[00:00:01] Speaker A: The Journey Hometown Journal we all struggle with something.
[00:00:04] Speaker B: It could be depression, anxiety, fear, grief, addictions, diseases. Anything and everything can be worked on and helped and there is a great need for the entire community.
[00:00:17] Speaker C: Welcome to the Hometown Journal. I'm Mark Edwards. Today we're going to share with you some information about a new recovery outreach and ministry in the Forest Virginia area. Ed Bogart is with Recovery Alive Forest and he is here to explain the outreach will also give you their contact information throughout the program. Ed, thank you for being with us. How did the idea of starting a recovery program in the Forest area develop?
[00:00:44] Speaker B: I've been associated with recovery programs for over six years now and I just last year I got the calling through the Holy Spirit of starting a fresh ministry in the area. There are a few others in the Lynchburg and Forest area that are great.
I was attracted to Recovery Alive. The founding person of Recovery Alive, John Eklund down in North Carolina, he created a different 12 step format than most and it's more biblically driven along with psychological aspects incorporated with the program. And that just clicked with me. So when I felt the calling to do something for the community in a recovery program, I got hooked up with John and just exploded from there. My my heart was on fire for it and I ran with it and I'm now have the backing of a church to have a meeting and we're doing doing great with it.
[00:01:37] Speaker C: So is Recovery Alive is their model? Is it like a one on one counseling type program or is it group meetings?
[00:01:45] Speaker B: So it's actually a little bit of everything. Generally speaking a weekly meeting consists of we do about a half an hour meal time at the beginning, starting at 5pm and then we go into a large group setting which is everyone that attends will sit in and listen to and participate with biblically driven lesson on many different topics. And then we break off into smaller groups, gender specific groups where women get together with women, men get together with men and the small group we get down into the nitty gritty and open up closet doors and expose skeletons etc. But we also do also for one on one meetings that generally we would consider accountability partners or another term is a sponsor. So you might be working one on one with a sponsor or accountability partners even. But we can also refer you out to other sources that could provide counseling if need be.
[00:02:45] Speaker C: Has the program actually started or is it planned over the next couple of months here?
[00:02:51] Speaker B: So we started back in March on the 21st of March.
We've been holding meetings every Saturday night starting at 5 at 1661 Thomas Jefferson Road in Forest.
[00:03:04] Speaker C: What have you heard from people in the Forest area about the need for this type of outreach?
[00:03:11] Speaker B: A lot of the feedback that I've been getting from even folks that have gone to church their entire lives has been that it's an amazing program that can help anyone and there's an amazing need for people of all ages.
It doesn't matter your ethnicity, background, where you moved from, it doesn't matter. We all struggle with something. It could be depression, anxiety, fear, grief, addictions, diseases. Anything and everything can be worked on and helped. And there is a great need for the entire community to at least experience something that would help them get over whatever the hurt is that's lingering around that they can't really heal from or having trouble healing from. All the habits that we develop that are not necessarily good for us, but we sometimes need the encouragement and the coaching to get away from that bad habit. And sometimes we just get hung up on things and we dwell on maybe unforgiveness and things that can really eat at you like a cancer and really harm your life. So we try to help everyone dealing with anything and everything that you could
[00:04:18] Speaker C: think of, really, that is Ed Bogart with Recovery Alive Forest. You can contact them and find out more about the outreach on Facebook at Recovery Alive Forest.
And then the website for even More information is recoveryalivevagmail.com we'll be back with more in a minute.
[00:04:37] Speaker D: Hey, where are you listening from?
[00:04:38] Speaker B: It's on at my job. It's on in my car.
[00:04:41] Speaker D: Whether you're checking us out at home, on the road, around the world, or on vacation, we want to know.
[00:04:46] Speaker B: I'm in sales and I travel a lot.
[00:04:48] Speaker D: If you're using the MyJourney FM app, click on Map the app and drop a comment telling us where you're listening. Or you can comment on the Journey Facebook page.
[00:04:57] Speaker B: You go with me everywhere.
[00:04:58] Speaker D: Let's see. Join just how far the Journey reaches the MyJourney FM app right in your pocket and all around the world.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: Now back to more of the Journey Hometown Journal.
[00:05:08] Speaker C: Mark Edwards, back with you. We are sharing some information about a new Recovery outreach and ministry in the Forest, Virginia area. It is Recovery Alive Forest. Ed Bogart is a ministry leader with Recovery Alive. Ed, explain how Recovery Alive is different than an organization that deals only with drug and alcohol abuse.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: Absolutely. We, we absolutely can help anyone.
