Greensburg — Hurts, habits and hangups — these are the driving forces behind Celebrate Recovery, a national program launched locally at Greensburg Wesleyan Church Friday night.

Program Coordinators Teresa Ruble and Sherri Preston told the Daily News that although Celebrate Recovery is run similarly to a “twelve-step program,” it isn’t designed as a drug-or-alcohol-addiction program — not exclusively, anyway.

Ruble clarified that anyone with hurts, habits or hangups is welcomed and, indeed, encouraged to attend Celebrate Recovery.

As such, alcoholics and drug addicts certainly won’t be turned away, but neither will sex addicts, overeaters, victims of sexual abuse, depressed individuals or anyone else with hurts, habits or hangups.

“The Celebrate Recovery program is around 21 years old,” Ruble explained. “It was started by John Baker and Evangelical Pastor and author Rick Warren (Warren is also the best-selling author of “The Purpose Driven Life”). Warren and Baker wrote the Celebrate Recovery Curriculum.”

To launch Celebrate Recovery locally, the two women purchased a curriculum and training kit, and then recruited volunteers to help run the program and the sessions.

“We have twenty volunteers on the leadership team,” Ruble said, “and then a number of other volunteers who help with miscellaneous stuff like hospitality and so forth.”

Ruble and Preston agreed that the program proved itself worthwhile well before the first session Friday night.

“The program’s been a tremendous boost to our volunteers,” Ruble said. “They started training in September. Even if we’d never opened the doors to the public, this training has been beneficial in discovering and dealing with our own hurts, habits and hangups — myself and Sherri included.”

A ringing endorsement, but Ruble was quick to add that no one associated with Wesleyan’s Celebrate Recovery is a licensed therapist. Still, confidentiality and integrity are essential to the program, she said.

“For me,” she added, “the bottom line is this: There are so many people right here in Greensburg and Decatur County not living life to the fullest because their hurts, habits and hangups are weighing them down. Through this program, they can gain freedom from all of that, and that’s huge. This program has long been needed in Greensburg.”

Both women stressed that the program, although faith-based, doesn’t center on any single denomination.

“This program has nothing to do with church membership or attendance,” Preston said.

“We want to reach out to the entire community, regardless of denomination or faith,” Ruble added.

Rubble also touted the program as a proven-affective method for use in the judicial system. More, she explained that she and Preston have contacted the mayor, as well as local judges and prosecutors about the program’s potential effectiveness as a rehabilitative tool.

“The judicial system regularly uses this as part of probation,” Ruble said.

According to Preston, five local-area churches are involved in the program: Wesleyan, Mt. Moriah in Adams, Greensburg First Baptist, First Christian Church and Greensburg United Methodist.

Refreshments and snacks are provided, as is free childcare. Admission is free. Sessions begin at 6:30 p.m., Friday nights in the Family Life Center of the Greensburg Wesleyan Church, located at 714 West Main Street. For more information, call 663-6230.



Contact: Rob Cox at 812-663-3111 x7011.