Episode 70
From Local Churches to Medical Facilities: How to Help in the Opioid Crisis. Part 2 of a Conversation with Rev. Randy Davis from Briannas Hope and the Author of "Recovery Conversations"
Bishop Julius C. Trimble is the Resident Bishop of the Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church.
Bishop Trimble has the personal mission to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest potential. It is his commitment to his personal mission that led Bishop Trimble to create the “To Be Encouraged” Podcast along with co-host Rev.Dr. Brad Miller.
Bishop Trimble says, “I am compelled by Jesus to share with you an encouraging word or two about Jesus, theology, the Bible, the pandemic, the environment, racism, voting rights, human sexuality, and the state of the United Methodist Church.”
To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble is to be published weekly and is available at www.tobeencouraged.com and all the podcast directories.
https://www.inumc.org/bishop/office-of-the-bishop/
Episode 070:
From Local Churches to Medical Facilities: How to Help in the Opioid Crisis. Part 2 of a conversation with Rev. Randy Davis from Briannas Hope and the author of "Recovery Conversations"
Part 1, Episode 069 is available at this link:
Introduction:
In episode 070 of "To Be Encouraged," Rev. Dr. Brad Miller engages in a powerful discussion with Bishop Julius C. Trimble and guest Randy Davis about their efforts to combat the opioid crisis. With personal experiences and a shared conviction, Davis shares his insights on how people can support and engage with the ministry. In this blog post, we will explore three key takeaway points from their discussion.
1. Partnering with Communities:
The first key takeaway from the conversation is the importance of churches partnering with various substance abuse centers and medical facilities to provide a faith-based process for recovery. Bishop Trimble emphasizes ongoing training for pastors and the role of the church as a place for individuals to find help for their physical, spiritual, and mental needs. By engaging with local communities, churches can offer resources and support, thus becoming an integral part of the recovery process.
Randy Davis highlights the necessity of intentionality from the church. Someone within the congregation must champion the cause and have the passion to see the work through. However, Davis acknowledges the stigma and bias that still exist within many churches and emphasizes the need for overcoming these barriers to create a welcoming environment for those seeking help.
2. Accessing Treatment and Recovery:
The second key takeaway focuses on the challenges of accessing treatment and recovery programs. Davis highlights that while recovery resources are available to everyone in any county, there may not always be a facility in each county. However, through the ABL Better Life program, there are multiple means of accessing resources and guidance online.
One particular concern mentioned by Bishop Trimble in the discussion is the limited access to recovery plans, with only 20% of actively addicted individuals having access to such programs. The conversation delves into the importance of professionally administered medically assisted treatment (MAT), emphasizing the significance of proper care and monitoring by qualified medical professionals. It is essential to strike a balance between effective treatment and avoiding the potential pitfalls of dependency on medication.
3. Making a Difference:
The final key takeaway is the impact that individuals and communities can have in making a difference in the lives of those struggling with addiction. Davis emphasizes the power of choice and the personal responsibility for individuals to make the decision to seek recovery. Alongside professional assistance, support from family, friends, and the community can make the journey towards recovery less painful.
Moreover, both guests stress the need for education and raising awareness within the church community. By sharing stories of success and providing resources for clergy and laypeople alike, churches can play an essential role in fostering an environment of empathy, understanding, and support for those affected by the opioid crisis.
Conclusion:
The conversation between Bishop Julius C. Trimble and Randy Davis in this episode of "To Be Encouraged" sheds light on the opioid crisis and offers insights into how communities, churches, and individuals can have a significant impact in supporting recovery. Through collaboration, intentionality, and education, churches can become beacons of hope for those seeking to break free from the grasp of addiction. By providing resources, understanding, and embracing the power of choice, we can collectively work towards a future where recovery is accessible to all and the quality of life in every community is improved.
Remember, change begins with empathy, understanding, and a willingness to support those in need. Let's spread hope and healing as we tackle one of society's most pressing challenges — the opioid crisis.
