From Addiction to Redemption – Interview with Dustin Garrett

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Addiction is a powerful force, but so is God’s redemptive grace. Dustin Garrett’s story is one of transformation—from heroin addiction to the freedom found in Christ. Whether you’re struggling, or know someone who is, this story is a reminder of how God can redeem any life.

Growing up in northwest Indiana, Dustin’s teenage years were rocky. By the age of 15, he was caught in a cycle of drug use that escalated to heroin addiction. For nearly a decade, he was enslaved to a substance that consumed his body, mind, and spirit. His decisions left him broken, but God used that brokenness to reveal Dustin’s need for Him.

As Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” This truth became real to Dustin when he found himself hopeless and alone in a jail cell. During this time, Dustin remembered his grandmother’s unwavering faith, and on the floor of a jail cell cried out to the Lord for the first time. This was the beginning of a radical change for Dustin. He entered a long-term men’s recovery program at a homeless shelter where mentors opened the Bible with him daily. Scripture began to renew his mind (Romans 12:2) and reshape his desires.

The Power of God’s Word​

One key to Dustin’s recovery was immersing himself in Scripture. Memorizing verses gave him strength to resist temptation. He clung to promises like 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.”

Steps to fining and sustaining freedom in Christ:

• Be Honest About Your Need: Like the man in Mark 9:24 who cried, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”
• Surround Yourself with Godly Community: Find Christian mentors to walk with you and teach you to live according to God’s design.
• Engage in a Local Church: Submitting to the authority of church leadership iss essential for ongoing accountability and growth.
• Pray Without Ceasing: Prayer is a powerful weapon.

Today, Dustin is a husband, a father, and a servant of God. He works with Samaritan Ministries, a Christian health-sharing organization, and leads worship at his local church. God has done more in his life than he ever imagined possible (Ephesians 3:20). No matter where you are, know this: God’s grace is sufficient for you (2 Corinthians 12:9). Whether you’re battling addiction, or walking alongside someone who is, God offers freedom, healing, and purpose. Start by surrendering to Him and trusting His promises.

READ TRANSCRIPT​

Aaron Smith (00:00):

Hey friends, I just wanted to talk to you for a few seconds. We’re going to get into the content soon, but if you’re new to this show, we just want to invite you to subscribe. We’re trying to see 2025 be a year of growth and expansion. We just need people like you to subscribe to our channel and to share about the episodes that you just are totally in love with on social media. And then lastly, if you can leave us a review today, we’d greatly appreciate it. The algorithms will appreciate it. And so thank you so much for joining us on the Mary Jeff of God podcast and I just pray that you enjoyed this content. Welcome back to another episode of the Mary Jeff of God podcast. This is Aaron Smith, your host. This episode I get the awesome opportunity of talking with Dustin Garrett.

(00:38)
He’s a field specialist with Samaritan Ministries, which is a Christian health sharing program. It’s an alternative to health insurance. My wife and I use them actually. We’ve been using ’em for years. They’re amazing. And so I got an opportunity to talk to him about his life as testimony of God freeing him from addiction to heroin, to him meeting his wife. We talk about some difficult choices he made when he was younger, and it is just an awesome conversation and encouraging one in talking about the freedom that we have in Christ, talking about how God has offered freedom to every man, every woman, no matter what you’re addicted to, that you can also walk freedom as well. And we dig in that a lot in his testimony. And then we also got to talk a lot about what Samaritan Ministries does and how it can benefit you and your family. So please enjoy this episode with Dustin Garrett from Samari Ministries.

Jennifer Smith (01:41):

Hey, I’m Aaron. And I’m Jennifer.

Aaron Smith (01:42):

And we’re the hosts of the Marriage After God podcast. Our desire is to help you cultivate a marriage that chases boldly after God’s will for your life together.

Jennifer Smith (01:48):

We want to invite you to subscribe to our show wherever you watch or listen.

Aaron Smith (01:52):

We are so glad you’re here and we pray that our discussion truly blesses you and your marriage.

Jennifer Smith (01:56):

Welcome to the Marriage After God podcast.

Aaron Smith (02:05):

Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Marriage After God podcast. I’m here with Dustin Garrett from Samaritan Ministries. Welcome to the show, man.

Dustin Garrett (02:11):

Oh, it’s great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Aaron Smith (02:14):

So what’s awesome about having a conversation with you is my wife and I have been using Samaritan Ministries for a long time and we love bringing resources and stories to our audience that we know that will bless them. And so having this conversation with you, it’s going to be great. Why don’t we start off with you sharing a bit about who you are and some of your background?

Dustin Garrett (02:34):

Sure. Yeah. Well, again, thanks for having me. It’s an honor to be here today. I am currently residing in central Illinois. I grew up in northwest Indiana, kind of Chicago suburbs there. And for the majority of my growing up, I was definitely not after God. I was on the other side of the track, so to speak, and I spent about a decade of my life pursuing all the wrong things. And that led me into actually a life of drug use and then eventually heroin use. And I was shooting heroin for the good part of a decade from the time I was about 15 to the time I was about 23. And obviously the one thing that came out of that that was good is all the misery that I had heaped up upon myself from living that life. I think the Lord really used to show me my great need for him. And so when I was in that time, I had gotten arrested and I was on the suicide floor of a jail. And that’s really when I cried out to the Lord and asked him to save me. And I think the reason I did that is I had a grandma who loved Jesus and was always praying for us, and I knew that she was always talking about Jesus. She was one of those grandmas that would kind of hit you upside the head with the Bible. It was kind of

(04:13)
All truth, not a lot of grace, but I knew that she prayed to Jesus as the one who could save you. And so I did, and my life just radically changed. I ended up going to a homeless shelter after that and I spent two years at a homeless shelter where they had a long-term men’s recovery program. And that’s the first time in my life that some men came alongside of me, actually cracked open the scriptures and started showing me, here’s the truth, here’s the truth about you, here’s the truth about Jesus. And the truth really set me free. And that’s what happened. And after the rescue mission there, I went off to Bible college. I spent seven years in Bible college. Crazy. The Lord knew I needed a little more time. I like to say he kept checking the oven and was like, ah, nope, not done yet.

(05:05)
But it was at Bible college. I met my lovely wife. And so we’ve been married for 13 years now and we have a three-year-old son. We have a baby on the way coming. Congrats. Thank you. Yeah, we’re excited. She’s doing January. So right now we’re kind of in the nesting project stage. Oh yeah. So there’s a lot of progress going on here, but we’re excited about that. And I started working for Samaritan Ministries in 2016, so about eight years ago, and I’ve just been loving it there. I’m so glad to be there. I’m sure we’ll get to talk about that. And then

Dustin Garrett (05:46):

I

Dustin Garrett (05:46):

Also lead music at our church. And so when I was actually at the Rescue Mission, somebody donated an old guitar to the mission, and that was when I picked it up and started plunking along on it. And the Lord used that time to make that now a huge part of my life. So here I am today. I am in full on dad mode. I mean, for me right now, I’ll be honest with you today, looked like my son potty training.

Aaron Smith (06:23):

Oh,

Aaron Smith (06:23):

Yay.

