Friday night I worshipped at The Heights in Belmont, North Carolina. "The Heights" is the contemporary name of Catawba Heights Baptist Church. As observed on this blog, many churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention are undergoing a transformation.
I have driven past this church countless times on my way to my friend Nathan's house. This week, I noticed a sign that mentioned there was a service Friday night. It ended up being a different and moving experience for me. This was unlike anything I had yet experienced.
This was a Celebrate Recovery service.
What is Celebrate Recovery? Celebrate Recovery (CR) is a twelve step program that has its origins in the same organization as Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). The organization is explicitly Christ-centered. The people at the church last night seemed to have a current or past relationship with NA, AA or both.
That's what I learned about CR during last night's visit. Virtually all of that information came from The Height's Recovery Pastor, Rodney Alexander [link, scroll down]. Rodney greeted me when I came in and help me understand what Celebrate Recovery is. His insights helped me.
Some pics:
As Rodney explained Celebrate Recovery to me, a woman and her friend walked into the church. They smiled widely at Rodney.
"It's been eighteen months!" one of the women declared. Sober for a year and a half. During a timeframe when we have all been living in new, and often stress-inducing, ways.
Wow!
He gave the woman a smile back and a warm hug (I snapped a quick picture).
This was but a taste of what was to come.
Rodney then shared his testimony. It was a story of drug and alcohol use, a motorcycle shop, an empty heart, an upbringing without God and a variety of other things. Like any solid testimony, it includes a pivot that brought Rodney to the foot of the Cross. He was baptized in the whirlwind days after his salvation events.
This all happened in 2000. Rodney's sponsor has been with him since. You'll see him below.
It became clear that the service was about to start. I thanked Rodney, shook his hand and we went into the auditorium.
Now, here's the thing about worship. It is multi-faceted and it's hard to predict what you will get.
I have sat in quiet settings as Orthodox chants were offered up with incense.
Worship.
I have witnessed the continuity-laden rituals of a Catholic Mass.
Worship.
I've been in a place boiling over with the Holy Spirit.
Worship.
I've been in churches that are just starting up and boldly declaring their way forward with a wing and much prayer.
Worship.
Now, I've been in the company of people who worship together in celebration that they were saved from the oblivion of addiction and destruction.
Worship!
Before the worship kicked in, Rodney said a few announcements. Then he asked if people had any prayer requests or announcements. One woman mentioned that someone she knew had been shot in the head the week prior. Another person asked for an "unspecified prayer." Finally, one man mentioned that it was important to pray for the homeless in the Charlotte area.
Everyone in the auditorium nodded their heads vigorously.
"Yeah, it is getting really cold this time of year," Rodney said, his voice carrying a note of sadness.
I thought there were perhaps a few people at the church who might have been close to homelessness in the pasts. Who knows, some of them may have spent the night outside when the bottom dropped out of their lives.
The worship music started. The band played solidly... I could see that people felt the Spirit of God settling on the place.
A unique worship experience followed the music. Most of the worship was the people in Celebrate Recovery giving their testimonies. There was also a scriptural exploration of the Serenity Prayer, plus a group prayer at the end.
The testimonies were extremely powerful.
Of note, each one started with something that sounded like this - "Hello, my name is Jane Doe and I am a grateful follower of Jesus Christ. I have a history of co-dependency, anger, alcoholism and drug addiction."
The whole place greeted the speaker - "Hi, Jane!"
The aforementioned woman who achieved her eighteen month sobriety milestone walked up front and spoke. She touched on how she had achieved a year and a half of sobriety. She said that she actually didn't know how it had happened, that it had been "one day after another, one day at a time."
She also explained that she had descended into addiction because her two sons had been murdered. She said that the only way she could find to stop that pain was through drugs and alcohol. Then she explained that there was one specific night when Jesus flooded into her broken life.
It happened in her bathroom.
She explained that being saved didn't mean she became healed all at once. She had to decide to be happy in spite of what she had been through. And about six months after getting sober, she held her hands up and said, "I just decided I could go on. I became a bit more ok. And here I am tonight."
Everyone clapped.
I mean, does it get any more real than that?
Then a man came up and gave his testimony. He had trouble getting through it a couple times, as he felt a welling up of emotion as he recounted his story. His testimony was interspersed with Bible verses that applied perfectly to everything he said.
He explained that the beginning of his addiction went back to when he was a young athlete.
He explained that excelling at athletics caused him to merit a level of attention from other people that made him a boastful and arrogant person. It was a trend that followed him into his adult life and he counted it as the source of his addiction. His life eventually fell apart at the hands of substance abuse. He got saved and baptized, leading him out of the misery and pain he had been mired in.
"Am I perfect now that I am saved? No. But Jesus has changed my heart and my life, this I can tell you..."
These testimonies really got me thinking. How many churches are filled with people who want to portray the perfect family when there is really tumult behind the scenes? How many churches are filled with people who show up and daydream instead of listening to what is being preached? How many churches are filled with people performing an expected role for one hour a week and then acting like an entirely different person the rest of the week?
If we're honest, those places and people exist. And it's not our place to judge them or anyone else.
On the other hand, how many churches are filled with people who have had their very lives redeemed from a state of destruction and despair into a state of wholeness? How many churches are filled with stories about hitting bottom and rising by grace to new heights? How many churches have personal stories that convict us of the need to examine our own lives for where we have remaining work?
The Heights was a church where people shared stories that made me reflect on the amazing grace that is available to any contrite heart.
The group eventually said the Serenity Prayer. It is longer than the first few sentences, which most people are already familiar with.
Here is the Serenity Prayer in its entirety:
Toward the end of the service, Rodney's sponsor of twenty-one years came forward and led the church through prayer.
Rodney told me that he had called this man at 3 am more than two decades ago, desperate to get some help to end his cycles of addiction. The man said to a broken Rodney that night many years ago, "I have been waiting for this call, Rodney. Let me come get you."
Within days, Rodney's life changed, and he was baptized in a swimming pool (for lack of other options).
~ Graves that can be turned into gardens, that is what we are offered.
~ We're offered the chance to walk dreadful valleys and then glance over our shoulders upon exiting them, seeing anew that those valleys are filled with trees that are bearing fruit.
~ When we are cornered by our Enemy next to a vast and powerful ocean... we can expect that the waters might part, offering us a highway to freedom.
~ That is the kind of God we can choose to follow.
The Heights reminded me of this in a way that no other church has. For that, I am extremely grateful.
If someone is struggling with addiction and needs help, this will be one of the first places I mention to them.
Thank you to Rodney and the folks at The Heights for a great visit. It reminded me that hardships can indeed be pathways to peace.
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