transformation
Kentucky Drug Town Transformed
By Wendy Griffith
CBN News Sr. Reporter
CWNews.com –
MANCHESTER, Kentucky - From the hills of eastern Kentucky comes a story of transformation.
Manchester, Kentucky and surrounding areas were once known as the "pain killer capital of the nation," and drug dealing was actually considered part of the local economy. But something extraordinary is happening in this small town, and it all started with a march.
On May 2, 2004, despite the unseasonably cold temperatures and a pouring rain, some 3,500 people representing about 63 churches in Clay County, Kentucky marched through town to send the drug dealers a message.
Pastor Doug Abner said, "This is my home...don't plan on going nowhere, drug dealers are not running me off the creek - this is where I live."
In what many believe was the key to that march, the pastors of Clay County, from every denomination, repented and asked God to forgive them for being more concerned about their buildings and programs than the people of Clay County.
“Lord, as pastors, as churches, as Christians and citizens, we have too long hid our heads in the sand, and not stood up to the evil and the poison of drugs in this county, and this community," prayed Pastor Wendell Carmack of Island Creek Baptist Church.
“We had an official say this week,” Abner said, “I don't want to be negative, but he said if it rains there won't be 300 people show up. He needs to come out and count."
Newspaper headlines were declaring "ENOUGH!" and "Drug Dealers Get Saved or Get Busted!"
“That moment, something broke in Clay County, Manchester, Kentucky that has changed us forever,” Abner said. “God settled in our community, and a holy thing took place - and really, it's hard to tell. It's like telling somebody what chocolate tastes like. You can beat around the bush, but you can't hardly get there. It's just such a holy thing that's happened."
Even as the presence of God hovers like this early morning mountain mist, Abner admits that kicking out the demons that have haunted these hills for decades won't be easy. With a population of only 2,200 people, Manchester looks (from the outside) like your typical quaint little country hamlet.
But the truth is, Manchester and all of South Eastern Kentucky, has been a haven for violence, corruption, and drugs for as long as folks around here can remember. The forest makes it a perfect place to grow large quantities of marijuana. But the drug of choice now for both users and dealers is pain killers.
Eastern Kentucky was recently named the “pain killer capital of the nation." The most popular ‘pain killer’ is a prescription drug called OxyContin, and Methamphetamine. The drug problem had gotten so bad that the younger generation of Clay County was literally dying off.
Unite Drug Task Force spokesperson Paul Hays remarked, “The drug problem in Eastern Kentucky is beyond anything I can imagine. It's epidemic."
But since the march through the streets of Manchester just a little over a year ago, Hays says there has been a new commitment by law enforcement to combat the drug problem. A drug task force called Unite is now partnering with churches, and is seeing great results. Arrests are up by about 300 percent in the last year and a half.
“God was hearing our prayers, and after we prayed and we humbled ourselves, and we asked for help, He was faithful and He came to our aid,” Hays said. “And we're seeing a lot of changes taking place."
Not only are arrests way up, but so are the testimonies of former addicts, like 25-year old Melanda Adams. Adams, who is from a prominent Clay County family, had been in and out of jail and secular treatment centers for years, for using and making Methamphetamine.
She was literally at death's door when one night, hiding in a closet, she cried out to God for help.
Adams said, "When no one else would have fooled with me, when no one else cared whether I lived or died, when everyone gave up on me, He was a God who came down and stood with me in that closet and said, ‘I've got you - you're mine,’ and He ain't left me since that day."
Abner believes it is the power of the gospel and the power of prayer that have broken the spell of drugs off so many lives. Even Bobby Joe Curry -- once one of the most feared drug dealers in all of eastern Kentucky -- is now a regular churchgoer at Community Church.
“It's hard to believe the high I'm on now. Before I was high, I'd get up every morning and be sick and stuff, and feel bad the next day,” recalled Curry. “But I got saved and I stayed up for two nights, and I felt so good. Best high I ever had."
Abner said, “What we're trying to do with drug users and dealers is to say, ‘Listen, you're doing wrong and you need to stop; we're here to help you, and we're your friend, not your enemy - but we're praying for you to get saved or be busted.’"
Forty-two-year-old Steve Collett had been busted more times than he cared to remember, but one night, fresh out of a Clay County prison and with nowhere else to go, he found himself spending the night in an outhouse near the jail. He took us back to the parking lot where it happened.
Although the outhouse was gone, the memories of the night he shivered in the cold and gave his life to Jesus Christ came flooding back.
Today, Steve is drug free - and a committed Christian - thanks to a discipling program called Life - life that he received at Community Church. No longer selling drugs, he now earns a living as a handyman at a gift shop in downtown Manchester.
And Adams, whose father is the superintendent of Clay County schools, has helped lead her whole family into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.
Asked how it felt to have his daughter back, Mr. Adams replied, “It's an indescribable feeling, it's hard to answer that - it's a joy to get up every morning, you sleep longer at night. There's joy in your home again."
Seeing the amazing transformation of his daughter after she gave her life to Christ, Mr. Adams recently gave the OK for the county schools to implement a Christian Bible study called "First Priority" that students can do before and after class - something he had previously been opposed to, for fear of possible lawsuits.
“Sometimes we err on the side of being almost atheistic. So what caused me to err on the side of being Christian? Well, I got saved!" Mr. Adams declared.
The change in Clay County so impressed state and federal leaders that they gave the city of Manchester $1.5 million to build a drug rehabilitation center, where faith-based programs will be the norm. And that will also bring new jobs into the local economy.
Abner says that every area of the community has been touched by God since the march of commitment in May 2004.
“There's just a difference, and you can feel the Spirit of the Lord when you walk through our town,” Abner said. “And the neat thing...we have people come, and they maybe live up North but they're from Manchester, and they come and they'll say when you see them, ‘What in the world is going on here?’ And it just breaks my heart. But it makes me feel so good that people outside of here can sense the difference, as the Spirit of God has hovered in this little valley of Manchester, Kentucky."
CBN IS HERE FOR YOU!
Are you seeking answers in life? Are you hurting?
Are you facing a difficult situation?
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