Dustin Garrett (06:24):

Those are fun times. Yeah. I was on a meeting just earlier and he came running downstairs and I had to help him. So there’s that. And there’s also lots of wrestling time going on right now at night. So I’m just loving. That’s kind of where I’m at. I never thought I would make it this far. I never thought I’d be a husband, never thought I’d be a father. But I can tell you early on, after really my life changed, that there was a deep desire to be a loving husband and a good father. And by God’s grace, here I am sitting with you today getting to talk about

Aaron Smith (07:07):

It. Love that. It’s amazing how God does that when we’re walking in sin when we’re not with him. There’s a whole different mindset, a whole different lifestyle, a whole different heart posture. And then the moment God gets ahold of us and he begins to transform us and sanctify us, and he just changes all of our desires, it makes me think in that verse that when it says he’ll give us the desires of our hearts, and often I think we believe that means, oh, I have these desires that already exist and God’s going to fulfill them for me. But in reality, it’s God actually gives the desires to you that he wants you to have and then fulfills those desires.

Dustin Garrett (07:45):

That’s totally right. Yeah. That’s what happened with me. I started getting new desires, I think as I spent time because at the program there, we would memorize scripture every day. And I genuinely believe that the renewing of my mind not only had a physiological component, but it started changing my heart. And like you said, what I actually desired. And it was the first time in my life I realized, oh, this is what I need. And this is like Titus says, I was given the power to say no to the things that were destroying me and my life just after that it was, yeah, there was all sorts of desires that started coming in that were good desires. And here I sit today 40 years old, and I can tell you that God has done far more than I could have ever asked or really imagined. And that’s been true.

Aaron Smith (08:45):

That’s something for all of my listeners to consider. What doesn’t just mention was how as he started reading scripture, it was changing him. He was starting to have new desires, having new thoughts, new ideas, new heart posture. And they’ve actually done tons of studies on this, actually, people that read the Bible and based off of whether they read it once a week, once a month, every day, and people that read the Bible more tend to have a better time overcoming addictions, having less depression, less anxiety. And these are all scientifically now proven through studies, but it’s exactly what God’s even said to us, that it’s his word that we’re transformed by the renewing of our minds through his word.

Dustin Garrett (09:29):

Yeah. Amen. Yeah, I had a lot of people ask me as far as, because there’s not too many people that come out of the heroin shooting heroin situation. And

Aaron Smith (09:39):

Yeah, I

Dustin Garrett (09:39):

Bet there was a lot of years that I tried to quit and there was even sometimes I could go a couple weeks and get through the physical withdrawals, but really in

Aaron Smith (09:51):

Your own willpower.

Dustin Garrett (09:52):

Well, yeah, where I was locked up or whatever,

(09:56)
But the real hard thing was is that there was months of mental battle that was going on and there was really nothing that the world had to offer that could say it will change the wiring of the way I’m thinking. And so much so changed my heart. I had gone to rehabs and methadone clinics and psychotherapy and psychologists, all these things that they tried to do to get me to stop. The only thing that at that point, the only thing that was ever going to change me was a complete heart change, a new heart, and then a new way of thinking. And it took me a while, it took a while. I wish I could tell you today that it was just like boom, after I got saved, then I no no longer had the desire to destroy myself, but was I really credit it to being the renewing of my mind through just being exposed and memorizing the scriptures and internalizing those. I can remember when I first started being like, alright, I’m actually going to try to do this today, Lord,

Aaron Smith (11:17):

Making that decision.

Dustin Garrett (11:18):

Yeah, Lord, help me to obey this. I don’t think I can do this. Can you help me just obey this one thing today? And I remember sensing I was getting the power to do that. And then the joy that came on the other side of that. And once that connection was made that I realized that, oh, it’s his spirit by his word. That is really where it’s at now. There’s nothing that can convince me otherwise. That’s the only thing that was going to have the power to do the thing to overcome the absolute just slavery that I was in to that. And so still obviously people ask me all the time, do you ever want to do heroin again? I’m like, well, I don’t really have a desire to do heroin. I do have a desire to run from pain, and I do had to have a desire to seek my own pleasure.

Aaron Smith (12:19):

Yeah, those same core cravings, those core desires of trying to numb or avoid the suffering.

Dustin Garrett (12:26):

I remember early on though just asking the Lord like, Lord, if I start to go off a few degrees, please just give me a whooping. Just please whoop me back. And he’s been faithful to do that.

Aaron Smith (12:43):

That’s good. I’ve never been addicted to drugs like that. I was addicted to cigarettes years ago for a little bit. And even in that though, I remember thinking to myself, I can never imagine myself not smoking. That’s how strong it felt that addiction.

(13:01)
But the addiction that I struggled with for decades, nearly my whole life up until 10, 11 years ago was pornography. And it was such a strong addiction and it just convinced me, my addiction convinced me that I was still a slave. I was still trapped that all the things that the word says about me were not actually true about for me. They were true for other people, but not for me. And it wasn’t until I actually believed what the word said about me, the things that were already true about me, that I am set free in Christ, that I’m not a slave to my sin anymore, that I’m dead to sin and dead to these addictions and that they don’t have control over me, that I actually have been able to walk in freedom from that. And then to highlight what you were just saying is I’m not all of a sudden temptation free. I was addicted from, I couldn’t even tell you when I first it was preteens and up until 11 years ago, 12 years ago. And you don’t just fix that addiction overnight. That doesn’t just get, I mean, you can walk in freedom overnight. You can have freedom from that overnight, but the power and the biology and the psychology and the spiritual effects of those things, that’s what sanctification is for.

(14:23)
It’s a daily walk. And I feel like God walked me through an understanding of addiction and understanding these strong sinful nature that we have and showing me this idea that he’s set us free. But then the process of sanctification is this peeling away. It’s this slowly eroding of the old self and revealing of the new transformed man that God is making me into. And just help me understand, at one point I was struggling with this thing and nothing else was in focus. It was pornography and this consumption of it. But then that’s gone. And then all of a sudden now there’s this other layer that I was never aware of, just the depth of the lust I have and the lust of my eyes, and then it’s the depth of how I make choices. And it slowly was picking away at this. Do you feel like you experienced something similar, but there was a moment of the actual freedom, but then the years, the days, the moments of God revealing to you where those things stemmed from and healing those over time?

Dustin Garrett (15:28):

Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, like you said, to get back to what’s the real heart issue that’s going on here because our hearts are just idle factories.

(15:40)
We can stop doing one thing and start doing something else that’s appealing to the flesh of our hearts and just kind of shifted over. And yeah, I think once you start peeling that back and you start going, okay, what’s actually going on in my heart? And it’s interesting to me that a lot of the addictions that I see, and now I get to work with a lot of people in that space, a lot of ’em are coming from a heart desire that isn’t necessarily bad. So here’s an example. A lot of people that especially start turning into drugs are turning to it because experiencing pain and they’re trying to get some relief there. And the reality is that pain one day will be no more too long for a life without pain is not bad. It’s

Aaron Smith (16:30):

What we actually long for as

Dustin Garrett (16:32):

Believers, we’re looking forward to it. And it’s actually, it’s part of the fall. It’s not like the original design, but then when we take and say, Hey, I can’t wait for an existence without pain, but that’s not going to happen here. That’s going to happen in glory. But then to kind of sidestep that and say, I want to take that now into my own hands and I want to remedy that, that’s an issue. And then we get ourselves in all sorts of trouble or example, even with pornography, I meet a lot of men who are the longing to have a good wife and dare I say, I can say it, I guess in this podcast, good sex is not bad. But then we turn that into wanting to do it outside of God’s way, and it’s absolutely destroying destructive and it’ll just tear not only you apart, but your whole family and everyone around you. And so trying to get to the root of what’s going on there and why our hearts are moving and why we’re seeking out those things instead of seeking out the way that God has revealed. I remember real quick story when I first was at the Rescue Mission, I remember wrestling with this idea that there was guys there who were saying, yeah, no sex before marriage.

