Joel Sharp mentors and disciples graduates at the RU Men’s Home. In this recording he gives his testimony of being delivered by Jesus Christ from Meth addiction and Crime.

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I grew up in a very strong, solid Christian home.  My Dad was a strong Christian, a hard worker, and a good provider, showing us a lot of love and security.  My Mom taught at the church school. Childhood memories are extremely happy ones.  Our lives revolved around church and school, so I knew only Christians.  Accepting Jesus as my Savior at the age of five, I enjoyed Sunday school, church, Awana, soul-winning, and Christian school throughout my elementary years.

Aware of a “world” out there somewhere, I had no clue what it was all about.  My parents were careful to shelter us from outside influences.  When I was in 8^th grade, my mother quit teaching to home school my brother and me.  As I grew, I felt overly controlled.  Although I was taught to obey and honor my parents, sometimes I didn’t understand all their rules. When I asked “why”, no reasons were given except that that’s what you do to be a good Christian.  During my home-schooled high school years, it became very important to act right, speak right, and look right at all times.  That’s when the games began.

I began “playing” Christianity because it seemed like the easiest solution.  I went to a Christian college where my way of life was reinforced.  By then, apathy had turned to rebellion-I was tired of playing church and just wanted out.  I didn’t know what was out there, but I wanted whatever it was.  Dropping out of Bible College my senior year, I went to bars; but I hated getting drunk and didn’t like all the superficiality I felt there.  I needed substance, and there was a big emptiness inside of me.  That’s all I felt day in and day out. I started searching, reading different philosophies, drawn to free thinkers like Leary, Burroughs, and Thompson.  I sought other people engaged in the same way of thinking. They were, of course, “drug people.”  I started experimenting with hallucinogens that made me even more confused and the big empty hole even hollower.

Then, one day, at a Wide Spread Panic concert, my little brother gave me my first line of coke.  I remember it like it was yesterday, thinking “I finally found what I was looking for; I’m finally home.”  Growing up so sheltered, I did not see how predictably the next ten years would play out-going from $50 to a $1000/week habit.  Selling myself out, stealing, lying, and manipulating everyone I knew, produced guilt and the need for more drugs.  Losing job after job, trying to quit, out of control, hiding my habit, more guilt, more drugs, losing all self-respect, my morals going down the drain, doing whatever I had to do just to get high.

One night, at 4 a.m., after a 3-day, $900 binge, I was flat on my back in a hospital bed.  God gave me a wake-up call.  With my life out of control, I went to a secular outpatient program. It helped me understand how addiction works, but that big gaping hole that was so poorly patched for all these years was back inside my heart.

This led me to RU. I learned that, in spite of everything I knew about the Bible and Christianity, I did not have a growing, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I cannot do it in my own power.  It’s Christ in me.  And that big empty hole in my heart is being filled with “the peace that passeth all understanding.” I am so thankful for Reformers Unanimous and the RUI Women’s School of Discipleship.

Note:  Do you have a “story of victory” that you would like to share?? Send it to us!  We may even use it to be a blessing to others through our blogs.  Or….do you desire to have a “story of victory”???

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I began RU in April of 2007. I came because I was addicted to prescription narcotics. In 1984, I had the first of eight back surgeries which ended my career as a paramedic, left me disabled, and eventually addicted to narcotics. I was saved in 1974 and was married in 1980 after attending a Christian university.

I don’t know when I first became addicted. All I know is that at some point I began to take medication for more than the physical pain. I grew further and further away from the Lord and my family, taking the meds just to feel normal.

In December of 2006, my family and I went to our cabin for a vacation.  All I am sure of is that I awoke in the middle of the night knowing I had done something terrible. I got up and discovered I had taken my whole week’s supply of drugs – narcotics, muscle relaxers, and anti-depressants.

My wife hid all of my prescriptions from me and told me she would now control my meds. I went into withdrawals because she was giving me far less than I had been taking. I was too ashamed to tell her how many I normally used. I soon discovered her hiding place, and took more. I knew the day of discovery was rapidly approaching when she would discover what I was doing. Finally, having enough of this life, I decided to confess to my Pastor and wife that coming Sunday.

