Aaron Reddin onLife, Liberty, and Pursuit of Jesusness

I’ve wanted to put this post together for a long stinkin’ time.  Finally, here you have it. 

I believe this is the most underrated band and album of the last decade. 

These songs are real life.  When I had only been clean for a short amount of time, these songs were more than helpful to me.  They were “instrumental” in my recovery process. 

I hope they can help you feel alive, wherever you’re at right now.  You don’t have to stay on the recovery-coaster for the rest of your life.  Assess, and rebuild. 

Self Worth:  I knew I had to learn how to love and respect myself.  I knew I was better than myself.  That may not make much sense at first glance.  But what was “me” wasn’t what I knew that I could be.  Colors helped me to gain awareness of who I was, and who I could be.

Making Amends: This is a song that I made my mother listen to a long time after I had gotten clean. I still carried all my guilt, years later. I didn’t know how to tell her what I was feeling, so I let this song do it for me.

Ready to Quit: When things were overwhelmingly hard and I thought I was ready to dive head first off the top of the recovery roller coaster:

Closure: For everyone that held me back, pushed me down, or never gave me a chance, this one was for them. Sometimes I still listen to it when I want to try and prove a point to them. Then I remember that I don’t have to. I’ve already done it!

I’ve posted a lot lately about our efforts to get my friend Mark off the streets and into a residential treatment program.  Yesterday our efforts paid off!! 

We drove to Memphis on Wednesday to get Mark to his orientation meeting.  We stayed the night and got him officially checked into the rehab program on Thursday, his 32nd birthday. 

When Lane turned and gave him his birthday cake he said, “This is the best birthday I’ve ever had!”

That made it all worthwhile right there. 

After getting everything ready we pigged out on some b-day cake and made our way toward the building.  Of course I had to have a picture of Me and Marky Mark on our “historic” day! 

Mark is a huge lover of music and I promised him that I would find a way to get him an iPod or CD player so that he could keep on rockin’.  If you can help with that, please let me know! 

Also, please continue to pray for Mark.  Pray that God would radically assault Mark with his life changing power!!

We have had to improvise, adapt, and overcome in the situation with my friend Mark. You may have read about his dilemma here on the blog a couple weeks ago. If not, this is him. And you can read about his situation, HERE.

The problem we ran into was that Teen Challenge wanted Mark to continue taking his prescribed medication, but wanted his doctor to continue prescribing it for 14 months without seeing him.  Well, obviously the doctors weren’t going to do that. 

So on Wednesday, Lane and I will be taking Mark to the Memphis Union Mission.  There he will enter into their long-term residential recovery program and have the opportunity to spend 2 years with them in all, if he takes advantage of their aftercare program.  Which I fully intend to make sure he does!  :)

So that’s the update on Mark.  Thank you to everyone who has helped to make it possible to help him!

What does Bobby Hill have to do with this?  Well I’ll tell you!

I have another friend who I’ve worked with in the past named Anthony.  Anthony has had the misfortune of being nicknamed “Bobby Hill” because….well….he looks just like Bobby Hill!

Bobby is 28 and is living on the streets of downtown Little Rock.  I had been informed of the general area that he was staying around and we were able to find him tonight.  He is not doing well and has allowed his addiction to land him sleeping outside a post office. 

I told him tonight that I wanted him to come with us Wednesday to Memphis.  He could enter their program with Mark, who he actually already knows.  I think they would help one another if they both went there together.  Either one would be less likely to leave and give up if they have a friend there with them. 

I told Bobby that I would find him again before leaving on Wednesday, and have since decided that I’m not going to give him the option!  That’s right!  It’s intervention time!!  If he doesn’t get some serious help and get off the streets, he will end up dead in MacArthur Park. 

Please pray with me that Bobby will go into the program with Mark, and that God would move radically in these men’s lives!! 

Here you can see Mark and Anthony together when we took some guys to see Seventh Day Slumber in 2008:

The video smells of cheesiness….

But the words. Do you know how many people around you are living this very song? I bet you don’t.

Maybe it’s you. Maybe you need to get the message.

Either way, this is real life. Listen to the words and wake up to see how many people around you that this song represents. I hope it’s a wake up call to someone who will answer….

Yesterday I began a new chapter in the book I’m working on that addresses the two processes known as sanctification and also the “recovery process”. 

