D. LORNE COYLE, MDIV

He kept his eyes on the walkway as he approached the church on 58^th Avenue. Even as George L. greeted him, John looked away. “I don’t think I belong here. I just thought I’d check it out.” George just smiled and shook his hand. As John entered, another Celebrate Recovery (CR) leader invited him to sign in. “Want a name tag? First names only.” “Naw, I’m good,” replied John.

Jean-Paul Bedard recently wrote, “No one, and I mean no one, walks through the doors of their first meeting feeling ‘happy, joyous, and free.’” Although he was referring to an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) session, he could as well have been writing about a Celebrate Recovery meeting. Who really wants to be there, to admit he has a hurt, habit, or hang up that is wrecking his life? To be seen by other people publicly admitting his problem?

John didn’t. At all. But he knew his life was slipping out of control. His girlfriend had said she’d had enough of his drinking and anger. Hung over, he’d raged at a co-worker for a minor offense. As a result, his boss had put John on probation. Money was tighter than ever. So he’d come, mainly to mollify his girlfriend. He slipped into a chair in the nave, hoping he wouldn’t know anyone there. His ball cap stayed on, even though he knew better than to wear a hat in church. He pulled the brim even lower. The nave lights dimmed, which was just fine for John. The people around him were a mixed lot: Some hunkered down in their chairs; others smiled and greeted friends. Some were dressed well; others, ragged t-shirts and jeans. Some wore camo. Some left their ball caps on. At least they were giving him space.

Kool and the Gang’s 1980 hit, “Celebrate Good Times” started the meeting. The others all stood up and clapped in time to the music. John wasn’t sure if he wanted to stand up. He didn’t.

Issues in paradise?

Indian River County has a plethora of 12-step groups. Even paradise has its issues. One can find groups dealing with alcohol abuse, drug abuse, teen substance abuse, and family members’ substance problems. Indian River has six to seventeen meetings per day just dealing with alcohol abuse. In paradise? As addiction expert Dr. Vincent Felitti says, “It is hard to get enough of something that almost works.”

Among those 12-step meetings are two called Celebrate Recovery. John had just slipped into the south county meeting at Freedom Church.

CR is a national recovery effort. Founded 24 years ago out of the Saddleback Church in California, CR has helped more than a half million individuals regain their lives. CR honors its roots in AA but differs in certain ways:

1. Whereas AA speaks of a “Higher Power,” CR names that power as Jesus Christ.
2. CR uses the Twelve Steps of AA and adds Eight Principles, a Christ-centered synopsis based on the Beatitudes. The latter forms an acrostic:

• Realize I’m not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable. Jesus: “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor.”
• Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to him, and that He has the power to help me recover. “Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
• Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control. “Happy are the meek.”
• Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust. “Happy are the pure in heart.”
• Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects. “Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires.”
• Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others. “Happy are the merciful. Happy are the peacemakers.”
• Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will.
• Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both my example and by my words. “Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires.”

3. Where AA focuses – successfully – on alcohol abuse, CR embraces a variety of “hurts, hang ups, and habits.” Those are behaviors which create chaos in an individual’s life and in the lives of those around him. Examples include substance abuse, pornography, low self-esteem, eating disorders, co-dependency, anger, depression, fear, control needs, and abuse.

This is not to put AA down. In fact, studies show that nothing, no therapy, no drug, no discipline, works better

than AA for recovery from alcoholism. It has helped millions of people around the world regain their lives.

What’s the deal?

Celebrate Recovery works well for those whose recovery needs to have a Christ-centered focus. Under Saddleback Church’s pastor Rick Warren (­The Purpose-driven Life), a layman named John Baker began CR in 1991. Dr. Henry Cloud says of Baker’s work in CR: “Sometimes recovery, healing, and spiritual growth are talked about as if they are three different topics. What I like about John’s work is that he brings them all together and we find…we are all on the same path.”

CR believes that God in Christ is the author and finisher of our lives, that He is the answer to healing and redeeming our lives. That same God is the one who made our bodies so wondrously.

Take our brains, for example. Neuroscientists are just beginning to understand the intricacies of that organ. When an individual gets habituated to a behavior, that neural pathway in the brain is reinforced each time the behavior is exhibited. Brushing one’s teeth is a behavior ordinarily so well ingrained that the day doesn’t begin or end without it. That neural pathway is well trodden.

The same is true of negative behaviors. If one begins using food to palliate pain and continues that behavior day after day, soon that compulsion will be as daily as teeth brushing. If one uses pornography to combat loneliness, that behavior will become more and more dominant in one’s life.

Studies show that twelve-step groups such as Celebrate Recovery work to erase old negative pathways and to create new healthy ones. CR helps neutralize the power of the old pathways by bending the brain’s prefrontal cortex back into shape. Researcher Brendan L. Koerner says it’s not just the program. Rather, it seems that actual face-to-face meetings with others on a regular basis have a key effect. When one meets in a group and hears others revealing their long-hidden secrets and one does likewise, one is moved to consider the consequences of one’s choices. That is difficult to do by oneself. That group sharing kicks the prefrontal cortex back into gear. It then resumes its regulatory function. “The brain is designed to respond to experiences,” says Steven Grant, chief of the clinical neuroscience branch of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “I have no doubt that these therapeutic processes change the brain.” The more that twelve-step experiences compel the pre-frontal part of the brain to operate as God made it, the more the entire brain reverts to pre-addiction status. While that’s happening, the CR group as a whole works as a temporary cortex, the misfits and the moms, the geniuses and the jokers, all becoming one’s fill-in neurons.

But you’ve got to work it.

What happened to John?

John stayed for the entire large group meeting at Celebrate Recovery. He was uncomfortable. Thank God for the anonymity thing. No way was he staying for the small group sharing time afterwards. The one who’d first greeted him, Asst Pastor George L., had spoken in the large group about his journey. Drugs, alcohol, prison. Friends lost, family hurt. Now, after several years of sobriety, George has a beautiful wife, three children, and a rewarding ministry. John heard George say, “Celebrate Recovery has been a safe haven for me. It has empowered my life, enriched my marriage, and increased my capacity to be a father.”

George’s sharing made John squirm — weren’t pastors supposed to be better than the rest of us? Yet something about his honesty warmed John’s heart.

You or someone you love want help?

Indian River County has two Celebrate Recovery meetings per week:

• South county – Thursdays at 7 pm, Freedom Church, 455 58^th Ave SW, George Lynch, 772-562-3185
• North county – Tuesdays at 7 pm, Coastal Community Church, 11205 Roseland Rd, Sebastian, George Johnson, 772-532-2003

To find an AA meeting, go to http://www.aa.org.au/findameeting/

To protect anonymity, “John” is a composite fictional creation.