Sunday arrived, and I changed my mind and tried to bluff my way through with my wife. However, God had another plan. During the service, my Pastor said, “If there is something in your life coming between you and your family or between you and God, you need to get rid of it now!” Under tremendous conviction, I went to the altar, confessed to the Lord, and asked Pastor to meet with me and my wife. In his office, I confessed my sin to them. Pastor was glad I had reached the end of myself, but my wife looked skeptical. She asked if I would do whatever it takes to get off the drugs and I said yes, thinking we could just get more pills and I would taper off at home. Two days later, I found myself in the detox unit of the local hospital.

After my release, I attempted to go to NA meetings, but they weren’t for me. There was too much dwelling on my sin and I didn’t believe I had a disease. I didn’t know what to do and that is when I remembered RU. The week I confessed, my Pastor got a letter from RU, telling about the program. I went online and found an RU only twenty miles away.

For weeks I did little in the curriculum. I thought there was no way I could memorize the verses in the Overcomer workbook, because of the effect of the drugs on my memory. Then one week, my leader encouraged me to try to do two challenges. I agreed only to get him off my back. I decided to pray for help and was shocked when God helped me!  I was so excited that I prayed about the next verse, and once again, I could say it. That is when I really took off.  Without God’s help, I don’t think I ever would have gotten that first verse memorized. Over the next year, I passed the Overcomer and the Strongholds Study Course.

I can never thank you enough for this program. My eyes tear up every time I think about all God has done for me AND my family through RU. The joy I feel today is unbelievable. His love is truly boundless! I am looking forward to beginning the next book in the course as I grow to serve Him better.

Note:  Does this story seem similar to yours?? Can you relate to any part of this man’s testimony? The same help is available to you!  Contact us today at 866-REFORMU.

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The day I called upon the name of the Lord, I fell to my knees grieving and mourning my pitiful life and the path of destruction I was on. You see I was a drug addict, living with a drug dealer boyfriend (who was very abusive: physically, mentally and emotionally.) He was constantly threatening me that the only way I would ever leave him would be in a casket. I knew the day that he severely beat me that he was serious. It was almost as if something clicked in my head that if he didn’t kill me, the life that I was living would. I remember him taking the keys to my car in order to make sure that I had no way to leave. I then fell to my knees and called on Jesus. I was crying so hard that it was hard to breathe. I could barely speak. All I could get out was, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, save me!” I was so tired that I wasn’t sure if I even wanted (or had the strength to) live anymore. I had been hurt by this boyfriend and so many others in my life. I was ashamed at the way that I was living my life. I literally had no one to turn to! I had stolen from my family and had lost every true friend I had because of the drugs I was on. I was in the darkest place that I had ever been in my life.

A few days later I had a chance to get away and I took it. A few hours later I was pulled over by the police and I was taken into custody as there was a warrant for my arrest. Little did I know at the time that this was the answer to my prayers! The next morning, I was awakened by a cell mate, asking me if I wanted to go to “RU”. Not knowing what it was, I got up and went and was introduced to the faith-based addiction recovery program, Reformers Unanimous. I knew right then and there that God really did hear and answer my prayer that night! All that I could say was “Thank you Jesus!!” Jesus Christ, the RU program, the caring pastor who brought it to my jail, and the angels that work with Him saved my life!

Today, I am a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come! I urge everyone to call upon the name of the Lord. Everyone needs Jesus in their life. Without prayer, without calling on the name of the Lord, I truly believe that I would not be here and alive today. Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

If you are not saved, I urge you to get saved. Salvation itself is impossible until you humbly call upon the name of the Lord. Acts 2:21, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” It makes no difference who you are or what you have done. Romans10:12-13, “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Jesus died on the cross for you! If you are saved, I still urge you to call upon the name of the Lord! Experience the Christ that already lives in you! Jesus already knows what you need, and He is waiting on you to ask. (Matthew 7:7.) He wants you to cast all you cares on Him. (1Peter 5:7.) He wants you to humble yourself, grieve and mourn (James 4:9-10) because he cares for you. If calling on the name of Jesus has changed my life, just imagine what He can do for yours!

Note: This same victory found by this writer is available for you! Please visit our website at reformu.com to find a Reformers Unanimous near you and let the Truth make you free….finally!

