had been a former youth minister.

Raynor said people are always dealing with the hurts, habits, and hang-ups of life. They need to know that God loves them and can help them, he added.

While attending a Purpose Driven Church Conference, Raynor purchased a kit for a Christ-centered, biblically based program of recovery called Celebrate Recovery that John Baker and Rick Warren had just created to use at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. It was the right program for Raynor, but not the right time for the church. Though church leaders believed the program would work, God had yet to raise a program leader.

Brad Rutledge and his wife, Renee, looked at the curriculum not too long after they started attending Eastridge in about 1999.

“When I began to look over it, I knew it was God’s calling for me,” Rutledge said.

Celebrate Recovery of ECC started Jan. 11, 2001, with 27 people in attendance. After about seven months, Rutledge said the numbers dropped to an average of 18 people. It wasn’t until he and Renee attended the Celebrate Recovery Regional Summit and looked at their program with new eyes, did the program start growing again.

“We knew we needed to do a lot more leadership training and tightening of some programs,” Rutledge said. “We actually doubled after we straightened up some things, specifically the guideline issues.” Now, an average of 175 people regularly attend Celebrate Recovery at ECC.

Brad Rutledge directs the Celebrate Recovery program at ECC and serves as the southeast regional director.

“It has really been a joy to see these folks come in with their lives a mess, see them develop and grow, and then give back to Celebrate Recovery or in the church,” Rutledge said.

Katherine represents this type of growth, both Rutledge and Raynor said. A heavy drinker at the time she started participating in Celebrate Recovery, Katherine recently received her three-year chip, celebrating three years of sobriety. She called this event a miracle of God, because at one time, she could not go even three hours without a drink.

“She is now our training coach,” Rutledge said. “It is a tremendous story of God’s healing in her life, and now she is giving back by helping train leaders.”

Johnny also shines as an example of God using Celebrate Recovery to change a life. This man needed some in-house treatment when he first sought counseling from Raynor. The pair sent him to a Christian counseling and treatment center and later worked with him in the Celebrate Recovery program. That’s where Johnny met his wife. The couple just started a Life Hurts, God Heals program, which is a youth version of Celebrate Recovery, for teens at ECC.

Rutledge said he would like the churches in his area to offer Celebrate Recovery programs every night of the week. So far, a person seeking recovery can attend a Celebrate Recovery program every night except Saturday without driving any more than an hour to one site, Rutledge said. The Atlanta metro area offers 41 Celebrate Recovery sites. His goal and vision is to have that phenomenon happen in his own county, so those interested would not have to drive so far.

Whenever someone comes in for counseling, Raynor can send them to the recovery program he knows is Christ-centered, biblically based, and grounded in faith. He said he has a front-row seat where he sees lives transformed in the program.

Anyone starting a Celebrate Recovery should commit to that ministry for the long haul. The program takes time and numbers wane, especially at the beginning, said both Raynor and Rutledge.

“If they will start it with the intent on hanging on, it will grow,” Raynor said. “In every neighborhood, there are people who need this program. If the word gets out, this ministry will grow.”

Eventually both men would like to see Celebrate Recovery become the first place people think of when someone they know needs recovery.

A couple years ago, someone asked Rutledge whether it was depressing to be working with people with hurts, habits, and hang-ups.

“There is nothing that charges me up more than a messed-up life submitting to Christ and seeing them grow,” he said. “It is absolutely amazing.”

Raynor and Rutledge carry the vision of recovery to other churches. The pair said they invite churches thinking about a recovery ministry to observe the meetings at Eastridge Community Church and ask questions.

“We want to help other churches grow their own Celebrate Recovery,” Raynor said. “We want to see it spread.”