History of Celebrate Recovery

 

Celebrate Recovery started in 1991 at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. At that time, the church was meeting at a high school gymnasium.  John Baker wrote Pastor Rick the “now famous concise 13-page single-spaced” letter outlining the vision God had given him for Celebrate Recovery.

 

After reading John’s letter, Pastor Rick said, “Great John, go do it!” 

 

The first night 45 people attended, and Celebrate Recovery was born. 

Beginning with only four Open Share Groups—Men’s and Women’s Chemical Dependency, and Men’s and Women’s Co-Dependency—the ministry has grown to over fourteen groups today. Over 8,500 people have gone through the program at Saddleback Church, and many of them are now serving in Celebrate Recovery and the church. Celebrate Recovery has become the number one outreach ministry at Saddleback Church, with over 70 percent of its members now coming from outside the church.

 

The first ten years were the birth stage of Celebrate Recovery, and now God is calling us to take it to the world. There are now thousands of Celebrate Recovery ministries around the world and it is growing. We are part of a movement that is bringing the hurting and broken to the healing power of Jesus Christ.

 

In addition, Celebrate Recovery is not just growing in churches, but in recovery houses, rescue missions, and prisons around the world. New Mexico was the first state to adopt Celebrate Recovery into their state prison system.

Now, New Mexico has Celebrate Recovery pods in all their state prisons. In August of 2004, Celebrate Recovery was announced as California’s state approved substance abuse program for prisons. This is an exciting and growing outreach opportunity for every Celebrate Recovery

 

Celebrate Recovery in Perryton, TX

 

 

In 2009, there was a need for a Celebrate Recovery program for a participant who lives here in Perryton.  After some research, we found that the closest Celebrate Recovery was in Amarillo, TX, 120 miles away.  We investigated the program, and we prayed alot.  The pastor, Jeff Hinshaw, the Elders of the Church, and John Johnson met and decided to start a Celebrate Recovery at Word of Life Church, in Perryton, TX.

 

In February, 2010, we began training our leaders by taking them thru the 12 steps.  We started with about 20 who were interested, but by the time we finished, we were down to just 8.  Our plans were to train leaders, then take participants beginning in June.  That was our plan.  However, God has His own plan.  We took in a few participants along the way, because they had no where else to turn.  A couple of those went thru the 12 steps, and became leaders in our group.

 

Celebrate Recovery Inside, Jordan Unit, Pampa, TX

 

In 2013, our Celebrate Recovery group began to sponsor a Celebrate Recovery Inside group that would go into the Jordan prison unit in Pampa, TX.  We take the same program to the men in the prison that we teach to the participants on the outside.  We have seen some lives being changed inside the prison walls.  God is really blessing us.