Hope is Alive celebrates 10 years of helping others 'build a life worth living' with sobriety

The guest speaker wasn't sure how people in the pews would respond to his story.

Lance Lang didn't know if the church crowd was ready to hear that he was a Christian whose life had temporarily spiraled out of control. Could they handle the truth — that he was a PK, a "preacher's kid," who struggled with addiction? Would they believe he was on the road to recovery with a personal testimony that just might help them or someone they loved?

Those candid presentations and the lessons he learned in recovery led him and his wife, Allyson "Ally" Lang, to found Hope Is Alive Ministries in 2013. The couple will mark a decade of ministry with "Celebration of Hope," a 10th anniversary event set for Aug. 11, at Crossings Community Church, 14600 N Portland. Heisman Trophy winner and sports analyst Tim Tebow will be a guest speaker at the celebration. Festivities will include a concert with contemporary Christian recording artist Josh Baldwin with Bethel Music.

Ally Lang said she traveled with her then fiancé when he visited churches across the state to share his story. She said she would sell copies of his book "Hope Is Alive: One Addict's Story of Hope," and they both realized fairly quickly that his story struck a nerve. Maybe one person would walk out while he was talking every now and then, but they said the consistent response to his message would be a line of people waiting to thank him for talking about an issue still shrouded in stigma. And many people wanted to know how they could help their loved ones — perhaps a son, husband, daughter or sister — in the throes of addiction.

The Langs want members of the faith community and members of the community at large to attend the free celebration on Tuesday to hear how God has grown Hope Is Alive Ministries. They said they also want to offer hope to people who are struggling with addiction or if their family members or friends are struggling with addiction.

"It's free and open to anyone that needs hope," Lance Lang said.

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Filling a 'hole' in the process

Lance Lang said it was during his own recovery from alcohol and drug addiction that he saw the need for Hope is Alive's core program: sober mentoring homes for people recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

"I saw that there was a hole in the recovery process," he said. "I began to see men that would go to detox or go to treatment and they would try to go straight home to live this new, clean and sober life and I saw failure after failure, relapse after relapse, sometimes death, back to prison. I thought there was more that we could do for the person who was leaving treatment and trying to start this new life."

The Langs said Hope Is Alive started with one sobering mentoring home for men in Oklahoma City and the program has grown in 10 years to include 25 homes for both men and women in six states: Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, North Carolina and Missouri. They said about 220 people are currently in the program and 172 people have graduated from the program.

Lance Lang said the program is holistic, focusing on each individual's physical, spiritual, mental, emotional health and development, while giving them what he described as a "tool belt for life skills" to "build a life worth living."

Aside from the sober mentoring homes, the ministry also has been extended to include 40 Finding Hope support groups in several states. These are small groups designed to bring together people whose loved ones struggle with addiction. Ally Lang said more than 700 people participate in Finding Hope groups each week. An annual Finding Hope Retreat is offered to give individuals a weekend of respite, support and opportunities for self care and encouragement. There are also Hope After Loss support groups for people whose loved ones died while in the throes of addiction.

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Lance Lang said the ministries challenges over the years included the logistics of helping numerous people in recovery.

"It has taken an incredible amount of staff to shepherd that many people through this program," he said. "It's people helping people in an intimate way. We went from two employees — us — to 67 full-time employees."

Lang said the ministry has met those challenges with the help of grants and church partners. He said residents of the sober mentoring homes pay a fee to live in the homes which covers about 40% of the program so donors and supporters help keep the ministry moving forward.

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Meanwhile, the vision for the future of Hope Is Alive includes an effective online program. He said many ministry clients participated in the program virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new frontier for the ministry will be to develop a plan to build upon that programming.

Ally Lang said one of the biggest changes over the last decade is how willing people are to hear and talk openly about addiction and recovery.

"We try to teach people how find help and hope regardless of what happened," she said.

Celebration of Hope

• When: 6:30 p.m. Aug. 11.

• Where: Crossings Community Church, 14600 N Portland.

• Cost: Free.

• Information: https://hopeisalive.net/

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Hope Is Alive Ministries marks 10 years with 'Celebration of Hope'