“M28 Launches Esther’s House: Affordable Housing Initiative for those in Recovery.”
M28 Ministry - Doing Life With Others
M28 Ministry - Doing Life With Others
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Sylvia Maus and this is insight, a presentation
of iHeartMedia where we really do care about our local
communities and all our listeners who live here. You know,
at some point in our lives, so many of us
ask ourselves, what is life? What are we supposed to
be doing? Are we living our lives focusing on the
right reason? And what is that reason? Whether we reach
(00:20):
this point because we want to contribute to something bigger,
or maybe to grow spiritually or personally, or even help
reduce suffering in the world, that one life that we
are given feels more meaningful when we matter others and
they matter to us. This really isn't sentimentality, It's clarity.
It's the truth realization that the most effective among us
(00:42):
are those who honor their purposes in life and the
way they show up, the way they serve, and the
way they shape the future. My guest today is a
testament to honoring the truth of what his life should
be about. Fifteen years ago, he stepped away from his
executive pastor role at a central Pennsylvania megachurch because, as
he said, he wants I did to do life with
people outside the walls of his church. Specifically those navigating addiction,
(01:07):
recovery and the instability that so often accompanies both. His
choice to leave the huge church led immediately to his
founding of an organization no As M twenty eight Ministry,
where every day he continues to walk alongside the people
and the raw, unfiltered places where transformation actually happens. I'm
really anxious to introduce you to Pastor Jim Shambach, a
(01:28):
man whose story is not just about leaving something behind.
It's about stepping into a purpose that aligns with who
he is at his core and using his life to
lift others as they rebuild theirs. Pastor Jim heard lots
of wonderful stuff about y, So let's get going on this.
I got to tell you I met Jimmy. Jimmy was
just here a little while. I met him a few
years ago. He's a good kid. You did a good
(01:50):
job there, kidd.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I'm gonna attribute that to my.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Wife most guys too. Let me ask you, why did
you know you were at this megachurch? Why did you
know or how did you know? What it was time
to get out of there?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I think for me it was a very significant time
where I was rethinking what am I going to do
for the rest of my life? I knew I could
probably stay in the church where I was at, but
I felt like I needed a new challenge, okay, And
so I began to search my own heart a little
bit and ask myself, you know, does this define does
this bring more clarity to my calling in life? And
(02:27):
as a minister? I wanted to be able to have
I wanted to end well, and I felt like, you know,
i'd be okay, I could slide through finish well at
the church, but really being involved with people and not
just the building and administration and all the executive pastoral stuff.
I felt like I needed something different.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
You know how. I kind of see it as like
when somebody's in a job they don't know if they
want to leave not, but something's pulling at and it's
kind of like, yeah, I have an l ice cream butter.
If I put chocolate ice cream or chocolate sauce on,
I'm set. Something was missing? Right, Yes, in your heart
you knew something was missing. So okay, you knew it
(03:08):
was missing. And at that point, like when you got
to the day where you were going to leave, how'd
you feel?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I loved what I did, but I felt like, you know,
it's time to you know, make a bigger difference than
I had been and I so I just I just
made a decision. My wife wasn't happy about it because
she how.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Were you going to live? You know?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I left behind a very nice salary all the benefits
that came with it, and didn't receive any income for
about nine months. But I knew that God was in it,
and I knew that I could get through it if
He was with.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Me in it.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
And as the days and weeks and months progressed, I
could see his hand working in my situation and revealing
himself in a way that I could trust him in
my work.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I'm glad to mention that because one of the questions
I have people think, just have that, just have faith?
How do you recognize when's God's hand isn't something that
you're praying for?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Well, there's usually roadblocks, obstacles that I have to overcome
that are clearly red lights. Stop science, don't go this way.
And then when it's a positive thing, I recognize that
there's something in this. He's moving me forward, wants me
to traverse this. I might have some anxiety about it,
not some uncertainty and lack of clarity. But if I
(04:30):
take a step forward, He met me in that moment,
and I take the next step and the next and
the next step. That's how I move forward. Wow, and
that's what we did.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Well. You knew you serve the people in this huge church,
but from where I understand, you were mostly inspired or
felt drawn to people that were down and out, people
that you meet places to talk to because you found
out about them, right.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yeah, you know working in the church. People were there
relatively healthy, they were moving forward in life, successful in
many different ways, and while they might have had problems,
they were not the kind of problems that I saw
in the community. And I was wondering, you know, is
there anybody doing anything out there that could help them
(05:16):
move forward? And so I was looking more for people
who were on the margins of our culture, people who
were in distress, people who didn't have support and encouragement.
They needed to know more about how to do life well.
And so I didn't know that, you know, I would
have any specific calling to that, but I just you know,
(05:37):
to do work with drug and alcohol. But I just
moved forward on it, and I had the opportunity to
show up at a ministry here in Harrisburg, day Star
Spiritual Center for Drug and Alcohol Recovery, and I showed
up and I said what can I do to help?
And they ignored me for three months, you know, like
different staff at that time, and I was unknown to them,
(05:58):
and I just showed up and said what can I do?