(17:51)
And I was like, what? There’s no way that’s possible where I grew up. That idea is so foreign. I mean you’d, you’d be easier selling people on that. Aliens have landed then to tell them that there’s a possibility to not have sex before marriage. I knew zero. Nobody, nobody in my family, friends, community, that idea was so foreign. And I remember these godly men telling me, yeah, that’s what it is. And I was like, I need to do some research on this myself. I’m not listening to you guys if you’re, and I remember cracking open the Bible with a strong concordance next to me looking up the original Greek in Hebrew to be like, is this really what God said? Because I need to know for sure. And sure enough, I came to the point where I was like, God, you’re saying this. I don’t see how it’s possible. I cannot do this apart from you. And I think that’s when you come to that spot and you stop your striving and you start trusting and you start asking God to give you the strength to do things, and he makes a way of escape, then some things actually start happening. And so you got to take him. Actually, I had to in my heart know that this is what God was asking,

(19:25)
And if he’s asking me to do it and I don’t have the power to do it, then I need him. And when you start depending upon him in that sort of way, I think that’s when people start seeing freedom. But then like you said, then you’re still engaged in the fight. And I think as long as though

Aaron Smith (19:42):

A

Dustin Garrett (19:42):

Lot of the young men I see, if they’re engaged in the fight, then I’m there to root them on. But me and you usually have to come to a spot where you either go, I can’t fight this anymore. I surrender. I either surrendering to it to its power over my life, or I’m surrendering to the Lord.

Aaron Smith (20:04):

Yeah. I want to read the scripture you just mentioned. It’s one Corinthians 10 13. This is one of the scriptures that when I was deep in my addiction, didn’t believe was true. And this is what’s powerful is that it is true.

Dustin Garrett (20:17):

It’s

Aaron Smith (20:18):

True right now for every person listening, everyone that’s dealing with addiction, this is not made false because of your addiction. It’s true currently in your addiction. It says, no temptation has overtaken you that has not come into man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endear it. And it’s often one that’s been misinterpreted where people say, God won’t give you more than you can handle.

Dustin Garrett (20:47):

Handle

Aaron Smith (20:48):

It is not at all what it says because plenty of times that God gives us stuff that we cannot handle because we need him. He wants us to need him. It says He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. Meaning every single time we as men or women just believers who have the Holy Spirit in them are tempted. We are going to be tempted with many things, with many things in the flesh. God promises that we are able to overcome the temptation.

Dustin Garrett (21:16):

Amen. That’s a great promise.

Aaron Smith (21:20):

And

Dustin Garrett (21:20):

It’s true.

Aaron Smith (21:21):

It’s true right now for every person. And then it says, and with the temptation, he will provide a way to escape the temptation. And I didn’t believe that. And then when I started believing it, I started experiencing it. I’m like, wait a minute. There’s a way of escape right now.

Dustin Garrett (21:37):

Well, and you have to be honest and go, I don’t believe that you have to be

Aaron Smith (21:40):

Honest with it.

Dustin Garrett (21:41):

You got to go, Hey, I just am living in a way that I don’t believe that. And it’s either because I don’t think it’s true or either because I think something else is greater than that. And that’s where one of those verses, we are memorizing that. And I would dig into the Hebrew and be like, I need to know exactly what this means. I didn’t even trust the translators. You know what I mean? I need to know what this means and I can hang my hat on it. And then if you hang your hat on it, then you’re actually being honest and going, okay, Lord, if I’m struggling to believe this, then to say, Lord, help my unbelief. Please help my unbelief. I am not living life. This is true.

Aaron Smith (22:24):

And this transformation for us to be able to have it, it starts with the belief as that man who wanted healing. Jesus says, do you believe that I can? And the man says, I do, but help my unbelief.

Dustin Garrett (22:39):

What a guy. I mean, I would love to meet that guy and be like, there’s very few other times I think in scripture where we see somebody that’s that honest with the Lord of the universe. And it wasn’t like, well, sorry. Well, if you don’t have unbelief or if you got unbelief, then I can’t help you. How gracious God is to be like, I’m going to help you even in your belief this wild.

Aaron Smith (23:11):

Yeah. And it is true. The word says for us and about us, they’re not conditioned on our circumstances or surroundings or environment, meaning it’s true for this one person over here that has the perfect family and the perfect income and in the perfect place, no, they’re true for every single person on the planet earth. And that’s how truth has to be. Either truth is universal or it’s not truth. It’s got to be truthful for you, Dustin, where you’re at and with the parents you had and with the situations you were in and with your biology. And it’s got to be true for me too. So if it’s not true for me, then it’s not true for you. And so it starts with that belief. And I pray for everyone that’s listening, that’s dealing with any level of that addiction or disbelief or doubts, that they would start there and they would read what the word says and they would believe it

Dustin Garrett (24:10):

And just start with that.

Aaron Smith (24:10):

Whether they know how it’s going to work in their life or not believe it will. And it is true.

Dustin Garrett (24:15):

And it starts with literally just cracking open the Bible and, and actually like you said, actually ingesting it and actually having a very humble approach towards it being a mirror into your life and then going out that day and saying, God, help me to apply this. Help me, give me opportunities to do this. And little by little you’ll see he’ll bring those opportunities. I remember the guys at the mission, some of ’em, especially if they’re their particular issue with let’s say anger.

(25:03)
And I remember it was not uncommon for them to be like, well, I’m trying to work on my anger, but people just keep coming and making me angry. And we’d be like, that’s God giving you opportunities to do something different. You know what I mean? And so there will be that will those opportunities. And man, I would imagine you have experienced this too, and anybody else that’s living out there who loves the Lord. And when you have those moments of temptation and you seek him and he gives you the avenue of escape and you get on the other side of it and you’re like, and that’s abundant life, that is real living. And people then will see that. And I’m so right now, just last night was talking to, I have a younger sister who unfortunately went the same path that I did down the heroin route. And then just a couple years ago, she went down the same path as me as well as far as to turn into the Lord. Wow.

Aaron Smith (26:05):

Praise God.

Dustin Garrett (26:05):

She’s now going on mission trips at her church. She’s married to a good guy, she’s serving at her church. And oh man, there’s so much joy in getting to see other people experience freedom from these life dominating sins. And now it’s something that I would’ve never guessed that my whole family has been affected by this. Just like when I was deep in this stronghold, my whole family was just ravis by it because of my actions. It’s the opposite now too, that the more that I press into what God is calling me to do, it has effect on them in a very good way. And I’m just, it’s so worth it. I mean, God didn’t tell me when I was at the rescue mission, hang in there. I got some really got some really good, if you would’ve laid out for me what was in front of me, I would’ve never believed it. And people sometimes will ask me like, oh, well, I’m really, really glad you turned your life around. And I just love when they say that, then I get to go. I tried to turn my life around for years,

Aaron Smith (27:22):

Didn’t work.

Dustin Garrett (27:23):

It failed every time. I

Aaron Smith (27:24):

Wasn’t good at it.