For More Information on "A Better Life-Brianna's Hope" Randy Davis' book "Recovery Conversations" and the Podcast "Faith in Your Recover"
got to: https://www.ablbh.org/
Transcript
Thank you. Thank you, Brad, for pointing that out.
Speaker:How can people be supportive of the
Speaker:ministry? Well, there are
Speaker:several ways to make that happen. Number one, we'd love
Speaker:for you. If you have any extra questions, I've not addressed
Speaker:comments, questions, fears, doubts, go our
Speaker:website@ablbh.org.
Speaker:The book that I'm talking about, all the funds from this
Speaker:book, this is volume one. Volume two is already in the works
Speaker:and we've got plans for volume three. And I'd love to
Speaker:go to volume six because we've got some incredible
Speaker:stories to be heard. But that book can be
Speaker:purchased for 1595 plus tax
Speaker:off of
Speaker:recoveryconversations.org.
Speaker:We've got PayPal other venues
Speaker:for donations on our website.
Speaker:We've got our
Speaker:podcast@ablbh.org,
Speaker:and if you have an interest on a chapter in
Speaker:your community, we'd love to hear from you. We'd help you
Speaker:set that up. It's a simple process. It's a
Speaker:minimal cost. You don't pay us anything in our office,
Speaker:but there are some incidentals you'll need to cover to take
Speaker:care of your meetings. But we'll be there with you. We'll
Speaker:help you get folks into treatment. We can resource
Speaker:that. We can make a lot of things happen and truly make a
Speaker:difference for your people, your community, and the
Speaker:quality of life in that community. So it's
Speaker:going well and we just want to see it continue to grow,
Speaker:continue to reach. It's one of those
Speaker:missional projects of a sort that we've been able
Speaker:to just turn into a
Speaker:God given success. And that pleases me to the
Speaker:bottom of my beam. I believe God is pleased too
Speaker:as well. Randy, I was listening to the radio actually it
Speaker:was earlier today, and they were sharing some
Speaker:of the heart wrenching statistics
Speaker:about the opioid crisis. How many thousands of people have died
Speaker:in the United States due to the opioid crisis? One of
Speaker:the things they said that really was a bit disheartening was that
Speaker:they found things that are helpful when people are trying to come
Speaker:off of opioid addiction. And they mentioned
Speaker:several different things that I methadone and
Speaker:some other different treatments. But they said only 20% of the people
Speaker:who are actively in addiction have
Speaker:access some of these recovery
Speaker:both treatment plans as well as
Speaker:accessing recovery itself. And I know
Speaker:recently the Indiana state added some
Speaker:additional funds to the mental health
Speaker:budget, and myself and a lot of others went down to the state
Speaker:House advocating for more funds. Randy,
Speaker:we didn't get all that we wanted, but they did increase what
Speaker:was previously in the state budget.
Speaker:Do you know what I make a reference to in terms of those things that
Speaker:have been found to be helpful as people are trying to
Speaker:overcome addiction and whether or not there are places you
Speaker:said you've helped people get into recovery
Speaker:programs. Is that available in all the
Speaker:counties or are there places where it's harder or easier than others
Speaker:to access help? If you really want to be helped?
Speaker:Yes, to all of that. Okay. But I'll try to break it down a
Speaker:little bit. It's available
Speaker:to everybody in any county, but
Speaker:there's not always a facility in every
Speaker:county. There are multiple
Speaker:means on the Internet. We have resources.
Speaker:We can help get you somewhere. We can
Speaker:guide indirect. As far as
Speaker:the medically assisted treatment that you're referring
Speaker:to, there's fear on some
Speaker:people's part. There's a great understanding on the
Speaker:part of other people. I guess I'm somewhere in the middle.
Speaker:Personally, I do not disbelieve in medically
Speaker:assisted treatment, but there's a right way for
Speaker:that to be done, and it has to be done
Speaker:professionally, not through what we used to call the
Speaker:pill mill to where you should just go and
Speaker:pick the pills up. You need to be under a doctor's
Speaker:care, and it needs to be done properly, just like anything.
