Transformation Part 1: The Beginning

In this three-part series, we’ll explore the power of transformation through building strong relationships at Atlanta Mission.

This is a story of two men with widely different backgrounds and life circumstances who ended up transforming one another’s lives. Let’s start with how they both found their way to Atlanta Mission.

 

Josh

Josh was drawn to counseling at an early age. As a high school student, his exposure to psychology classes, his desire to help others, and his mother’s role as a lay counselor for teenage mothers made him a natural. His friends sought him out to talk through their problems during lunch periods, and this led to his achieving a bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies, and later a master’s degree from Richmont Graduate University in professional counseling, specializing in trauma and addiction.

Before joining Atlanta Mission, Josh was working as both a church and secular counselor, but he was having difficulty making ends meet. He wanted a stable environment in which he could settle down, but his financial situation stood in the way. With his strong drive to help others, he also wanted to be able to accomplish more with his skills and knowledge.

He knew from experience that solving such a personal crisis involves a complete willingness to make a significant transformation, even if it requires sacrifices. His faith prepared him to recognize the right opportunity when he saw it. He believed with all his heart that if he were open to change, he would be led in the right direction.

Then it happened. When he learned that Atlanta Mission was looking for a staff counselor, he saw his path. He applied right away, getting his application in just at the deadline. He felt so positive that he told his family that same night, “I just know the job is mine!”

His family was skeptical, but he was not. He felt in his heart he was meant to be at Atlanta Mission.

Atlanta Mission’s lead counselor saw Josh’s resume come in. Although she’d already held interviews, she felt as though she needed to meet with him before making a decision. She scheduled an appointment, and Josh was right—the job was a perfect fit. He says about that interview, “Right away, I just felt like I was home.”

 

Charlie 

Meanwhile, Charlie was in a crisis of his own, but he was reluctant to admit it. He’d lived in North Georgia his whole life, but had lost his father to cancer at age 16. He started smoking marijuana, then over time, began using painkillers and cocaine.

“I was holding down a job—I was a functioning addict,” he says. But he was spending most of his paycheck on drugs. Then one day his boss drug-tested him and the results came back positive. At that point, Charlie’s boss insisted he get help, and did some research on where he could get it. He discovered Atlanta Mission. The Potter’s House, one of Atlanta Mission’s campuses for men, was not far away, but Charlie spent only about 24 hours there and left, going right back to getting high. It was so close to home that it was too easy for him to get his supply and fall back into his habit.

His anger simmered, and he felt a lot of resentment toward everyone. “When you’re an addict, you always feel like the victim,” he says. He kept his emotional walls up, trying to numb his loneliness and misery, but falling deeper and deeper into addiction.

Charlie was living at his sister’s house, but she had young boys, and finally she’d had enough. “You’re not welcome here until you get help,” she told him. With very few options and wanting to set a good example for his nephews, Charlie decided to head to Atlanta to The Shepherd’s Inn. He needed a change of scenery, but he also needed a change spiritually. “God was nowhere in my life,” he says.

 

Next up

In Part 2 of this series, we’ll discuss how the relationship between Josh and Charlie developed, and how it began a transformation for both of them.