For eight years, I lived on the streets of Greenville.

I was arrested more than 35 times and cycled in and out of county jail and prison. Addiction controlled my life. Hopelessness defined my future. Toward the end, I came to a sobering realization – death was likely my next stop.

I had enough.

While incarcerated, I made a short phone call to Evans Training Center. It lasted less than three minutes. I told them I needed someone to be harder on me than anyone ever had. I believed that was the only way my life would truly change.

That’s exactly what I found.

When I arrived at Evans, the environment was intentional and personal. The program body was small at the time, which I now see as God’s design. I needed attention, accountability, and challenge – and I received all three.

It wasn’t easy. I was pushed daily. There were moments I wanted to quit. But instead of giving me quick answers, the men here pushed me to the Word of God. When I struggled, they didn’t hand me solutions. They told me to pray, to search Scripture, and to come back and share what God was teaching me – and how I would apply it.

That changed everything.

For the first time in my life, I wasn’t medicating my pain or running from my problems. I was learning to face them with Christ as my foundation. Slowly, my thinking changed. My relationships changed. My heart changed.

Today, nearly three years later, my life looks completely different.

I think of myself less and others more – even when it costs me something. I serve in my church with responsibilities I never imagined I would carry. I teach youth on Wednesdays about regeneration and what it means to follow Christ. I’m involved in a men’s group where I get to both lead and be sharpened.

The biggest transformation isn’t just what I do – it’s who I’ve become.

I was not a compassionate person. Now my heart breaks for others. The Lord has used the very struggles I once ran from to shape me into someone who can walk alongside other men with patience and support.  I serve as the Inner Healing Teacher at Evans Training Center. I help men face the same patterns of thinking and behavior that once controlled me. For years, my instinct was to run – to avoid hard conversations and bury pain in addiction. Now I help other men stay present, face their struggles head-on, and seek the Lord in the middle of it.

Evans is a refuge.

I came here just trying to get sober. Instead, I found a relationship with the Lord and a family bigger than I could have imagined. One of my prayers when I arrived was simple: I wanted people who could become my family – people who would help me start over.

God answered that prayer – and more.