Speaker:Otherwise you turn into abusing
Speaker:that drug instead of your old one. And
Speaker:there are some that through the medically
Speaker:assisted programs, you use them,
Speaker:you can become addicted, and they can be harder to come off
Speaker:of than the heroin or something else at times. I'm
Speaker:not totally versed in this, but I can get you to people who
Speaker:are who can help guide you and direct you to what's safe
Speaker:and what is working. Well, what
Speaker:you did say, and you said it earlier and you've said it more than once
Speaker:is that part of this ministry is helping people
Speaker:access treatment and recovery if they
Speaker:choose to. Obviously, you got to make a choice to want.
Speaker:Sometimes people might be living in a community. Maybe they become
Speaker:disconnected with their family or they've kind of been
Speaker:on an out and so they're in a different community. But if they connect
Speaker:with the ABL Better Life program, brianna's hope
Speaker:you're able to help resource them in terms
Speaker:of their pathway towards recovery. We
Speaker:would do our absolute very best.
Speaker:I could almost give you the excuses we get many
Speaker:times, randy the one that's the most often and the next
Speaker:and so on. But, yeah,
Speaker:it boils down. You made the choice to use the
Speaker:drug. You have to make the choice to
Speaker:stop using the drug. It's not just a matter
Speaker:of stopping usage. You've got to get your mind
Speaker:clean and everything else. So indeed, it's
Speaker:process, but it's not nearly as painful as the
Speaker:process that got you where you are.
Speaker:Amen. Hey, Brad, what questions do you
Speaker:have? I kind of got a question for both of you in
Speaker:this regard because I'm really interested in how
Speaker:it fascinates me how this has spread to so many counties and so
Speaker:many communities, even across the different states. And that's an
Speaker:awesome thing. And I really see the partnership opportunity for
Speaker:local churches to really get engaged with their communities. So I guess for
Speaker:Bishop and Randy, as both cordy people, how do you think
Speaker:churches can partner with the various
Speaker:substance abuse centers and what have you and medical facilities
Speaker:to provide something like this, a faith based process
Speaker:or some other process to help people get the faith that they need? How can
Speaker:we help things like this, help
Speaker:churches engage in their community in this great area of need?
Speaker:Bishop, why don't you go ahead, please? I think
Speaker:part of it is the ongoing training we do for our pastors.
Speaker:I know this has come up in our cabinet meeting, so several of our
Speaker:superintendents are fairly familiar with Better Life because
Speaker:they have churches in their districts that
Speaker:are hosting. But as a local pastor, I think
Speaker:about brad, you and I went to seminary together. The things that we didn't learn
Speaker:in seminary, things that would have been helped, things would have been helpful.
Speaker:When I was in Cleveland, Ohio, I had an associate pastor
Speaker:who was much more street savvy than I was. And
Speaker:he also was a trained social worker, so he had his finger
Speaker:on all of the resources that were available in our
Speaker:county, in our community that we could direct
Speaker:people to. But I think the ongoing education of
Speaker:pastors, local pastors, deacons,
Speaker:elders, and our laity and
Speaker:our churches, because the church should be a place
Speaker:where people can find help, whatever their help is they need, and
Speaker:that's physical, spiritual, mental
Speaker:help as well. So I think part of it is how do we resource
Speaker:our pastors? One of the things we like to do on the podcast,
Speaker:Brad, is to accentuate and
Speaker:magnify these stories so that people,
Speaker:they can be repeated other places. So I'm certainly going to be talking
Speaker:to Serena, our communications person. And I know we've done stories,
Speaker:it's been a while, but there have been stories done in the past about
Speaker:A Better Life. But Randy, now I've for
Speaker:you. What else? Yeah, because Randy's doing is really hands on in this. So,
Speaker:Randy, what have you seen? How is this
Speaker:program being translated and spread to other communities through the
Speaker:churches? It certainly takes intentionality
Speaker:from that church. There has to be someone, just as
Speaker:with every mission within the church, who has
Speaker:the desire, the passion to see this work.