The doctrine of sanctification has become a less than popular teaching topic as of recent, because it clearly involves our effort to strive toward changing who and what we are. 

The idea that the “recovery process” is a never ending process has become more and more popular in both secular and Christian addiction programs. 

I’m not going to tell you where I take the chapter because I want you to buy the book, duh! 

But, I do value your opinions and love to get feedback and hear your thoughts out there.  

So I pose these questions: 

How do you think that these processes work in the lives of someone battling addiction?  Do they work together?  Forever? 

Are they both “lifelong”…..or does one temporarily compliment the other? 

Please chew on that and leave a comment with your take on the two…please??

The more people I chat with and the more that I share my heart about the state of Christian recovery ministry, the more I find that I’m not alone. 

More people seem to agree with my basic viewpoints than I imagined.  But as I learn that more people agree, it begs the question of “Why aren’t more people speaking up?”. 

Why is it so hard to find people who will willingly voice their beliefs on this matter?  Fear of what others will say?  Doubt?  I’m not sure. 

What I do know is one thing.  One simple little thing.  One thing that I have to ask people when we are addressing this issue.  This one little thing is what pushes me because I really do fear for the future of Christian addiction ministry. 

We have to determine this within ourselves. 

Do we really believe what Jesus said, or not?

If we say that we do, then why are we allowing people to believe that they will most likely live with their addictions forever?  If we really do, then why are people spending the remainder of their lives “in recovery”?

Today I put out a plea for people to contribute to getting a friend into a long-term recovery program.  See HERE. 

The response has been INSANE!!

The amount needed to get him into Teen Challenge in Hot Springs, AR was $650.  As of the end of the day, I’ve received gifts/commitments totalling right at $400.  That means that we only need to come up with another $250.  This is doable!!  But only with your help….can you help get Mark into this program that he desperately needs?  Or can you at least re-tweet this post or share it on your Facebook? 

You all are so amazing!!  Your hearts make mine jump for joy inside my chest!!

The enemy has been defeated!  Death couldn’t hold you down!  Gonna lift our voice in victory, gonna make your praises LOUD!!  Thank you God for your provision!!

This is my friend Mark.  We’ve gone through a lot together.  The first time I met Mark, he came into the front office of the outreach ministry where I was working at the time and I knew instantly that he had hit rock bottom and then started chiseling even deeper. 

Mark was so ridden with shame and guilt, that wouldn’t look anyone in the eye.  All he knew is that he needed change.  He needed Jesus. 

After visiting a while, one of my Team Leaders at that time prayed with Mark to acknowledge Jesus as his ultimate savior. 

Mark then entered the drug/alcohol rehab program and God moved in his life like nothing I’ve seen before.  But just like the recovery roller coaster does to most, he found himself crashing after the program.  After taking a few punches to the chin, I finally found him again last night on the streets at about 10pm. 

He is desperate for help and cried like a small child on my shoulder last night.  He is currently sitting at my dining room table filling out an application for Teen Challenge.  I believe wholeheartedly that this is the place that he needs to be. 

The only roadblock is that there is an initial admittance fee of $650.  He has been sleeping in the woods and obviously doesn’t have the money.  Nor do I. 

My hope is to find enough people to contribute this weekend, that we can get him checked in there on Monday or Tuesday.  Without such a program, Mark will probably die out on the streets. 

If you would please help get him in, click on the “contact” tab to the right and get in touch with me.  Thank you all for your help in advance!!

OK, right off the bat……

This is not an “I want pity” post.

Now, let me tell you what this post is.

This is a post about a messed up dude, in a messed up world who is really needing the advice of wise people. I promise, that’s it. I don’t mind being open and transparent about my life.  BUT, if you don’t have solid advice for this situation, then please don’t post any comment about how you will pray for us and all that.

This really is a practical post, looking for practical answers (only if you have any).

Most of you know that I had been working in outreach ministry for the last 2 1/2 years here in Little Rock. It was a Christian para-church ministry.

I stopped working in beginning of December, as my 3rd back surgery was inevitable. The organization was gracious enough to help us get through the next two months, but with the stipulation that I return on February 15th or else I would be terminated.

I thought I was on track to return on time. But when my surgeon saw me again, he said I needed at least 6 more weeks.

Long story short: I was terminated from my position there. What’s critical is that since it was a non-profit organization they are not obligated to pay unemployment and therefore I was left with no way to draw income. Also, having less than 50 employees, MFLA didn’t apply and was not an option either.

