The SOBER Project

We have two exceptional guests in our second episode, Larry Munguia and Alyssa Giroux. Together, they tell the story of their passion for ending homelessness and sharing the love of Christ. 

Years ago, Larry had traded everything for a life of drugs—his wife, daughters, home, and health—yet that was not the end of his story. His life was utterly changed in one single moment. On May 2, 1997, Larry asked Jesus to come into his life and take over. By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was transformed, and all of his relationships were restored. Then he went back to school, became a pastor, and was given a heart for helping others find recovery. And today, his eldest daughter is following in his footsteps.  

Pastor Larry is the lead pastor of The SOBER Project and the voice of the Construction Zone radio program, heard each Saturday at 2 p.m. on KGMS radio. His daughter, Alyssa, is the Children Services Manager at Gospel Rescue Mission. 

Growing up, Alyssa had witnessed her father's transformation. She knows firsthand how the Holy Spirit can transform a family, which is why she is so passionate about helping children and their parents find healing and restoration at Gospel Rescue Mission. 

Trigger warning: this episode discusses drug addiction involving cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl. 

If you would like to support our ministry or you know someone who needs help in the Tucson area, please visit us online at www.GRMTucson.com

Transcript

0:12

Hello and welcome to homeless to wholeness, a ministry of gospel rescue mission. We're a team of Christ followers on a mission to help others find hope and restoration. My name is Pascal Quintero, and I'm the creative manager at gospel rescue mission. But more than that, I'm a seventh generation to Sony. And I have a deep love and a passion for both its history and the people of this great community. So please listen in every other week as we share the inspirational stories of individuals who overcame extreme challenges and found a new life in Christ, moving from homeless to wholeness. Hello, and thank you for joining us on the second episode of homeless to wholeness. We're here with two very special guests, Pastor Larry Pakiya and Alisa and I'm sorry, you're gonna have to share your last name with me because it recently changed. Yes, it was one Gaea but now it's Terrell, congratulations, by the way. And as you can tell, you guys share the same last name. She's my daughter, my oldest daughter, and Pastor Larry is one of the very first partners that came into the center of opportunity with the silver project and share with me a little bit about your ministry here. Absolutely. It's a church that is focused on men and women and families coming out of addiction into recovery. Through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I met Pastor Roy talking to gospel rescue mission, right when we first started. So we'd been friends for 20 years now. And so about three and a half years ago, they had been doing a radio show called the construction zone for quite a while. And they had sold the radio station. So they were moving out of their studio, and I needed a place to land. And I heard about what they were doing on here, the Co Op, back then we just called it the it was like the dollar dome. Alyssa was looking for a job. And we came to talk to Lisa about it. And I sat down and I told him, this is what I'm looking for. You said wherever you want later, this whole place is ours now. So whatever you want to do, so they Wilkins radio, that's why work for now, the construction zone, they set out their texts, and they set up our our program set up all of our, our recording, and we're it's a live show. So it goes out live on the internet. And it comes back

locally, on K GMs 9: 2:33

40am. Radio to constructions on Saturdays at two going to plug in. And so yeah, so they said, Come on, come do that. And we've been doing it you know, for three and a half years now, we have our own place. Now. It's kind of a stay in there. It's our own little spot, we have our radio play set up. And it also gives me a window to what's going on here. And we get to sit here and watch God do it changes people's right in front of you. So you came in here before any of the other partners before Gospel Rescue Mission fully moved all their staff in here. It's funny that you call your show the construction zone, when this was a construction site, right? I showed you some of the video and you'll be able to look at it to put it on your website from back in the day. 2019 is that walked through these hallways were hollow and outside was empty, wide open. Now we have the new buildings, we have the playground set up we have a lot of things that are different. The outside is changed a lot of it's just Lisa chest and his dream. And the idea is to have a one stop for all your homeless needs, from getting your your ID from getting your birth certificate, Id everything that's available to you too close to food. And the biggest thing is this future is there's a future of hope. And we were doing this on a one day a year with the hope fest. We were always a part of that too. Everything was going on solar project been part of it, we just always had to do something. We're very community minded church. So something was going on, we had to be part of it. And now you're just such an integral part about what we do here. Not only are you teaching classes, but you have their radio show you mentor so many of our guests, we