And eventually they gave me two guys to work with
when I started working with them, and that's what I've
been doing ever since. So for me, working with people
in recovery is working with people who have burned bridges,
who have found life difficult, some of their own choosing,
some not of their own, choosing that just because of
(06:18):
circumstances and situations, either maybe in that they were raised
in or they just had catastrophes in their lives and
they were broken, bruised and needed someone.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
To walk away.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
They were traumatized.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Trauma was a major.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Issue for many of the Well, you knew all this,
and at some point you decided to start this organization
called M twenty eight. And it's pretty much the vision
of I don't want to say the vision in line
with some guy in the Bible.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Talks just about that well, Jesus.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, oh, of course Jesus.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
So Jesus worked along the margins of the culture, right,
He didn't work with her just establishment very well. He
didn't work with the political system very well. He wanted
to identify with the poor, the oppressed, those that were
in need, those that were sick, unhealthy, and were being overtaxed,
(07:15):
and he wanted to do Wait.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Mant that sounds familiar that there's a lot of stuff. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
So he was my inspiration, Okay. So I thought, well,
this might be the best place for me to navigate
the remaining years that I might have in life and
invest in people that were trafficking or travesty, you know,
trying to traverse these difficult life circumstances.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
So you the gentleman actually I was talking about was Matthew. Matthew,
what did he How does that tie in with me?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Matthew eight twenty eighth Sure, Yeah, so Matthew. Chapter twenty
eight in the Gospels is the story of the resurrection
of Jesus and the resurrection and leads into this ending
where he ascends into heaven where he says, this is
my this is only going to be you a commission
to do make disciples of all nations. We turned that
(08:11):
into do life with people, not just do church with people,
do life with people, walk with them, ah with them,
find their way in life. This is what Matthew experienced
as a disciple of Jesus, and so we borrowed from
that concept and said, you know, we're going to walk
with these folks.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
That's perfect and it's been fun. I can imagine. I
can imagine, well, a lot of the people that deal
with drug and alcohol abuse, there's certain issues that they
face because they're in that position, housing instability, root insecurity,
what else.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Well, there's a lot of mental health issues, things that
they're uncertain about how they're going to navigate the future
given the fact they got maybe some felonies or misdemeanors
and they're trying to work through that. There are other
things too, like how am I going to reconcile with
family and friends and maybe spouses and others. And we
have just tried to walk with them through that. We
(09:09):
don't always have the answers for them, but we want
them to feel support and encouragement as they navigate their
own life and not on their own.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
If you don't mind. There's something that I need to
mention here. I think it's I hear this stuff all
the time that people say, Ah, he's just an old drunk,
you're not going to help him. Things like that really
burns me up because people don't take the time. And
I say this on my program so many times, take
five minutes to educate yourself because things aren't the way
you think they are. So I think it's important to
mention that a lot of people don't understand about addiction.
(09:40):
It's very complicated to begin with. A lot of people
see it as a moral failure. It's not a moral failure.
It's a mental and physical health issue. That's important to mention.
Another thing is they don't understand people who go into
addictionary now for weeks. They think that they're all cure
and life is great again for him. That's not the
(10:00):
case because they're only in there a couple of weeks,
and when they come out, they don't have the services
available to continue to support their recovery. That's a lot
of where you guys come in. You guys, do forgive
me for calling me you guys, but you have those
services because you understand, you have the empathy. You yourself
(10:22):
have worked with a lot of these people, you know them.
Can we talk a little about some of the services
you provide, like house to home?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
What is that about.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
So we have a Good Use Furniture warehouse in New
Cumberland where we collect furniture people donate to us and
we make it available to those in the recovery community.
Not just in the recovery community, but people who have
had difficult life circumstances. Maybe women in domestic of youse,
maybe some one had a fire in their home or
there's water damage, and there are people in poverty that
(10:55):
just don't have money to buy good furniture. So we
collect good use furniture, we make it available and we
do it by appointment and we help people. They come in,
they kind of shop for what they we have. They
can select it and they take it home with them.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
And that's not open to the public. It's just for
people that need it.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
They need to be referenced or referred to us by
a community agency, an organization, a church, a synagogue, a mosque.
Anyone who can bet that they're not going to take
the furniture and go sell it somewhere and would.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Be right of course, of course. Well, I think one
of the major things not only for people you're talking about,
but a lot of families, A lot of families are
in trouble these days because of their financial situations. You
I know, the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank are pretty tight
with them, and they told me that this year they
expect one hundred and forty thousand more people. That's awful.
Where's it going to come from? I count on Central Pennsylvania.
(11:48):
How they're generous, but this is serious stuff. You do
also have a food pant we do.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
It's an emergency food pantry and not a food bank
where people can go on a regular basis. But if
there's an emergency, we are available to them and they
can search for us on the Central Pensamian Food Bank
website or look at our website at twenty eight dot us.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
A lot of the people, I understand, come to you.
They're feeling overwhelmed, they feel like nothing, they have no hope.
Tell me about the type of that type of support
mental health that you help them with.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
So we do a lot of mentoring with both men
and women, and so we like to listen to their
stories and encourage them in their journey towards sobriety and recovery.
So we encourage them to go to AA or NA
meetings or celebrate recovery. There are different types of recovery approaches,
but find some way in which you have you learn
(12:42):
more about substance use, and then we'll walk with you
as you navigate the practical issues of life.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Just like Jesus, you're never known, right.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yeah, And so we've ended up having some wonderful relationships
with people helping them get through some very difficult early
life circum early recovery circumstances. And as they've moved through life,
they've begun to trust the process that God is walking
with them. We are walking with them, their support team
(13:14):
is working with them and for them, and now they're
beginning to see the fruit of their sobriety and the
recovery is working the way it should.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
You know, talk about wonderful relationships. You have some awesome
partnerships with local organizations, with businesses out there. Tell me
about these relationships. Those are a lot of the resources
that you have for people, aren't they.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Yeah, So we have a stone Bridge financial is one
of the most they're just they got it figured out right.
They want to help people who want help.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
See I love that, and it's becoming more than norm
these days. So you've got to keep the scone buddy.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Yes, and they've invested in people, not just financially, but people.
Their staff is willing to consult with some of our
men and women who have tax issues or financial problems
and credit issues, and they'll we'll bring them in and
talk with them and share, they'll share their expertise, help
them to develop a plan to get back on their
(14:21):
feet and recover not just you know, from substantutes, but
recover in life, in their finances and other areas of
their life as well. And then we have other support
areas where we navigate with churches and they have other resources.
We've connected with recovery ministries in the community here in Harrisburg, Cumberland,
(14:45):
Dauphin County, Cumberland County. You know, we've been able to
help people with financial issues getting into security deposits and
rent and things of that nature. So we know where
to find those resources and people have been seeking us.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Out to help. You know, what I find a lot
of times is I'm surprised when I find out that
people don't know about these things that we think are Oh,
that's just common sense, that's the way it is. Well,
people aren't as fortunate as we are that we were
at some point in our lives we were taught about
things like this.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Right, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, it's been a learning process for us, but we've
we've finally connected with lots of people who are doing
similarly and we're not trying to do it all ourselves.
We want to partner with other organizations and that's what
our goal has been. There are certain things we do
better than maybe others, but we can't do it all.