I personally was an alcoholic for over 20 years of my life. So, you know, I can speak from experience of many things that I've dealt with drug Addiction. I had a over 30 year porn addiction, currently battling food. I use it as a coping mechanism to help deal with stress and etc. It's a few things that most people associate with recovery as being the major point. But it's an entire life focused program that can help you through anything.
[00:06:05] Speaker C: Are there licensed counselors involved with Recovery Alive or referrals to counseling centers should someone need additional help?
[00:06:15] Speaker B: So we do not have licensed counselors that work directly with Recovery Alive. We do not permit that. It's a conflict of interest. However, we do have a lot of resources where we can recognize recommend people to certain places, facilities, even start the process with a one on one conversation with folks that we're friends with that are licensed counselors just to kind of try to figure out exactly what their needs are and help walk them through the process of getting the help that they need. Over and above the 12 step program that we're offered at Recovery Alive.
[00:06:50] Speaker C: And that would be the same case as far as licensed counselors if somebody was in the North Carolina program. That's a overall Recovery Alive model or principle?
[00:07:01] Speaker B: Yes sir, absolutely.
We try to do our best but of course we're not licensed so we don't go beyond the boundaries of professionalism.
[00:07:11] Speaker C: Gotcha. How can people find out more about Recovery Alive and specifically Recovery Alive Forest?
[00:07:19] Speaker B: Recovery Live Incorporated based in North Carolina. They do have a website active. There's a lot of information on the website. It's very, very easy to navigate.
There are some videos on there that you can watch to kind of acclimate you to what the program offers.
And it just tremendous amount of information on that. Regarding Recovery Alive Forest currently only have a Facebook and Instagram pages.
All the information's on it. The address of where we meet, email address. If you need to reach out with any information or have questions or you know if that's your preference on communication. There's a telephone number associated with it. Feel free to contact us at any point in time.
We have a.
At the moment we have five people that are serving as leaders that we can connect you with and walk you through the beginning processes all the way through into our discipleship program.
A lot of different options to make a connection for sure.
Recovery Live Incorporated website, they do have some state representatives on there. So if you wanted to reach out to the Virginia State Rep, that's also a great way to make a connection.
[00:08:33] Speaker C: Recovery Alive has a big event coming up in the forest area. Ed, share more about that and tell us what's planned.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: It's near and Dear to my heart to help people that are battling suicidal ideology. I also have suffered with that, almost pulled the trigger in 2016 that that's exactly when my journey with Christ started. I and since that has happened and I have started to focus my life as being a Christ follower, I just wanted to try to give back and love on people in the community. So October 3rd we have this is a new day suicide awareness ride and drive.
You can ride a motorcycle or drive a car in the in the awareness ride and drive. But it's a long day. We start out helping out American Foundation Suicide Prevention with their Lynchburg Walk out of the Darkness event at Peaks View park. That starts at 9 o' clock in the morning. We do the walk, we set up tables and hand out Christ centered information level in the community there. Cook breakfast, it's free. If you want to make a donation to raise money for American Foundation Suicide Prevention, we collect it and donate it and then we do the ride and or drive.
We end up at Impact Church and forest. That's at 1661 Thomas Jefferson Road in Forest.
That event, we're gonna have live music up on the stage. We're gonna have bounce houses for the kids, we'll have food vendors. We're gonna have a motorcycle, car and truck show. We're going to have so many activities at that event.
We're going to try to raise some more money again for the Lynchburg chapter of AFSP and just get together and hang out and fellowship, you know, try to lift people up and raise awareness to something that takes way too many lives for a lot of times the wrong reasons.
[00:10:23] Speaker C: Ed, I understand another outreach for Recovery Alive for us that you want to develop is a discipleship program.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: What the Lord's put on my heart is to bridge the gap between recovery and a strong church life.
A lot of times people have trouble.
They're coming out of the secular world, worldly mindset and they're trying to make the change, break the addictions, break the habits and hurts that they've once had and grow that relationship with Christ. But they've also some people have been church hurt. Some people have battled through, you know, just general relationship areas. And I'm trying to bridge the gap to create stronger disciples locked in on Christ.
[00:11:09] Speaker C: This morning on the Hometown Journal, we have been joined by Ed Bogart with Recovery Alive Forest. You can contact them and find out more about the outreach on Facebook at Recovery Alive Forest. There's also a website that you can visit and that is recoveryalivevagmail.com our thanks to Ed for being with us this morning, and thank you for joining us for the Hometown Journal.
[00:11:34] Speaker A: You've been listening to the Journey Hometown Journal if you're a part of an organization or know of one in the communities we serve and would like to be considered as a guest, please make your
[email protected] email officeyjourneyfm.com or call 800-424-9594. The Hometown Journal is a presentation of the Journey.
