Page 133 - South Mississippi Living - December, 2019

GivingBACK where miracles happen
Home of Grace Changing Lives
story by Kelsey Sunderman-Foster photos courtesy of Home of Grace
Since 1965, the Home of Grace has been changing lives through their Christ-centered addiction recovery program. Over the past 54 years, tens of thousands of individuals have been freed from their addictions with help from the Home of Grace.
The program began as the passion project of Reverend Bill Barton, Sr. in 1964. While pastoring a church in Pascagoula, he took 13 men to a Christian recovery program for alcoholics in Tallulah Falls, Georgia, called the Victory Home. “He was inspired by what he saw there and in January of the following year, he started the Home of Grace in a donated trailer that was placed on 10 acres of donated land,” said Clay Barton, one of Brother Barton’s grandsons and development officer at the Home of Grace.
On January 2, 1965, even before there was electrical power, the first men entered the Home of Grace in Vancleave. “My grandfather wasn’t ready but he told the men to come on in,” said
another of Brother Bill’s grandsons, Josh Barton, who serves as Home of Grace executive director. “He went home that night and prayed
the men would still be there the next morning.”
In 1967, the Home
of Grace for Women
was established
in Gautier. The
two campuses
provide three-
month housing in a
safe and compassionate environment. Throughout the program, recovery
is divided into phases, each building upon
the next and focusing
on a specific goal. The success of the program has been overwhelming and is achieved through classroom work, individual and group
counseling, work therapy, community living and devotion. The Home of Grace recovery program emphasizes refining spiritual disciplines
that will help to create a lasting effect on the lives of its participants.
The Home of Grace accepts donations to their scholarship fund through their website, over the phone and by mail.
Home of Grace | 228.826.5283 | www.homeofgrace.org
REDD PEST
is proud to sponsor
HOME OF GRACE
1.888.733.3626 | www.reddpest.com
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The Home of Grace board of directors will match every dollar donated up to $25,000