Speaker:There's still an incredible stigma and bias out
Speaker:there that we deal with on a daily basis.
Speaker:And as much as I hate to say it, it's alive and well within
Speaker:many churches. Do we want that person next to
Speaker:us that we just read about in the paper a couple of weeks
Speaker:ago of going to jail on this kind of a
Speaker:charge or that kind of a charge? How much do
Speaker:we want to invest in that of our time and our
Speaker:energy and our hearts? But I'm still of the belief,
Speaker:and I tell nearly every chapter this at their start,
Speaker:it's going to take you one success story, and people
Speaker:will start to believe. I remember the
Speaker:negativity we faced in the beginning, and I
Speaker:get it because nobody around was doing anything like
Speaker:this, so I'm okay with that. But that
Speaker:didn't stop us. Again, tell me
Speaker:no. And that's probably the best fire you can put in me.
Speaker:That's the best amen you can give me sometime is to say,
Speaker:that can't work, because I will try to prove to you can.
Speaker:If God's with me, it's going to work. I think one of the great
Speaker:things you've done here, Rennie, is you put a face on this. Is there's a
Speaker:Brianna in every town, no matter what. It
Speaker:could be a big city like Indianapolis, or it could be a small little
Speaker:place like Red Key, Indiana, and every place in between, there's a Brianna
Speaker:there or a Brian or
Speaker:there's. If you put a face on this, I think it's one of the
Speaker:brilliant, if you allow me to say, a kind of a marketing play on this
Speaker:that you've done here to help give
Speaker:that a face to that. And then when that story comes up, because it will
Speaker:in every community where they will have that person pop up who
Speaker:has a need, and, boy, you're ready to go, then
Speaker:there's a lot. Of truth with that. And that was a part of the
Speaker:purpose, so people could identify
Speaker:you pick up the newspaper, you read of someone, boom.
Speaker:You can just transfer that into Brianna's story. And
Speaker:there's so much of that going on around us. And as you
Speaker:said, every community's had their struggle. I have
Speaker:been to two communities in my
Speaker:know nine years of this who have told me we
Speaker:don't have a problem. Well, to the best of my
Speaker:abilities, I kept saying, then why don't you travel
Speaker:with me and tell people how you keep from having a
Speaker:problem? More so than that, I wanted to say, you need to move
Speaker:that rock you've been living under.
Speaker:I call that the Cleopatra excuse, the queen of denial kind of a
Speaker:thing.
Speaker:That society is in as big a denial
Speaker:as any addict. Here's my quick story about that out of my
Speaker:ministry. Had a big meeting one time about some new
Speaker:folks coming to the church who were a little bit rough characters. And this one
Speaker:older woman said, I cannot stand people coming to our church with
Speaker:tattoos. And then while I'm talking to her at her
Speaker:kitchen table, her grandson, about 20 years old,
Speaker:who's been out mowing the lawn, comes in without a shirt on, and he has
Speaker:this huge eagle tattoo all over his chest.
Speaker:And I said, hey, would you ever like your grandson to be in church? He's
Speaker:got the tattoo. So you can deny all you
Speaker:want to, but the reality of the issues are right there in front of our
Speaker:face, and we can no longer deny them in the church or we will not
Speaker:be relevant to people who need the Lord.
Speaker:Last year we took our group, three or four
Speaker:speakers, went to J county High School, Portland,
Speaker:Indiana the first question I asked the students
Speaker:who were gathered, how many of you
Speaker:personally know someone, have a
Speaker:family member or are personally involved with
Speaker:drugs? And out of the, I don't know,
Speaker:1200 students who were there, 1100 hands went up,
Speaker:randy, the other hundred just. Probably didn't hit
Speaker:a line or out of touch. Yes. No,
Speaker:it's a very real thing and it's everywhere. And
Speaker:that will be true if we did that from the pulpit on Sunday
Speaker:morning. How many
Speaker:of our families have not been touched by this? I know that my
Speaker:family has alcohol and drug
Speaker:addiction and this is real. And
Speaker:we are not just in the business of getting people ready
Speaker:for heaven. We also should be in the business of
Speaker:interrupting some of the hell that people are going through and
Speaker:walking with them as they struggle through these.