can't tell you how much we appreciate, you know, just the lives that you touch here. You're part of the family. I appreciate that. I love it too. When I first started I was very active and I would travel and speak and all that stuff. I'm a little older now. So all I have to do is open my door and the people come in. I have a good buddy of mine, Ken Paul, he's my sidekick. And I go get him and he travels with me and he just helped set up everything and we get in the car and say well let's go fishing. Let's go fishing. We just see what we're gonna get today what God has in store for us today. And that's that's our mentality so we go set up shop and then God just brings them to us. And we just love them. Just love on them. So when I was listening to the story of the history of this place to lease his grandfather, Lisa's involvement, the thing that kept coming in my mind over and over again, was just God's plan. And God has a plan for this place. And you know, we always talk about the center of opportunity. It's the new the new thing than anything. But we've been doing this at the woman's center for a number of years. That was the beginning that was the the test pattern, the test plate, can we, first of all, get a community together to financially support this thing, taking on an old hotel, that's going to be needed to be redone, from the bottom up? How are we going to finances are we going to be able to get people to come in and say, sponsor a room to paint the room to clean the room and the churches came together, the community came together and a woman center became something that nobody thought could happen. Because nobody thought there would ever be a need for homeless women, homeless women with children, then homeless man with children, then just families that are home, I mean, we were just able to, so on the gospel rescue mission has been out on the cutting edge of service right there when it's needed when you're ready to provide it right then and there. It's amazing how you see it God's plan. Also, his preparation for His plan is way ahead of his doing. He's got stuff in the works, that will come into our lives in the future, there was oh, it all makes sense. Now. He's little by little, he's putting this all together, and it's for His glory. But most of all, it's we're at the silver project. We've always said, Where's the year for whoever comes in that door next? Who comes in next? I don't know who would have whoever comes in next. That's why we're here. Okay, so So let's talk about that. If someone does walk into your door, has some question is dealing with some struggles in addiction? What do you do with that person? Well, I call gospel rescue mission. All right, a lot of times, I get moms, dads, loved ones, I got a nephew, I got a son, I got an auntie, I got a mom. And this heroin is such a terrible problem. The fentanyl is such a terrible problem. First of all, we got to let them know there's hope. And then you make arrangements to communicate with him and talk to him. I have a list of providers. What does this person need? What can we supply him with now, or, and we just go through the process and having the way it's set up here, because of the Gospel Rescue Mission has provided and set up that we can get anybody off the streets right away, right away. And that's huge, because you only have a small window of opportunity when an individual is ready for their life to be changed. When a person calls up and says, You know what, I think I might be ready for help. That's the window of opportunity. That's when you got to jump on. Is it okay, make phone calls? Can I find a bed? Can I do this? Can they do that? Because that window will close. So it's important that we have this way it's set up is that we can provide that almost instantaneous hope column in this call me there. We work. Okay, so you get them in here, when they're in a place where they're ready to receive that help. You have a recovery Bible. That's my authority. You know, there's a lot of recovery out there. The AAA program has been doing this for a number of years, Alcoholics Anonymous. Now, it's also turned into Narcotics Anonymous. It's a 12 step program. And it's a great program. And it was originally designed by Christians. It's all about having a higher power in your life. When it first started, alcoholism was considered a mental illness. It was in those books, and it had alcohol that all the symptoms of alcoholism was a mental illness. Well, that didn't stick pretty soon. And they started saying, well, now alcoholism is a it's a physical, it's a disease. Yeah, we'll call it a disease. It's not a mental illness. It's not a physical illness. It's a spiritual illness. And that's where God comes in. Because right away, we see we read in the fruits of the Spirit, whatever we're gonna get real love, real peace, real patients, real kindness, real self control. This is what's missing. So when an individual has an opportunity to have a spiritual awakening, that there is a God. And he has a Bible that shows him the 12 steps multiple times in the Bible and the explanation why all of a sudden you learn about yourself, but you really learned about God. It's just an opportunity for people to seek, find and develop their own personal relationship with our Creator. Yeah, and I think that's the key right there is a relationship. Yeah, process gets it To the relationship, that's what religion was supposed to do. Religion was supposed to get you to a place to seek the relationship with God. But people stop, and