Celebrate recovery

[toad]

Any riders here who have ever attended Celebrate Recovery? I attend a seminar a week ago in Little Rock and had an opportunity to meet John Baker the founder of CR. We will be starting a group in my church. CR is much more than a meeting, which I thought that was all it was. Each meeting (ours will be on Saturday evening) will consist of praise and worship, then we will have a large group meeting with a lesson one week and testamony's the next week. We will then go to small groups determined by sex. Alcohol and addictions, co-dependent, Adult children of alcoholics, food issues, sexual issues, gambling, etc. A small group will not be formed until there is a qualified leader and co-leader. All leaders must have been through the 12 steps. After the small groups we will have coffee and cake. We celebrate recovery day by day, week by week. We will have aniversary coins for months and years.

Just was wondering if anyone attended

[Hurricane]

Thanks for sharing Toad, I have not been but have been curious.
Maybe I can get out to one of yours soon. Will keep You and CR in my prayers.

[Astro]

Toad, I attended CR meetings my first few months of recovery, the format was just as you described. I tried two different ones though. One was smaller and we spent more time on the praise and worship. There are some CR meetings in our area that have a monthly BBQ.

The only thing I struggled with, being a newcomer to recovery, was that I felt like I was lying when I shared about God and Jesus. At that time I didn't have a God of my understanding, and I was still making deals with God rather than turning my will and life over to Him. Ashamed and full of self-pity, I walked away from CR and embraced the program of AA. I still run into those guys from the CR meetings, they've always been an inspiration in my recovery.

My fiancee and I are getting married in a few weeks, and the home we've moved into is right across the street from that same church I started going to CR at. I've been thinking that it might be beneficial to my spirituality, and an always growing faith in God to go back to those meetings.

Let us know how it goes with your CR group.

[toad]

Originally Posted by Astro

My fiancee and I are getting married in a few weeks

My my my.............congratulations Astro. Keep us informed with some pics. Going on a honeymoon?

[Astro]

9 nights in Greece. Other than a couple visits across the border into Mexico, this will be my first time out of the country in over 40 years.

When I was "out there" I never cared about traveling, just wanted to be within arms reach of a bottle. God is so very good, we are so blessed.

Thank you for the kind words.

[MrsMagoo]

I am in leadership in our Celebrate Recovery. There are two other churches in town holding CR meetings and we are training 3 more chruches so its very exciting! Maybe one day we will have as many meetings as the secular programs available. Our regular group (which is set up exactly as you described per the CR format) is on Friday nights, we have training on Thursdays and gender specific Step Study is on Monday nights.

We have collaborated with the other churches and gone camping together, host events and workshops together, have formed a community outreach team and are going to have a Battle of the Praise Bands event as an outreach in late October.

It always thrills me to CR mentioned on here. Where are you from? I'm in North Carolina.

[Astro]

Thought I would share this link to the homepage for Celebrate Recovery Celebrate Recovery

There's a meeting locator and resources can be ordered from the site.

[toad]

Originally Posted by MrsMagoo

It always thrills me to CR mentioned on here. Where are you from? I'm in North Carolina.

I live in South Central Missouri in the town of Mountain Grove. The closest CR meeting is 60 miles away to the West, 70 miles to the North, over 100 miles to the East, and over 100 miles to the South.

I have been a Christian since 1983 and clean and sober since 1998...after 11 yrs of sobriety I have found that I need to enlarge my Spiritual life.

"Where could I go but to the Lord" ??????

[recoveringnky]

I have been attending CR since March of this year. I am in leadership there and I absolutely LOVE it! I still attend some AA meetings too. For me, CR was what I needed to expand my spiritual side. I started attending church regulary too. Our CR group is at our church and that's so cool! Our pastor attends sometimes and has given his testimony (lead) there too. It's a church where I feel free enough to allow people to know that I am in recovery. So very wonderful for me and my sobriety. I celebrated 6 years in October. I got my token at CR and also at my AA home group. AA got me sober and helped me discover my HP is God....CR helps me grow in sobriety and closer to my HP.

Hugs,
Kym

[Astro]

Nice to see you here Kym and thanks for sharing that message.

I went to CR Tuesday night, haven't been there since '05. It's at a nearby church, we moved back into the neighborhood in March. My family and I have been going to church there too and we're slowly getting more involved, it was the pastor there who walked me over to my first CR meeting.

I feel like I'm being pulled back where I belong.

[MrsMagoo]

Ha, Ha! That's the Holy Spirit DRAGGING you back. Sometimes we just have to sit and soak for a while before we're ready start absorbing whatever it is God has planned for us.

Two of the reasons I LOVE LOVE LOVE CR is because we have "victories" instead of clean time, i.e, 90 days of victory and we are not IDENTIFIED by our hurt, habit or hang-up - instead we are "I'm ________ and I'm a beleiver who struggles with _________". good stuff.

[recoveringnky]

Originally Posted by MrsMagoo

Ha, Ha! That's the Holy Spirit DRAGGING you back. Sometimes we just have to sit and soak for a while before we're ready start absorbing whatever it is God has planned for us.

Couldn't have said it better myself!!!!

[Hurricane]

Good to see you here again Kym
Tony and Bill too !

[toad]

At my church we are setting our sights on early spring to begin CR. As a church we have spent two months in prayer about our CR ministry. The next two months will be spent putting together our T.E.A.M.. Our praise band for CR is called "Delivered," and we will play for the first time this Sunday at the evening service. We have been practicing for a month......guitar, drums, bass and Keyboards......God has opened a door in my community........by the grace of God we will step through it. God has done for me what I could not do for myself.

Congratulations Kym on the six years.........I have missed you.

[recoveringnky]

Good to be back....I missed you guys too!

[CStyle]

I live up in Olympia Wa, and attended my first CR meeting a couple months ago with one of my sponsees. I enjoyed it, it was a nice mix of worship and recovery. I have not been back, but would definitely go when my schedule opens up again. The CR meetings here also serve a meal before the it begins.

[Astro]

When I wandered back to CR last week I sat in the Newcomers group, listened and shared. For some reason I felt like I needed more, no surprise that God always gives me what I need.

Last night one of the guys who knows me from '05 started a Group 1, so I bought the first workbook and dove in headfirst. It was really helpful to share in a small group and get started on the Steps again.

This morning I started writing out some answers to the workbook questions. I need to get my Life Recovery bible ordered soon when I have the cash. Yeah, it feels really good to be back, I'm excited about the future.