Speaker:And Bishop and Randy is also just in
Speaker:practical, pragmatic terms that many churches are really leveraging
Speaker:things such as ministry to abuse situations as an
Speaker:evangelistic tool because there's so much need there. If you're showing
Speaker:the need to people hurting this way, it can lead to growth
Speaker:in your church as well. It can't, yeah. And
Speaker:to see the change within people when that light comes
Speaker:on I don't just mean those struggling with a drug, I mean
Speaker:those folks who have never really gotten serious about
Speaker:making a difference or getting involved.
Speaker:It's been an incredible experience. Well, Randy, one of the things we really want to
Speaker:hear from you, the theme of our podcast is to be
Speaker:encouraged and we always give Bishop the last word in terms of wrapping
Speaker:things up here in a few minutes, but really want to hear a
Speaker:story. Now, you've shared with us a few things but a
Speaker:story where you've seen either an individual's life
Speaker:changed or maybe a group like a class or a church or something
Speaker:that's been changed by the mission and ministry that you're involved
Speaker:with now and how that can be a point of
Speaker:encouragement or inspiration to others.
Speaker:Let's hear a great story. I may be a
Speaker:little hesitant, not because I don't have them, I'm trying to boil it down
Speaker:to one, maybe. Hard to do, but give us
Speaker:a story, if you will. Gotcha. I'll go ahead and I
Speaker:know I have permission to use this by name because I have a before
Speaker:and after picture. His name is Dustin.
Speaker:Dustin was a classmate of our youngest son.
Speaker:Used to come to our home quite often. I didn't
Speaker:know, I didn't recognize he was in a home that
Speaker:struggled with alcohol. Dustin,
Speaker:as he got older in school and was moving
Speaker:on, made some poor choices, got heavily
Speaker:into addiction and
Speaker:we would keep in contact. He'd show up at
Speaker:meetings, he fought his own battles and dealt
Speaker:with his own demons. And finally he
Speaker:decided he was done. Done with that battle.
Speaker:The before picture of when he was first booked into
Speaker:jail to the after picture,
Speaker:it was more than night or day. I oftentimes hold
Speaker:up his before picture and make a comment to
Speaker:people. This is not the kind of guy I'd want to meet
Speaker:in a dark alley. And then I go ahead and say I don't think I'd
Speaker:even want to run into him in a lighted aisle at Walmart.
Speaker:But the change Dustin has made, the relationship
Speaker:he's come into with God, the way he has
Speaker:reconnected with his family, he is now
Speaker:a journeyman brickmason. He's making good
Speaker:money. The people of the community have got
Speaker:nothing but good words for him and they saw him in
Speaker:another situation for a long time. So Dustin's
Speaker:a prime example along with Monica, who
Speaker:is one of our partner expression poster kids
Speaker:for recovery and her battle
Speaker:with Meth, losing her family, her children over the
Speaker:years, her jobs, her home, finally
Speaker:getting to that point. She was so proud she finally owned a
Speaker:car that had all four doors the same color.
Speaker:To see her come into recovery and
Speaker:she's now working for IUJ
Speaker:Hospital dealing with those who are
Speaker:those are those are two biggies.
Speaker:That's fantastic. And you take those stories of
Speaker:Monica and Dustin and you multiply them over and
Speaker:over again, don't you? Absolutely. That's awesome.
Speaker:That's been one of the joys of our podcast. Every one of those is a
Speaker:victory story in the end.