then continue these people just go to church. And that's all we have to worry about. The church has to get to God. But when you're in recovery, you can't wait to get to God because that's where the help is. Well, let's talk a little bit about your relationship with Christ. You mentioned something earlier, I'm going to throw a date out there to you may 2 1997 8:40pm, something happened. Something happened, but you were having your own struggle, I traded. I traded my wife and my daughters, my family and my house. I traded them for a life of cocaine in the life of cocaine. Before I came to the Lord, I was living a life in I was working in bars, hardcore bars, biker bars. And that was my lifestyle. I wouldn't believe that. There's a reason why I still am the way I am. So I, I was Lord Larry. And finally, my wife and I have to 10 years separated. But it wasn't but a minute. That guy got a hold of me. My time is real quick. February 14, and 97 was separated. Yeah. Happy Valentine's Day. In April, I was invited to go to Promise Keepers. That's where it's all happened. If you don't know, Palace keepers back in the 80s and 90s was this place. It was a man's vision, because his life had been upside down. And God spoke to him saying godly men don't know how to be godly men. There are no such thing as God. The man's a man needs to be a man that God did, man. So that's what these these rallies were these stadium rallies. I took my brother's chair, his seat in the car. We drove to Los Angeles, California. And I was with my nephew and a bunch of guys I didn't know. And I was hard, very hard, hard, hard person. And they asked a question, what do you want to get out of this? And I didn't say nothing. By Yuma. I had been watching this Christian rock and roll and I saw DC talk and her Jesus preached for the first time What? What? And then he asked that question again. I said, I don't know. You guys don't know me. But I've done some things man. And I need God to forgive me for what I've done. And to change well become because I don't like who I am. In this guy like Doritos. It sounds like the sinners prayer. I don't know about no sin is very man. But this is just me. They just that was it, man. We got to LA we went to have dinner and Newbury was loosening up a little bit. In that night a little man came out on the stage by the name of EV Hill told my story as a comedian and went down. They got out of my seat. My nephew grabbed enormous other guy grabbed him I went I went down onto the field and I just saw this train and crying and I was weeping in convulsion, a boogers on my nose and everything, man, it was a mess. And I got up to the foot of the stage. And I looked up the and that's when it happened. I had that Paul experience that list last year was an out of body experience. I saw everything from way above it blinked and I was a different person. I went back to where I was sitting, the guys are freaking out looking at me like look different manager. I'm different man. I'm different. spent the whole day got a Promise Keepers and I was shaking hands with everybody. I'm a Christian. I'm a praise God. And God had prepared me for that moment because I had been taking my daughters to school. They had it when they were in private Christian school called lambs gate. And I was going with four years old and three year olds, they were little. So I heard Oh, my God is an awesome God. And and I'm like I've heard these times before. Where do you know, what do I know these songs? I spent all day worshiping. They came home. I came to the house I should say. And as the story goes, I knocked on the door and my wife opened the doors that had to go I said Bobby man do not believe me. I'm a changed man. I'm G I'm a follower of Jesus. Now I'm a Christian. And they want me to come home and be the leader of my family. I need to be the leader of my family. So I need to be the leader of my home. And she says that's great, Larry, this ain't your home. Yeah, I made that transition. I traded them already. And then I said, you know, what was that like for you? To kick in the crotch. And and it just but she was right I said those immortal words I said, just give me a chance. And little by little, we worked our way back into our relationship. I had some surgery done on my back would help with the pain. So it wasn't self medicating. God put me in college and went started going to school. Then that was the process. We found a church, Jay Mohr became my mentor. And here we go. Okay, so it wasn't just this one aspect of your life that changed. It wasn't just the cocaine. It was everything lifestyle, your life. Yeah. Got turned around in one moment? Yeah. So do you have any memories of this, um, I don't really have a lot of clear memories of what the experience was. Although I will say that while he was working in bars, and my mom was working as well, he was our primary caregiver. So we would go help him open up the bars. And so I was exposed to a lot of really hard people as well. So I'm very comfortable when those hard hearted people come in our doors here at the center of opportunity, are the ones with the tattoos and just like they think that they're scary, really scary people and really hard people. But it my experience as a young child with that exposure, I guess, gives me the opportunity to not be fearful, but to be compassionate towards people who probably not experienced any of that their whole lives. Well, it started out that I would take her to the bars, and she would see the guys in the bars because I