So we're not even trying. We're just going to stay
within our lane, stay on our side the street to
(15:36):
help people move forward. And the mentoring piece and the
practical needs assessment for good use furniture, food and those things.
Those are the things we do best.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Well, you know you're talking about important partnerships under Governor
Shapiro's Pennsylvania Housing Plan. You have something wonderful just happening.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yees.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, we're excited and it's well, you tell us what happened.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
So two years ago we apply for from the Cumberland
County Housing Authority and we were awarded a four hundred
and seventeen thousand dollars grant for an apartment complex that
we're going to use for those in drug and alcohoy
recovery rebuilding their lives. It's affordable housing, so we are
going to we have a threshold in which we want
(16:21):
people who are trying to rebuild their lives, who make
less than most everybody else, give them an opportunity to
have safe place to live and then be able to
save money so they can move back, move out into
the community, get their own apartment, get their own house
if they would like, to begin to build new relationships
(16:43):
with people in the community and the church or synagogue
or a mosque, whatever, so that they are embraced by
the community and not thought of as someone who's still
in an addictive be able.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Oh sure, of course, of course you name the place.
Estra's House insists, did you tell the story.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah, So, my mom was actively involved in our ministry
from the very beginning, and she, a little old Italian
lady who at eighty four years old, would make meals
most Sundays for everyone who came to our house who
was in recovery, and she'd make lasagna spaghetti. She'd make
(17:23):
her special meat balls. She loved on these men and women,
and even would with the me yor income she had,
she would give what she had financially, both to the
ministry but to individuals that came and she would pass
on twenty bucks here, thirty bucks there, and it was
irregular things. So her heart for serving others was revealed
(17:47):
to them, and we thought it would be a cool thing.
So my son, Jimmy, yeah, he thought of her and thought,
wouldn't it be great if we just named this house
Esther's House?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
And she she.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Invited people into our home and into her basement where
she lived, and she would welcome them, feed them, love
on them, support them in whatever way she could. And
so it was in her honor that we named it
Esther I love.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Well, let's talk about Esther's house. Is it in like
what happens now? Is it in the kind of condition
where somebody can move in or unied support?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
We do?
Speaker 3 (18:25):
We we we had a hoarder in one of the apartments,
and so we've had to clean it out and we've
had to, you know, go down to the studs and
rebuild this and clean it out. And we're in the
process of taking care of that and uh, and then
we wanted to redoce some of the other apartments and
make sure they're in really good condition so when someone
moves in, it's a safe, comfortable, warm space for them.
(18:49):
Because we know that that if people feel safe in recovery,
they have a place to live, they're going they're more
likely to see succeed in their recovery.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
That's right, because any of them.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
You know, go from rooming house to rooming house, or
you know, seeping surfing on somebody's couch, and that leads
back to oftentimes it's the same addictive behaviors that they
had before. But if they have their own space, then
it's a little bit different. Now they're beginning to feel
like life is forming around them. They have a safe
place to come home to, and then they can launch
from there, do the jobs that they get, a job
(19:23):
that they need to support that and move forward in
their life.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I think that's fantastic. I mean that feeling that you
there's someone that holds your hand, there's somebody that's not
going to leave you, there's somebody that is supporting with
all these services, where do you find something like that
that's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Yeah, we're excited about it. And you know already we've
had people already asking, you know, can we get in?
Speaker 1 (19:45):
You know so, well, I qualify these people, decide who goes.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
In, so it's an affordable income to us. So they
can't make over a certain amount of money, and and so,
and we don't want to charge and because over there,
because it's not about making money, it's about helping people
move forward.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
What do you say or to say one time, you're
not transactional? How does that comet?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, so we don't like to think of ourselves as
engaging in transactional services. We're involved in relational the relational
business of moving through life with people. Some people just
want the transaction, but we want a relationship with them
because there's more to life than just being sober. It's
(20:28):
learning how to live. Most of our folks know how
to survive, but they don't know how to thrive. So
that's what we want to help them do.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
It must feel incredible when you do.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
If there's such a joy, I mean, I can't tell
you when they come stories and they see that they
can get a couch, a sofa, they can get a
mattress and a box spring, they get new sheets and
new pillows, you know. And I've had numerous men and
women just hug me around the neck, weeping, saying, thank
(20:59):
you so much. You have no idea how much this
means to me. We give food away. I don't know
what I was going to do to feed my kids
this week. Thank you so much for making this available.
And we're not the only ones that can do these things,
but it's so gratifying to be able to feel the
joy that people get when they receive something that you
(21:22):
know they desperately need and they don't know where to look.
And so we're excited about oh that and many other things.
The mentoring. We've started the thing for couples that have
been cohabitating or engaged or married, but they did relationships
in addictive behaviors and now doing it differently. It's scary,
(21:45):
got to pay bills, I got a responsibility. I want
to live. I don't want to go back into my
addictive behaviors. And so we're coaching them through what it
looked like to have a healthy relationship. You know what
healthy unhealthy relationships were like, because that's what you probably
were involved with. But now you get a chance to
reboot your life and do it differently than you did before.
(22:08):
And so we want to share with you our expertise,
our experiences. And some of them have been in sobriet,
have been sober and clean for a while, and so
they have good insight into how to do life soberly,
and so we borrow from their expertise and share that
with them, and we'll probably do it again.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Wow, a lot of epiphanies who know that.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
You would be surprised.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Tell us about the opportunities to volunteer because a lot
of nonprofit it surprised me. I'm always saying this is true.
Central Pennsylvania rocks.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
As far as they do.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Oh my goodness, they're very generous. But I'm finding that
are a lot of organizations used to didn't have a
problem finding volunteers. Tell me what type of volunteers do
you need?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
So with us.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
At Esther's House right, an individual or couple or a
family is going to be surrounded by a group of
three to six people. They're like the board of directors
for this person, this family, this situation, and what they're
going to do is to help them navigate finances, transportation, budgeting,
(23:21):
they're going to talk through what are their goals in life?
How can they know whatever they think they need to
accomplish in the year or two that they're in the house.