Speaker:What do you think about what you've heard here today from Pastor Randy
Speaker:Davis about Brianna's Hope? I'd like to get your kind of your
Speaker:reaction, what you feel about it, what is encouraging about it and
Speaker:what is inspirational moving forward for other churches and other
Speaker:leaders. I think this is an answer
Speaker:to prayer. When we talk about breakthrough prayer,
Speaker:I think that Brianna's prayer has really had a breakthrough
Speaker:effect. So where her loss of life
Speaker:has not been a loss in vain. And I give thanks
Speaker:to God without apology for Pastor Randy Davis,
Speaker:his enthusiasm, his exuberance, his
Speaker:contagious positivity that I think
Speaker:can be multiplied. And I think we ought to just continue to tell
Speaker:and retell stories like this. I may have heard of Monica's story because
Speaker:I don't know, is Newcastle one of the places
Speaker:where early on it got to start? I may be missing my commitment.
Speaker:Yes, it is. I'm sure Monica would have been involved.
Speaker:Right. And I was at one of those meetings and I'll never
Speaker:forget because I came back, Randy, and told that story. You never think about
Speaker:somebody giving thanks for having a car where the doors
Speaker:all match. And those of us who used know I
Speaker:grew up in the city in Chicago and I knew what that was. If you
Speaker:got a car and sometimes the doors didn't always
Speaker:match because it was a replacement door. But if the car was
Speaker:running that was the first thing. But if you had a car
Speaker:where all the doors are matched. That's a step up.
Speaker:Step up. That's awesome. Well, Randy, why
Speaker:don't you tell us one more time how people can find out more
Speaker:about your organization, about your book, about your podcast.
Speaker:Because people are going to want to know how to learn more about this. Tell
Speaker:us how people can get a hold of you, about your organization, and all those
Speaker:things we've mentioned there. Post the book again.
Speaker:All right. Our website
Speaker:ablbh.org. Our office
Speaker:email is
Speaker:info@ablbh.org.
Speaker:The podcast
Speaker:podcast@ablbh.org.
Speaker:It is titled Faith in Your Recovery, available on all
Speaker:major podcast platforms. Our office
Speaker:phone,
Speaker:260-766-2006
Speaker:and the book can be found on our website. You can
Speaker:go there, get information I'll get the angle there in a minute.
Speaker:You can go there and get information or go to
Speaker:recoveryconversations.org,
Speaker:and we'll get one out to you right away. That's
Speaker:fantastic. We'll put all those connections on our website at
Speaker:tubing. Encouraged.com. The main website,
Speaker:though, is Ablbh.org. I assume that stands
Speaker:for it stands for a Better Life Brianna's Hope. Is that what that stands for?
Speaker:I assume that it does, right? It does. Yeah. So that's
Speaker:ablbh.org. So that's where to go.
Speaker:Bishop, can you give us any final thoughts and close us with a prayer,
Speaker:please? Yeah, well, I got a copy of the book, but I told
Speaker:Randy I want an autograph copy, so he's working. On
Speaker:getting my word.
Speaker:Well, you know, one of the things we like to do is remind people of
Speaker:the scriptures that really undergird this podcast.
Speaker:First, thessalonians the fifth chapter. For God has
Speaker:destined us not for wrath, but for obtaining salvation
Speaker:through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us,
Speaker:so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may
Speaker:live with Him. Therefore, sisters and brothers, encourage one
Speaker:another and build up each other, as indeed you
Speaker:are doing. We have been encouraged by Pastor
Speaker:Randy Davis and A Better Life Brianna's Hope. And I
Speaker:hope you will support this ministry. It's a
Speaker:ministry worth supporting. If we want to save lives,
Speaker:we've got to invest in lives. And I give thanks to God
Speaker:for Randy Davis, and for the many people who have
Speaker:been, as we like to say, up the rough side of the mountain.
Speaker:Well, thanks for sharing, Bishop Tremble. And just a reminder,
Speaker:our guest today here on To Be Courage, Randy
Speaker:Davis from Ablbh.org, and
Speaker:here on the To Be Encouraged podcast with Bishop
Speaker:Julius C. Tremble, the podcast where we like to offer an
