John 3:16 to Hold Reunion for 20th Anniversary

Andrea Bruner

Twenty years ago, Bryan Tuggle looked around the grounds at 75 Holmes Road in Charlotte, Arkansas, and didn’t see much. He sure didn’t envision the 20 faith houses, multi-purpose building, amphitheater and more, all sitting on 200 acres down a country road.

Instead, from the top of the hill, overlooking the overgrown fields where only deer and rabbits had roamed for so many years, Tuggle saw lost souls like himself needing a way out of their addictions. He himself had attended a faith-based ministry to recover from addiction and felt like something similar was sorely needed in his home community.

To mark the anniversary, John 3:16 will host a reunion event on May 6 at the camp, with a fish dinner served at 5. Every graduate who attends will be automatically entered into five grand prize drawings: a Spartan Mower donated by Dale Scrivner of M&I Electric and John 3:16; and a $1,000 cash prize and three $500 cash prizes, all donated by First Community Bank.

In addition, the sponsors will have an opportunity to win a custom Jeep, donated by Brian and Michelle Chapman from Homer Skelton Group.

Tuggle said he is hoping for a great turnout to celebrate two decades of the ministry’s mission of saving lives and restoring families. Tuggle said in 2003 he was in debt to a bank, who asked him to clean up and refurbish the property so it could be put on the market and sold.

“My dad and I were out working on it, and we saw a sparrow hanging upside down in the pavilion,” he said, recalling how they both assumed the bird had died in that position. They walked on down to the lake and on their way back they saw it move, so they cut it loose. “We took it down to the lake to give it some water, and that bird flew off. That’s when I said, ‘We’re taking it off the marketwe’re going to buy it.’”

They formed a board, named it John 3:16 Ministries, obtained a bank loan, and started making plans around the four cabins, shop, chapel and bathhouse that were there. “It was about to fall in when we got it,” but to honor the 11 years that John and Donna Steer had operated their own refuge, called Fort Steer, each of the buildings was refurbished and is still standing today.

“I couldn’t see that we were going to build a kitchen or a dorm or any more rooms; I just saw guys like me down there. That’s all the vision I had to have, and God would do the rest. But I had to have me in it because I needed that worse than anybody,” Tuggle said.

David Bulla was the first man to arrive at the ministry. “I began hearing about Bryan Tuggle when I was in prison in Louisiana,” Bulla said. “My mom said Bryan had come to

Desha Baptist Church and gave his testimony and shared his vision about what he wanted to do.”

On March 18, 2003, the 42-year-old Bulla was saved in prison. “When you get saved, you better hang on because sometimes God’s plan comes pretty quick. They told me while I was in prison that if I could come up with $400 I could be released.” Eight days later, Bulla found himself heading to Arkansas. He called Tuggle about coming to the ministry, and started working with him to get the camp in shape.

Although Tuggle wasn’t planning to take men until June or July, Bulla moved in on May 5. “It was just me, Bryan and Jesus,” Bulla said. At that point, Bulla said he didn’t have a working shower and had to take showers at Tuggle’s house. “We didn’t have a cafeteria, we didn’t know how we were going to eat, but the Lord provided,” he said.

Within a week or so, Bulla said the next man arrived and got into the routine of Bible study, meal and manual labor. “It was just so peaceful. I was saved and I was looking to get my feet on the ground and get started with my new life because the old man was dead.”

Bulla stayed six months and graduated on his birthday, Nov. 1, 2003.

Tuggle said his bank took a big leap of faith on his idea, as he was writing hot checks to cover gas and lumber and groceries, but the bank kept covering the checks. Tuggle went with the men to churches to garner support and raked leaves.

“I gained 65 pounds going from one lady’s yard mowing and eating pecan pie to the next lady, mowing and eating chocolate pie with ice cream, to the next one, with dumplings. Because you have to eat,” Tuggle said, laughing. “But that’s how we made it.”

The grand opening event was a free fish fry, not really a fundraiser. But someone wrote him a five-figure check. Then the fundraisers began. “Those three years of crawling around kept us broke all the time,” Tuggle said. When the instructors came on board, however, everything changed. One of those was James Ashley, a Charlotte area native who had moved to Fayetteville and was going through a divorce about that time. Ashley said he turned back to drugs “pretty heavily” and was running with some old buddies. His mom fell ill and “went downhill fast.” In 2006, he was in jail with no hope.