We're going to try and help them arrive at that
destination succeed in reaching their goals. So we need yeah,
so you can imagine four different apartment units that we have,
(23:42):
so three to six people. We need eighteen twelve to
eighteen twenty people just to be supportive of them in
that situation. So we're looking for people who have expertise
in certain areas of life, who've been successful, who can
share their expertise and want to invest in people who
are trying to rebuild their life from the ground.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Though.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I think that's I mean helmet. There's loads of people
out there like that, and.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
We've yes, and we have seen some people gravitate to
us because that's what they want to do. They might
not do the mentoring one on one because it can
be a little bit intimidating for some people. But can
can we sit with people and hear their story and
hear about their goals and then something resonates in them saying,
you know, I think I can provide that I think
I can help with that. I can give that kind
(24:26):
of advice to that person that can help them succeed,
and that's what we're looking for. In our warehouse. We're
always looking for people to pick up furniture for us.
We have a vehicle to be able to do that,
but I need strong arms. I'm getting too old to
pick up furniture, so I always looking for volunteers to
pick up furniture and then maybe even deliver furniture for
some of the people that we get that don't have
a vehicle or don't they can't drive or whatever, so
(24:50):
we're looking for all kinds of helping them.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
I love the partnering with businesses. Yeah, I think that's great.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Oh wow, we've had some wonderful experiences.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
I can just imagine. You also talk about you guys.
Don't you have a charity event every year?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
We do.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
We have a since going to be in the end
of September this year. It'll be at the West Shore
Country Club and we're going to have some of our
folks who've been in the program tell their stories and
we're going to be able to share our specific issues
and needs that we have. And people have responded We've
had one hundred and fifty to two hundred people involved
(25:25):
in that.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
It's been a great experience.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Oh my gosh, what about money? How do you guys
support yourself?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
We have individual donors and then we have people businesses.
Daffler Heating and Cooling is another one that has been
so intimately involved with what we do. They donated a
box tructa for us to pick up furniture. They have
been supporting us in their warehouse and the warehouse that
they own. And so we have individual donors, we have
corporate donors. We have some grants that have been written
(25:50):
that we've received. The four hundred thousand dollars gram from
the housing authorities.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
One who came up with that one was that you
do find that one.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
No, I can't take credit for that one. I'm not
exactly sure. I think Jimmy probably discovered hold on, Yeah,
he's smart.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, sometimes too smart for his bridge. Isn't it funny
they know anything when they're young. Now, when they rich
about twenty five, thirty forty, maybe they realize, oh my god,
my mom and dad got smart all.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Of a sudden. I heard that.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
But he is, he's a really good kill you're talking
about Jimmy go ahead signs of grants and stuff. He
does Gil, I mean not Gil, but that was a
wonderful grant.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yes it was.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
And he's helped our grant writer write some future grants.
So he's learning that side of the business or ministry
what we think of it. And there have been significant
responses from t fact grants to Guysinger, to hospitals and
other nonprofit charitable organizations that want to donate to our cause.
(26:50):
And so we're always looking for Wider Foundation, which is
a windows servicing company. You know, they've invested in us too,
and we're just so thrilled that there's a groundswell of
support for.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
What we do.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I know you talked about all these people to come
up in their crying. Is there anything in your mind
over the last several years that you've been doing. Is
there any anybody it sticks out that you think, oh
my gosh, stories.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Yeah, so yes, I've had some fascinating conversations with people,
some sad and some just really delightful.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
And I can't really name names, but on the menoring
side of things, I remember one time I had a
guy who showed up at Salvation Army and I was
picking up a guy there, taking him to work, and
he asked me, He said.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Can I meet with you?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
And I said, yeah, sure, What would you like to
talk about? He said, let me tell you what happened
to me. He said, I was at the end of
my life. I was drinking. I couldn't get free, sober
or clean for any period of time, and so I
want to end my life.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
And he said.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
I went to a hotel and then Tony Barrow was gone,
bought vodka and crack cocaine. I wanted to end it,
but he said, I wanted to give God one chance,
and so I got down on my knees and I
saw a bible on the stand and I picked it
up and I threw it against the wall, and he
(28:21):
said it fell open. And the next thing, you know,
after I'd been drinking all that time, I fell asleep,
he said. While I was asleep, he said, I had
this experience that I have no idea what it was,
but I felt this warm light in that moment. I
don't know if I was dead or if I was
just you know, in a stupor. He said, I began
(28:42):
to see this light move toward me. And I was afraid,
and he said, I backed away, and the more I backed,
the way it stopped. Then it moved forward and I
could feel the warmth coming from it. And then all
of a sudden, it said to me, this is his words.
Pay attention to your mentors.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
He said.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
The next thing, I know, somebody's pounding on my chest.
I don't even know how they found out about it,
but they're pounding on my chest. And they gave me
nar can and I came back to life. I ended
up here, and so I heard you do mentoring. Can
we meet? And so we began to meet, and he
stayed sober and clean. The sad part of this story,
(29:26):
this is what happens sometimes in recovery. He went to
a halfway house in another location. We don't go outside
the Erisburg area here. He ended up sober for about
a year. One day a friend came by and offered him.
Oh no, he was found dead Easter Sunday morning, with
(29:48):
a needle stuck in his arm.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Oh god, it broke my heart.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
I can imagine, my God.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
But you see, there's great stories. Yeah, and then we've
had people sober and clean for twelve years that still
hang with us and support.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Let me ask you something. Did you make the right
decision all those yearsho.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I would never choose to go back to what I did?
Speaker 2 (30:09):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I'm so glad you didn't. I think it's wonderful what
you do. Do you want to find out more about
M twenty eight Ministry, volunteer or make a donation? What's
your website?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Pastor us?
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Okay? And for somebody suffering from addiction detox we have
those are only the beginning. Without follow up support such
as mendoring, therapy, recovery groups, food transportation, most importantly, stable housing,
many people are going to struggle to maintain their sobriety.
If you know anybody suffering from addiction, remember that what
makes M twenty eight Ministry unique and so successful as
(30:41):
it doesn't simply serve people, it walks alongside of them.