Dustin Garrett (27:25):

I wasn’t actually, that was the problem is that I was in control. And so I come back to this, I wish, I wish I could say, Hey, I got this all figured out or whatnot. But realistically now, especially being a father and in my marriage, I keep coming back to these things of, okay, Lord, I can’t do this. I think that’s the John 15 about abiding in him and without me, you can do nothing. And to just lean into that as actually being good news instead of like, Hey, I can’t do anything. I got to ask Jesus first or whatever. It’s more of like, no, he’s giving me the strength, the endurance, the power to do things that I could just never do, and I don’t have to strive towards them, but I got to keep reminding myself of that. Unfortunately, even though somebody who’s come out of heroin addiction and you think would have this miraculous transformation would really be like, oh yeah, I learned that lesson. And guess what? I daily, hourly still need him, but it’s the best way to live. It’s where it’s at. So if anyone’s out there for sure, and this is hopefully ministering to you, today’s a new day, and I’m speaking that to myself as well.

Aaron Smith (28:59):

We’re looking for people who have been blessed by this free podcast and our free daily marriage prayer emails and who want to help be a blessing to others creating and hosting this podcast and sending out our daily emails do incur financial costs, and we want invite you to join our faithful patron team to help financially support these resources so that they can remain free for all who need them. Please join our patron team today and become one of the faithful financial supporters who desires to help bless thousands of marriages around the world. Your support will help us pay for the creation, hosting, and promotion of our podcast and daily emails. Thank you. And we hope to see you become a marriage after God patron. I love that perspective because I think sometimes we think, oh, if God would just save me from this or change me here or do this thing for me, then man, it’d be so much easier to follow him. It’d be so much easier to be a Christian to believe. And I always tell people, I’m like, Lazarus was raised from the dead and he still eventually died,

Dustin Garrett (29:59):

Right? Yeah.

Aaron Smith (30:03):

You see all these people in the Old Testament and the New Testament that they literally see miracle after miracle after miracle and then still doubt God.

Dustin Garrett (30:11):

Yeah. I mean,

Aaron Smith (30:12):

That’s who we are. We have such a hard time to trust the creative of the universe because we’re made from dust,

Dustin Garrett (30:20):

And he knows that. I mean, and yeah, that’s ironic about my name being Dustin. I just thought about that as I said it. I was like, what if he’s mindful of my dustiness and super grateful for that. That passage of Lazarus too, I remember because right after that, Jesus instruct him to help him, unwrap him, unwrap him.

Aaron Smith (30:44):

He couldn’t do it himself,

Dustin Garrett (30:45):

Right? And so I felt like my time at the rescue mission was like an extended grave close unwrap him. You know what I mean? I needed some time and I stunk and all that. And they were there to do that. And I’m so grateful for it. In fact, right now, my brother and sister-in-law, who my wife and I are dear friends with, they’re in the process of starting a long-term men’s recovery program.

Aaron Smith (31:15):

Oh, cool.

Dustin Garrett (31:16):

So it’s,

Aaron Smith (31:17):

What’s that called?

Dustin Garrett (31:19):

So it’s called BCM Residential. It’s here in central Illinois. They’re just kind of getting off the ground. They’re doing support raising right now. Big shout out to them. Now, I get to send them this episode and tell ’em that they made it, but they’re a great young couple, and it’s a part of our family. It’s like woven in as part of our family is to help get the grave clothes off. And it’s kind of a messy job. Some folks don’t. You start peeling those clothes off and they’re like, no, you

Aaron Smith (31:49):

Comfortable in those?

Dustin Garrett (31:50):

Yeah, totally

Aaron Smith (31:51):

Told me together.

Dustin Garrett (31:52):

But it’s meaningful work, but it’s also difficult because the road is narrow that leads to life, and it’s broad. That leads to destruction. So you’ll get, I think it’s similar to the 10 people that get healed. One comes back and

Aaron Smith (32:13):

He’s like, where’s the rest of your friends?

Dustin Garrett (32:15):

Where’s the rest of ’em? Mad. But it’s still worth it. You know what I mean? You don’t know who’s going to come in. And I saw at the mission too, there was some guys that would come in, they would hear the truth, would leave and turn their back, but if there was a work done in them, it wasn’t in vain. And sometimes some people, they’ve taken a different path. And so if you plant good seeds in people and they end up not just ignoring it, it wasn’t in vain. And that’s been one of the things for me, and that I found with a lot of people recently is this overwhelming sense of my labor is in vain. What I’m doing is just, I’m just toiling

Aaron Smith (33:05):

And

Dustin Garrett (33:06):

It’s just vain. And the Lord tells us that your labor is not in vain. If it’s in the Lord,

(33:15)
Your labor in the Lord is not in vain. And I think a lot of people need to hear that right now and either need to go, yeah, I am working for the Lord, and even if I don’t see the results that I think I should see, I believe that he’s pleased as I’m doing what he’s called me to do, or you need to reevaluate this labor actually is not tethered to the Lord. This labor is something else. I guess I say all that because right now, especially with my brother and sister-in-law, they are pushing really hard to hopefully get this men’s program up the ground, but it is a behemoth of a task. And to be in that space where you’re taking on men who a lot of times I have lost their families or in the process of losing their families or just so wrapped up in addiction, that it’s just a really, it’s a big mess. It’s stepping into a big mess, and you become very aware that it is beyond your ability to do. And so anyway, but praise God again for that. Now our family is all rallying around them for this work. Again, that I would’ve never guessed. I would’ve never guessed that when I showed up at the mission with nothing that here 17 years later be here talking about it like this. It’s nothing short of

Aaron Smith (34:50):

Miraculous. Yeah, that’s exactly what it is. What advice would you give to, unfortunately, there’s probably people listening that either have a spouse that’s addicted to something

Dustin Garrett (35:02):

Or

Aaron Smith (35:03):

Secretly hiding addictions to either pornography or food or shot spending. There’s a ton of that addiction to just getting deeper and deeper in debt or drugs, alcohol. There’s all sorts of things that we, like you said, where our hearts are idle factors making idols in our lives. And what advice would you give to these believers in their addiction?

Dustin Garrett (35:31):

Well, what’s interesting is that you’d think I would get to meet up with a lot of people who are actively in their addictions. The majority of the people that I have found myself working with are the families of the person,

(35:50)
The person that’s in it, because they’re really struggling to know what to do. And so to reach out to somebody they know has made it through that and is on the other side, they’re grasping for answers. And oftentimes by the time they reach out to me, it’s already gotten really, really bad. And then they’re trying to fight their idols as well, because what happens is, is that their idols start coming to the forefront as well. Meaning if you’ve got somebody living in the house who’s a severe drug addict and they’ve been manipulating you for a long time, they have tapped into what your idols are.

Aaron Smith (36:40):

Oh, interesting.

Dustin Garrett (36:41):

Then they’re able to use it. So it then comes up to where a lot of times moving forward, even the family has to say no to the things that they don’t want to say no to. So for an example, let’s say somebody’s in the house and their idol is security or their comfort or whatever, and they know that if the person has to leave the house, the things that they’re going to lose and they don’t want to lose that, or they don’t trust God that he can provide if A, B, or C.

Aaron Smith (37:35):

So they enable.