wasn't going to be playing air hockey while I was getting everything ready. It came from taking them to the bars. And I used to take them to the halfway house as I was working. When I started working for CASA Santa Clara and I was doing the halfway house ministries, then those same guys, that same style of person that was in the bars are now in a halfway house. She could relate to that at a young age because they were nice to her at the basketball band. And they were nice to her at the bar and they bring out ice cream to him. Then I would bring him to these halfway houses. And they would bring out all pickles bring them. So it was a it was a transition. It wasn't it wasn't a black and white, it was just like there's just gray kind of moved into the same thing, same kind of people. But there's a lot happier, a lot more joy going on. Yeah, I think just the culture was a gradual change, because it needed to be for my mom, I think, too. She and my dad have known each other for over 40 years. So she knew all of his tricks and all of that. So for him to come and try to do a 180 automatically wasn't going to fly. So I think God provided the space in the room to do a slow transition and to to provided a an opportunity for the slow change to happen. So that trust in the bonding could be rebuilt, right? And then we kind of just followed suit with our mom. But my dad was always our caregiver. And so him not being there was definitely tough. And that that's probably where the most of the struggle for my sister and I came was when he wasn't around anymore. And my mom had to figure it out. Yeah, do daycare. And I never did daycare before. Exactly. So. So that time period of the absent father is probably the biggest struggle that it was only four months, not years, just for a few months, it was only for a few months. But not to say that didn't affect. It's just that we tried to fix it right away. Because we knew there was a problem. But even a few months does have a huge impact when you're young when you're young. Exactly. And so that's why I understand in my heart is for the families that come in here, the moms and dads that are coming into recovery as well. I know recovery works. I've seen it work in my own family. Through the silver project. I've seen it work in hundreds, if not 1000s of people's families and then being here, of course, even more proof that recovery works. So my heart for the parents that are in recovery is is huge. And it's important to me because I want them to be the parents that God intended for them to be. And so because I got to experience the transformation, and my father became the father that God had always intended him for him to be. That's where my desire lies here at the gospel rescue mission. Thank you for sharing that and And so far, we've really only concentrated on your father's ministry. But Alyssa, you have your own ministry here at gospel rescue mission. You are the Children's Services Manager, and you oversee all of the Children's Services at both the women's Recovery Center and here at the center of opportunity. So can we talk a little bit about your role your ministry here? Yeah, definitely. So I came to gospel rescue mission about four years ago, right when the center of opportunity was getting launched. I came via an administrative role, which that was not my heart, and my heart is to be with with the people and more importantly, to be with the children. And so when the opportunity presented itself to, to move over to the women's recovery center and work in the Children's Services Department, I jumped at that opportunity. And I started off as a part time, children's teacher is what they call it, but in quotes, because I am not a teacher. Actually, I'm gonna stop you right there. Because I know that technically, you're not. But I have to say this right now. I've been surrounded by teachers my entire life. My mother was a special education teacher, my wife teaches elementary education. I've got a nephew. That's a high school teacher. So surrounded by teachers my whole life, right? I know what a teacher looks like. It's just my glasses. No, and well, I met you, you immediately impressed me. Because I've never seen anybody work with as much love compassion, empathy with the kids as you do. Because you don't just get in there and provide child care. That's not what you do. Yeah, you know, that was a time when that's the thought that's all it was, is a nursery. I mean, it was Dad, no, it just there was nothing. It was not part of the gospel rescue mission. The kids were it was, we're just going to take care of the kids for you while you're getting better. Alyssa shined the light on something that was crucial that was being missed. And that's the trauma that these kids go through. Right and to acknowledge it, right, you love on these kids, you create this safe environment for them. So healing can take place. And not only that, like you said, you mentor their parents, you come alongside them, teach them how to be better parents, and you share that love of Christ with families facilitating that full restoration. Definitely. I guess when I think teacher I think of like, okay, everyone sit down, open your books, and this is what we're gonna go through. Um, I like to think of myself and my staff as more as advocates for the children to be the voices for the kids. But you hit the nail on the head with creating a safe space. That is what the purpose of our children's department is, is to create a safe space. For these kiddos who are living in fight