“I gave myself one more shot because I couldn’t do it on my own. Jail didn’t fix me. I came out here to try something,” Ashley said. He recalled sitting through an interview at Tuggle’s house, when Tuggle asked if he thought Jesus could fix him. “That was the first time I was asked a question that I didn’t have the answer to immediately. I thought for a second and said, ‘I gotta believe He can because no one else can.’”

“There was always something about James, something special,” Tuggle said. Ashley became the 61st graduate of John 3:16’s program and stayed on as one of the instructors. Tuggle said it was the instructors that allowed for the growth - not only in those early years but ever since. He knew he could handle 20 men, but the need was so much more. There were always more men trying to get into the camp. Ashley said after three months there, he thought he had a handle on his addiction and was ready to give up his bed to someone more in need than himself, but Tuggle shut him down on that quickly.

“He was getting shaky on me,” Tuggle agreed. “We didn’t have an instructor, but I was maxed out. I couldn’t do any more without instructors, but I knew I didn’t want to lose James. He was too good for the camp.”

Ashley decided he was going to stay, and with three others became the first group of instructors. Dorms, known as faith houses, began popping up, but beds were often filled as soon as the building was finished.

“Guys would come on Sunday and we’d say we don’t have a bed for you - but we do have a couch,” Ashley recalled. “And that’s what they were sleeping on anyway, somebody’s couch, or the floor, or their backseat, or a jail cell,” Tuggle said.

“John 3:16 didn’t ever fix anybody. John 3:16 didn’t fix me. The relationship with Jesus is what fixed me,” Ashley said. “And John 3:16 isn’t a perfect place, but we teach the perfect One and that’s the opportunity that everyone, not just residents, who come to this place have to know Jesus.”

He said there have been sisters, moms, dads, and other loved ones of residents who have ended up changing their lives, as well. “That’s because of Jesus.” Ashley said Ephesians 3:20 is in a way the motto of the camp, stating God is able to do far more abundantly above all we ask or think

Ashley said it’s like eating an elephant one bite at a time. “You think about the faith houses and the buildings and the men, but it all gets done with one piece of sheetrock at a time, nail at a time. When it is of God, it gets done.” Tuggle summed what he has learned in the last 20 years with Isaiah 58:11, “Where God guides, He provides.”

Over the years, the original 13 acres was expanded to 200 as more land was purchased. There would be additions like a children’s playground, a large multi-purpose building the ministry is quickly outgrowing, and a total of 19 faith houses with two more in the works, bringing the number of residents to 260, Tuggle said.

Men stay six months to a year, and the camp typically graduates about three to five men each Sunday, with the total of graduates currently topping 1,900. John 3:16 has even had a few residents from other countries, including South Africa. A man had come to the States and was working for a farmer in Arkansas when got a DUI, and his employer recommended he come here.

As of Jan. 21, 2018, Brent Waugh became the 1,000th graduate, staying on as an instructor, as well. “As long as there’s a genuine desire to change, there’s a genuine desire to help. That keeps me motivated as the next guy needs to be motivated, needs Jesus. It’s a genuine need this world has,” Waugh said, pointing out, “It took 15 years to get 1,000 graduates, but only five years to get the second thousand.”

Bulla, who has worked for Wade’s Heating, Cooling & Electrical for approximately 15 years, said when he visits the camp these days, it never ceases to amaze him how

87% average of 41% 11:1 much it’s grown from its humble beginnings. “The peaceful feeling that comes over me - it’s the same feeling now, I don’t care how big it gets.

“Bryan has grown so much since those early days, both of us have. Iron sharpens iron,” he said. “John 3:16 gave me a foundation and set me on my path. … If I’m struggling I go out there and it regrounds me, reconnects me to where I need to be.”

Bulla said they could not imagine what the ministry would be like 20 years down the road, “But that’s how awesome God is - and it’s not just helping guys but the families too.”

“For some reason God uses a guy that don’t know how to build a doghouse, to build a ministry. But it will come to a day when the building won’t be going on but what’s already there will be doing much more,” Tuggle said.