Dustin Garrett (37:37):

Yeah. And a lot of times at the core of enabling is another idol, and that’s another one that’s

Aaron Smith (37:44):

Hard. The fear of losing your loved one, the fear of them turning away from you,

Dustin Garrett (37:49):

Financial things, there’s all sorts of things that go on there. And so usually helping the family to navigate that is a big thing. And sometimes it’s really difficult because you have to make some tough decisions. You have to say no to things that you’re used to saying yes to.

(38:12)
And this is where the church, this is where, and it’s almost all the time where the people that come to me in these situations, I ask them, are you a part of a good church? Are you submitting under your local shepherds and elders? And it’s like, no. And it’s like, okay, that’s always the common denominator. It’s always the common denominator. It’s always the common denominator when guys leave the mission and start doing terrible things, they leave church first before they start doing that. And then the people that I see that are successful are the ones that obey the putting yourself under the local shepherds, and not only for them to rebuke you when you need to be rebuked, but to help you when you need help. It’s not just a, I’m putting myself under them so that they can discipline me

Aaron Smith (39:14):

So that you’re visible,

Dustin Garrett (39:15):

They’re visible

Aaron Smith (39:16):

And able to be loved,

Dustin Garrett (39:17):

And it’s there for them to obey. God is for them to care for your soul. And there’s the thing we need, the very thing that we need right here. And they actually have the authority to do that too. And so that’s the one thing I would say is if anyone’s out there and they are not under the care of a good Bible teaching church that has a good elder board that’s shepherding their people as the scriptures would lead them to run to that, I would run to that as quick as possible. Whether you’re a family, whether you’re the actual person themselves, they will have local resources and they’re going to be able to sit and listen to your specific situation. They’re called to do that by putting yourself under them. They have the authority to do things that I don’t have the authority to do that your family doesn’t have the authority to do. And then hopefully you’ll see not only freedom for the person who’s in the middle of the addiction, you’ll start to see the whole family’s brokenness come to the forefront.

Aaron Smith (40:37):

And

Dustin Garrett (40:38):

That’s scary. But then on the other side of that is freedom and family generational curses that are going to be destroyed. And there’s people have

Aaron Smith (40:49):

Patterns rewritten,

Dustin Garrett (40:50):

And that’s beautiful. Now we’re talking about really cool stuff. We’re talking about these generational things that are happening, but I really truly believe that that only happens well in the context of a good local church and a context of people submitting themselves to their local elders.

Aaron Smith (41:09):

You graduated from Calvary Chapel Bible College,

Dustin Garrett (41:12):

Calvary Bible College in Kansas City, Missouri. Yes.

Aaron Smith (41:14):

Is it a Calvary Chapel or is it just called Calvary Bible?

Dustin Garrett (41:17):

It’s not, yeah, it’s not part of the Calvary Chapel, though. I know a lot of people from that stream.

Aaron Smith (41:25):

Yeah, I was going to ask from the Calvary Chapel background on many different levels, and they’re very fond of the verse by verse, expository teaching, which is essentially how I teach.

Dustin Garrett (41:39):

That’s where the church I go to is

Aaron Smith (41:41):

I find a church that teaches the whole Bible.

Dustin Garrett (41:45):

You’re talking into something right now, is that how do you find a good church? Because the church is all over the place. And typically, yeah, finding one that teaches verse by verse is a pretty good indication that the scriptures are being put out forward. I also, I would look at, okay, what is the elder board? What’s the structure of the elder board? How did they become elders? Are they lifetime appointments? All those sorts of things. And then I would also ask them, what’s your stance on church discipline? And if you can find those three things, the likelihood of a church that does verse by verse, verse has a stance on church discipline, then do it in a loving, biblical manner. And they have a good healthy elder board. They’re

Aaron Smith (42:33):

A pretty good church.

Dustin Garrett (42:33):

I mean, honestly, I could care less what the music is. I could care less if they’re up there playing a xylophone every Sunday. I mean, I would rather have a

Aaron Smith (42:42):

Church or just hymns.

Dustin Garrett (42:43):

Yeah, Ella. Yeah, a lot of people, they go to a church and go, oh, I didn’t really like the way the pastor spoke, or I didn’t really like the music, or They didn’t have a good children’s program, or whatever it may be. Those sorts of things will change. Those sorts of things are very low, I think, on the totem pole of what’s important. But because another thing too, if the church is practicing church discipline, and let’s say you go into the church and you say, Hey, we got all these issues going on and we want to put ourselves underneath you, then whoever is there that’s totally out of pocket, you need to have some sort of teeth on the backside of the church discipline, because if you don’t, then they’ll just hop over to another place. And so I think there’s some part of this that it is church, not only just a church attendance, but placing yourself under the elder’s authority, but then also

(43:41)
Not being, I don’t want to say excited about church discipline, but actually being thankful that God has given us a way to deal with sin inside of the body of Christ and do it in a loving way. Obviously as humans, we struggle with doing discipline well, but there are churches out there who are practicing church discipline in a loving way, and there are scenarios where God’s using that to actually do what it’s meant to do, turn people from being trapped, absolutely trapped by the devil, and actually then coming to their senses and experiencing freedom. So I know that’s maybe not the answer that people want to hear. No,

Aaron Smith (44:32):

That’s a solid answer is we get emails all the time with people asking for advice, and we don’t respond to emails with advice. That’s not what we do. We have the show, we have our social media, we have our books, but I don’t think it’d be safe for us to try and give advice in that way. So we have an email that we send that says that we don’t give advice one-on-one in that manner. And it says, we encourage people to go to their local church and fellowship and get what they need there because I’m not their local church. I’m a believer with them. I’m a brother in Christ with them, but I’m not their local church. I’m not their local body that they need to be a part of

Dustin Garrett (45:13):

In these situations, you really need somebody who has authority. That’s really true. And if you’re finding yourself going, well, I don’t want to be a part of a church, and that could be for a legitimate reason. Let’s say you experienced some sort of abuse on that level,

(45:32)
Then there’s sympathy for that is for sure. And that’s terrible that that happened and it shouldn’t happen. But also the same token, the reason that it happened is because they strayed from what they should be doing, not because that was what God would have them do. And so there are legitimate places in churches that are doing this well, and unfortunately, yeah, it’s hard to find. Sometimes it’s hard to find that. And so praise God, if you’re listening out there and you are planting a church like that or you’re part of a church like that, if you are a part of a church like that, invite some people to come and support your elders. And I remember when I sat down with our elders at our church and with my wife and said, Hey, we just want to put ourselves underneath your care. If I ever am out of pocket, please, please, for my wife’s sake, please do whatever you need to do in order to save me from destroying myself, my family, and the reputation of Jesus. And imagine for a wife too, the thing if I started acting out of pocket, I told my wife, you have full ability to go to the elders

Aaron Smith (46:45):

If you need to.

Dustin Garrett (46:46):

Somebody work it out than me can. If we cant work it out,

Aaron Smith (46:49):

Work, go

Dustin Garrett (46:49):

Talk to them. And so she now has somebody that has more authority than me. And then for them, their ultimate authority is the Lord. And so that authority is there. So it’s so that’s where I found the most flourishing for families to happen. And most families, if there’s just absolute rampant destruction and brokenness, usually not, it’s because they’ve divorced themselves from under that umbrella that God has really clearly laid lay forth.