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I was never a “bad” kid, when I was growing up, not by the world’s standards.  As a child, my parents did many bad things to me; things that would affect me much of the rest of my life.  I was raised in the Lutheran Church.  There I was taught about God, that Jesus died on the cross for me!  I wanted to go to heaven some day, when I died, but I didn’t know how to get there.  People always told me that God loved me but I didn’t really believe it.  I wanted to find someone who would truly love me.

All my life, I grew up feeling like I was unlovable.  I thought there was something wrong with me that no one loved me.  If my own family didn’t love me, how could God love me, when I really didn’t know Him or have a relationship with Him?  I tried to find ways to make my family love me.  I found that I was pretty good at sports so I immersed myself in them.  I joined the military, and went off to college all in vain attempts to find love.  Nothing worked!  While at college, wanting to fit in and be loved, I began drinking heavily and doing drugs.  I just wanted someone to say that they cared for me!

One spring day, one of my teammates shared the gospel with me and for the first time I realized that it had nothing to do with me!  It was all about what Jesus did for me!  He paid the price, he loved me enough to take my sin on Himself and pay the price for them with His own precious blood!  I realized that there was nothing that I had to do, not getting my family to be proud of me, not their love for me or their approval would get me to heaven, but God’s love and sacrifice was all that I needed.    That day I trusted Jesus as my Saviour and I began a new relationship with Him!  I didn’t know much else about God, so I remained in the Lutheran church.

At college, I met a boy who told me he loved me.  We married and 15 yrs. later I found out that he never truly loved me.  I had wanted so badly to find someone to love me that I was blinded to things that I should have noticed and been obvious to me long before I married him.  I was devastated for a long time.

I poured myself into my children.  I committed my everything to them in hope that they would love me!  Then my best friend had to move away but her brother and his family were moving in next door to me. I already knew them so I felt better.  They were going to a Baptist church and had invited my kids and I.

I went to church with them and discovered that there was a place where God’s word was preached without apology or compromise!  I knew right away that I needed to join that church.  I knew that if I wanted to learn to live right and to have a better life for me and my kids that FBC is where we needed to be.
We joined the church and through the grace of God, I have grown in the Lord!  I was struggling with a smoking addiction that I just could not overcome.  When Preacher announced that they were going to be starting an addictions program called RUI, I thought that this would finally be what I needed to overcome my addiction.  Although I had tried to quit many times before, I just could never do it.

I began to work the program and God started to prick at my heart, regarding my smoking.  Finally I gave up!  I gave it to God!  I told Him that I could not do it, I needed Him to help me.  He did and I have been free from the addiction of smoking for the last 3 and ½ yrs.  Fast forward to the day I found out that I was sick, very sick with cancer. Even though I knew better, I stopped relying on the Lord and went back to my smoking.  It was my “security blanket”.  I know that I truly hurt my Saviour’s heart when I did that but I felt so alone and once again as if no one loved me, not even my Lord!

Recently, God has shown me some areas in my life that I needed to deal with.  I have never dealt with the feelings of being unlovable  and that has plagued me all of my life.  I have always felt unloved and worthless all of my life.  Even though I know that God loves me, I still struggle with feeling like He really does love me.  I know myself better than anyone and I am well aware of my shortcomings, therefore it is hard for me to understand how He could love someone like me!  I am going through a process now, of painstakingly breaking down the walls that I have built up in my life over the last nearly 50 years.  I am beginning to understand that God does love me!  I am starting to understand that I am someone who could be loved by God and others.

Looking back over my life, I can see God’s hand in much of my life, guiding me every step of the way.  God is so merciful to me; He truly does love even a sinner like me.

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Tom with Nephew

As a child, I went to several schools including Catholic, Lutheran, and Baptist. The final school I attended was North Love Baptist School with Steve Curington during my ninth and part of tenth grade years. Then, I dropped out. I began using drugs and eventually began to see Steve Curington once again…only this time it was at parties, not the Baptist School. We saw each other at these parties for about a year before the time came when I began to use drugs with him. However, this did not last long as the United States government indicted me as part of the largest drug ring in the state of Illinois (and quite possibly the western half of the United States). Just to show you the magnitude of the devil’s control over my life, the government seized 1.2 billion dollars in drugs, cash, and real estate including: car lots, night clubs, hotels, gas stations, restaurants, cars, boats, homes, and jets from the group I was associated with. I, along with others I sold with, went off to prison for several years.

