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Staff Member of the Month

Denny Smith

Rev. Smith founded Christian Love in 1986.  Having experienced his own personal issues with drug and alcohol abuse, he vowed to not only never use a drug again, but that he would build a treatment center and help others struggling with addictions to overcome their obsessions and cravings. 

Standing in front of his church peers more than 25 years ago he announced what God had led him to do in his life.  Not many believed he would ever stop taking drugs, and never thought he would actually build a treatment center.  The building to the right was the first of seven to be built.  The ministry now operates with an annual budget of more than a half million dollars.

Denny has gained the admiration and respect of a great number of people over the years as Director of the board for Christian Love Ministries, Inc.  He leads a daily devotional class every morning at 8:06 am, during which time students are introduced to biblical principles which apply to each of their circumstantial realities.

The public is welcomed every day of the week to come and enjoy the teachings Reverend Smith offers.  His relaxed and and soothing humor keeps eyes peeled open and has earned him the award of, Staff member of the month.

  Please contact me with site problems at web@christianloveministries.net

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Building on Rock, and not Upon the Sand..

More than 23 years ago the founder of Christian Love Ministries Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center had just discovered this time-honored, biblical truth about sinking foundations.  He, as most alcoholics and addicts had built his life upon shaky ground.  Most addicts are familiar with the impending doom due to consequences of their behaviors.  Lack of a solid work ethic leads to the inability to manage finances  independently, as the addicted person seeks anyone- any resource- to use for unfair benefit.  This toxic codependence temporarily permits the alcoholic or addict to continue building his or her web, home, family, and life of addiction and solemn self-centered destruction and instability- poorly grounded.

Article on Local Drug Problem Concerns

If you or someone you love finds paralells and similarities to this way of life, be not surprised.  When I found Christian Love Ministries ten years ago I was 22, had wrecked every car that hadn't been sold for crack cocaine, had destroyed every meaningful relationship with every person I had ever come to know, and was laying on a bed at a relative's house wanting to die.  How could something become so powerful over my better judgement?  I was raised in a country club surrounded by lawyers and financiers at the dinner table, had always made straight A's and could build computer programs at seven years of age!  I had fallen through my own cracks.  Those walls of steel which had once wooed and amazed so many "friends" of mine were rusting... And all the while, even with faint glimpses of reality, I failed to acknowledge where I had built this bullet proof fortress of walls and draw bridges.  My castle was built upon mud and sand, and though the walls sheilded the world from knowing the ME who lived behind them, it wasn't long before I was smothering in the seedy foundation of my own life.  And worse, I couldn't just walk away from it all... The walls around me were welded tightly and heavily. 

I had a few hundred questions I had when I entered Christian Love.  First let me make clear one rudimentary detail which is often left unconsidered by people encouraging, hoping and praying that some certain person will go to a rehab and get off of drugs.  Christian Love Ministries does not accept insurance.  (Being a 501(c) IRS Non-Profit organization, however, it's possible that your financial contribution to sponsor a student at CLM could be deducted from your taxes.  Your accountant or the appropriate staff member at Christian Love should know for certain).  Now, I started drinking prescription cough medicine for the hydrocodone , a strong morphine like narcotic , at the age of 13.  I was hooked on it by the age of 15, and every doctor in my town knew it.  I burned holes in my insurance before I was old enough to truly even need its coverage.  If I would have had a medical insurance policy when I was 22, a rehabilitation center would've been the absolute last place you'd have found me.  Not until I extinguished and defrauded every last resource that would get me drugs was I willing to consider a treatment program for my addiction.  After the third time of being kicked out of the methadone clinic, for failing drug tests ironically, I was sick, paralyzed, depraved, senseless yet panicked, without healthcare but in serious need of medical attention, sinking, sinking, sinking.... So who cares?  Who did care for me, as I couldn't care for myself and didn't want to anyway? Who wants a faint hearted, criminally minded, professionally gifted conartist anyway?  PLEASE READ ON TO " ABOUT CHRISTIAN LOVE " to find out...