Aaron Smith (47:23):

I just want to point out another verse that a lot of believers take out of context, and they use it just like the one I was talking about earlier where two or three are gathered and I’m in their midst.

Dustin Garrett (47:34):

That’s right. And that’s a discipline verse. That’s Matthew. It has

Aaron Smith (47:36):

Nothing to do with Jesus being in our midst during worship or at church because, and the reason I bring these types of things up is for us to be aware of the things that we just hear and receive and agree with and not really question what it means. The two or three gathered in my name, I’m in their midst, is saying, when two or three believers come in the form of discipline to another believer who’s walking in an unrepentant sin, sin, God is saying, they’re coming in my authority, in my name, and I’m with them in this judgment. As long as those three are coming in the name of God, in love to the brother who is walking in repentance. But if we believe that is meaning, oh, me and you, Jesus is here with us right now because we’re gathered together in his name, what happens? If that’s true, then you have to take the truth again globally and say, okay, what about the single person who’s in their bedroom right now praying? Well, God’s not with them because he’s only in the midst of two or three when they’re gathered together. We have to be very careful how we take some of these verses and just take the one little line and just use it as a tweet, a meme, it messes with the truth

Dustin Garrett (48:59):

Most certainly. And that is what I was talking about getting into the Hebrew and the Greek. It’s not only just that specific verse or sentence, it’s really then looking at the whole context and going, what is the original author trying to communicate here? And then that will dispel a lot of the mishandling of scripture that have happened. And that’s actually the importance of teaching verse by verse, verse by verse, because realistically not

Aaron Smith (49:33):

Just point pulling soundbites for a

Dustin Garrett (49:35):

Story, I love my pastor, but I really want to hear what the Bible has to say because pastors are going to come and go. And so yeah, it’s interesting that you brought up the verse by verse thing, and then now we’re on the church discipline thing. And I know this is a tender topic for some folks, and there’s some folks who are in situations that there might be in spots in the country where there’s just really not a church within a couple hours of them that’s like this. And so those are the cases where it’s really, really difficult. And I think though, again, if this is his desire for you, just keep pressing into it and saying, God, I know this is what you want me to do, but I don’t see a way for this to, I don’t see a way for me forward in this, and I trust that he will provide a way

Aaron Smith (50:36):

A hundred percent.

Dustin Garrett (50:37):

He totally will.

Aaron Smith (50:39):

He says he will.

Dustin Garrett (50:40):

He says he will. And so if you’re finding yourself in this situation, or let’s say the original question, if you know somebody who’s in a strong addiction, and let’s say you are a part of a really good church and you are underneath the elders and you just long for them to have the same freedom that you have, what my grandma did for me was that she constantly prayed for me, and then every time she saw me, she would mention to me, Hey, in some way, shape, or form, the message that I got was, you really need Jesus.

(51:19)
I know I can’t do this for you, but I’m pleading with you on his behalf to please step into this. And unfortunately, we can’t make people do that, but we can be faithful to not only pray for them, but also use every opportunity we have with them to just give them the right step forward. I remember when my dad, when I was deep in the heart of my addiction and my dad sat me down, he said, either I’m going to give you two choices. Either if you come to this house, we’re going to get in the car and I’m going to take you to the rescue mission and pray that you’ll get the help you need. Or two, when you come here, I’m going to call the police two choices. Now, at the time, I did not receive that very well. That did not feel very loving to me. Most

Aaron Smith (52:22):

Of the time. You wanted be received and not asked to be changed.

Dustin Garrett (52:26):

And also, I didn’t want any consequences. I didn’t want any. And so now looking back, I do feel like that was a very loving thing for him to do because I was in the really strong habit of manipulating anybody and everybody, and I didn’t even really realize I was doing it. That’s the thing. A lot of people who are really deep in addiction and been there for a long time, a skill that they have to learn is how to manipulate. And some learn it so well and they will turn it on you. And if you’re in yourself right now where you’re out there and you’re feeling like, man, I’m just totally manipulated, then you usually do need somebody who can help you navigate to see clearly outside of that because it gets really muddy inside of there. And sometimes you end up having to do something that’s difficult like that.

(53:22)
And this, again, if you have a pastor who says, I’ve heard your situation. I think this is what you need to do, and then you do it, then you can have the confidence of going, even if it feels like my dad, even if he’s like, man, this feels wrong as a dad. Oh, my dad. If you got somebody behind you who know is saying, Hey, I think this is a loving thing to do, then you can have a little more confidence instead of you’re just deciding to do something because you think it’s going to be helpful to really come to the point of, I think this is the most loving thing to do, even though in most human relationships, love does not look like this. And so you need help thinking outside of that, and you need somebody who’s got an objective, good understanding, but also is really rooted in grounded in the scriptures.

Aaron Smith (54:21):

Well, I think we misunderstand love. Love has boundaries in your marriage, in any of our marriages, if one of the spouses is cheating, constantly going out with another person and being with them physically, emotionally, the loving thing to do is say, that’s not allowed. You are not allowed to do that. That’s not okay. It’s not happening anymore. Or there has to be a consequence. The boundary is what is love. And so having a boundary for a brother or a son, a friend and saying, Hey, I love you. This is hurting. You have to stop it, or else is because you love them.

(55:14)
Letting it exist is unloving pretending it’s going to get better on its own without you ever saying anything or giving a boundary is unloving. The Bible tells us that. It says the Lord disciplines those he loves. If he didn’t, it would make us illegitimate children. But the fact is that he does making us legitimate children, and I often go back to when I was younger in my addiction to pornography, I was very open with people in my life, pastors and friends, and I never once heard, there’s very specific sins in the Bible that the Bible gives permission for very extreme discipline, meaning putting out of the church, not every sin,

Dustin Garrett (55:59):

But

Aaron Smith (55:59):

There are specific ones. It’s like, Hey, if there’s someone that’s walking in this who claims to be a believer and is sexual immoral, walking in sexual immorality, porn, it’s

Dustin Garrett (56:10):

Pattern. It’s a practice. It’s an ongoing pattern.

Aaron Smith (56:14):

There’s a way of dealing with that. I believe if my pastor or a Christian brother that was in leadership came to me and said, Hey, I get this is difficult. I know that you’re struggling with this. Thank you for being honest with me and coming to me with this. If it doesn’t stop, you can no longer be here. This is what the word says. I love you. I know you can stop, because look what the word says about this. Here’s the truth. You can and must, must stop. No one ever said that to me. All I got was, yeah, we all struggle with that. You just got to try harder. You just got to, and none of that worked. But I bet I believe if I would’ve heard the truth earlier on that man, that love would’ve saved me from years of shame and guilt and destructive behavior.

Dustin Garrett (57:06):

Yeah.

Aaron Smith (57:06):

Right.

Dustin Garrett (57:07):

Yeah. Well, and if to ask some questions around, there are situations where people, it’s such a stronghold in their life that it is helpful for them to be removed from their current situation. I mean, even Paul, after he got saved, God didn’t just thrust him right into ministry. He actually took him

Aaron Smith (57:31):

Away 14 years.