So, without a paycheck and without the ability to file for unemployment my only hope was that I could get disability until I could return to some type of normalcy and go back to work somewhere.

Yesterday I received notice that I was denied disability.

So, I’m terminated for reasons beyond my control….
can’t draw unemployment…..
can’t get disability…..
starting appeal process tomorrow which could take 97 years…..
and can’t get another job until surgeon releases me…..

What’s left? Are there really no other options?

Now, don’t get me wrong. We don’t have an eviction notice and our cars are not being repossessed. We are not starving. We are able to make life work somehow. Actually God is making it work.

But I just can’t believe that there would be NO other options for us, until I am able to return to work.

So, I turn to you! The wise people of the world and ask you what your advice would be…..

Is there something I can do now, to prevent catastrophe later? I’m not begging for change, but I am begging for advice.  There is wisdom in the counsel of many….

Are there options when there are no other options? What do you do? What WOULD you do?

I have tried things without asking advice too many times in life and failed.  So now I ask your advice……ready GO!!!   (Remember, practical answers only!!)

This idea began last year as we found that many homeless would not come into shelters due to their geographic location. If they are near their work or resources it makes no sense to go to a shelter several miles away.

BUT, when asked if we provided them a free bicycle, would that decision change…..without hesitation the answer was yes.

This spring as many will be cleaning their garages and patios, there are THOUSANDS of bikes that will either get thrown out or just sit there for another wasted year. Why not donate it and give a homeless or even impoverished person a more effective mode of transportation?

I am currently seeking partners, sponsors, volunteers and other organizations that would like to get in on this magnificent effort with me.

If you would like to be a part in any way, please contact me at aaron@aaronreddin.com.

I’ve been inundated with questions the last few days about my back and my return to my position as the Director of Men’s Ministries for drug/alcohol recovery at the Union Rescue Mission. Though I have tried to refrain from posting about my personal life, I felt this one was appropriate.

I became unable to work at the beginning of December, and I wasn’t able to have my 3rd major back surgery until January 14th. I had a fusion which included 4 screws and 2 rods. Recovery time varies with each individual. Mine seems to be taking it’s time.

This past Friday I saw my surgeon for some followup X-rays and to see why I was having some extremely sharp pain in my spine. Long story short, my back simply has to have more downtime to heal.

The Union Rescue Mission had given me until Feb 15th to return, or I would be terminated. My surgeon said that he wanted me off work a minimum of six more weeks. So, after 2+ years of ministry at the URM, I was terminated.

I have many mixed feelings about the situation, and the decision making of the leadership of the organization. Most of those feelings are better kept private.  I will not rant on here about the situation, I just wanted to share with you all what has happened. 

I grew a lot and learned a lot during my time there, and had the chance to point many people to Jesus. I pray that they keep looking at him!

So what’s next for me? I don’t have a clue. I can’t go get another job because the surgeon says no work. It’s my understanding that I can’t draw unemployment since the URM is a non-profit. And disability takes centuries to get approved. So the future is uncertain.

What I do know is that God has some things working now that have removed me from a place where I could not be who he created me to be, and is moving me in directions that will allow me to live in more freedom as I point to Jesus.

Please pray for me and my wife as we persevere through a season of uncertainty. Please pray for my men in the recovery program there, that they will hold fast to Galatians 5:16.

I love you all and hope to continue serving the hurting alongside you in our area. My personal contact info can be found on the “contact” page. No brainer, I know. Please feel free to contact me for anything regarding outreach, recovery, consulting, writing, or whatever!  My life focus will still be on outreach and I will still be very involved in the efforts taking place in this city. 

In stepping into this beautiful new season of my life and ministry, I will close this post with my hearts most sincere prayer:

“God, I don’t have great faith, but I can be faithful. My belief in you may be seasonal, but my faithfulness will not. I will follow in the way of Christ. I will act as though my life and the lives of others matter. I will love. I have no greater gift to offer than my life. Take it. In Jesus’ name” – Unknown

I’m gonna go right ahead and tell you that you may not want to read any further than this if you are easily offended, because I’m gonna make a statement about this book that may make you never come back to my blog.

Ok, if you’re still reading then you must really want to know what I think. Well here it is: This book is the enema that most Christians, and the Church as a whole needs.

Let me tell you why. Brain Tome understands something that few ever will. He understands the central theme of the gospel. Freedom.

