Celebrate Recovery is not for everyone. If you are a perfect human being, devoid of all problems, without any of life's hurts, habits or hangups, you don't need Celebrate Recovery because you are deceased and in heaven

However, if you are still living on planet earth and want a new contentment and knowledge, then consider participating in Celebrate Recovery where thinking controls your feelings and your thinking and values emanate from those espoused by none other than the most famous and influential person in history, Jesus Christ.

If there are things in your life you want to change, you don’t change them from the outside in. You change them from the inside out. You start with your thought life, not by trying to change external things. If you have a faulty worldview, your thinking is askew, it’s going to cause all kinds of unnecessary problems in your life. Perfection is not required, but progress is possible, when you allow Christ to change your thinking.

Celebrate Recovery is the Celebration of Christ. Celebrate Recovery is a balanced, biblical program that helps to address hurts, habits and other life controlling problems. 

Celebrate Recovery, is the Celebration of the values of Jesus Christ. It is a form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy or Christian Behavior Therapy that utilizes Biblical principles and mores, specifically employing the 8 Beatitudes, which are statements on life's values. You deal with hurts, habits or hang-ups from a biblical philosophical perspective, with emphasis on socially and morally appropriate behavior as taught by Jesus Christ in the pages of the Bible. Change your thinking - change your life. Celebrate Recovery is the Spiritual Psychotherapy of Christ's Character.


Like other recovery programs, Celebrate Recovery isn’t for those who need it, but for those who want it. This recovery program is forward-looking. Rather than wallowing in the past, or dredging up and rehearsing painful memories over and over, Celebrate Recovery focuses on the future. Celebrate Recovery isn’t just about alcoholics, addicts, and those who love them, but also about the hurts, habits and hang-ups that affect us all.

Celebrate Recovery, a unique therapeutic model that can save your life physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Celebrate Recovery is about Reality, Research and Responsibility. Celebrate Recovery isn't rocket science, but it has a relationship with science, in the support of modern day principles and precepts of psychology and neurobiology. It is based on values, character, empowerment, motivation and the ability to change your thinking and change your life.

Genesis of Celebrate Recovery:  John Baker started Celebrate Recovery at Saddleback Church, with the approval of Pastor Rick Warren (1991). John was a recovering Alcoholic that was mocked at his AA meetings when he discussed a higher power being God. John new there had to be a better way than AA. John outlined a Christ Centered Recovery Program based on 8 Biblical Principles.
What Celebrate Recovery has done, is to outline the premise of modern Cognitive Behavior Therapy, where a person changes how they feel, behave and act by changing how they THINK.  John Baker’s goal is to become Christ like in Character. Character is putting values into habit. How do you become Christ like in Character? You change your THINKING, you find enduring values. And the best part is that the therapy book has already been written, in total, it is called the Holy Bible. When you Believe and Surrender (Intelligent Delegation) your life to God, you change your thinking forever.

The Bible tells us that our beliefs determine our behavior. If there are things in your life you want to change, you don’t change them from the outside in. You change them from the inside out. You start with your thought life, not by trying to change external things. Second, if you have a faulty worldview, it’s going to cause all kinds of unnecessary problems in your life.

The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18, “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed” (MSG). When you don’t have God’s truth and a correct worldview, you stumble all over yourself. But when you pay attention to God’s revelation, then you are blessed. Do you want your life to be blessed? Just attend to the truth. Pay attention, and get your worldview in line with truth, not popular opinion.

Albert Einstein said it most famously: ‘Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.’ Jonathan Sacks, "The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning," continues, science teaches us where we come from. Religion explains to us why we are here. Science is the search for explanation. Religion is the search for meaning. We need scientific explanation to understand nature. We need meaning to understand human behavior. We need God to know the answers to both. Science is the search for explanation. Celebrate Christ is the search for meaning and purpose through values.  