flight or freeze mentality, their survival skills are up so high that they cannot function sometimes, or they function in ways that are temper tantrums and screaming and yelling and biting and hitting, because that those are their survival skills. And so what my my ladies, Marissa, Deidre, and Jackie are incredible. And they create that safe space for those walls to come down, and to create opportunity to show a child what a healthy adult looks like, and what that standard should be. And that's the standard that their parents are getting to, because they're these kids have been burned by every single adult in their life, especially the ones that they should trust the most. And so while Jackie, Deidre and Marissa are facilitating that in the classroom, on the children's room with the kids, their parents are learning how to utilize those same skills to create a safe space to build that relationship to, to earn that trust back. You know, I tell the parents, you lost your Children's Trust, you have to earn it back. They just they have every right to not trust you. So let's work on building that trust backup. Here are some tools. It's nobody's fault that you parent, the way that you were parented know that you only know what to do, what you're taught or what you've experienced. And what we know is that generations of people support the spanking and the toxicity and the screaming and the yelling and, and those unhealthy environments. But it's nobody's fault that that's the way you do things because that's all you know. So what my role is is to give an option to give a better option to communicate with your children to parent your children, to create relationships with your children. So what we utilize is called the nurtured heart approach, and that it was developed by a man named Howard Glasser, who, actually is from Tucson, Arizona. So that's a no, that is really cool. Yeah, it's a it's a worldwide approach a worldwide community. Everyone across the world loves and believes in the nurtured heart approach. It's used in schools, parents use it. But it was designed for the intense child, the kid that has the ADHD, bouncing off the walls, chemical imbalances, whatever you want to call it. But the reality is, is all of those different symptoms of ADHD and all those fun different letter diagnoses, mirror children who have extreme who have suffered extreme trauma, and every child that has ever come through our doors have suffered extreme trauma, living in a car is traumatic, have a parent having a parent who's in active addiction is traumatic. People are going through a divorce, that's traumatic as well. So I can take the nurtured heart approach, and use it to relate to the child that has severe trauma. And I am able to facilitate the training for my staff, to use the same terminology to have the same patience and empathy, to have the same understanding of okay, this is why this child is communicating this way, I understand that these really angry little people don't have the capacity to express the anger, they've seen stuff, they've heard stuff, and they're angry. And so it's okay that they're angry, I'm gonna give them a space to be angry, while they let that guard down. So while the children are being cared for by the staff, the parents are also receiving the same education. So the parents, the parenting courses that I'm teaching is the nurtured heart approach. So there's no confusion for the kids, they're going to have the same style of, of discipline, because discipline is not bad at all. Everyone needs discipline, everyone needs redirection and correction. It's the manner in which you deliver it, that determines whether it's good or bad. And so the parents and the Children's advocates are going to be delivering it in the same way, the standard and the expectation are going to be the same. So the kids no longer have that confusion of Mommy is, is going to be the yeller, daddy is going to be the hitter Graham is going to be the person that gives me everything I want, you know, all that fun stuff. The consistency allows for that next level of of fight flight or freeze or survival mode to come down. And so they we just chip away at that wall of survival mode. So that eventually there is that sense of peace and safety. Because that's our biggest goal is we want that safety for the children so that when their families leave, they can continue to progress and to move forward. So yeah, the nurtured heart approach is incredible. And even the guys over here, even though I've heard comments from them about the things that you say to them, but what I wanted to interject here is how awesome is it that we're able to have this environment where we can teach that to the parents, and work with the kids for a period of a year, until not only the parents get to the point where they're able to live independently, but they're able to have the time that they need to learn these new parenting skills. And what's amazing is the relationships that we develop with the parents is so important as well. I have one mom at the Women's Center her children don't live there, but she's still very active in their lives and she's learning to be the parent that she was intended to be every week Miss Alyssa this is what I did this this Isn't this how come it didn't work? Or Miss Alyssa guess what I did this and it worked and and so just maintaining that dialogue throughout the the year that they're here is important. It's not just a class you're gonna sit here and take notes Good luck, right you know, we're