Craig Daily Press

Craig — On a late night in March 2006, David Dodge was prepared to end the dark road he’d been traveling.

The years leading up to then had been a pendulum swing between substance abuse and hope for a better life.

“Until I was 30, I did every drug on the face of the earth,” he said.

A divorce had left him with three children to raise and sent him seeking recovery in churches and 12-step programs.

But, on a mid-spring night two years ago, Dodge was ready to put an end to the dizzying cycle.

For good.

In what he described as a “blackout” brought on by a toxic mix of alcohol and prescription drugs, Dodge loaded a 9-mm handgun and threatened to take his own life.

A standoff with police prevented him from fulfilling that wish.

However, it wasn’t police in­­tervention that saved Dodge’s life. Salvation came in the form of a small group he met five days later that helped him give healing one more chance.

At Celebrate Recovery, an area Christ-centered support group, Dodge said he found people who had walked the road he’d traveled and were willing to talk about it.

They weren’t only people who grappled with drug and alcohol addictions.

They were people who struggled with a legion of ills, he said, including depression and eating disorders.

“It’s like a brotherhood of people with hurts, hang-ups and habits with a willingness to serve brothers or sisters,” he said.

“They’re all there for you.”

Caring for lost sheep

Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-based group that uses the 12-step model in other substance abuse recovery programs, Dodge said.

The group hosts one large group meeting Friday nights at First Baptist Church and hosts smaller meetings on weeknights.

A 20-person congregation, including long-time Celebrate Recovery members and a handful of first-time visitors, gathered for one of its meetings in the church’s auditorium Friday night.

As they sang the song “Grace Like Rain,” some audience members sat or stood comfortably, sporting capris and tennis shoes. A few sat in groups of three or four, talking quietly.

And some appeared as an island unto themselves with hands raised and eyes closed, hearing nothing but the notes and lyrics echoing around them.

All of them remain anonymous, Dodge said.

He discreetly pointed out one group member sitting near the end of a row.

The man, a 32-year-old Craig resident, said he hadn’t been to Celebrate Recovery in almost a year.

Dodge noticed his absence.

“When I saw him (tonight), I started to cry,” he said. “He’s one of our lost sheep.

“Now he’s back.”

‘Pure happy’

The national program Cele­brate Recovery started more than 10 years ago at Saddleback Church in California, according to the organization’s Web site.

In 2004, Craig residents Ivan and Wendy Wooden brought Celebrate Recovery to Craig.

A core group of about seven people developed shortly afterward and began going through the 12-step program — a prerequisite for becoming a Celebrate Recovery leader.

The Wooden’s daughter, Jes­sie Cramer, was one of the first six people to lead the new group.

Since 2004, the group’s leadership core has grown to include about 15 people, Cramer said.

Cramer initially started the 12 steps to support her husband, Tom, who also was going through the program to recover from methamphetamine abuse.

The 12-steps later revealed Cramer’s own hang-ups, particularly a long-standing battle with bulimia.

It’s been four years since Cramer joined the group. In her view, the changes within herself have been striking.

“I am 180 degrees from where I was when I started,” Cramer said.

“I feel like God has healed a whole bunch of holes in my heart,” she said.

Cramer and Dodge said the relationships formed between the people who flock to Celebrate Recovery are the key to its effectiveness.

Dodge said he didn’t feel understood or “at home” in substance abuse programs he attended in the past.

Going to church didn’t have the desired effects on his long-standing addictions, either.

“I didn’t feel like the church could help me,” Dodge said.

What he saw in Celebrate Recovery, however, was what he described as “pure happy.”

“In Celebrate Recovery, I saw joy in people’s lives,” he said.

Celebrate Recovery allows its members to discuss their addictions openly, without fearing judgment from other members, Dodge said.

“It’s a trust thing,” he said. “In church, people have a hard time building that trust.”

Still, those who attend Celebrate Recovery also keep each other accountable to their resolutions to stay on the straight and narrow, Cramer said.

“I’ve never met a group of people so willing ... to reach out and be there and support people,” she said.

Celebrate Recovery isn’t limited to First Baptist Church. In October, the group began conducting lessons in the Moffat County Jail, Dodge said.

If Dodge has his way, the expansion won’t stop there.

A “for sale” sign stands near the entrance to the home where Dodge and his wife, Lori, live outside of Craig.

In the next month or so, they plan to move to the Cañon City area, where Dodge plans to lead Celebrate Recovery full time.

Initially, he said, he plans to take the program to the area’s homeless shelter.

His ultimate destination, however, is the area’s prison system. Dodge hopes to reach his goal, he said, “by the grace of God.”

“It’s going to be one day at a time,” he said.