Tom Reynolds is a man with a mission to serve others.

“I’ve always wanted to be in the trenches with the hurting and most desperate,” he said. “It is here I have seen the Gospel take hold of lives and transform them.”

As a founder of His Way Recovery Center, Reynolds works with men who are fighting a battle with drugs and/or alcohol. Sometimes the local court system refers them. Other times the men’s own family members reach out.

“We also help create an avenue of support to the homeless community,” Reynolds said. “We typically take anyone who applies.”

However, if a prospective client is on psychological medications, the ministry usually redirects. The program is effective but rigorous. 

“Some applicants screen themselves out when they realize our expectations. They choose not to commit,” Reynolds said. “We also have an $800 entry fee that covers their first two months. Some choose not to come because of that expense.”

According to Reynolds, the reason why the program is effective is because of its “Christ-centeredness.” 

“Every fabric of the program has been created through the lenses of Jesus and scripture. Some Christian programs are more secular with a little religious sprinkled on top, but His Way is Christ-centered through and through,” he said. “While we have no requirement for the men to believe, we do let them know up front we believe and the program operates out of that belief.” 

According to Reynolds, many of the men come from a Christian faith, so they recommit or experience a spiritual renewal. Reynolds said being exposed to the Gospel frequently leads them to a faith in Jesus for the first time or encourages them to recommit to a life of discipleship.

The His Way program is highly structured, very academic, and comprehensive in nature.

“It requires a lot of reading and writing. It is intentional because in order to assist the addicted brain to rewire itself, it must create new neuro pathways,” Reynolds said. “Reading and writing help do that.

“But with the commitment to take everyone from where they are to where they need to be, we do not lessen the standards or expectations for someone with academic limitations like illiteracy, dyslexia, ADHD. or any other educational limitation.”

Because His Way has a commitment to help every man succeed, the program includes training and assistance. Plus, if a client is struggling, he can rely on his fellow brothers at His Way who tutor and support their efforts for success.

“We have a commitment to ‘Leave No Man Behind,’ and that is our pledge to every man, even the blind or the ambulatory limited,” Reynolds said. “We believe Jesus would meet whatever need walked through our door. We help with career paths, financial management, medical and dental needs, family reconciliation, parenting, marriage training, and more.”

The intention of His Way is to meet the needs of the whole man, beginning with the spiritual and then working into all aspects of life.

After 60 days into the program, the men are expected to get jobs to help pay for their recovery expenses and to help them build careers that will support their transition out of His Way. The men learn how to create resumes and to set up interviews, but just as in the real world, they must seek and find their own jobs. 

“We employ some who struggle with jobs because of disabilities or criminal background histories. We have five thrift stores called ‘The Saving Way’ that provide nearly 50% of our expense and employ over 100 people, including current and former residents as well as their family members.” Reynolds said. “We also have a car dealership that has gradually employed residents. Now it has 12 graduates with family-supporting careers.”

His Way is both unique and innovative. Though His Way is not ready to start a residential program for women, it has developed a weekly nonresidential program called ReDiscovery that meets once a week and incorporates materials from the men’s program. Reynolds said he hoped a women’s program will be added in the future. 

His Way also offers a different type of therapy program, one people could say has “gone to the dogs,” literally.

“Dogs were never my intention at His Way,” Reynolds confessed. “But God had another plan in mind.” 

When His Way was just getting started, one of the men brought his dog, Max, with him. But then the man got arrested, and Max couldn’t travel with him to jail. Max could not be left to fend for himself, so His Way inherited him. 

“Everyone loved Max, and Max loved everyone,” Reynolds said. “When Max was aging, one of our graduate families had a litter of puppies and gave us one for Max to train. That’s how we got Bella. When Max passed, we honored him with a service and burial on our campus.”

His Way then adopted Buddy to serve as Bella’s partner. Since then, they have always had two dogs “on staff.” 

“The dogs are considered the men’s favorite therapists,” Reynolds said.

Unfortunately, despite the hard work and creative methods, the statistical success of addiction recovery is not encouraging.

“I think 3-10% nationally,” he said. “In order to keep us from getting discouraged, I thought it was important to set a realistic goal, so we set the expectation we were going to sow the seeds of recovery — the Gospel — in every man’s life. How it grows is an issue between them and God. We sow, but God gives the increase.”

According to Reynolds, putting the program in God’s hands prevents them from taking too much credit for success or blame for failure. 

“This view has been key to limiting burnout,” he said. “This view is why we are building a successful ministry.” GN