Ortonville- Dan Wyllys started his substance abuse as a teenager, beginning with alcohol and marijuana and progressing to prescription medications? raiding medicine cabinets of family and friends for Xanax, Vicodin, Percocet in the chase for the high.
Scott Fox was also a young man when he began using cocaine in an attempt to escape and deal with the disappointments he had accumulated over the course of his life, but as much as he tried to escape his problems, he couldn’t get away from himself.
Terry Davis struggled with alcohol and drugs, too, nearly losing his family in the process.
The three men share similar dark pasts, but now come together at 7:30 p.m. every Thursday with the hopes of bringing others into a brighter future in the New Life Recovery program at Hillside Bible Church, 173 N. Church St.
‘Jesus is the main thing that sets us apart from any government-sponsored programs,? said Davis. ‘If you’re not a religious person, you’re still welcome. A lot of guys come from Life Challenge (a 1-year residential addiction treatment program in Flint), the court has sent them there, they think, ‘Let’s try it, I’ve tried jail before.? Some come in as stone cold atheists… Everyone is welcome. Even if you’re not a believer, you can sit with people who are real and honest and open and there is a great deal of freedom knowing it is safe to talk about addiction and no one is going to beat them up if they don’t know Christ.?
At 72, and with many years of sobriety, Davis offers a listening ear that is experienced and wants the many men and women who come to the program to know they can recover their lives from the grips of addictions that range from alcohol to drugs including heroin, as well as food and pornography.
After 16 years of addiction to drugs and alcohol, Davis was driving down I-75, near the Dixie Highway exit, when he saw the famous sign that depicts Jesus Christ and asks, ‘Are you on the right road?? He wasn’t, but would soon find himself on the road to recovery.
The image of that sign came to him one night months later in 1976 when he was high and he began questioning if that was what he needed. He began going to church, turned his life around, and hasn’t looked back since.
‘I have a wonderful wife and she has stuck by me through everything,? said Davis, who has been married 51 years, has two children, and is also a grandfather. ‘There are people struggling with this stuff, and they need help? either a hug or a kick in the fanny, sometimes it’s hard to tell which of the two.?
While Davis has never looked back, both Wyllys and Fox have had their moments of doubt since also starting recovery based on faith.
Fox was living in what he calls a ghetto in Florida, working for a construction company while evading warrants for his arrest in Michigan on different charges, and getting stoned daily. He was miserable and one day while building a hotel, he put a 10-inch hole into a wall, turned on the water, and began crying amidst all of his fellow construction workers. A voice in his head told him to return to Michigan and turn himself in. He did, and while in jail in 2007, read Psalms 51, which he said took him into a place of recovery that he never thought he would be.
He’s been sober since, but nearly faltered a few years ago after a difficult divorce.
‘I had no one on my side and I wanted to get drunk like nobody’s business,? he recalls. ‘I thought, ‘I’m allowed to drown my sorrows, I’m a 31-year-old man, I can get drunk, I can’t deal with my pain.??
Halfway to the bar, he dropped to his knees, crying, stopped from a path to destruction by the realization that he had to find the strength to deal with his problems instead of returning to the addictive substances that had been a source of problems most of his life and that would ruin it if he caved to the temptation. He resisted the urge and three years later, he is still sober, remarried to a woman he calls amazing and is a stepfather to her children.
Like Fox and Davis, Wyllys also found his salvation in God and was even called to the ministry, but six months after becoming a pastor at a Methodist church in Kentucky, began drinking and making excuses for it, justifying that it was legal and different from his drug addiction. Two years ago, however, after his wife left him, he stepped down from the church, returned to Michigan, and entered the Life Challenge program. He is now reunited with his wife and when Hillside Pastor Cliff Powell offered him the opportunity to help start a recovery program at Hillside last fall, he jumped at the chance.
‘For me, one of the biggest things, is you hear a lot of people say you have to leave your old friends behind,? he said. ‘I thought it wasn’t an issue for me, I thought I didn’t have old friends to leave behind. My old friend was being alone, being isolated. The big thing for me is staying in a community, not being alone, or I will go back to the same old thought patterns and habits that defined addiction.?
Powell said those seeking friends as well as recovery can find them at Hillside. His previous church, The River in Waterford, had a similar program and he wanted to bring that kind of impact to the Ortonville church. The New Life Recovery program is not a 12-step like AA or NA, but takes an approach that addicted people can get a whole new life.
‘Some of the answers would be similar to 12 steps? we never cancel, they need consistency and they can call one of these guys anytime, and they are available, 24/7,? said Powell. ‘They are like sponsors… The big step is admitting you have a problem. We can’t do much until they get there. Some are still in denial or on the fence. The second thing is they can’t beat it on their own, they need a higher power. We go further and say, let us introduce you to that higher power.?
A third step is accountability, Powell continued, with recovery meeting attendees breaking into small groups after hearing from each evening’s speaker, to discuss what they have heard, as well as how their week was, and struggles they are facing in their journey. Facilitators offer encouragement. Most importantly, there is no judgement and hope to be free from addiction.
‘If you’re addicted, you’re enslaved,? said Powell. ‘The results are the same? it creates generational poverty, steals industriousness, you can’t work or earn money, it enslaves you, but there is hope to be free. Come see us and find help. We hope we can truly get them free from it. We don’t believe in getting together and reminding them over and over they are addicts. They can say, ‘This is what I was, but this is what I am now.? Even if they stumble, it doesn’t mean they are reenslaved, they just get back on the road.?
For more information, call Hillside Bible Church at 248-627-2513 or come to a meeting at 7:30 p.m., Thursdays at the church, 173 N. Church St.