the Golden Gate Bridge

Every Tuesday evening Vivian Roman opens up the doors to 1337 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA, 94109. This is the building where the church known as “the Lighthouse” gathers. Tonight, those who will come will worship from a perspective many of us do not share. The leader will read a document known as “The Road to Recovery” followed by the popular Serenity Prayer and the Twelve Steps. There will be a few songs sung together before reading from the “Celebrate Recover” guide as well as portions of Scripture from a “Life Recovery” version of the Bible that includes the Twelve Steps from Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

The motif of this group is James 5.16: “Therefore, confess your sins one to another and pray for each other that you may be healed.” A few years ago Vivian sat through a class I taught on this book and it warms my heart to see a passage from the book used as a slogan!

For many of us Christians this is a difficult passage. We have so much to hide. We have a mask to wear. We don’t really trust people with our darkest secrets.

This may be the same for some of those who Vivian leads, but for many others their secrets are already public. Addiction to alcohol and various drugs has made their lives shameful. The opportunity to confess sins is a freeing one.

This has been going since January 2007 and it has served at least one-hundred and twenty five different people! Vivan tells me, “The attendance can range from one person to ten, and I’m a true believer that [when] God uses me to open the door on Tuesday night, we plant his seeds, and he’ll do ALL the rest. All it takes is being obedient to Him!”

The opportunities are spreading. Vivian now spends her Friday evenings doing this at the women’s jail in San Francisco. Vivian writes,

The Religious Program coordinator is very impressed with Celebrate Recovery, and would like to have the meeting in other parts of the jail, so spread the word. We need more men and women that are willing to be obedient to their calling and be of service to our God and be His light and salt.

Vivian says the group can use more Life Recovery Bibles, more volunteers, and so much more. She has a vision beyond herself. The Kingdom of God is like a seed….

I have told readers of the blog about various things being done by this small church and it appears that some of you have sent funds. This is much appreciated! Please, if you have not given, and you hear the Spirit moving you to do so, please consider doing so.

If you would like to read about the other things that I have mentioned you can do so here, here, here, and here. If you’d like to donate you can do so here.