The Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce had a ribbon-cutting for new Warsaw faith-based residential recovery program Exodus Ministries on Wednesday, Feb. 23. From left: Chamber President and CEO Rob Parker, Exodus Ministries’ teacher Pastor Ronnie Patrick, Biblical counselor Emanuel Matthews and House Director David Doss, Chamber Ambassadors Heather Lardino, Scott Allison and Andrew Wade, Exodus Ministries’ Board of Directors’ President Rick Keeven, Fort Wayne Recovery and Allendale Treatment’s Tommy Streeter, Exodus Ministries’ President and Director Benjamin Irvine and Chamber Member Relations Manager Scott Wiley. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — The Bible’s book of Exodus tells the story of God leading His people out of bondage.

That’s what inspired the name of new Warsaw faith-based residential recovery program Exodus Ministries. The Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce had a ribbon-cutting for the program on Wednesday, Feb. 23.

Exodus Ministries President and Director Benjamin Irvine explained the name’s meaning to media members at the event.

“We felt like the Lord was giving us that name because if you read the Bible, the book of Exodus is all about God leading His people out of slavery, out of Egypt into the Promised Land and so that’s … what our vision is for the ministry is to help these men come out of the life of addiction that’s slavery and bondage into freedom,” he said.

Exodus Ministries officially started in December, but it was birthed through another such program called True Purpose Ministries, started by Jeremy Graham.

“We separated from them and created our own 501(c)(3),” said Irvine. “They basically passed the torch to us because True Purpose is located in Tennessee. … So (the local True Purpose program) started back in 2015 and it just got to be where it was kind of hard to run the ministry and the program from Tennessee, it was just too hard on the director to have to come up here all the time.”

“Basically I worked with them for six years; I was the program director and then (Graham) said it was time to just pass the torch to us,” he continued.

The men-only Exodus Ministries program operates out of a residence in Warsaw, with the exact location being kept private due to security concerns. Up to 12 men can reside there at one time, with Irvine noting Wednesday there were currently five there.

It takes men a year to go through the non-denominational program.

“We have faith-based classes, evidence-based classes. We do the 12-step model, Celebrate Recovery,” explained Irvine.

The program is aimed not only at drug and alcohol addiction.

“We don’t even really limit it just to addiction; we really are open to helping anybody who’s had any kind of life-dominating problems that would have caused them legal issues and things like that,” said Irvine.

“We really focus on dealing with trauma, helping guys get healing from the traumatic events that have happened to them in their life,” he added. “We do Biblical counseling, we do a class called ‘Seeking Safety,’ which deals directly with trauma, it’s a PTSD and substance abuse class.”

Men enter the program either by joining themselves or being referred through the court system.

“It’s about 50-50, about half our guys come through the courts and half come on their own,” said Irvine. The program’s main focus is on men from Kosciusko County, but others are welcome too.

Men have also come from Fulton, Wabash, Whitley, Allen and Noble counties.

“Our vision (is) to provide a therapeutic recovery environment for the men to be able to just focus on their recovery without having all the distractions and stresses that recovery would bring in a normal setting,” said Irvine. “So they come to our home, and in the beginning they don’t have any bills or anything. Their first six weeks, they’re just there to focus on getting sober and focusing on their recovery.”

“Then we ease them back into things, so after six weeks … they’re allowed to get a job, and we help them get a job … so that’s a big part of our program is vocational training, teaching them work ethic, learning how to pay their bills on time, things like that,” he continued.

Irvine said the fact that Exodus Ministries is faith-based makes it different from some other area residential recovery programs.

“Our guys are supervised 24 hours a day, which not all of the programs can offer that,” he added. “We have a … House Director (David Doss); he lives there 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our guys never go anywhere alone; they always have staff or somebody with them, which the court systems really like that about us because that they know when they send a guy to us that … it’s going to be really hard (to use) because they’re not really in those positions to be away from accountability.”

Exodus Ministries aims to keep the cost of the program low to help more people.

“We charge a $350 fee to get in, but if a person doesn’t have it, we still take them anyways,” said Irvine. “We don’t base it upon finances, but we work a deal with them to where when they start working, they can pay that $350 back. … Once they start working full time, then they start paying rent to live there … That helps each man to feel like they’re personally invested in their own recovery too where they’re not just getting a handout, but they’re actually putting in the work to get the recovery.”

Along with Irvine and Doss, the staff includes Biblical counselor Emanuel Matthews and teacher Pastor Ronnie Patrick.

The four men have each battled addiction themselves, which helps them relate to those they’re helping.

“We have a 70% recovery rate in our program and I think one of the reasons is because when I was going through my addiction … the only thing that could help me was Jesus Christ … using the Word of God against the things that came to my mind in order to reshape my thinking and this is what helped me stay free,” said Matthews. “I think because I can relate to the individuals that come into the program with certain addictions. … It’s easy for me to relate to them and show them through the Word of God, how to be set free in Jesus’ name.”

“I think … an addict who’s struggling and needs help can’t really get the full help they need from somebody who’s never been there because there’s just some things that an addict goes through and experiences that a person needs a point of reference in order to be able to help them correctly,” said Irvine.

Staff members have also worked with Kosciusko County Jail ministry, the county’s Jail Chemical Addiction Program and county work release.

“We work hand in hand with the jail a lot, with the JCAP program … the guys coming through that get out and come into our program and stuff, so we’re trying to collaborate as much as we possibly can with the things that are already existing in the community,” said Irvine.

Future plans include hopefully adding a women’s program at a different residence and more locations in other counties, said Irvine.

Matthews said staff are grateful for the community’s support of the program thus far.

People can help the program by donating monetarily, which helps sponsor an individual’s $350 program entry fee. That can be done by visiting the organization’s website exodusministries.us.

People can also call (574) 377-2699 or email [email protected] to learn more about how to donate to help.