RECOVERY
TESTIMONY REDEMPTION HISTORY
IN THE POTTER’S HAND by ROBERT MITCHELL
“ Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (ISAIAH 64:8)
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hat makes the Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation (ARC) program so successful? If you ask Don Coombs, director of program development for the Salvation Army’s ARC Command that question, he says the answer is rooted in Scripture. “The way the potter makes clay into a beautiful vase is constant pressure in the right direction,” he says. “It’s not too much that it breaks anything and not too little that it flies everywhere. It’s constant pressure—just the right amount—in the right direction. That’s how God makes us and molds us and that’s how people change their lives in the ARC. “What’s great about the ARC ministry is it’s really six months to a year of redirecting a person in a healthy direction.” Coombs said that redirection begins on Day 2 of a person’s entrance into the ARC. They begin to “live normally” by getting up on time. They also are introduced to devotions, namely Bible reading, prayer, and quiet time.
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“Some people haven’t done that in a long time,” he says. “Other people have never done that. “Living normally is also taking care of your hygiene items. That’s going to work as therapy. That’s learning some new coping skills and new ways of thinking. That’s learning how to live with a biblical worldview. That’s having healthy relationships.”
Learning how to do life ARC beneficiaries complete their “work therapy” in the family stores, which fund the entire ARC program. They learn to concentrate, follow directions, complete a task from start to finish, and work together—all constant pressure in a positive direction. The work as therapy helps prepare them for life and employment once they graduate the program. “They’ve actually had to sustain
attention and keep to a task,” Coombs explains. “They get to see they can make a positive difference in their life and the lives of people in close proximity to them.” Beneficiaries also meet with their counselors. They also can attend education programs; self–help groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Celebrate Recovery; and bible studies and chapel services. “There are all these groups we get people involved with so that they truly know and experience that they’re not alone, and where we have unity, we have tremendous strength,” he said. Coombs said 20 percent of people who enter the ARC stay and complete the program, graduating from “chaos to really living in the community.” “What it takes to graduate is really quite intensive,” he said. “That 20 percent is a
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