Restoring broken lives

Renewal Ranch to sponsor Rally for Recovery on May 22

Renewal Ranch will sponsor its Rally for Recovery from 6-8 p.m. May 22 at the Conway Expo Center and Fairgrounds. Among those planning the fundraiser are, from left, Josh Kear, assistant director of Renewal Ranch; James Loy, executive director; and the Rev. Larry Pillow, chairman of the board of directors. Renewal Ranch, located in Perry County, is a faith-based rehabilitation program for men with drug and alcohol addictions.
Renewal Ranch will sponsor its Rally for Recovery from 6-8 p.m. May 22 at the Conway Expo Center and Fairgrounds. Among those planning the fundraiser are, from left, Josh Kear, assistant director of Renewal Ranch; James Loy, executive director; and the Rev. Larry Pillow, chairman of the board of directors. Renewal Ranch, located in Perry County, is a faith-based rehabilitation program for men with drug and alcohol addictions.

Renewal Ranch has been working toward “restoring broken lives through Christ” since the organization opened in January 2011.

The nondenominational, faith-based rehabilitation program for men with drug and alcohol addictions is now seeking the help of the community to continue the ranch’s battle against addiction.

Renewal Ranch will sponsor a Rally for Recovery from 6-8 p.m. May 22 at the Conway Expo Center and Fairgrounds.

“Our objective is to pull together every facet of the community — churches, pastors, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, educators, counselors and other individuals — to combat and take a stand against what addiction is doing to our community and to our families,” said James Loy, executive director of Renewal Ranch, which is located in Perry County.

“We just want to take a stand,” he said. “We are dealing with an epidemic that is sweeping across our nation.”

Rally for Recovery will feature “catfish and fixings” catered by Josie’s restaurant in Batesville.

Matt Mosler, a former morning-show host at KARK-TV Channel 4, will serve as master of ceremonies for the program. Mosler is on the pastoral staff at New Life Church’s Greater Little Rock campus.

Loy said the event will include “testimonials” from graduates of the Renewal Ranch program.

“They are our best speakers,” Loy said. “They know what it takes to recover from addiction. They know how the Lord has helped change their lives.”

Loy said the program will also include a memorial to three graduates of the program who have lost their lives, a proclamation from state Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, and words from Cody Hiland, prosecuting attorney for the 20th Judicial District, who will give a “brief insight on what he deals with every day,” Loy said.

Loy said that when Renewal Ranch opened its doors in 2001, it served eight men.

“We have now have 66 men being helped in phases 1 and 2 of the program,” Loy said. “Two-thirds, or almost 70 percent, of our graduates stay clean and sober after one year of graduation. We think that is a good success rate. We think our faith-based program works.”

The Rev. Larry Pillow, chairman of the board of directors, said, “Our dream is to see every parent have a sober child and every child have a sober parent.

“We are hoping to gain momentum for future expansion at the ranch,” Pillow said.

Loy said the ranch is in “desperate need” of a multipurpose building.

“We have men sleeping on the floor and on the couch,” Loy said. “The needs are just overwhelming.

“We now have three bunkhouses, which are fully occupied. We have purchased an adjoining property with a three-bedroom, three-bath home and a garage that we have converted to a library and a studio apartment. We have completed an auto-body workshop, where we work on our trucks and tractors and which now contains a studio apartment for two men, and we are building a bathhouse to better accommodate our needs.”

Loy said the men who are part of the Renewal Ranch program complete 570 hours of classwork during the first six months.

“We have 15 great pastors, led by Brother Pillow, who teach these classes,” Loy said.

The men also complete 300 hours of community service, working on Thursday and Friday. They attend chapel services on Saturday. Although there is a chapel on-site, additional chapel services are held at Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church, which is just down the road from the ranch.

Sundays are spent at area churches. Loy and others conduct services, as well as provide praise and worship in the form of music.

“We have over 100 graduates,” Loy said. “That’s over 100 men who have given their lives to the Lord.

“We are seeing a great ripple effect. We have one young graduate who came here and gave his life to the Lord. His mother saw what happened and gave her life to the Lord, as did his sister, and now, his father. God is doing great work here.”

Loy said Renewal Ranch does not charge the men anything.

“There is no charge to come here, but we need help,” Loy said. “Donations are always welcome. We need that multipurpose building.”

Pillow said there is a big need for men to mentor the residents of Renewal Ranch. He said some local Sunday School classes provide a meal once a month for the residents.

“All of this is helpful,” Pillow said. “We also need more opportunities to go out to churches once a month.”

As part of the men’s community-service work, the ranch now offers a lawn-care service. For more information on arranging this service, call Bruce Burns at (501) 514-8936.

Other ministries have been invited to set up booths at the Rally for Recovery. Among those will be Deliver Hope, the STAND (Stand Together And No Drugs) Ministry, The Harbor and Last Chance Ministries, all of Conway,

as well as the Butterfly Ranch of Swifton.

Tickets to the Rally for Recovery are $20 each or $250 for a corporate table for six. Tickets may be purchased at the downtown Conway and North Conway offices of First Security Bank and at Central Baptist Church.

For more information on the Rally for Recovery or Renewal Ranch, visit www.therenewalranch.org or call Loy at (501) 680-4895.

Renewal Ranch is located on approximately 100 acres near the Faulkner-Perry county line in the Toad Suck community. The ranch’s physical address is 29 Lake Drive in Houston, Arkansas.

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