REBUILDING WHOLENESS IN MACON, GA

Captain Johnny Poole, and his wife Rebekah, corps officers at the Macon Corps in Macon, Ga., are helping men re-build their lives through the Exodus program – a substance abuse rehabilitation center. In the process, the Poole’s have also built a Corps.

Exodus has 40 beds reserved to provide men 18 and over “freedom from bondage to alcohol and drug addiction,” said Poole. The six-month program isn’t something the Poole’s built from scratch, but the pair has worked hard to bridge the gaps between the Macon Corps and the 22-year-old Exodus program.

Poole said before they came to Macon, the corps and the Exodus treatment center existed as two separate entities, having very little interaction with each other. But Poole recognized that Exodus isn’t just about rebuilding a drug- or alcohol-free lifestyle; it’s about re-building the whole person.

The biggest change he and his wife have made to Exodus in their four years there is incorporating more spiritual elements into the program. As with most substance abuse rehab centers, Exodus begins with detoxification and background checks of every beneficiary; while there, beneficiaries are expected to do work therapy in the Salvation Army thrift store; they also attend worship and chapel services, drug counseling sessions and recovery meetings. One difference at Exodus, however, is that the recovery meetings are focused around one of the “spiritual elements” Poole has added. The entire curriculum for learning to deal with addiction is based on the 40-day book, Purpose-Driven Life, by Rick Warren.

Another staple of the curriculum is the Bible, Poole added. The beneficiaries regularly meet for an open forum called the Scripture Circle, where the Word of God is taught and applied to the addiction recovery process. The Macon Corps family is very active in helping beneficiaries during their journey.

“Our soldiers do help with the men here. At our worship services, we sit and eat together, we worship together, we cry together,” said Poole. While the merging of what once was similar to two co-existing corps requires supervision, Poole said that the end results are worth it. “It’s the reinforcement that people care. That’s what rehabilitates the men – when they see we’re not just going through the motions. We’re people that care.”

Beneficiaries are allowed to sing, attend Men’s Club meetings and take up the offering. Poole is quick to give God glory, and said it’s remarkable to see 34 (last year’s graduates) productive citizens again.

One graduate, Robert Small, credits Exodus and the Macon Corps with giving him his life back. Now, he serves as assistant manager at one of Macon’s Salvation Army thrift stores, and said he tries to recruit youth addicts who do their community service at the store into the Exodus program.

From start to finish, it’s a program that emphasizes family and reliance upon the Lord. Even the graduation ceremony reinforces these elements. Graduates receive a certificate of achievement, a pin and a wallet-size, laminated reinforcement card with a scripture verse. Poole and his wife pray about each graduate, and decide which scripture verse gets printed on each person’s card. No two cards are alike. The card serves as a reminder to each graduate about the keys to recovery they learned from the Macon Corps and the Exodus program – living in freedom through the Word of God and having supportive people around you.