I love that. Thank you so much, Pastor Gym for
coming in. I'm Sylvia Moas catch insite this weekend on
one of our ten iHeart stations, or anytime on your
favorite podcast app. Thanks so much for listening. See you
next week
Hi, I'm Sylvia Maus and this is insight, a presentation
of iHeartMedia where we really do care about our local
communities and all our listeners who live here. You know,
at some point in our lives, so many of us
ask ourselves, what is life? What are we supposed to
be doing? Are we living our lives focusing on the
right reason? And what is that reason? Whether we reach
(00:20):
this point because we want to contribute to something bigger,
or maybe to grow spiritually or personally, or even help
reduce suffering in the world, that one life that we
are given feels more meaningful when we matter others and
they matter to us. This really isn't sentimentality, It's clarity.
It's the truth realization that the most effective among us
(00:42):
are those who honor their purposes in life and the
way they show up, the way they serve, and the
way they shape the future. My guest today is a
testament to honoring the truth of what his life should
be about. Fifteen years ago, he stepped away from his
executive pastor role at a central Pennsylvania megachurch because, as
he said, he wants I did to do life with
people outside the walls of his church. Specifically those navigating addiction,
(01:07):
recovery and the instability that so often accompanies both. His
choice to leave the huge church led immediately to his
founding of an organization no As M twenty eight Ministry,
where every day he continues to walk alongside the people
and the raw, unfiltered places where transformation actually happens. I'm
really anxious to introduce you to Pastor Jim Shambach, a
(01:28):
man whose story is not just about leaving something behind.
It's about stepping into a purpose that aligns with who
he is at his core and using his life to
lift others as they rebuild theirs. Pastor Jim heard lots
of wonderful stuff about y, So let's get going on this.
I got to tell you I met Jimmy. Jimmy was
just here a little while. I met him a few
years ago. He's a good kid. You did a good
(01:50):
job there, kidd.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I'm gonna attribute that to my.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Wife most guys too. Let me ask you, why did
you know you were at this megachurch? Why did you
know or how did you know? What it was time
to get out of there?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I think for me it was a very significant time
where I was rethinking what am I going to do
for the rest of my life? I knew I could
probably stay in the church where I was at, but
I felt like I needed a new challenge, okay, And
so I began to search my own heart a little
bit and ask myself, you know, does this define does
this bring more clarity to my calling in life? And
(02:27):
as a minister? I wanted to be able to have
I wanted to end well, and I felt like, you know,
i'd be okay, I could slide through finish well at
the church, but really being involved with people and not
just the building and administration and all the executive pastoral stuff.
I felt like I needed something different.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
You know how. I kind of see it as like
when somebody's in a job they don't know if they
want to leave not, but something's pulling at and it's
kind of like, yeah, I have an l ice cream butter.
If I put chocolate ice cream or chocolate sauce on,
I'm set. Something was missing? Right, Yes, in your heart
you knew something was missing. So okay, you knew it
(03:08):
was missing. And at that point, like when you got
to the day where you were going to leave, how'd
you feel?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I loved what I did, but I felt like, you know,
it's time to you know, make a bigger difference than
I had been and I so I just I just
made a decision. My wife wasn't happy about it because
she how.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Were you going to live? You know?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I left behind a very nice salary all the benefits
that came with it, and didn't receive any income for
about nine months. But I knew that God was in it,
and I knew that I could get through it if
He was with.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Me in it.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
And as the days and weeks and months progressed, I
could see his hand working in my situation and revealing
himself in a way that I could trust him in
my work.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I'm glad to mention that because one of the questions
I have people think, just have that, just have faith?
How do you recognize when's God's hand isn't something that
you're praying for?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Well, there's usually roadblocks, obstacles that I have to overcome
that are clearly red lights. Stop science, don't go this way.
And then when it's a positive thing, I recognize that
there's something in this. He's moving me forward, wants me
to traverse this. I might have some anxiety about it,
not some uncertainty and lack of clarity. But if I
(04:30):
take a step forward, He met me in that moment,
and I take the next step and the next and
the next step. That's how I move forward. Wow, and
that's what we did.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Well. You knew you serve the people in this huge church,
but from where I understand, you were mostly inspired or
felt drawn to people that were down and out, people
that you meet places to talk to because you found
out about them, right.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yeah, you know working in the church. People were there
relatively healthy, they were moving forward in life, successful in
many different ways, and while they might have had problems,
they were not the kind of problems that I saw
in the community. And I was wondering, you know, is
there anybody doing anything out there that could help them
(05:16):
move forward? And so I was looking more for people
who were on the margins of our culture, people who
were in distress, people who didn't have support and encouragement.
They needed to know more about how to do life well.
And so I didn't know that, you know, I would
have any specific calling to that, but I just you know,
(05:37):
to do work with drug and alcohol. But I just
moved forward on it, and I had the opportunity to
show up at a ministry here in Harrisburg, day Star
Spiritual Center for Drug and Alcohol Recovery, and I showed
up and I said what can I do to help?
And they ignored me for three months, you know, like
different staff at that time, and I was unknown to them,
(05:58):
and I just showed up and said what can I do?
