Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Oct. 2, 2024 – Breaking Bonds Ministries (BBM) has helped men overcome addiction through faith-based treatment for 10 years.
The ministry began in 2014 as a Tuesday night recovery service for graduates of faith-based treatment centers. In 2016 BBM founders Casey and Tiffanie Turner decided to open the facility as a free, long-term rehabilitation program centered on Jesus Christ for men, ages 18 and up, who are broken and ready for change.
Since then, hundreds of lives have been changed and bonds of addiction have been broken.
As the program continued to thrive, it has experienced growth and increased capabilities. The facility now holds up to 40 men, with 37 currently enrolled in the program. They have eight staff members, including five facilitators on hand 24/7 as they live with residents on campus.
“We consider this treatment a discipleship program. It’s really building a relationship with Jesus,” said BBM Director Camary Dill. “That is the treatment because when you take somebody that has a drug and alcohol problem, and then you put them in an environment where they have peace, time to study the word, be in Bible classes and have other people just pour into them.”
Every Tuesday night they have a Breaking Bonds Service at 6:15 p.m. at the Southwest Church of Christ Service, after which they interview applicants.
BBM’s very first graduate, Chris Metcalf, leads their Sunday services. This service is held with their affiliated church, First Methodist Church of Jonesboro, at the A-State Fowler Center’s Riceland Hall.
BBM Director Nolan Dill said the ministry also works for many different types of businesses and organizations across the Jonesboro area, including the City of Jonesboro’s Street Department, Arkansas State University, and various churches.
“Sometimes we clean up people’s yards voluntarily. We serve a lot of churches. If a church is having an event, whether it’s Southwest, First Methodist Church of Jonesboro or whoever; we’ll go help with their events,” Nolan said.
On top of the working, he said the men also had classes two days a week, including a Bible study class and a life skills class.
Although some come to the ministry with the encouragement of family members, Camary noted that not everyone has family support, and the ministry has relationships with peer counselors and other people who bring residents to them, some of which come straight from jail or another facility.
“They conduct interviews every Tuesday night after service,” she said. “They have to come to the church service. They must sit through that service, and then afterward, our facilitators do an interview with them and talk with them and go through that process of seeing if we’re the best option for them and if they are a good candidate for our program.”
Camary said they prepare the potential newcomers through a phone interview before the Tuesday service so that they know what to expect.
“Once they’re accepted, they’re in the program as of that moment,” she explained. “However, sometimes people will have legal issues or whatnot. Maybe they haven’t told their probation officer they’re trying to get help or whatever it may be. We may say come back next week, get this stuff together, and then come back next week. But typically, once that interview process has gone through, we take them there.”
She said they also take the men to their court and provide progress reports to the courts.
Residents attend at no cost and are not required to have insurance, as BBM is funded through donations.
The seven-month program is split into three phases.
Phase one lasts for the first three months of the program. It places a heavy emphasis on Biblical foundation and spiritual formation.
The second phase begins in the fourth month and continues through the sixth month. It focuses on getting the men ready to go back out into the world. During this period, participants work and attend classes.
“This is one of the most important phases because it’s taking those Biblical foundations and putting them to work. Everything that we do in the program is set up and it’s practicing for when they graduate,” Camary said. “We’re going to learn how to resolve and work through conflict with people in the community and our personal lives. It’s really the biggest part, the biggest phase of the program. A lot happens there.”
The third phase is a transition period designed to set each man up for success upon graduation. It is devoted to tying up legal affairs, helping to reinstate driver’s licenses, finding work, housing, etc.
BBM staff member Wes Phillips said he knows firsthand what a difference this program can make, as he is a 2018 graduate of Breaking Bonds himself and a staff member of seven years.
Phillips joined the program in 2017, when he was at the lowest point in his life, recalling how he had been in and out of jail with several DWIs, but alcohol wasn’t his only addiction.
“When I got into meth, I covered it up with my DWIs by drinking. When I got pulled over, I just said I was drinking. I was an addict from the age of 13 when I started using. At the age of 19, I was court-ordered to rehab for five DWIs. Then, I got sober for two years, until I turned 21 and went back to my addiction… and it was twice as bad.”
From there things just got worse for Phillips. In 2007, he battled with a divorce, which drove him farther into his addiction where he would stay until he was 37.
He said that was when he realized he’d lost everything when his truck ran out of gas and his sister said she couldn’t help him. As he was walking to the local library, his “God moment” happened.
“I had a flip phone, and I was using the Wi-Fi to figure out what I was going to do next when the police pulled up to me and they said, ‘Wes, can we help you?’ I told him, yes. I told him everything I’d been doing, everything going on in my life. He looked at me and he laughed. He took me to the police department, and he asked the chief police, ‘So, what we do with him? He has no drugs; he has no warrants. He hasn’t done anything. He just… He’s tired.’ She said, ‘We can open up our courtroom, put you a pallet, and you can stay here until we can find you somewhere to go.’ Then, they fed me a bologna sandwich and they let me take a nap. However, when they woke me up, she handed me a sack full of seeds and they took me out to this garden place with hundred-foot rolls. They told me, ‘Just plant this garden and we’ll be back to get you tonight.’ So, I did. I planted it by hand. When they came back and got me, I went back, and I stayed at the jail.”
Wes Phillips before he joined BBM (left) and after being a staff member for seven years.
He said this went on for a few hot summer days before they told him that they ran into a pastor who suggested BBM.
“When the chief police told me when I was leaving to come to Breaking Bonds, she said, ‘This garden that you’ve been planting was part of your journey. You go to Breaking Bonds. Then, you can come back, and you can see how the garden has grown with you as you’ve been in the ministry.’”
“Breaking Bonds helped me find who I was,” Phillips said. “They helped me find who I was in Christ. They helped me get a foundation in my life and helped me restore my family. They helped me to see things differently in my life that I had never seen before by accepting Christ in my heart and that’s what changed my life. I truly surrendered.”
For more information about Breaking Bond Ministries, email info@bbministriesinc.org or call 870-333-5404. Donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 19297, Jonesboro, AR 72403, or made online at www.bbministriesinc.org