Good News - February 2020

24 FEBRUARY 2020 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition COVER STORY For Americans under 50 years of age, drug overdose is the leading cause of death, above firearms, motor vehicle crashes or HIV/AIDS. And according to the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association, the number of incidences in Florida surpasses the national average. Most everyone knows someone who struggles with addiction, a family member, coworker or neighbor. “Addiction does not discriminate; anybody and everybody is susceptible,” Antony Tchividjian is quick to point out. Coming from a 16-year-addiction to drugs, Antony finally achieved sobriety through Calvary House, a residential recovery program affili- ated with Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale where he is now on staff. “Unlike most of the men I work with, I did not come from a broken home,” saidAntony. “I grew up in a loving Christian family. My dad was a well-respected psychologist and one of my best friends, and my mom is the eldest child of the late Billy Graham. But even with all of the blessings and benefits that came with growing up in a famous family who loved me and took care of me, I be- came a heroin addict.” Antony described his battle with addiction as a slow drift that eventually spiraled out of control. Remembering the amazing feeling he had when pre- scribed Percocet for a root canal when he was a teen, Antony began taking pills recreationally in college to fit in with the crowd at parties. “Before you know it, you’ve become dependent on them and everything in your life revolves around how am I going to be able to supply myself with pills or whatever it was. That’s when it gets bad. You lie. You start stealing. You do anything to supply your habit… It becomes a vi- cious cycle and you need something catastrophic to get you out of that cycle.” Antony had been through three other recovery programs before he fi- nally achieved sobriety at Calvary House. “I just remember being in the hospital detoxing and for the first time I just surrendered. I said, ‘OK Lord, I’m going to do whatever it is you want me to do,’ and I meant it… I came straight from the hospital to Calvary House.” What is it about Calvary House that is making a difference? For Calvary House Director Dan Laliberte it’s all about helping the men build a relationship with Christ and providing daily structure including regular drug tests and accountability. “How it works is the guys who come into the ministry, they volunteer at the church for the year and in turn the church supplies Calvary House. So that’s how we are able to operate without taking any payment. It’s a free service, but you are required to work. The Bible says, ‘If a man doesn’t work he doesn’t eat,’ and as men we should work. So we go and take care of the church.” “We have landscaping, restaurant, maintenance, custodial; there’s a construc- tion team. So the guys also learn trades. Some of the guys do end up getting hired along the way at the church, and some guys get hired in other businesses. We just graduated a 19-year-old kid off the streets whowent intomaintenance, started learning electric and now he got hired with an electrician company, and that’s what he’s pursing. He’s full time with them now and trying to become an electrician.” Paul Walker, executive pastor at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, said, “We are committed to growing both our Calvary House for men and Calvary House for women. We really want this to be a place of healing both spiritually, emotionally and even physically. And so we believe that working together with other partners throughout Broward and PalmBeach county that what the enemy meant for evil God’s going to turn around for good.” An important aspect to the pro- gram is skills training. “As a church we’re really committed to providing skills and opportunities for them to ei- ther get their GED or if they’ve got a high school diploma, they can get a college diploma as well. We recog- nize that we can do all this great stuff to help them, but if they don’t have a way to make a living chances are they’re going to go back to their old way of life.” Since the ministry was started 28 years ago, the structure has evolved from a simple halfway house located in a modular home to a full-fledged residential recovery program in an apartment complex in Pompano Beach. The program was recently broken into four phases that men progress through over the course of a year. Phase 1 is Introduction In this phasemen get acquainted with the programand are taught the basics of Christianity through theAlphaGroup program. They develop simple disciplines, and after 12 weeks they have an evaluation meeting with staff, their work super- visor and mentor to determine if they’re ready to move to the next phase. Phase 2 is Regeneration This phase involves eight weeks of intensive counseling with Living Water Christian Counseling Center, with Dr. NormWise, in addition to their regular work schedule, church and Bible studies. Phase 3 is Inner Healing During phase 3, the men participate in an intensive class called Bondage Breakers, taught by Pastor Bill Schott. “Our hope and prayer is that some of these issues that rise to the surface through the counseling in phase 2 we can actually start dealing with in the inner healing class.” Phase 4 is Servant Leadership. In this final phase, the men start leading the younger guys in the class. “We call them in front of the class, acknowledge them as servant leaders and they take an oath saying they’re taking this responsibility seriously. Then if there are issues, we want the younger guys to go to the servant leaders and they guide them to do the right thing.” Each phase is roughly 12 weeks. “We have every moment of their day scheduled and structured. So from day one until the day they graduate there is a structure in place. There is a plan. It’s very routine. And it helps with the reprogramming of your mind,” Dan said. “When living the lives we were living, everything was on emotion; when I feel like it, I’m going to do it. A lot of the guys struggle with the mundane, but life isn’t going to be some exciting new adventure. Monday you’ve got to get up and go to work; it’s just part of life. So we help the guys learn that you’re Calvary House Restores Men Struggling With Addiction Shelly Pond Good News (Continued on pg. 25) Antony Tchividjian and Billy Graham, his grandfather. Antony Tchividjian, Director Dan Laliberte, Tim Sims and Ed Weigand Photo credit: Justus Martin