going to walk you through the process and we're going to offer you some reprieve and some it's okay that it didn't work this time because it's not a magic wand. It's not You're not going to nurtured heart you know, we put it into a verb you're not gonna have nurtured heart, your kid and then all of a sudden they're gonna be a perfect child. No, this is a process you have have to stay in with the process. And I always tell the parents, recovery is hard. Parenting is hard parenting and recovery is impossible. So let's work on this together. And we'll support you the best that we can. grm is call it. I tell you guys look at God has given you a timeout in your life, you're on messed up, you're just on the wrong path got to come in. Now, spend some time here and get your education. Learn how to be a godly man, a godly father, a godly husband, I tell these guys, it's three days, yours, you're free to first, the three things you want, you want to be a good man. So you'd be a good husband, you'd be a father. And your biggest fear is that someone's going to find out that you don't know what you're doing. It's okay, nobody does. But here's a place to practice. Listen, didn't start at at pastiche. She, she didn't start at the bank, she started at the sober project, her and her little sister would take our kids, our church kids in the back of the church and play with him for an hour while we did our service. That's where it started. Sure, in her Jessica grace, that you were took care of our kids, and you and you, you loved them, and train them and taught them. And that carried into this thing. When you were a youth advocate, a youth leader, when we would go to these conferences, and you keep the phrase a safe place to fail. that's mind blowing, this is a safe place to fail. Because you're not going to get it right. Right. If you already know that you're gonna, you're gonna we're gonna have your back, we're not going to get mad at you. You're not going to disappoint us. I always tell you guys, if you're going to use call me first. If you can't call me when you're done. Either way, just call me so we could talk about, I'm not going to get mad, you're not going to it's going to be okay. Then they're going to look at that choice and go. I don't even need to deal with that. I got good choices. When you say no, no, no, no, somebody's gonna say, Well, I'm gonna do it anyways. But he said, Well, go ahead, it's up to you. Now make the choice. And if they made a bad choice, what did you learn? And that's what's been playing on from the beginning. Like I said earlier, this is a opportunity to be re educated. And that's why the classes we have. But what we have here that other places don't have is the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. That's the key this place man, the Holy Spirit is thick, and in its holy ground. So when we're teaching our classes, and we're walking down the hallways, and someone drops an F bomb was a watch your mouth go, Oh, my bad. They're learning. Not that he dropped the F bomb. That was a promise that he's Oh, my bad. That's what we're looking for. The transformation happens little by little. And when it happens in the circle in our meetings, they're gonna take that home with them. And they're going to take that support, and that wisdom and the whole family gains from it. The other thing is that our people become the experts in their family. Well, you went through that program, you quit drinking, you haven't drinking in three years now. But your cousin Jimmy has been drinking, you got a nephew that's over here, an aunt, or an uncle or a mom and dad, you become the expert in recovery. So tell me get ready for sea doos call me. And then we'll call Greg. We'll get him in here the gospel rescue mission, but they become the experts because the problem doesn't go away. They become a help to the family. Now, somebody got out of it. Somebody got out of the cycle. And now we try to get the rest of the family come out of that cycle. And Come get some. Have you seen a lot of that where it's not just one member of the family, but whole families come in, we are transformed. There was a section at the silver project, three pews got three rows of seats. It was just one family. It started with one guy that his brother then brought his mom and his sisters and everybody came into the store family. Yeah. It's not just, it's when it's done, right. And when God does what He does, everybody gets some because it's it's organic, it's fluid. The Holy Spirit wanders and travels, and it's changed their lives. You know, when moms know, it's not me, it's God. When they come up and say thank you for saving my daughter, thank you for saving my son. That's pretty cool to be part of that process, man. And the other thing is what we do here, we blow it off. We laugh about it, but it's really cool to be part of God's plan like I did. That's why Alyssa kind of fell into this thing. Fell. Well, could have done anything. She could have done anything in their life, but this is where artists and the opportunities that Gospel Gaver here I hear I have this thing called nurturing art. What's it about? Well, this is what we're doing. Okay, go ahead, try it. See if it works, boom blows up. And we know that the This facility has now looked at worldwide, not just nationwide worldwide, how is that thing working? How is it being so successful? We want one in our city now. So we come along with the package deal solver project. This is ministry, we come with the gospel rescue mission and become