And eventually they gave me two guys to work with
when I started working with them, and that's what I've
been doing ever since. So for me, working with people
in recovery is working with people who have burned bridges,
who have found life difficult, some of their own choosing,
some not of their own, choosing that just because of
(06:18):
circumstances and situations, either maybe in that they were raised
in or they just had catastrophes in their lives and
they were broken, bruised and needed someone.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
To walk away.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
They were traumatized.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Trauma was a major.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Issue for many of the Well, you knew all this,
and at some point you decided to start this organization
called M twenty eight. And it's pretty much the vision
of I don't want to say the vision in line
with some guy in the Bible.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Talks just about that well, Jesus.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, oh, of course Jesus.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
So Jesus worked along the margins of the culture, right,
He didn't work with her just establishment very well. He
didn't work with the political system very well. He wanted
to identify with the poor, the oppressed, those that were
in need, those that were sick, unhealthy, and were being overtaxed,
(07:15):
and he wanted to do Wait.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Mant that sounds familiar that there's a lot of stuff. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
So he was my inspiration, Okay. So I thought, well,
this might be the best place for me to navigate
the remaining years that I might have in life and
invest in people that were trafficking or travesty, you know,
trying to traverse these difficult life circumstances.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
So you the gentleman actually I was talking about was Matthew. Matthew,
what did he How does that tie in with me?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Matthew eight twenty eighth Sure, Yeah, so Matthew. Chapter twenty
eight in the Gospels is the story of the resurrection
of Jesus and the resurrection and leads into this ending
where he ascends into heaven where he says, this is
my this is only going to be you a commission
to do make disciples of all nations. We turned that
(08:11):
into do life with people, not just do church with people,
do life with people, walk with them, ah with them,
find their way in life. This is what Matthew experienced
as a disciple of Jesus, and so we borrowed from
that concept and said, you know, we're going to walk
with these folks.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
That's perfect and it's been fun. I can imagine. I
can imagine, well, a lot of the people that deal
with drug and alcohol abuse, there's certain issues that they
face because they're in that position, housing instability, root insecurity,
what else.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Well, there's a lot of mental health issues, things that
they're uncertain about how they're going to navigate the future
given the fact they got maybe some felonies or misdemeanors
and they're trying to work through that. There are other
things too, like how am I going to reconcile with
family and friends and maybe spouses and others. And we
have just tried to walk with them through that. We
(09:09):
don't always have the answers for them, but we want
them to feel support and encouragement as they navigate their
own life and not on their own.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
If you don't mind. There's something that I need to
mention here. I think it's I hear this stuff all
the time that people say, Ah, he's just an old drunk,
you're not going to help him. Things like that really
burns me up because people don't take the time. And
I say this on my program so many times, take
five minutes to educate yourself because things aren't the way
you think they are. So I think it's important to
mention that a lot of people don't understand about addiction.
(09:40):
It's very complicated to begin with. A lot of people
see it as a moral failure. It's not a moral failure.
It's a mental and physical health issue. That's important to mention.
Another thing is they don't understand people who go into
addictionary now for weeks. They think that they're all cure
and life is great again for him. That's not the
(10:00):
case because they're only in there a couple of weeks,
and when they come out, they don't have the services
available to continue to support their recovery. That's a lot
of where you guys come in. You guys, do forgive
me for calling me you guys, but you have those
services because you understand, you have the empathy. You yourself
(10:22):
have worked with a lot of these people, you know them.
Can we talk a little about some of the services
you provide, like house to home?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
What is that about.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
So we have a Good Use Furniture warehouse in New
Cumberland where we collect furniture people donate to us and
we make it available to those in the recovery community.
Not just in the recovery community, but people who have
had difficult life circumstances. Maybe women in domestic of youse,
maybe some one had a fire in their home or
there's water damage, and there are people in poverty that
(10:55):
just don't have money to buy good furniture. So we
collect good use furniture, we make it available and we
do it by appointment and we help people. They come in,
they kind of shop for what they we have. They
can select it and they take it home with them.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
And that's not open to the public. It's just for
people that need it.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
They need to be referenced or referred to us by
a community agency, an organization, a church, a synagogue, a mosque.
Anyone who can bet that they're not going to take
the furniture and go sell it somewhere and would.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Be right of course, of course. Well, I think one
of the major things not only for people you're talking about,
but a lot of families, A lot of families are
in trouble these days because of their financial situations. You
I know, the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank are pretty tight
with them, and they told me that this year they
expect one hundred and forty thousand more people. That's awful.
Where's it going to come from? I count on Central Pennsylvania.
(11:48):
How they're generous, but this is serious stuff. You do
also have a food pant we do.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
It's an emergency food pantry and not a food bank
where people can go on a regular basis. But if
there's an emergency, we are available to them and they
can search for us on the Central Pensamian Food Bank
website or look at our website at twenty eight dot us.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
A lot of the people, I understand, come to you.
They're feeling overwhelmed, they feel like nothing, they have no hope.
Tell me about the type of that type of support
mental health that you help them with.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
So we do a lot of mentoring with both men
and women, and so we like to listen to their
stories and encourage them in their journey towards sobriety and recovery.
So we encourage them to go to AA or NA
meetings or celebrate recovery. There are different types of recovery approaches,
but find some way in which you have you learn
(12:42):
more about substance use, and then we'll walk with you
as you navigate the practical issues of life.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Just like Jesus, you're never known, right.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yeah, And so we've ended up having some wonderful relationships
with people helping them get through some very difficult early
life circum early recovery circumstances. And as they've moved through life,
they've begun to trust the process that God is walking
with them. We are walking with them, their support team
(13:14):
is working with them and for them, and now they're
beginning to see the fruit of their sobriety and the
recovery is working the way it should.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
You know, talk about wonderful relationships. You have some awesome
partnerships with local organizations, with businesses out there. Tell me
about these relationships. Those are a lot of the resources
that you have for people, aren't they.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Yeah, So we have a stone Bridge financial is one
of the most they're just they got it figured out right.
They want to help people who want help.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
See I love that, and it's becoming more than norm
these days. So you've got to keep the scone buddy.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Yes, and they've invested in people, not just financially, but people.
Their staff is willing to consult with some of our
men and women who have tax issues or financial problems
and credit issues, and they'll we'll bring them in and
talk with them and share, they'll share their expertise, help
them to develop a plan to get back on their
(14:21):
feet and recover not just you know, from substantutes, but
recover in life, in their finances and other areas of
their life as well. And then we have other support
areas where we navigate with churches and they have other resources.
We've connected with recovery ministries in the community here in Harrisburg, Cumberland,
(14:45):
Dauphin County, Cumberland County. You know, we've been able to
help people with financial issues getting into security deposits and
rent and things of that nature. So we know where
to find those resources and people have been seeking us.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Out to help. You know, what I find a lot
of times is I'm surprised when I find out that
people don't know about these things that we think are Oh,
that's just common sense, that's the way it is. Well,
people aren't as fortunate as we are that we were
at some point in our lives we were taught about
things like this.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Right, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, it's been a learning process for us, but we've
we've finally connected with lots of people who are doing
similarly and we're not trying to do it all ourselves.
We want to partner with other organizations and that's what
our goal has been. There are certain things we do
better than maybe others, but we can't do it all.