Little did I know that in the meantime, God got a hold of Steve Curington’s life, and he had gone back to church. When I got out of prison, God brought Reformers Unanimous to me, and I learned about the lives that were being changed as a result of it. I began to actively take part in the program. I struggled with my faith and with alcohol. All of the other activities and drugs I had been involved with previously were no longer tempting to me. However, my relationship with God and the abstinence from alcohol were the two things that would cause me to see how weak I really am and how desperately I needed God. I have attended RU locally for four years and have been working to assist in the ministry for three years. I am a helper in this ministry and am privileged to be a small part in the overall picture. If you ever want to meet me or find out more about me, you can visit me at the Men’s Discipleship Home. I am not far from the kitchen working. I am responsible for all of the food procurement of both our men and women’s homes.

At times, I struggle with wanting to take back the control of my life for a day or so, but it never lasts long. God will not allow it. God is blessing me, and He will bless you if you seek Him too. God is using Reformers. Just look around your Friday night meeting, and you will see Him at work; if you don’t have Reformers, you will have to get one and see God begin to work. If you once had a chapter, yet you gave up too soon on the addicts who suffer, please remember that God doesn’t give up. The devil tricked you and robbed you of not seeing this ministry serve the addicted. It is interesting to note that six of the men I sold drugs to earlier in life are now faithfully serving the Lord.

I dedicate this testimony to my mother, Diane Montena, for never doubting God nor giving up on me and the staff of the RU homes. I pray this testimony reaches just one.

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Jeremiah 29:14, “And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.”

About halfway through my program at the Women’s School of Discipleship, my daughter would hardly speak to me. If she did, it was to be obedient; but not because she wanted to. It was exactly what I deserved. Though she is my step-daughter, I had begged God for her and a great relationship with her, to the point of there being no difference that she was really not my child. I had become so ungrateful for what God had given me. I had thrown away what God gave me.

To say I came here willingly or that I wanted to stay in the Women’s Home would be a BIG lie. So when I read this verse the words driven and captive really grabbed me. I took this verse to God and asked for her back. After this I got to spend the entire summer with my daughter, and God knit our hearts together once again.

So…last Saturday, I went with Erika to take her daughter, Tabi, to Midway airport. On the way there I told her how earlier that week I had to make a decision about something before we left for work, and I wasn’t really sure if I had made the right one. In times like these, I always ask God to give me a sign to show me it will be fine. I prefer to see a cardinal. So, on the way to work that day on the shuttle a cardinal flew right up to my window and away! Praise God, it was what I needed.

In the van, I couldn’t help but look at Erika and remember when just a year ago we were praying and asking for our daughters back. We talked about that and praised God for what He has done for us. Our summer with our daughters has been an answer to our prayers.

But, that is not all!  When we got to Midway airport, right in front of the entrance to the concourse is a huge pointillism sculpture hanging from the ceiling. It is a sculpture of a cardinal!! It was amazing. And right in the middle of it is a tiny white bird.

I’m so thankful God to spend the entire summer with my daughter, and she is now in bible college! I’m thankful to God for the opportunity for giving me a place to be driven to and be captive in order to get a relationship with God!! I don’t want to ever take advantage of what God has given me ever again. Thank you God a thousand times over!!

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We have a woman that was reached for Christ through our jail ministry about 18 months ago. She was recently facing 3-7 years in the Department of Corrections. The attorneys research showed what a dramatic change that God had made in her lifestyle. The states attorney reduced the charges so she could receive probation instead of prison and the Judge was completely in FAVOR of the decision.

She is on probation to our RU class for two years, We get her for 100 hours of community service, weekly counseling sessions, an anger management course to be taught by me and I have been designated by the court to do her drug testing also using the RU Plus System to report to the probation department.

Only our God could accomplish all these miracles in her life–FAVOR!

After all the legalities were completed the Judge made some wonderful open court statements for the record concerning Reformers Unanimous, and what is being accomplished in Knox County through our Reformers Institutional Program, and chaplaincy ministries. FAVOR was definitely shown to me and our RU Chapter here yesterday.