The fact of the matter is that most Christians live their lives in bondages. If for some reason they actually identify them, they try to learn a way to live with them and manage them. To be frank, many are wasting the work of Jesus. Jesus doesn’t want to help you learn to live with bondage, he wants to eradicate it from your life. I don’t care if you buy that or not. It’s true.

Tome has insight into freedom that must be incorporated into the Church. Period. This book is a MUST read, if you even think you know Jesus Christ. Don’t believe me? Then waste your life away living with your every struggle. Or, buy the book and get after your freedom!!!!

Follow Brian on Twitter, HERE!  And then buy the book here:

OK friends and family.  This is one that will require your help.  Don’t click away.  Hear me out. 

Most of you know my story of being freed from addiction to meth almost 8 years ago.  Most of you know that I am vehemently opposed the approach of many “recovery programs” due to their possibly unintentional breeding of hopelessness. 

The Church as a whole is just as guilty as AA, NA, etc…

The Church has “recovery programs” that do not teach or show people that their addictions can be COMPLETELY DESTROYED.  Secular recovery theories are brought into such programs as Celebrate Recovery, where people are encouraged/pressured to continue confessing addiction over themselves.  Thus, breeding hopelessness. 

Without the understanding that you can be totally free from your addictions, there is no hope for your future and the work of Jesus was absolutely pointless for your life. 

I believe this so strongly, that I will not rest until I find a way to change the Church’s view of and approach to addiction recovery. 

I’ve been piddling around with writing my first book on this topic for over a year now.  It’s time to make this point to the masses.  While I still have a little bit of time off due to recovering from back surgery, I want to pump a crap-load of hours into completing my manuscript. 

This is where the social media blackout, and your help come in:

I plan to begin a total social media blackout starting Monday.  This will give me the time to pump out a cool thousand or two words per day.  Hopefully, allowing me to wrap up the initial writing. 

What I need from you: 

Prayers – this text will be so powerful that I need a strong prayer cover while bringing it to life.

Encouragement – without knowing that others believe in this truth, I am vulnerable to drying up.

Support – no, I’m not beggin’ for dollars.  I do however need a “volunteer” editor, someone to help me shoot 2-3 promotional videos, any connection you may have with a publisher or literary agent.

Comments – the only media outlet that will remain in my sight is my email (hopefully).  If you would kindly leave a comment here to support and encourage me, it will hit my phone in an email and I will gladly receive the love. 

Guest Blog Posts – I would like to russell up some guest blog posts over this weekend and get them scheduled to post over the next couple weeks to help keep this blog alive and pumpin’.  Please let me know if you would be so kind as to write something for me. 

Share – PLEASE retweet this post, or past the url into a FB status or just email it to someone you know who is passionate about addiction recovery. 

So, there you have it.  My hearts desire is to see people step into the freedom that Jesus has already placed into motion.  I’m tired of seeing Christians use Jesus as a crutch while they learn to live with their addictions and strongholds.  I’m tired of seeing the Church breed hopelessness. 

If people can’t be free from their addictions, then Jesus didn’t really die to give them life abundant.  What do we really believe?

Please take a moment to leave a comment of support and encouragement, and PLEASE retweet or share this post with anyone who may find interest. 

OK, this is just ridiculous to me.  I don’t know how I pulled this one off, but it’s for real. 

On June 8th of this year I will be teaming up with Doug Krile to teach non-profit organizations and coalitions how to leverage social media to advance their cause.  The part that’s even cooler than that, is that we will be following that day’s keynote speaker, Jamie Tworkowski, the founder of TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS.

Let me introduce you to the two, and then I will give you the details on the conference.  Can you dig that? 

If you live here in Arkansas, odds are that you are very familiar with Doug.  If you aren’t, let me help you get acquainted:

Doug Krile has been involved in television news for more than 30 years.  He’s held a variety of positions from news reporter to main anchor and news director.  Most recently, he oversaw the operations of a centralized Hispanic news operation, producing local news content for nearly a dozen stations in cities scattered across the country. Doug has won the prestigious Peabody Award for a documentary on Teen Pregnancy in Arkansas, as well as several additional honors for local and regional news reporting.

After leaving broadcasting, Doug spent more than a year managing an experimental software marketing project at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Most recently, he joined Little Rock-based emerging media marketing company, Station X, as Vice-President of Media Relations.  Focusing on developing video on the web, Station X specializes in strategy and content development for forward-thinking businesses.

