Pastor Brian K. Patterson: Changing lives through God

BLOOMFIELD – Pastor Brian K. Patterson, through the Resurrecting Recovery Center he operates – along with Divine guidance – is changing lives in Greene County, one man at a time.

Drawing upon his own personal experiences with addiction, Pastor Patterson – who also ministers at Rebuilt Ministries in Bloomfield – founded Resurrecting Recovery Center to help addicts recover, with God’s help.

For his efforts, Pastor Brian K. Patterson has been nominated as a 2019 Greene County Difference Maker.

Said Sabrina McCumbers, who nominated Patterson, “Brian works hard to make sure addicts get the same treatment, recovery and a totally new life. He goes above and beyond to help addicts wanting to quit and those in recovery already.”

Resurrecting Recovery Center actually began last year at the site of the former Greene County Rehabilitation Center on Seminary Street in Bloomfield and became a corporation in April of 2018.

“I definitely saw the need,” Patterson said.

“I was addicted for 25 years. Alcohol, drugs, the lifestyle, you name it,” he went on to say.

“I know Jesus Christ rescued me from my past life. So I know what the answer is for people. I know what the answer is for me and I know what works for other people. I just see it over and over again.”

Then, Patterson was contacted by the White River Baptist Church Board of Directors. Patterson met with the church board early this year and they were surprised with what the church board told them.

“They gave us the church building and the four acres it sits on,” Patterson said. “What a gift from God.”

This year they were given the building, located at 174 North SR 57, and took possession of it in June. Patterson said he and volunteers had been working on it a couple months earlier.

“We actually opened Resurrecting Recovery Center here June 15,” he said. “Since then it’s just been explosive, with everything happening so very quickly.”

The center has added six additional bunks, converting what used to be a day room into a bigger bunk area. The center will now have the capacity to house 16 people.

Residents arrive at the Resurrecting Recovery Center when they’ve reached a low point in their lives, struggling with addiction and its consequences. Patterson knows all too well what they’re going through.

“I was in jail when I gave my life to Jesus,” he recalled. “I was set free. So I have a special heart for people with addiction problems and people in incarceration.”

The pastor mentioned he also does work at the Greene County Jail ministry. “I try to catch people as they come out and try to help them get planted in better places in their lives.”

January 12, 2011 was the date when Patterson gave his life to Jesus.

“And that’s when everything changed. When I actually began to apply the Bible literally to my life that’s when dramatic things began to take place. It’s just been an incredible journey.

“If you just repeat the pattern, you’ll succeed.”

Patterson emphasized the Resurrecting Recovery is not a 12-step program.

“We use the Bible. We just use Biblical teachings to disciple people and to teach them how to truly walk with Jesus and live out a life of freedom.”

He went on to explain, “Here are some of the core beliefs deep within me, from what happened in my life and what I see happening over and over again – “Once an addict, always an addict; once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic” are not true.

Jesus said, through the Apostle Paul writing in II Corinthians Chapter 5, Verse 17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone, the new is come.”

And Patterson says, “I know that to be true in my life. And if that can happen in me – so lost, so addicted, so bound by sin – if that can happen in my life, it can happen in anyone’s life.”

As such, Patterson does not subscribe to the “disease concept” of addiction as defined by the American Medical Association and espoused by the majority of treatment centers nationwide.

Therefore, the RRC is ineligible to receive state and federal funding.

So, as McCumbers said, “Brian does all this at his own expense and time.”

The RRC operates solely on donations and sponsorship.

“We sponsor people as they come in,” Patterson said. “We’re just trusting God to help us along the way.”

Eventually when the residents are ready for work, they begin to contribute $150 a week toward housing, board and other resources. Patterson says it usually takes 60 days before they’re work-ready.

Residents attend church services on Thursday nights at Rebuilt Ministries. Tuesday nights there are Biblically-based recovery classes and Bible study at RRC.

And the center and its residents are starting to become more and more involved in community service projects.

“We just go a van and it’s really great to be able to take everyone at one time out to an activity,” Patterson said. “If we have needs in the community we want to be able to meet those needs.”

McCumbers said Brian Patterson is making a positive impact in Greene County, and not just the residents who are addicts. Others will benefit as well.