Inside pristine white buildings on a perfectly manicured campus, business owners, former prisoners, and educated and uneducated men live and work. Brought together by their need to escape addictions, all are seeking A Better Way.
“Addiction is not prejudice to any certain person,” A Better Way Ministries Program Director Doug Campbell said, “It affects everyone.” Campbell, who graduated from the program himself, after living an out-of-control life of drugs and alcohol, said, “Anyone can get clean and sober but staying clean and sober is where it's at,” adding that he experienced several relapses before achieving sobriety in 2014.
Before he found A Better Way, Andrew Perez, 36, would wake at 6 a.m. and have breakfast with his family after self medicating with illegal drugs. Andrew was a functioning addict who managed to keep his drug use a secret from others but he knew he desperately needed help.
When the Newnan tornado destroyed his home, Perez knew it was time to break free. He quit his job, went through detox, and entered A Better Way. Almost a year into the program, his life has changed dramatically. “This place saved my life and introduced me to the love of Christ,” he said.
Dustin Owens, 31, was raised in church with Christian parents and grandparents. As a teen, he struggled with self-acceptance and started experimenting with drugs. "It alters your state of thinking. Nothing in this world matters, as sad as that sounds." Owens, who has two sons, 14 and 9, said, "I got tired of living like that. My children didn't want to be around me." After completing a different program, Owens relapsed and wound up in jail. His church offered to pay his tuition for A Better Way. In the program for more than seven months, he said, "I want to be a better father." Knowing what his kids have experienced, he wants to start a ministry for the children of alcoholics and addicts.
John Barrow founded A Better Way Ministries in 2005, and more than 2,500 men from Georgia and across the country have participated in the program. No one is turned away for inability to pay. “We're faith-based, and we believe that men's problems are sin-based,” Campbell said. “The right relationship with Jesus Christ is the primary solution to man's problem.”
Funding comes from individuals, churches, and corporate donations. Program participants also support the ministry through their work with A Better Way Moving, a thrift store, and other endeavors including handcrafting tables for Chick-fil-A restaurants that are shipped all over the country. The men also give back to the community by participating in disaster relief and providing food and other donations to those in need.
While helping the men of Better Way makes the community a better place, Campbell said it’s also what Christ would have us do. “They are someone’s son, someone’s nephew, someone’s brother.”
For more information about A Better Way Ministries visit www.abetterwayministries.com.
This place saved my life and introduced me to the love of Christ.