part of the whole program. So my my idea is that wherever this goes, we go with it. So Alyssa, how would you answer the question? How is grm different? You know, I get to hear a lot of different stories and a lot of different things. And you know, a lot of other places have very strict rules or you know, there's a lot of babysitter's that are at these other organizations, or other places are just doing everything for the person that they're serving for their client. But our goal is to end homelessness, right through hope, shelter and transformation. Gospel Rescue Mission is wanting to end homelessness, can we ended on a grand scale? No, absolutely not. But we can end it individually. And the only way we're going to be able to do that is to provide opportunities for people to be successful on their own. So we get to have these programs that are specific to goals in priorities and needs. So I get to have conversations with people daily. What is your goal? What is your priority? What are you trying to accomplish while you're here? And then depending on how that conversation goes, we get to pick a program. Okay, awesome. We're going to follow this program. And at first structure, when there's structure, it doesn't give room for idle time in idle time, isn't that no idle hands are the devil's plaything. But even idle time, too. So that's the other the what we offer that's different is no room for laziness, I guess. So by creating those opportunities for people to have their own success is important, because then they have a sense of satisfaction and pride. And that's the transformation part of it. Right? So with through the hope, shelter and transformation. If we give them the opportunity to transform, they will take the opportunity, if we hold their hand through everything, or if we hold the guests down, then that transformation doesn't get to happen. And in fact, we're putting God in a box, and God does not fit in the box at all. Never. So being able to facilitate that is unlike any other homeless shelter. It's empowerment. I think a lot of homeless shelters do not empower their people. They don't, they don't take the time to hear their stories. They don't take the time to try to readjust. I had one guy today that he wanted to continue doing this work where he was on an app, and he would just pick up odd jobs. And so I said, How are you going to be able to sustain living when you're no longer here? Is this? Is this something that's going to keep you afloat? Or is it going to be a sink up and down kind of thing? He's like, No, I don't think so this is what I've been doing. And like, here I am. And I'm like, Okay, well, well, let's focus your time you have a graphic design background, you're telling you have a college education. Let's take put a pin, put a pause on the earning money thing right now. Give yourself some time to breathe and pursue that career that you want. He said, I'm still paying for my student loan. So I might as well be using my degree. Absolutely. With COVID people are experiencing homelessness for the first time ever in their lives. They never thought they would be here because of what the pandemic did to our economy. So lots of people are embarrassed and lots of people are upset and angry that they ended up here. But with grace, Love, dignity and respect, we're able to, to give them a sense of of belonging to say it's okay that you're here. Because you're not going to be here forever. We're just giving you a time to pause to then move forward and be very successful. So it's, I think that the love is what's different. And I tell the guests to our job is to love you. So if we're not loving you or if you feel less than loved, we're not doing our job and you need to let us know that. The other thing too is a lot of facilities. They just look dark and dingy. Like they're being punished. It feels like they're being placed when you walk into the year. It's bright. It's airy, it's wide open, there's full tables, nobody being punished or out here. Nobody that's that's that's being neglected, or they feel like they're in a position that they've failed. That's always been an uplifting thing, come here, let me help you up, let me help you do this. And this is what God would do. And this is how we want to approach this. So it's encouraging. And of course, there's always we get, we get little wolves in the air trying to play games and stuff. But as long as we empower our leaders, then they nip it in the bud, we don't have to say nothing, because they, they kind of police their area, they police their home, like we say, you don't do that in your home, you know, you clean up after yourself. And when they see you do it, they'll do it. You model it for them, first us here that our leaders, we do it, then they'll do it. And then other people will do it, you set up a standard. And everything is top notch, the food is excellent. I mean, the food they put out of here three times a day. And plus, there's always other things going on here. And people come in other churches, they bring in stuff, there's always something going on. It's not idle, it's not boring. It's encouraging. Alyssa gets to work with like, the school systems she works with. So work with the elementary schools and the probation officers at the same time. Person the relationships that you on the other end of what we do, meeting with those people that hold you authority providers, I call behavioral and you know, these places, and have the reputation of the sober project. Right there alongside the Gospel