Letting their light shine

By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

LITTLE ROCK — John 3:16 co-director Bryan Tuggle said Unity Fest is the ministry's main event to reach out to others and an opportunity to let its light shine.

"We based the name, 'Unity Fest,' out of First Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 10, which talks about all of us speaking the same thing, being in one accord," Tuggle said. "For this event, we go around to all of the churches, get all of our elected officials to participate and get the community to come together so we can fight our alcohol and drug problem." John 3:16 is a spiritually based drug- and alcohol-treatment program at a camp in Charlotte, just outside of Batesville. It sits on 72 acres, with a 6-acre lake right in the middle of the land. Sixteen cabins and dorms are scattering around the lake. The goal is for everyone to get a nice view and their own room. Participants take classes and keep busy at the camp's print shop, catering company and landscaping company, all of which bring revenue back to the camp.

With a recent expansion, 61 residents are housed there at no cost. The program is long-term, averaging six months to a year, and there is a halfway house on site for recent program graduates to transition back to community living. Tuggle said they stay full to capacity at all times, with residents from all over the country.

The program is a nonprofit. It receives no federal or state funding. Unity Fest is its biggest fundraising event of the year, but most of its funds come from donations from individuals, businesses and churches.

Tuggle said they are able to operate the program on $33 per man per day, and they have an 82 percent success rate of graduates who go on to lead normal, productive lives. He compared that to the $62 it takes for the Arkansas Department of Correction to house male inmates. He said they have a 50 percent return-to-prison rate, and about 90 percent of prisoners are in there for drugs and alcohol.

Tuggle said the program's Christian approach is a big part of its success, but so is its length. Thirty-day programs just aren't long enough, he said, from personal experience. He's 45 now and runs the program with his wife, Beverly, but at 31 he was a drug addict who finally kicked his habit at a similar camp in Houston, Ark.

"I settled it there, cut the giant's head off," Tuggle said. "I didn't want to drink or do dope anymore after that. That's where you learn that you're sick and tired of being sick and tired."

Tuggle said that in his case, like almost all cases, his family and friends got fed up with his drug addiction long before he did. Addicts have to make the decision to turn their lives around on their own and learn how to be a part of a family and a community all over again - just another reason why events like Unity Fest are so important, he said.

FAST FACTS:

• Time: 3-8 p.m. Saturday, May 30

• Location: Riverside Park along the White River in Batesville

• Tickets: $10, includes a catfish or chicken meal and entry for the door prizes, available at participating Batesville businesses

• Contact: (870) 799-2525

• On the Web: www. john316ministry.com and www.unityfestbatesville.com

• Suggestions: Lawn chairs encouraged, alcohol discouraged, dogs OK

- awidner@arkansasonline.com

Three Rivers, Pages 55, 56 on 05/07/2009