VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
SOWING GOOD SEEDS Volunteers delight in seeing “light bulb go off”
John and Sarah Aitken repeat the same phrase frequently when talking about their time volunteering at Lifeline Recovery Center. “It’s so much fun,” Sarah said, “when you see the light bulb go off, and the ladies understand God’s love for them.” A few minutes later … “It’s so much fun,” John said, “when you see the men experience God in such an intense way.” Although they have a common reaction to the hour they spend each week as Lifeline volunteers, they came to Lifeline from different paths.
John and Sarah Aitken, Lifeline volunteers
JOHN AITKEN
He also incorporates the DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Compliance) assessment tool to help individuals understand the four basic personality patterns that drive behavior. “It helps them understand the (addiction) triggers.”
“I’ve not always been a pastor,” he tells the Lifeline clients, “and you won’t always be an addict.”
John wants the clients to understand that their recovery is just a first step. “We give them a vision,” he said, “of what their future can be like. Using a football analogy, sobriety is just the first down – it’s not a touchdown. They must have a greater purpose. We show them, for example, they can run a business, not just work for one.”
John, senior pastor of Faith Center, once was in the throes of addiction himself – a fact he proclaims unabashedly to his church and to the men at Lifeline.
As teacher of the first-phase class, “Gifts of the Father,” John teaches the philosophy that “God is the father, we’re the sons – and, therefore, brothers – and the church is our family.”
10 | THE LIFELINE