Dustin Garrett (57:32):

He took him away. And then, so it’s not that the change of scenery does a heart change, but there’s value in having, if somebody’s really, they have just ensconced themselves in their situation where sin is just, they’re just absolutely wrapped in it with their friends, with their work, with their location, where they’re living, all that sort of stuff. Then there’s places like my brother and sister-in-law are starting up that are long-term residential places. And if somebody is come to the spot where they go, I’m willing to do whatever, then we’re, there’s options. That’s a

Aaron Smith (58:17):

Totally different heart posture though than someone saying, oh, I feel like I can’t stop. Just receive me. You’re like, well,

Dustin Garrett (58:22):

Yeah. Yes, there is options. And this is where we’re now tapping into the idea of life dominating sin because there are scenarios where people are struggling and it doesn’t quite maybe go to the spot of where they need to literally drop everything in their life and memorize scripture for a year. You know what I mean? But there are well,

Aaron Smith (58:44):

Professional help times for professional help.

Dustin Garrett (58:48):

Well, and the churches, that’s the thing too, is that like an intensive discipleship situation. There’s situations where I would say they’ve risen to the level that they are a bit beyond what the normal, once a week church is going to be able to

(59:11)
Really step into that situation. And that’s why there are places that come alongside the church. They’re not the church, but they’re parachurch organizations that are there to serve the church and Hey, here’s a place that we can have you go. Now, what’s hard about that is that getting them to actually go and then the ramifications that come with them actually going, and that whole process is really difficult. But if you have somebody who you think should go, and they don’t want to go, unfortunately until they come to a spot where they go, I need help. That’s what they need, and then that’s what they need to come to. And no, I’ve seen this so many times where we get calls all the time from a mom or a sister or a wife or a husband, and they want so bad for their spouse or their family member to go and

Aaron Smith (01:00:12):

They got to choose to go.

Dustin Garrett (01:00:13):

They got to, there’s no way that they can make ’em do it. And that’s where I was saying, coming back to this idea of fervently praying and pleading with them. Now, if they come to a spot where they’re like, I’m willing to do whatever, I’m willing to do whatever, then you lay on the table, okay, here’s a year long place that you’re going to go to. And then if they’re really serious about it, then help. If they’re serious about it, then do everything you can to get them there as soon as possible and support them, support their socks off. As long as they’re there, I love, but if they don’t want to do it, then oftentimes it does look like there has to be a lot of changes that happen and the distance begins to happen, and it’s heartbreaking.

(01:01:03)
It’s really heartbreaking. But anyway, I’m glad that if anybody reaches out after this show and has further questions and wants to talk, you feel free to put my information in there. If God really did save me from all this, then the least I can do is talk to families and talk to people. And if they’re really in that spot, I have a bunch of resources of places I know, or again, but most of the time I probably am going to ask you who’s at your local church and who’s that? So just know that that question’s coming.

Aaron Smith (01:01:34):

I love that. I just want to, before we get out of here, I want to hear what you do at Samaritan Ministries. My wife and I have been using them for

Dustin Garrett (01:01:43):

Years. Amen.

Aaron Smith (01:01:45):

We don’t have traditional healthcare. We use Samaritan Ministries, which is, what do they call it? A health share program?

Dustin Garrett (01:01:52):

Yeah, health sharing ministry.

Aaron Smith (01:01:53):

Would you share what you do and what Samaritan Ministries does? Because this, I believe is something really powerful. I know a lot of my listeners probably don’t even know about what you guys do and what you guys offer, and it would be a huge blessing to my audience. So would you share about

Dustin Garrett (01:02:06):

Samaritan? Yeah. Well, I’ll preface it with when I was 15, my girlfriend had gotten pregnant, and at that time I remember being with my parents and her parents, and we were young, and the parents had made the decision for her to terminate the pregnancy, and the decision was made that I would pay for it. And I remember after that happened, I remember getting a call from her and she was just torn up about it and crying on the phone. And I thought that it would bring some relief to the situation, but it actually did the opposite. It brought up more questions, what was it, a boy or a girl or all that. And in an effort to kind of console me, I remember talking to my dad about it and I found out that before I was born there was an abortion. And I was like, oh, that just brought up more questions. I was 15 years old. I knew nothing about being a dad, but even right now, a kid in their twenties. And unfortunately it was right after that is really when my girlfriend at the time and I started going down the heroin path and then tragically she

Aaron Smith (01:03:47):

Trying to mass that grief, that shame,

Dustin Garrett (01:03:50):

She lost her life too to drug use. And so abortion is part of my story as well. And that was one of the big questions I remember asking God when I got saved because if my mom wouldn’t have had an abortion and I wouldn’t be here, and maybe if we wouldn’t have had an abortion, that we wouldn’t have gone down the route that we were. There’s all these questions. And my time at Bible college, I think God was able to help me not have that be totally closed. It won’t be this side of glory, but I was able to find grace in his sovereignty over all that. Also at the same time, still mourning the loss of that.

(01:04:44)
And there’s not too many men that I’ve met who speak into abortion. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do more and more I have done quite a bit because it affected me deeply. I mean my life, if you were to go back and look it probably, yeah, that is one of the biggest things that kind of shaped a lot of, not only my life, but in my family and from a man’s perspective, it was something that affected me deeply to absolute core. And the thing that I think a lot of people don’t think is that for every abortion that happens, there’s a man there somewhere. Right? And that’s not to downplay. I think what women have gone through and go through is beyond what I can imagine. But it also,

Aaron Smith (01:05:40):

It’s just half the story.

Dustin Garrett (01:05:42):

It is. And there’s a lot of men out there I think that probably are in the situation. There’s probably a lot of men in the church that are in this situation and they’ve kind of been shoved out of the conversation, Hey, you can’t even talk about this. This is not even an area you can talk about. And so I’m sharing that story, is that when I was in Bible college, I remember when I was graduating, the idea to work at a healthcare sharing ministry came up because it’s here in central Illinois where the rescue mission, where I came from, and I was originally going to go back and work at the rescue Mission. That was the plan, but that God closed that door. But there was this open door here at this healthcare sharing ministry, and I remember being, well, healthcare, that nobody grows up.

(01:06:30)
Yeah, I don’t know. Yeah, that’d be in healthcare. And I thought, well, okay, this seemed like what the Lord has leading me to. And then I started looking into it and I started realizing, oh, this is not just healthcare. This is a ministry that is staunchly and that’s providing for people’s medical needs and no money is going to things like abortion. And I was like, oh, okay. I always prayed for a way to serve to, because there was this part of me that I just really wanted to redeem that whole, I’m still wanting to see that story redeemed.

(01:07:07)
And so I started working at Samaritan, and at the beginning I was on the phones answering questions for people who had questions about how the ministry worked and people still do that. But then I started traveling for Samaritan and I started doing concerts and conventions and homeschool conferences. So I was often the guy that was standing behind the booth or at some of these concerts that I would go to, Aaron were like, there’d be like 20,000 people. We did a concert one time at the Georgia do before they destroyed it. And there was like 30,000 people there that I was talking on stage to about healthcare sharing. And at that time, I didn’t realize how the country was going to evolve into healthcare being one of the main things that right now, if you were to put your finger on one of the most contentious topics in the country, it’s healthcare.

(01:08:04)
What healthcare is being called, how much it costs, who should get it, where’s it coming from, all these sorts of things. So instead of it just being like, oh, this is healthcare, I’ve found myself smack dab in the middle of God doing something beautiful. And because Samaritan is offering healthcare for Christians without the use of insurance, and we’ve been doing it at Samaritan now for like 30 years, but Christians have been doing this model for thousands of years. It’s really just the Acts chapter two model of Christians meeting each other’s medical needs where there’s need. And it’s a super huge group doing it. So we’re able to meet even the largest of medical needs. So a lot of people who are either self-employed or retiring early or don’t have healthcare or don’t like their healthcare, or they’re turning 26, getting off their parents’ healthcare or all these sorts of things, then they start scratching around and they realize, oh, there’s options for Christians.

