Special Feature 

Sometimes you just have to let things simmer a while… Not too many years back, I had the opportunity to travel with a few other men to Mexico City on a very specific mission trip.  We ‘gringos’ were all heavily invested in the mission work of addiction recovery.  Experts, some might say, in one capacity or another.  A District Attorney, an Executive Director, a Colonel in the military, a convicted felon, a medical doctor… we all had a special skill set focused on Christ-centered addiction recovery.  And as it happened, a group of Mexican pastors, including the Director of Missions for all of Mexico City, requested we meet with them about addiction recovery.  It was truly a God thing for those Mexican pastors to find us Alabama recovery ministers. There are 28 million people in Mexico City. Geographically, it’s a little less than 600 square miles or about the same size as Shelby County.  Poverty is rampant. Transportation is problematic. Police presence is almost non-existent on the backstreets. The cartel is everywhere in certain neighborhoods. And addiction is a real and present danger to the people. 

Every morning, we’d canvas neighborhoods, inviting people to a local civic center or arena. At the end of the school day, our group assembled at the civic center and invited passersby to join us for worship and conversation. We simply wanted people to know there was help for the addiction in their lives. On one occasion, Dr. Ken Crow was talking to the crowd about how Jesu de Christe is medicine for the soul, and that those troubled with addiction can find healing in His presence. Looking to my right, I saw a young woman sitting in the audience. She was intently listening. You could tell she, or someone she loved, had been traumatized by addiction. She was skinny- almost malnourished- and a bit unkempt, and she carried a large, slightly tattered, pastel colored bag on her shoulder. As Ken spoke about Celebrate Recovery, the young lady reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of glue. She poured a dose into a rag, cupped the rag in her hand, and inconspicuously covered her nose with her hand. She was getting high.  My heart was broken. She came to hear about how to break the chains but brought the chains with her.

When the rally was over, we agreed that someone would go talk with her. Ken seemed the most suitable candidate because of his calming demeanor. After a short conversation through a translator, Ken learned that she was homeless and had been in the streets for several months and confirmed what we already knew. She was an addict. Unsure of how we could help her, he thought it best to simply invite her to join us for our next meeting later that evening. I didn’t think she would show up.  A while later, I saw her ambling down the street, reluctantly approaching our meeting location right as we were about to begin. Slowly, she made her way up to the outdoor center and waded through the crowd. Over the next two hours, she ate a full meal, and one of the local Christian ladies who was part of our host team agreed to take her into her home, provided that she stay clean. The young woman agreed, and she agreed to stay for the Celebrate Recovery meeting that we were about to host. Pastor Isidro Rodriguez, our lead for the night, sat down next to her and talked to her as if he were her father. Slowly, she began to cry. He embraced her struggles as if they were his own, and he made sure she knew she was not alone in her fight. 

Several months after we left, one of our team members reached back out to Pastor Rodriguez. He was excited to report that the young lady, Maria, was faithful to attend the newly formed Celebrate Recovery meetings he hosted and his Sunday worship services. She volunteers at the church and still lives with the older woman who agreed to take her in.  Unfortunately, though, that doesn’t mean she is sober. It doesn’t mean she is in genuine recovery either. You see, getting her to the table was the largest part of the battle.  Addicts rarely acknowledge they need help. Usually, they are exceptional at justifying their continued demise. The hope is to offer them a seat at the table and ‘let it simmer.’ Perhaps they will show up, and when they do, we simply offer them the remedy for what ails them.  First in the form of Hope through Christ, and second in the form of education, instruction, and discipleship. All these things promote good fruit.  But often, addicts are still reluctant.  Just keep offering the remedy and let it simmer. When their heart is ready, they will embrace recovery, even if only gradually. And consider it joy to have small gains, for recovery is a marathon, not a sprint. I look forward to going back in a few years, praying that the young lady will be mature in her recovery by then, and that she will have begun to offer the same sort of Hope to others as well. 

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning…” Lamentations 3:22-23

-Walt Merrell is a Christian Outdoorsman who writes of his adventures with his family, with the hope that others might be inspired and encouraged to embrace God’s tapestry, otherwise known as the great outdoors, as a means of finding Common Ground. You can follow him at Shepherding Outdoors on FB, YT and IG and at shepherdingoutdoors.com.

Church Leaders

Each month, Birmingham Christian Family highlights a local church leader who is making a difference in our community. Church on the Bluff’s Pastor Tony Barber has been leading the Bluff Park congregation for nearly 20 years but felt the call to preach when he was just 12 years old.

1. What did your journey look like to your current position in ministry? After attending an E.J. Daniel’s tent revival in Leeds, Ala. when I was 12 years old, I told my dad that I thought God was calling me to be a preacher. 19 years later, I publicly responded to that call. I was working at WTVY-TV in Dothan, and they were gracious enough to work with my schedule so that I could attend Baptist Bible Institute, in Graceville, Fla. (now Baptist University of Florida). I was called to my first church, Camp Springs Baptist in Columbia, Ala., and ordained in March of 1986. I’ve pastored churches in Slocomb and Moody, Ala., and began my ministry at Church on the Bluff in 2006. 

2. Is there a particular person or life experience that impacted your decision to be a minister? My dad, Dan Barber, began bi-vocational preaching when I was in my early teens. I wasn’t thrilled with the “Preacher’s Kid” life, especially when he moved us from Vincent, Ala. a few weeks before my senior year so that he could attend the same Baptist Bible Institute that I would attend myself years later. I rebelled in some serious ways. I learned a lot from him. I saw him make some very tough decisions simply because it was God’s will. Dad taught me one thing that has always guided me and affected my ministry: “People will overlook an occasional bad sermon, but they will not overlook bad pastoring.”  I learned that I wasn’t being called to be a preacher, I was called to be a pastor. Preaching is a vital part of pastoring people, but it is not the only thing.

3. How would you describe your church family? I tell folks that I pastor a MEGA church (Mostly, if not Entirely, Geriatric Adults). We are, in general, an older congregation, but that is changing. We have several younger families now and we are encouraged by their presence. We are conservative in doctrine, still have a choir, sing hymns (the words are on the screen, but they are also in the hymnbook if you like holding a book as you sing), and we still call our Bible study classes, “Sunday School.” 

4. What is one thing you would like us to know about your congregation? I’ve had so many people tell me that when thy entered the building for the first time they felt at home. This congregation genuinely loves people, and it is obvious they do. Pay us a visit and you’ll see what I mean.

– Learn more about churches in our area, including Church on the Bluff, at www.BirminghamChristian.com/findachurch. Are you or do you know a Church Leader in Central Alabama we should feature? Click here to complete the Church Leader Q&A.