Doug and his wife, Judie, have two grown children – Thane (T.R.) and Shayla. T.R. and his wife, Tara, are proud parents of a two-year old daughter, Adleigh. T.R. is a chemical engineer with Cameron in Little Rock. Shayla is married to Bryce Teater, a marketing specialist with Windstream Communications, and is the producer of the 11 pm newscast for the CBS affiliate in Greensboro, NC.

I would imagine that you are familiar with TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS.  If you are/have a teenager or if you’ve been around a youth group in the last couple years then you have definitely heard of it or seen the T-shirt.  So, let me introduce you to the founder:

Jamie Tworkowski is the founder of To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA), a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide.

TWLOHA began in 2006 as Tworkowski’s attempt to help a friend and tell a story. He posted a blog on MySpace and began selling t-shirts as a way to pay for his friend’s treatment. Sparked by the support of bands such as Switchfoot, Anberlin, and Paramore, the t-shirts quickly became something of a phenomenon within the music realm.

Three years later, TWLOHA now has the largest online audience of any non-profit on MySpace and Facebook, with over 700,000 followers. The TWLOHA team has responded to nearly 100,000 messages from more than 40 countries, in addition to giving nearly $500,000 directly to treatment and recovery.

Here’s the deal.  I love you and you love me, right?  So be there!  JUNE 8TH 2010

The conference is the annual MidSOUTH Summer School at the Universtiy of Arkansas at Little Rock.  They’ve been doing this conference for many years now and it is amazing.  I’m convinced that almost every ministry that is in operation right now would be better and more effective if their leaders would attend and learn more about the large variety of topics that are addressed. 

If you are interested, or you just love me enough to come out and show your support, you will need to get registered sometime between now and then.  You can do that HERE.  

As the year comes to a close I thought we could look back at the 7 books that I reviewed this year, and kind of have a re-cap.

I will list them counting down to my favorite.  So #7 will be my least favorite, and #1 will be my favorite.  To see my full review, click the titles.  Enjoy!

#7 Rick and Bubba’s Guide to the Almost Nearly Perfect Marriage

These guys are amazing on the radio, but the book wasn’t a must read or anything.  It was funny, as expected.  However, it was rather drawn out and didn’t seem to follow a consistent theme.

#6 Faith and Pop Culture by Christianity Today

This one was a nice little work book that you could use in a small group or something like that.  We are surrounded by “pop culture” and have it shoved down our throats all day long.  How can we find God and relate to him in the midst of it all?  That’s what this book sets out to answer!!

#5 The X and Y of Buy by Elizabeth Pace

This one was really good!  This book is about marketing to the different sexes, but as a newly wed it helped me to simply understand a little bit more about women!!  Don’t act like y’all don’t know what I’m talking about!  Men!  Anyway, this is an incredible read that breaks down and explains the science behind the brain of men and women, and how you can leverage that to your benefit it everyday life.

#4 The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield

This was a good and interesting book about not only Guinness beer, but beer in general and how closely it is tied to Christianity throughout history.  Mansfield clearly did his homework and research to write this one.  If you like beer, God, and history then you need to snatch this one up!

#3 The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

This was an excellent book that should be read by ALL people.  Stearns shows how the western world of Christianity has completely missed the whole point of the Gospel as presented by Jesus.  I suggest this one to everybody, whether you have fallen in that hole, or about to step off in it.  We need to know what the Gospel is really all about!

#2 FEARLESS by Max Lucado

This may be one of the most well written books that I’ve ever digested.  Having not been a Lucado fan previously, it says a lot that I loved this book.  I don’t think I realized how much fear kept me bound up until I got into this one.  Max does an amazing job of combating our skewed views of life and the world with the truth of scripture and words of Christ.  Simply amazing!

#1 Obstacles Welcome by Ralph de la Vega

I put this one at #1 for a variety of reasons.  Ralph de la Vega is the President/CEO of AT&T Mobility.  This dude has displayed enormous amounts of consistent success in life and in business.  He takes common leadership principles that maybe you have heard, or maybe you just naturally practice, and puts them into real life perspective. 

This book challenged me to evaluate myself as a leader, and as a person.  This is a MUST read if you are a leader of any kind.  If you run a business, supervise employees, coach, teach, pastor, etc. etc.  You need to get this book and soak it up!!