Carl’s Testimony

I'm one of thirteen children who grew up poor and bitter. I started using drugs at the age of thirteen. By the time I reached eighteen I started using drugs intravenously up to $400 a day. I went to prison for selling drugs, kicked my habit, got out and thought my life was changed. After five years I began living on the street. In June of 1985, I woke up hungry after sleeping on a park bench all night. Park benches, vacant buildings and doorways had become my place of refuge. My meals came from wastebaskets or handouts.

One day I was told about a place called the Detroit Rescue Mission; a place where you could get a hot meal and a bed for the night. That night I heard the Gospel preached and I talked to a counselor who saw I had a need for help. He placed me in the Ministry program.

One night, one of the staff saw me sitting in bed crying. He gathered the other men in the dorm and they began to pray. As they prayed that night, I felt the spirit of the Lord move over me. It was that night I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior.

I completed the Rescue Mission's program, found work and began to live on my own. I also joined a church. I started a gospel singing group called the New Day, consisting of four men who have overcome drugs and homelessness through the power of Christ.

I now work for the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries. Here, I can help men who are now facing the same problems I went through.