So we're not even trying. We're just going to stay
within our lane, stay on our side the street to
(15:36):
help people move forward. And the mentoring piece and the
practical needs assessment for good use furniture, food and those things.
Those are the things we do best.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Well, you know you're talking about important partnerships under Governor
Shapiro's Pennsylvania Housing Plan. You have something wonderful just happening.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yees.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, we're excited and it's well, you tell us what happened.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
So two years ago we apply for from the Cumberland
County Housing Authority and we were awarded a four hundred
and seventeen thousand dollars grant for an apartment complex that
we're going to use for those in drug and alcohoy
recovery rebuilding their lives. It's affordable housing, so we are
going to we have a threshold in which we want
(16:21):
people who are trying to rebuild their lives, who make
less than most everybody else, give them an opportunity to
have safe place to live and then be able to
save money so they can move back, move out into
the community, get their own apartment, get their own house
if they would like, to begin to build new relationships
(16:43):
with people in the community and the church or synagogue
or a mosque, whatever, so that they are embraced by
the community and not thought of as someone who's still
in an addictive be able.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Oh sure, of course, of course you name the place.
Estra's House insists, did you tell the story.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah, So, my mom was actively involved in our ministry
from the very beginning, and she, a little old Italian
lady who at eighty four years old, would make meals
most Sundays for everyone who came to our house who
was in recovery, and she'd make lasagna spaghetti. She'd make
(17:23):
her special meat balls. She loved on these men and women,
and even would with the me yor income she had,
she would give what she had financially, both to the
ministry but to individuals that came and she would pass
on twenty bucks here, thirty bucks there, and it was
irregular things. So her heart for serving others was revealed
(17:47):
to them, and we thought it would be a cool thing.
So my son, Jimmy, yeah, he thought of her and thought,
wouldn't it be great if we just named this house
Esther's House?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
And she she.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Invited people into our home and into her basement where
she lived, and she would welcome them, feed them, love
on them, support them in whatever way she could. And
so it was in her honor that we named it
Esther I love.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Well, let's talk about Esther's house. Is it in like
what happens now? Is it in the kind of condition
where somebody can move in or unied support?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
We do?
Speaker 3 (18:25):
We we we had a hoarder in one of the apartments,
and so we've had to clean it out and we've
had to, you know, go down to the studs and
rebuild this and clean it out. And we're in the
process of taking care of that and uh, and then
we wanted to redoce some of the other apartments and
make sure they're in really good condition so when someone
moves in, it's a safe, comfortable, warm space for them.
(18:49):
Because we know that that if people feel safe in recovery,
they have a place to live, they're going they're more
likely to see succeed in their recovery.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
That's right, because any of them.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
You know, go from rooming house to rooming house, or
you know, seeping surfing on somebody's couch, and that leads
back to oftentimes it's the same addictive behaviors that they
had before. But if they have their own space, then
it's a little bit different. Now they're beginning to feel
like life is forming around them. They have a safe
place to come home to, and then they can launch
from there, do the jobs that they get, a job
(19:23):
that they need to support that and move forward in
their life.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I think that's fantastic. I mean that feeling that you
there's someone that holds your hand, there's somebody that's not
going to leave you, there's somebody that is supporting with
all these services, where do you find something like that
that's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Yeah, we're excited about it. And you know already we've
had people already asking, you know, can we get in?
Speaker 1 (19:45):
You know so, well, I qualify these people, decide who goes.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
In, so it's an affordable income to us. So they
can't make over a certain amount of money, and and so,
and we don't want to charge and because over there,
because it's not about making money, it's about helping people
move forward.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
What do you say or to say one time, you're
not transactional? How does that comet?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, so we don't like to think of ourselves as
engaging in transactional services. We're involved in relational the relational
business of moving through life with people. Some people just
want the transaction, but we want a relationship with them
because there's more to life than just being sober. It's
(20:28):
learning how to live. Most of our folks know how
to survive, but they don't know how to thrive. So
that's what we want to help them do.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
It must feel incredible when you do.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
If there's such a joy, I mean, I can't tell
you when they come stories and they see that they
can get a couch, a sofa, they can get a
mattress and a box spring, they get new sheets and
new pillows, you know. And I've had numerous men and
women just hug me around the neck, weeping, saying, thank
(20:59):
you so much. You have no idea how much this
means to me. We give food away. I don't know
what I was going to do to feed my kids
this week. Thank you so much for making this available.
And we're not the only ones that can do these things,
but it's so gratifying to be able to feel the
joy that people get when they receive something that you
(21:22):
know they desperately need and they don't know where to look.
And so we're excited about oh that and many other things.
The mentoring. We've started the thing for couples that have
been cohabitating or engaged or married, but they did relationships
in addictive behaviors and now doing it differently. It's scary,
(21:45):
got to pay bills, I got a responsibility. I want
to live. I don't want to go back into my
addictive behaviors. And so we're coaching them through what it
looked like to have a healthy relationship. You know what
healthy unhealthy relationships were like, because that's what you probably
were involved with. But now you get a chance to
reboot your life and do it differently than you did before.
(22:08):
And so we want to share with you our expertise,
our experiences. And some of them have been in sobriet,
have been sober and clean for a while, and so
they have good insight into how to do life soberly,
and so we borrow from their expertise and share that
with them, and we'll probably do it again.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Wow, a lot of epiphanies who know that.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
You would be surprised.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Tell us about the opportunities to volunteer because a lot
of nonprofit it surprised me. I'm always saying this is true.
Central Pennsylvania rocks.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
As far as they do.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Oh my goodness, they're very generous. But I'm finding that
are a lot of organizations used to didn't have a
problem finding volunteers. Tell me what type of volunteers do
you need?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
So with us.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
At Esther's House right, an individual or couple or a
family is going to be surrounded by a group of
three to six people. They're like the board of directors
for this person, this family, this situation, and what they're
going to do is to help them navigate finances, transportation, budgeting,
(23:21):
they're going to talk through what are their goals in life?
How can they know whatever they think they need to
accomplish in the year or two that they're in the house.