Rescue Mission, it took our church right to the top right away, because like I said, I've known Roy for so many years, and we were in the gospel ministry alliance together, we worked with the mayor and the governor and all these things. So it was just an easy for me to just kind of slide in here and do what we do. And like I said, Before, it was like, oh, so your, your your Alyssa, your password Larry's daughter, that's forever. It was better there. His daughter now it's like, Oh, I heard you have your list is dad. So no, I'm not pastor Larry, I'm missing Liz's dad. Now, I've been demoted. The promotion isn't a promotion. Okay. But I'm gonna stop it and say that, I can't tell you how much I appreciate both of you making time in your schedule to come in here and talk to me like this, because I met you both individually. You know, I didn't know you were related when I first met you both. And the same things that I admire about Alyssa, you know, I saw a new Larry is you're both teachers, you're both strong in the Spirit, you both come alongside of our guests, and you mentor them. And you don't just share the Word, you live the Word. And you show those around you how to live out the word. And to see that in both of you. You know, I've been wanting to get you both in here to interview you together, since I've met you, you know, two, three years ago. So I greatly appreciate you guys just taking the opportunity to come in here together and tell your stories this way. Well, that you got to do either favorite command and Saturday, come sit at the construction zone and tell your story. That's a long one. No, it's day after tomorrow. We'll talk. Yep. So since we're together like this, let me ask a personal question. If I can, you're working with your dad, in a manner of speaking. Is there anything that you would like to share about what you see in him that you've maybe never told him before? The way that you care for people in the way that you love people? And that is and that is where I get my love and passion for people from? Um, it wasn't easy being a pastor's kid. It wasn't easy going from a dad who you know was focused on Lord Larry and the bars and the drugs and everything and then quickly, shifting to the ministry being the focus and the the the people that he was serving being the focus. It was a it was a sacrifice that my family We made my mom, my sister and I, to, to further the kingdom. Growing up, we didn't know that's what it was. But as we got older and understood the purpose of of his life and how we supported that, and came alongside that it was hard growing up as a teenager of a pastor, and and then even has a young adult of a dad, who's whose focus was to create space for those in recovery. Because really, before the silver project came up, that was before Celebrate Recovery that was before all these other faith based recovery programs or facilities. And so he was the spearhead for that. And so he was very doubted. And, you know, they, when he went before the Southern Baptist Convention to sort of like, say, Hey, this is what I want to do. Can you help support me? I'm pretty sure they said they told them, No, we're not going to support you, because how are you going to support yourself? I guess they said, those people never tie, those people will never support you. And so we had to do it all on our own as a family. So growing up, it was really hard. But as I got older, and I understood the calling, and I understood the delicateness of it, and the importance of what my family was called to do. Because yes, my dad is the senior pastor of the sober project. My dad is the the construction zone voice. But it's my family's ministry. It's what my sister, my mom, my dad and I all created together. And I did not appreciate that until I got older. But that is what set the foundation for me to love what I do here. And I appreciate all of the wonderful compliments that you gave me because I want that to just spill out for me. Every time I walk through these doors, I have a smile on my face, I say good morning to everyone by name, I can tell you probably 98% of these guests by name because they make it a point to connect to them on that level. And I wouldn't have learned any of that without the sacrifice that he made and that my family made to, to set the way for people in recovery. I don't know if that answered your question. And you did. What would you say to your daughter? I'm just super proud of her. And I've watched her grow up. I'm really grateful. I'm like, excited about her husband and the new baby. And you know, we're just this was rockin and rollin. Well, thank you both, you know, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you both. And just to wrap things up, Larry, if you want to plug your show, you know, can they find out more information? Or

is it two o'clock on kgs 9: 48:11

40am. Or you go to silver Project Facebook page, silver project backslash, the construction zone. And like I said on Saturdays at two o'clock, we're live, be doing on Facebook, you can interact with us ask questions and talk. I have a lot of the guys that come right off. They should write in and tell stories and talk about what God's doing. It's a lot of fun. We are getting ready to wow next month, July. I think July will be our 10th anniversary construction zone. Wow. That's kind of weird. But yeah, check it out. And of course, if you're looking for a church that talks about God and in the Bible, check out silver project you can go to solar project.com and check everything out