The substance abuse recovery center God’s Way Home has officially opened in Rainelle, and they are not handing out plastic bags full of needles as the latest rumor would have some believe.
According to Andrew Bailes, pastor of the Orient Hill Freewill Baptist Church and founder of God’s Way Home, the doors officially opened on June 14.
To say the least, the opening of the center has stirred a lot of controversy in the small community, but it has also received a lot of support.
“We don’t hand out needles, we don’t hand out Narcan, we don’t do anything like that,” Bailes said. “We are an abstinence-based program.”
At one point, Bailes said he allowed those with the Greenbrier County Health Department’s harm reduction program and Seneca Mental Health to distribute Narcan from the parking lot, but that is not the mission of God’s Way Home. Instead, Bailes said the center fulfills a calling from God that he received about eight years ago as he was working as a mechanical engineer.
He recalled hearing the story of a woman who was working two jobs to support her husband through his recovery. People were having a hard time understanding why she would do that, but her answer was “If I don’t love him, who will?”
“I just cried when I heard that,” Bailes said regarding the tale of unconditional love. Further, he discussed Peter in the Book of Acts who was chained in prison and sentenced to death. However, when the church started praying for Peter, God sent an angel that delivered him out of prison.
“God gave me a message that that is where drug addicts are,” Bailes said. “They are chained in a prison and asleep to the fact that they might die. The next time they stick a needle in their arm might be the last. If they are lost and don’t know Jesus, they are going to split Hell wide open.”
After questioning God’s purpose in relaying these stories to him, Bailes said he finally understood the answer would lie in opening a long-term faith-based recovery center. Even though Bailes has never personally struggled from addiction, he said that God gave him the ability to put all of this together.
The building that houses God’s Way Home, located on Main Street, was purchased in February 2019. Through the Inspiring Hope grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, in collaboration with WVU, Seneca Health Services, Community Connections and Fruits of Labor, Inc., God’s Way Home, a non-profit, will provide beds for eight adult men in recovery and provide them with a peer recovery support coach and specialist, an outreach worker and a program director.
Typically, men who arrive at God’s Way Home will have already been through a 7-10 day detox program and will have usually stayed at a 28-day program before they arrive in Rainelle to receive a continuum of care, Bailes said. This program can last up to a year.
While at God’s Way Home, residents will join in various programs designed to help them overcome addiction, they must find employment and they must be able to pay $400 a month in rent, Bailes added.
As for those in the community who hear negative rumors about God’s Way Home, like the bag of needles give-away or it becoming a house for sex offenders, Bailes invites them in for a tour or just to talk. He said he welcomes questions from the community.
On the other hand, for those in the community who wish to help, volunteers are always welcome.
Ultimately, Bailes said he wants community members to pray for those who enter God’s Way Home needing help, just as those who once prayed for Peter.
For more information on God’s Way Home or to begin the process of recovery, contact Bailes at 304-646-6566 or email andrew@godswayhome.org.