Anne Marlowe, a heroin addict wrote in her book, "How to Stop Time," "Heroin is an excuse for “not getting on with your life.” Marlowe notes that heroin “isn’t that wonderful: it’s a substance some of us agree to pursue as though it were wonderful, because it’s easier to do that than to figure out what is worth pursuing.”  Ann is right, when you think about it, it's all about Purpose or lack of it.

Combating Addictions is about the three Rs. Research, Reality and Responsibility: Reality: You have free will and ability to think and choose for yourself. Research: The disease model has advanced. Successful therapy does not convey disease mantras or label adolescents. Instead, it focuses on developing skills such as communication, self-control, and problem solving, particularly within the family. Effective treatment programs for teens are those that encourage them to take an active role in shaping their environments—focusing outward, as well as inward, to improve the conditions of their lives.  Addictions are not necessarily incurable life long diseases that render you powerless victims forever, void of free will and choice, and necessitate that a person hit rock bottom in order to change and make progress.  Responsibility: Addiction is the antithesis of responsibility! You need to take responsibility for your addiction; it is your habit and no one else’s. This is made difficult because the bulk of conventional addiction theory attempts to shift responsibility for the habit away from the addict and onto the substance. But this is fallacious and counterproductive. Addiction is a search for immature gratifications—it is self-seeking behavior resembling that of a dependent child. As a result, overcoming addiction requires growing up and assuming adult roles. In this process you learn to take responsibility not only for yourself and your own behavior but for other people in your life. One natural outgrowth of this mature outlook is that you may no longer see yourself as a powerless addict. You may no longer feel any need for the addiction, so it ceases to have any presence in your life. In order to fight addictions, we have to find ways to reverse the very forces that create these addictions; reverse engineer the reward system. One must analyze what conditions are being self-medicated and what alternative behaviors, and what acquired skills, will result in a happier life than the one you're now leading. Remember, you choose how to respond to adversity, tribulation, to life, to God. Your choice should be an intellectual rational choice! We can choose to be good! Our minds should be in control and not our emotions! It is our emotions which are prone to the Quick Fix the Mood Changer. Of course that is easier said than done, but we can develop and practice, "Character." When character is lacking or absent, addiction takes foothold. What is character? Character is making the virtues of Christ a Habit. Click here for the Three Rs or Celebrate Christ.

Albert Einstein said, "Make things as simple as possible and no simpler." Jesus Christ made it as simple as possible. He simply wants us to love God and love our neighbor.  In my view Celebrate Christ is the Ultimate Behavior Therapy, with the therapy book (Bible) already written. Christ is not an, "Enabler," Christ is a Teacher, a Thinker.  God does his deepest work in your life when he deals with your identity — who you are and the way you see yourself. You will always tend to act according to the way you think about yourself. So God does his deepest changes in your life by changing the way you see yourself. If you do a cost benefit analysis of your life, consider this simple thought, "You might have everything to gain and nothing to lose." God’s Word offers a way out for those of us who struggle with life’s circumstances or with addictive, dysfunctional or compulsive behaviors. With respect to hurts, habits and hang-ups, the general goals of Celebrate Christ are the same as secular therapy, but with a Global Purpose for Living that you can take your grave. There is nothing quite as potent as a focused life, one lived on purpose. Rick Warren says, "Knowing your purpose simplifies your life. It defines what you do and what you don’t do. Your purpose becomes the standard you use to evaluate which activities are essential and which aren’t. You simply ask, “Does this activity help me fulfill one of God’s purposes for my life?” Without a clear purpose you have no foundation on which you base decisions, allocate your time, and use your resources. You will tend to make choices based on circumstances, pressures, and your mood (Quick Fix-Mood Changer) at that moment. People who don’t know their purpose try to do too much — and that causes stress, fatigue, and conflict." Is getting high, altering life with a quick fix or mood changer-escaping life, your purpose? Ask yourself, whatever you do in life, does this activity serve my purpose? What is your Purpose in life? Do you have one? (Global reason for living). Knowing your purpose gives meaning to life. Ask yourself whatever you do, does this activity serve my purpose?

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A place to heal from hurts, habits and hangups