Hi this is Garrett if you don’t know me I’m Action Church’s Stage Manager or the kid that walks around in skinny jeans with piercings. I’ve been asked to explain the role that actionchurch played in my life .

What church meant to me in the beginning. I always turned my back against (((the clicks of people coming to a place to worship something that they never saw.))) i saw no point and was lost in a world of hurt, depression and drug addiction. My story starts out with my past in turning from the church, I suffered from a addiction, an addiction to drugs and alcohol, it was a cover up to make me feel complete when really i was putting myself deeper and deeper into a hole of despair. I was lost, forgotten and the more I felt forgotten the harder I drank and used drugs. It wasn’t  a party for me anymore it was the only way I could survive. ( i felt ) I’d sleep all day because i didn’t want to look in the mirror or have my parents look me in the eyes. i couldn’t go a sec without being under the influence of something. I put my parents through hell and if I were them i would have killed me. I was blinded by my addiction to drugs. I was slowly committing suicide. i was putting a bandage on a gash the needed stitches.
This is where my story took at turn. I was at Ocean City (senior week(week to party at O.C sorry if i ruined it for your kids)) and went for a walk by myself, i had 20 dollars in my pocket for a 5 day stay no drugs no food and was practically alone because my friends ditched me to go get high. i was sitting on the beach in tears wanting to know why i hurt so bad and why couldn’t i be happy like everyone else, they’d use and have fun, id use and feel better for 30 minutes.. i sat on the beach which was cleared out to a storm coming in and it started raining, which to me it made me even more mad because it ruined my cell phone but I decided to still just sit there and watch the thunderstorm blow across the ocean, i was drenched.  it seemed like every time i questioned myself, why am i alive? Lighting struck and it rained harder. ( I looked back at it and saw the signs of god trying to talk to me, an atheist drug addict sitting on the beach thinking he has no purpose) I arrived home on a friday, continued my drug abuse and got arrested. I was slammed with felony drug charges, it was a sign from god that i need to stop before i die, a sign saying turn your life over to me and i’ll heal you and make you better. He took me away from the streets that i walked alone on, took my drugs away that i had survived on and placed me in a cell where i was by myself. No sound, just me and Gods will. i thought about my best friend Jared who died on Halloween of a heroine overdose and how his mom cried at the viewing. i don’t want my mom to cry anymore. That was the first time a prayed in 4 years. An atheist praying is like a Nazi hugging a puppy.  (Week Passed)

My mom offered me to come to this “church in a bar” as she stated  which in my mind was “ok.” i can get drunk and listen to some guy read the bible out loud. I’ll clap my hands and scream PRAISE JESUS IF NOT YOU’RE GOING TO HELL. I walked into this bar called Fat Daddy’s Night Club. it was my first time going to church in a bar, let alone going to church period. As i sat there depressed, confused, hurt, I had a strong hatred toward God for forgetting about me, A pastor with long hair and a VW belt buckle was up on stage talking about being full of God.. Then he said something that caught my attention, it was like i was meant to come that day. He said, “Some people in the world use money to make themselves complete, some use friends, and others use drugs to cover up there pain.” It was like i was meant to be there to here those words out a pastors mouth. The sermon passed and I soon realized that it wasn’t a cram-it-down-your-throat church that i have always hated so much. He ended with the statement, “Let’s not make this a church, but a revolution” I was hooked on everything he had to say. I began to like this church in a bar, with a cool pastor and a computer tech with long DANZIG hair (Josiah).

I had a conversation with my dad and i told him that i wanted to go every week and even come in early to set up. I was looking forward to church. I remained atheist for a short period after that day. I caught myself praying that i didn’t want to hurt anymore and then, I didn’t anymore. I didn’t want to get in trouble for my arrest, and i didn’t want to use drugs anymore. I prayed and prayed asking for God’s help. I didn’t want him to take my problems away but for him to help me along my journey to recovery.Since I started going to Action Church, I’ve been drug free and pain free, God has touched my life and filled every hole in my heart that drugs couldn’t. I live for him now; he walks beside me, and when i can’t walk on my own he carries me.

“Real people aren’t perfect, and perfect people aren’t real.”

God helped me, a recovered drug addicted, atheist on the brink of death. If you have any questions, just ask me. I’m not scared to answer. Feel free to ask me about drug addiction, and what i have gained from this experience in my life. I fear nothing anymore because of actionchurch, Don, Michelle, Josiah, Jerry, even that little ball of joy, Reagan, They have changed my life with this church.THANK YOU GUYS

GARRETT SNYDER (Action Church Stage Manager)

Ps… This Was Written On A Mac