We're going to try and help them arrive at that
destination succeed in reaching their goals. So we need yeah,
so you can imagine four different apartment units that we have,
(23:42):
so three to six people. We need eighteen twelve to
eighteen twenty people just to be supportive of them in
that situation. So we're looking for people who have expertise
in certain areas of life, who've been successful, who can
share their expertise and want to invest in people who
are trying to rebuild their life from the ground.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Though.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I think that's I mean helmet. There's loads of people
out there like that, and.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
We've yes, and we have seen some people gravitate to
us because that's what they want to do. They might
not do the mentoring one on one because it can
be a little bit intimidating for some people. But can
can we sit with people and hear their story and
hear about their goals and then something resonates in them saying,
you know, I think I can provide that I think
I can help with that. I can give that kind
(24:26):
of advice to that person that can help them succeed,
and that's what we're looking for. In our warehouse. We're
always looking for people to pick up furniture for us.
We have a vehicle to be able to do that,
but I need strong arms. I'm getting too old to
pick up furniture, so I always looking for volunteers to
pick up furniture and then maybe even deliver furniture for
some of the people that we get that don't have
a vehicle or don't they can't drive or whatever, so
(24:50):
we're looking for all kinds of helping them.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
I love the partnering with businesses. Yeah, I think that's great.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Oh wow, we've had some wonderful experiences.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
I can just imagine. You also talk about you guys.
Don't you have a charity event every year?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
We do.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
We have a since going to be in the end
of September this year. It'll be at the West Shore
Country Club and we're going to have some of our
folks who've been in the program tell their stories and
we're going to be able to share our specific issues
and needs that we have. And people have responded We've
had one hundred and fifty to two hundred people involved
(25:25):
in that.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
It's been a great experience.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Oh my gosh, what about money? How do you guys
support yourself?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
We have individual donors and then we have people businesses.
Daffler Heating and Cooling is another one that has been
so intimately involved with what we do. They donated a
box tructa for us to pick up furniture. They have
been supporting us in their warehouse and the warehouse that
they own. And so we have individual donors, we have
corporate donors. We have some grants that have been written
(25:50):
that we've received. The four hundred thousand dollars gram from
the housing authorities.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
One who came up with that one was that you
do find that one.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
No, I can't take credit for that one. I'm not
exactly sure. I think Jimmy probably discovered hold on, Yeah,
he's smart.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, sometimes too smart for his bridge. Isn't it funny
they know anything when they're young. Now, when they rich
about twenty five, thirty forty, maybe they realize, oh my god,
my mom and dad got smart all.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Of a sudden. I heard that.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
But he is, he's a really good kill you're talking
about Jimmy go ahead signs of grants and stuff. He
does Gil, I mean not Gil, but that was a
wonderful grant.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yes it was.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
And he's helped our grant writer write some future grants.
So he's learning that side of the business or ministry
what we think of it. And there have been significant
responses from t fact grants to Guysinger, to hospitals and
other nonprofit charitable organizations that want to donate to our cause.
(26:50):
And so we're always looking for Wider Foundation, which is
a windows servicing company. You know, they've invested in us too,
and we're just so thrilled that there's a groundswell of
support for.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
What we do.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I know you talked about all these people to come
up in their crying. Is there anything in your mind
over the last several years that you've been doing. Is
there any anybody it sticks out that you think, oh
my gosh, stories.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Yeah, so yes, I've had some fascinating conversations with people,
some sad and some just really delightful.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
And I can't really name names, but on the menoring
side of things, I remember one time I had a
guy who showed up at Salvation Army and I was
picking up a guy there, taking him to work, and
he asked me, He said.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Can I meet with you?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
And I said, yeah, sure, What would you like to
talk about? He said, let me tell you what happened
to me. He said, I was at the end of
my life. I was drinking. I couldn't get free, sober
or clean for any period of time, and so I
want to end my life.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
And he said.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
I went to a hotel and then Tony Barrow was gone,
bought vodka and crack cocaine. I wanted to end it,
but he said, I wanted to give God one chance,
and so I got down on my knees and I
saw a bible on the stand and I picked it
up and I threw it against the wall, and he
(28:21):
said it fell open. And the next thing, you know,
after I'd been drinking all that time, I fell asleep,
he said. While I was asleep, he said, I had
this experience that I have no idea what it was,
but I felt this warm light in that moment. I
don't know if I was dead or if I was
just you know, in a stupor. He said, I began
(28:42):
to see this light move toward me. And I was afraid,
and he said, I backed away, and the more I backed,
the way it stopped. Then it moved forward and I
could feel the warmth coming from it. And then all
of a sudden, it said to me, this is his words.
Pay attention to your mentors.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
He said.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
The next thing, I know, somebody's pounding on my chest.
I don't even know how they found out about it,
but they're pounding on my chest. And they gave me
nar can and I came back to life. I ended
up here, and so I heard you do mentoring. Can
we meet? And so we began to meet, and he
stayed sober and clean. The sad part of this story,
(29:26):
this is what happens sometimes in recovery. He went to
a halfway house in another location. We don't go outside
the Erisburg area here. He ended up sober for about
a year. One day a friend came by and offered him.
Oh no, he was found dead Easter Sunday morning, with
(29:48):
a needle stuck in his arm.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Oh god, it broke my heart.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
I can imagine, my God.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
But you see, there's great stories. Yeah, and then we've
had people sober and clean for twelve years that still
hang with us and support.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Let me ask you something. Did you make the right
decision all those yearsho.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I would never choose to go back to what I did?
Speaker 2 (30:09):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I'm so glad you didn't. I think it's wonderful what
you do. Do you want to find out more about
M twenty eight Ministry, volunteer or make a donation? What's
your website?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Pastor us?
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Okay? And for somebody suffering from addiction detox we have
those are only the beginning. Without follow up support such
as mendoring, therapy, recovery groups, food transportation, most importantly, stable housing,
many people are going to struggle to maintain their sobriety.
If you know anybody suffering from addiction, remember that what
makes M twenty eight Ministry unique and so successful as
(30:41):
it doesn't simply serve people, it walks alongside of them.
I love that. Thank you so much, Pastor Gym for
coming in. I'm Sylvia Moas catch insite this weekend on
one of our ten iHeart stations, or anytime on your
favorite podcast app. Thanks so much for listening. See you
next week
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