God is Using Emerge to Hope partnership to reach more lives in Greene County
Dustin Fields Reflects on Emerge’s partnership with Bridges of Hope
God has really been moving in the hearts and lives of clients and staff alike, as He has been able to show His hand in allowing a loving and supportive culture to emerge there. A decent amount of the residents and clients are always commenting on how the culture there is so much different now and how it’s so much more loving and supportive and they truly feel like everyone there cares about them and their life and is there to see them succeed.
God has drawn two souls to Himself that have cried out for salvation in Christ in my office in just the last 3 weeks, and it is evident that the faith-based curriculum as well as time in Scripture and chapel is drawing more people to a new life in the truth.
The mental health day treatment program is off to an amazing start as clients are already (after just a few sessions) reporting an immense level of excitement about it. They report how they are learning to not only normalize some of their struggles but also believe in victory in some of their struggles. The curriculum so beautifully blends evidence-based interventions and strategies concerning mental health, as well as a biblical view on suffering. Thus far, the clients in that group have said that they are learning that it is okay to struggle and that God will pull them out of that. The amount of faith that is growing in these people’s hearts is just truly amazing.
The clients in the substance use groups unanimously agree that these groups and the overall approach is like nothing they have ever had in other treatment facilities in the past. They all agree that the blend of evidence-based services along with a biblical perspective on the human condition and addiction is helping them to be removed from the stigmas that are often placed on addiction and the people that struggle in them.
We are most definitely not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Bible, but the balance is always there concerning evidence-based practices and we have open discussion and compassion for where people are at in life with their beliefs and their views. We begin every group with a daily AA reading, and then a devotional related to the Bible, and then one of the client’s prays and then we get into the lesson at hand.
God is definitely using staff as vessels from Emerge to be poured out daily and fill these clients with the love, joy, hope, grace, patience, and mercy. The vine is growing and budding fruit…the real harvest is yet to be seen, which is why we will not grow weary in sowing seeds into these dear souls. We do this work to glorify God, and see people walk in freedom as they Emerge Into Hope.