God bless you as you share the blessing of this miracle.

Dr Gary Bane, Pastor
Prairieland Baptist Church
Galesburg, IL

If you or someone know is interested in ministering to the incarcerated we have a full line of curriculum (click here) and Jeremy Amster would be happy to answer any questions you may have. You can reach him at 815-986-0460 ext. 124 or by emailing weneedu@reformu.com

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Shannon and Family

I grew up in a very strong, solid Christian home. My childhood memories are extremely happy and filled with love from my parents. My life revolved around church and school, so I knew only Christians. Accepting Jesus as my Savior at the age of five, I enjoyed many church activities as well as attending Christian school throughout my elementary years.

Although I was aware of a “world” out there somewhere, I had no clue what it
was all about. My parents were careful to shelter us from outside influences. When I was in 8th grade, my mother quit teaching to home school my brother and me. As I grew, I felt overly controlled. Although taught to obey and honor my parents, sometimes I didn’t understand all their rules. During my home-schooled high school years, it became very important to act right, speak right, and look right at all times. That’s when the games began.

I began “playing” Christianity because it seemed like the easiest solution. I went to Bob Jones University where my way of life was reinforced. By then, apathy had turned to rebellion—I was tired of playing church and just wanted out. Dropping out of Bob Jones my senior year, I went to bars; but I hated all the superficiality I felt there. I needed substance, and there was a big emptiness inside of me. I started searching, reading different philosophies, drawn to free thinkers like Timothy Leary, William F. Burroughs, and Hunter S. Thompson. I sought other people engaged in the same way of thinking. They were, of course, “drug people.” I started experimenting with hallucinogens that made me even more confused and the big empty hole even more hollow.

Then, one day, I was given my first line of coke. I remember thinking, “I finally found what I was looking for; I’m finally home.” Selling myself out, stealing, lying, and manipulating everyone I knew, produced guilt and the need for more drugs. Losing job after job, trying to quit, out of control, hiding my habit, more guilt, more drugs, losing all self-respect, my morals going down the drain, doing whatever I had to do just to get high. How glamorous did coke look now?

One night, God gave me a wake up call as I was flat on my back in a hospital bed. With my life out of control, I went to a secular outpatient program. It helped me understand how addiction works, but that big gaping hole that was back inside my heart. Then, I went to RU and learned that, in spite of everything I knew about the Bible and Christianity, if I did not have a growing, personal relationship with Jesus to allow the Holy Spirit to guide me, I could not know true peace and contentment.

My RU leader came to my house every week to disciple me. She taught me to love the Lord in a way I had never known in all my years in church and Christian college. I continued to go to RU and church as much as possible. Unfortunately, as a single mom and a waitress, I had to work most Fridays and Sundays. Nevertheless, I stayed in the Bible, praying and trying desperately to be a good Christian woman and mother. Now I know that I was trying to do it in my own strength. I thought that was what I was supposed to do—try really hard all by myself. I started to get down, really tired, overwhelmed, and eventually depressed. I believed Satan’s lie that I couldn’t do it anymore. “Once a coke-head, always a coke-head,” people had said about my attempts to get clean. I fell back into my addiction after almost two years clean and trying to live for God. That’s when God worked in a miraculous way to bring me to Rockford. I couldn’t do it in my own power.

I felt very blessed to be able to come to the Ladies’ Discipleship Home. God used it to show me so many things that could never be expressed in writing. The teaching and preaching that I got to sit under definitely helped me grow spiritually and develop a much closer walk with the Lord. One of the most important things that I learned is that under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, the rest of my life on earth will be constant change and growth towards being more Christ-like. I will never and should never be comfortable and content to stop growth and learning. The other important concept I needed to learn was concerning my self-righteousness. I learned to die daily and dedicate myself everyday to knowing and doing God’s will. God taught me and changed my heart towards others. I now realize that I had lived my life selfishly, and that it’s not about me, but others. God has blessed me with a godly husband, and the restoration of the relationships with my family, especially my mother; but most of all, the relationship with my Lord Jesus Christ. I no longer am living with all the anxiety and depression that I once felt. That big gaping hole in my heart is now being filled.

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