Champions Network
It is well
known that there is a drugs epidemic in America, some call it a war, and Ohio has it particularly bad! Accordingly, we have become increasingly involved with the Champions Groups of Refuge Ministries (see our Feb 6 post).
Their Champions Groups bring people together to help them find freedom from addictions of all kinds through the healing power of Jesus Christ. Through Christ-centered discipleship in small groups, the aim is to see people set free, grow spiritually and become equipped to help others and empower their church. Lives are seen to be transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. The focus is on discipleship and personal growth, because it’s not enough just to quit doing drugs, alcohol, pornography or whatever. In order to remove these strongholds completely, they must be replaced with a relationship with Jesus Christ evidenced by changed lives and the fruit of the Spirit. Only through Christ, can a man or woman be set free and made strong enough not to relapse back into addictive behavior.
The guys wh
o make up these Champions groups are true disciples and champions of Jesus, because their pursuit of Him and His ways is literally a matter of life or death for them. It certainly focuses the mind that death is knocking at your door, if your addiction is not overcome.
Addicts will try to make it alone; and then they’ll try some secular rehab programs; but a man must learn that he cannot save himself, that only Christ can set him free and keep him free. It’s when we finally come to the end of ourselves that God can and does step in. God sent us a Savior in Jesus Christ because we absolutely need one!
Refuge Ministries has a track record of proven success with thousands of men set free and staying free. Now they are also opening up to women.
Addicts experience a welcoming and judgment-free environment. No guilt, shame or condemnation. We are all in the same battle; and we’re all on the same side, because death is a daily possibility for us all, but we all tend to discount the possibility until we’re well into our latter years. All men and women have addictive behaviors of some sort. The Bible is clear. All of us sin and fall short of the glory of the Lord, and the wages of sin is death, premature or otherwise. We cannot live a sin-free life, none of us; and so we all need the Savior who is Jesus Christ, and none other.
Freedom
from addiction is only possible through a living, vital relationship with Jesus Christ. Addicts usually try a Christ-centered rehab program as a last resort; and then wonder why they didn’t go there first! Secular programs cannot provide the essential spiritual transformation that is required. It is useless and self-defeating to try to treat addicts with other drugs–it merely substitutes one addiction for another. It would be nonsensical to treat alcoholics with other types of alcohol or porn addicts with a lesser type of porn. It does not work!
We are so excited to be working with the guys of the Champions Network. These guys are true champions. Having been (some of them) heroin addicts and dealers, they are now 1, 3, 5, or even 6 or more years clean, and reaching out to others. They know firsthand the grace and mercy and the power and love of God. Some have been bound by drugs and alcohol for decades and are now living clean. Their testimonies are amazing. If you want to know more, contact us.
One final point. When a person comes to a Champions Group and receives Christ as his or her personal Lord and Savior, they are never again referred to as an addict. They have been truly born again by the Spirit of God; they are a brand new creation—-their old life and nature has gone and brand new has come in (2 Cor. 5:17). Christ can do this. Christ does this. A Champions Group member is never permitted to say: “I’m Peter, and I’m an alcoholic,” or “I’m Paul, and I’m a drug addict.” If they say that, they are immediately corrected. They are saints of God, the same as other Christians.
Click their logo below to go to Refuge Ministries’ website and learn about their free residential program, and more.
