Most of my life was spent bound up in drug addiction and criminal behavior. In the Fall of 2013, I came to the end of myself and cried out to God for help. I had been to several rehabs over the 28 year span of my addiction. I had also been in prison three times as well as countless near death close calls. None of these things ever seemed to bring an end to my destructive lifestyle. There was something different about this time though. This heart cry to God caused something to shift. After a nearly two week long withdrawal, God touched me and I haven't been the same since. After my detox I went into Adult & Teen Challenge in Azle Texas and completely surrendered my life to God and his will for my life.
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During that year God radically changed my life. He also healed my body a short time after coming into the program (my back was broken in 1999 and I lived in extreme pain since). I have no pain today!! After graduation my wife and I sold everything we owned to respond to God's call to do an internship at a Teen Challenge in SC where I served for 8 months. During that time, Connie, my wife began to reach out to wives and mothers of the students that were there. She even played a key role in getting a pregnant wife of one of our guys into a Teen Challenge in California.
After the internship God called us back to Azle where I served as Vocational Coordinator for two years. Connie also served as our Thrift Store manager as well as the administrative assistant to the director on our campus, but most importantly she ministered to the men as a mother. From the day that God touched me in the midst of the worst withdrawals ever I have chased after Him with my whole being. God has put a strong desire in me to preach the gospel and to point others to the blessed hope found in Christ.
It is this strong desire coupled with a great love for the broken and struggling that has become In His Grip Ministries. Our heart is to show hope to those who feel hopeless.
In October 2017 we answered the call to evangelism and In His Grip was birthed. We are blessed and honored to go where He sends to bring encouragement to those He sends us to.
I can't help but smile as I think back to when I entered Teen Challenge. I truly just wanted to learn how to live without getting high and getting back to my welding truck, but God had a different idea. I've come to realize He always does.