(01:09:03)
Samaritan is one of the longest standing ones, and we love to get to do what we do because it’s an affordable biblical option that you can have your family jump into. And it’s really easy to find out information. You can go online, samaritan ministries.org, you can look us up, scratch around, call in, talk to somebody. There’s a bunch of people at the office love Jesus who will pray with you and it might be a good fit for you. So if you’re out there listening and healthcare is something that you’re like, I need to look into something different, please give us a call. It could be something that ends up being a great fit for you. And it has been for me, not only working there, but getting to represent them as I travel around the country.

Aaron Smith (01:09:49):

That’s awesome. Yeah. We’ve been using you guys for a while. We used to have traditional insurance. We were self-employed and we used to have traditional insurance, and now we’re saving, I think over a thousand dollars a month using Samaritan Ministries.

Dustin Garrett (01:10:03):

It’s so sweet for me to get to meet people who are in ministry and then they’re saving money by being with Samaritan. But it also provides that need because when people are looking for insurance, typically they’re looking for, okay, I need to know that me and my family have access to care should something happen and I need to know if something happens, I’m not going to be bankrupt. There’s financial help. So Samaritan meets those two, but also what Samaritan is doing is coordinating a massive prayer effort. And so that’s the other thing I love about what we do, man. That’s the coolest thing. I mean, because when people are in the midst of a medical need, there’s more than just the financial thing that’s important. But whenever, I mean, anybody who’s gone through a tough medical need, it’s not uncommon for the Lord to use that to make them more like Jesus. And that’s really the neat thing that’s happening at Samaritan. It’s more than just meeting your healthcare costs. It’s really being a part of a community that is taking care of the financial part, but also lifting you up on the prayer side as well.

Aaron Smith (01:11:07):

Yeah. Every month when I send my share, I’m sending it directly to a person and I know what they’re asking prayer for and what I’m helping pay for, and I pray for them in the message,

Dustin Garrett (01:11:18):

Maybe you’ll send to me. So right now, my wife and I are in the middle of the maternity need, and we’re getting, not only

Aaron Smith (01:11:23):

That’s where I’m at right now,

Dustin Garrett (01:11:25):

So maybe we could just share with each other. But yeah, people will send us a card saying, Hey, we’re excited for your new baby, praying for your new baby. And then they send us their monthly amounts and then we use that money to then pay our provider. So right now, my wife is going to the chiropractor and then I’ll take a picture of the bill, submit it to Samaritan, and they’ll assign people to send me the funds for it. So it’s awesome.

Aaron Smith (01:11:54):

It’s my favorite part about what it is is it’s Christians helping Christians.

Dustin Garrett (01:12:00):

Yeah. Well, and that’s the way it should be. And I think that breeds a real joy at, because most people, when they’re sending their healthcare premium or whatnot, there’s not a ton of joy that comes from that. But when you’re sending straight to another Christian who’s had a medical need, I usually tell people at the end of the year, you’re never going to look back and be like, well, that was a big waste of money.

Aaron Smith (01:12:26):

And

Dustin Garrett (01:12:27):

There’s a bunch of questions that people have and you should have if you’re looking into something like this. And again, feel free to call in. They’ll spend as much time as you need talking with you and seeing if it’s a good fit. And it’s been wonderful working there, and I am just so glad to get to do it. And I’m so glad to get to meet folks like you who have not been using Samaritan, but then have these really wonderful ministries that God has blessed them. And I’m just so thankful that even like you, let me come on here today and share a bit of my story and talk about this. So I look forward to getting to do more stuff with you, Lord willing. And if there’s anybody out there that I can serve or Samaritan can serve, please just reach out to us. We’d be glad to.

Aaron Smith (01:13:15):

Yeah, I’ll make sure to put all the links to everything in the show notes so everyone can ahold of it, reach out to you guys, ask questions. I just want to encourage my listeners, you can call them up and you can actually talk to someone on the phone and guaranteed every single time they’ll ask to pray for you at the end of the conversation. It doesn’t matter who you talk to,

Dustin Garrett (01:13:35):

Right? Yeah. Actually I live like five minutes from the office. I can go there. And I am telling you, there’s a big building with a bunch of believers in it that are praying with people all day every day, and that are neck deep in medical needs. And you might say like, oh man, that sounds awful. Honestly, there is so much ministry opportunity in the midst of people having medical needs. I mean, their hearts are just ready. Their hearts are ready to be prayed for. I’ve never met anybody in a hospital situation where you’re like, Hey, can I pray for you? Please bring more. And so that’s the beauty of what we get to do. And so if you would’ve told me eight years ago, Hey, here’s what this job actually will entail. Now that’s exciting. That’s not just healthcare. We’re talking about coordinating and facilitating a massive ministry opportunity that’s just rife, rife with gospel richness now. Now we’re cooking.

Aaron Smith (01:14:46):

Love it. Well, Dustin, thank you so much for giving me your time today, and

Dustin Garrett (01:14:49):

Thank you

Aaron Smith (01:14:49):

Giving my audience your time and sharing your testimony. I just love hearing what the Lord’s done in your life, and thank you. The reality is what God has done with you is he offers to everyone that He’s sent his son Jesus to rescue us from the chains of sin and death, and that you’re just evident of that, and thank you for that. I’m going to put all the links to these things, Samaritan Ministries in the show notes, and I hope my listeners go and sign up and use you guys because my family has been totally blessed by this ministry and what you guys offer for us, and saved us a ton of money as well, and also allowed us to be prayer warriors and financially support other families that are going through medical issues. So thanks for giving me your time today, man.

Dustin Garrett (01:15:31):

Oh, thank you brother so much. Appreciate it.

Aaron Smith (01:15:48):

Hey, mayor, after God, friends, thank you for your continued faithfulness and listening each and every week. Jennifer and I have often shared with you about how important prayer is in the life of a believer. It’s so important in fact that we’re told this in one Thessalonians, rejoice, always pray without ceasing. Give thanks In all circumstances, for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus for you. It is God’s will for us to pray, and we want to inspire you to begin praying for your spouse and marriage every day. This world hates marriage and so does our enemy, because he knows the power that your marriage is meant to have in this world. He knows that if you and your spouse are praying and chasing boldly after God together, that the impact Christ will have in and through you will be powerful. So we need to be praying more than ever before.

(01:16:25)
Our heart is to encourage you along with everyone who listens to this show, to be praying for your spouses and your marriages to be strengthened, renewed, healed, prepared, and empowered to do the ministry that God has for you to do in this world together. So Jennifer and I would love to invite you to join the thousands of other couples in taking our 31 day marriage prayer challenge. This is a completely free and fun way to build a habit of prayer in your marriage. All you have to do to join is visit marriage prayer challenge.com and fill out the registration form. Once you do that, you’ll begin to receive an email every day from us during the 31 days to not only remind you to pray for your spouse, but we’ll also give you various topics and prompts to help you know what to pray for. We dare your marriage to start praying like never before. Start the challenge today@marriageprayerchallenge.com.



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