Bible-Based Residential Training Facility for Overcoming Addiction to Alcohol and Other Drugs
Groundbreaking for the “Beyond Recovery Project” is set for 12:00 Noon, September 5, 2007, at 800 Goodwin Bridge Rd., Travelers Rest, SC 29690.
Beyond Recovery will be the first and only Bible-based residential training facility in the Upstate of South Carolina dedicated solely to helping individuals overcome their addiction to alcohol and other drugs, including prescription pharmaceuticals.
The Beyond Recovery Project is an answer to prayer for Winn Freeman, founder and president of Wisdom in Living Life Ministry. Nothing like it exists in the region currently.
Freeman, a recovered long-term heroin, methamphetamine, and alcohol addict, after graduating from Holmes Bible College, worked his way from volunteer to director of the Greenville Rescue Mission, and having experienced phenomenal success applying his program to the homeless and indigent became burdened for the non-homeless community who do not have this scriptural alternative.
Wisdom in Living Life is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit Christian ministry organization founded in 2000 to educate, equip, and empower God’s people to effectively reach those imprisoned by addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
Beyond Recovery will be a real alternative to the disease model of substance abuse treatment, based on proven methods developed by Freeman during his ten years with Miracle Hill Ministries.
Freeman developed a Bible-based substance abuse recovery program known as “Overcomers.” Over the ten years he oversaw the program – working only with the homeless and indigent – he realized a sustained success rate of over 70 percent as measured after a one-year post-program follow-up. Miracle Hill Rescue Mission has continued using Freeman’s program.
With knowledge of the fact that no such program was available to the middle and upper income segments of the community, and that the secular medical-model, addiction-as-disease approach programs typically yielded success rates only in the single digits – less than 10 percent, Freeman was convinced that his proven and highly successful program should be expanded and offered to the entire community.
In 2000 Freeman left the Greenville Rescue Mission to found Wisdom In Living Life Ministry. Since then Freeman has operated mostly as a one-man ministry, working in the narrowly defined arena of addiction to alcohol and other drugs, assisting not only addicted individuals but their families, churches, companies, and other organizations by providing support, information, and training.
Utilizing the Biblical techniques he developed at the mission, Freeman, now widely known as “The Drug Guy,” also engaged in intensive personal reclamation, working tirelessly with a number of individuals, one at a time, over sustained periods, opening his home to them during the process. Doing so, he has helped many addicts overcome their addictions, reintegrate into their families, join or rejoin a church congregation, and become productive members of the community, some for the first time.
The sustained success of the Biblical approach to overcoming addiction developed and practiced by Winn Freeman has won the respect of leaders in business, government, and religious circles. A focus group composed of a cross-section of community leaders in the Upstate, including professionals knowledgeable in substance abuse issues, concluded that Freeman’s program should be expanded to include a long-term residential component capable of multiplying his effectiveness, thereby offering a true alternative to the less effective disease model approach to the addiction problem faced by many citizens of Upstate South Carolina.
Beyond Recovery will be located in the quiet and peaceful foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Greenville County.
Approximately $1.25 million in cash and in kind donations, including over fifty acres of land donated by Mr. Jim Anthony of the Cliffs Corporation has already been raised for the $5.8 million project.
Ministry infrastructure and support personnel are now in place to sustain planning, fundraising, building, and operation of the facility.
Drug use and abuse is a major problem. In Greenville County this month it is estimated that 180,000 individuals will abuse drugs. Seventeen people will be killed in an incident involving alcohol or another drug. Two-hundred individuals will try drugs for the first time. More than half of teenagers will consume alcoholic beverages at least once. More than 1,400 teens will ride in an automobile with an intoxicated driver. Alcohol and other drugs will be a leading factor in the death of people ages 15 to 24.
For additional information regarding Wisdom in Living Ministries and the Beyond Recovery Project, go to the ministry website at www.wisdominlivinglife.org, or call the ministry office at (864) 271-HELP (4357).
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