I have struggled with an eating disorder for 10 years and was honestly resigned to never finding freedom from it and it would be my “thorn in my side.” But Re:Gen helped me understand that I can trust that God is ABLE to bring healing. When I was finally able to trust that full freedom was possible with Him, I was ready to submit everything to Him. I have found more freedom than I ever imagined possible through the consistency, accountability, and community of the program.

But more than this, the process of Re:Gen has truly renewed my faith, freed me with a far deeper understanding of grace, helped me embrace my true identity in Christ, and brought me to a deeper, closer, more truthful, and more joyful relationship with Jesus than I have ever had. I don’t know where I would be if God had not led me there.

– Female Participant

I’m reading through all my groundwork entries as I reflect back and one of the things I wrote was, “I’m deeply ashamed and fearful to the point where I don’t have hope. Hope is very scary. I hope to hope, I guess. But I’m grateful that the Lord does the work.” And let me tell you! HE does the work. He hears all our prayers and cries and has restored my hope. And I’m praying that He restores the hope of anyone that might also be “hoping to hope.”

– Female Participant during Step 3

After our conversations about confession, the Holy Spirit pushed me to confess something the devil has used against me for years to a trusted friend. It was something that I thought I would never be able to confess and something that was so terrifying to me. I was fully ready to lead a life with a secret that has tortured me for years. I know I couldn’t do it because I didn’t have the strength or courage. Fear had completely paralyzed me. It truly was the work of the Holy Spirit helping me and strengthening me. Last night, the Lord took a weapon away that the enemy had used against me for years of my life. I say this to say: the Lord is able. He is so powerful. So loving. So good. This morning, I woke up and last night felt like a dream because I was in awe that it actually happened. I had accepted the enemy’s lies for far too long. Things I never thought I would be free from, I see how He’s healing me and freeing me. He works everything perfectly. Something I held onto for years, He broke in a matter of months, and He did it teaching me and growing me to know more of Him. I’m so grateful. Praise the Lord. If He can do it for me, He can do it for anyone else.

– Female Participant during Step 5

Through this journey [Re:Generation] I have come to embrace this new identity that Christ has given me. My repeated failure with sin led me to believe that God identified me by my struggles and failures. It was hard to accept that I was a new creation in Christ. The truth is that God already knew that I couldn’t fix myself. I had to trust Him to completely transform me. Addiction to pornography led me to Re:Generation. It damaged my relationship with God, myself worth, and my desire for meaningful relationships. I discovered through Re:Gen that my addiction wasn’t about fulfilling desires I had, but that I used pornography to find comfort and security instead of turning to God to find those. During Inventory, I discovered I had idols of “caring about what others thought of me” and “my own self-perception”. I used sin to protect them, but the more I realized the idols the more I saw my need to fully submit to God as my ultimate source of peace joy. Before Re:Gen, when hard things hit, I would turn to porn, but now I turn to prayer, Biblical teaching, and encouragement from my brothers in Christ. God is changing my heart. My spiritual life has changed. I am praying more, reading scripture, listening to sermons, and reading spiritual books. Re:Generation was a place where I felt like I could bring my struggles to light and stop living in shame and secrecy.

– Male Participant

My name is Andrew. I am being healed and set free by Jesus from the power of porn, as well as my desire for esteem and power. Through Re:Gen, He is showing me a path of life and freedom—a new life in Jesus.

Last Fall, MBC was going through the sermon on the Mount and arrived at the portion about lust. My relationship with the Lord felt pretty good about that time, however, He showed me that there was still work to be done. I had grown content with going a few weeks or maybe even a month or two without porn, but the Father wanted better for me. He showed me how I was settling for less than His good. When I saw and heard the testimonies of those who had done Re:Generation and a year later were seeing incredible impacts and being able to go months and more in freedom, I felt compelled to join as the Spirit was going to use it to do deeper work in my heart.

Joining Re:generation, I found a community within the church that was honest about everyone needing Jesus’ help to walk in freedom from sin. It’s beautiful to see the hearts of those who put in the effort each week to even just make it to the meetings, even if they had a bad day or bad week. Relapses and stumbling may happen but also growing in spirit and truth to better combat what makes us fall and then being shown support without condemnation has tremendously helped me.

Doing the Re:Generation journaling has led me to find such great intimacy in seeking the Lord to help me and I have the path to walking in freedom as I follow Jesus. This is not will power. Living in freedom is surrender, humility of knowing I am weak and seeking Him for the strength I need because I cannot do it alone. I need the power of Christ and the support of His church. Re:Generation has helped me stay strong through many circumstances that normally would have quickly derailed. I am now walking in freedom for 6 months despite having gone through a move out of town and having to begin building a new community, many stressful changes and projects with work, and my wife and I having our second child. Through all of this, Jesus was our rock and praise be to the Father for taking care of my family and I.

My name is Andrew, and I am walking in a new life of freedom in Christ.

– Andrew, Regeneration Participant

After lots of self-reflection, I uncovered that my root problems are pride, control, and fear of man. I tried to control every part of my life by setting myself up for “worldly” success, following rules, keeping up this image of strength and happiness in front of others, and using porn to cope with the disappointments. I also learned that I depend on money as a source of security. Initially, I felt even more shame for these realizations. But Step 3, titled “Trust”, mentions that nothing you do can cause God to love you more or less. God’s favor is a gift for those willing to receive it. We focused on this daily which helped me be more honest with God about my struggles. Because of this, I started to feel less shame and anxiety because I truly believe in my identity as His son and that I’m seen as righteous in His eyes through Christ.

Even though I experienced all this growth in the program, I still relapsed regularly. The difference was that it was less often and I would turn back to God much quicker. There was much less shame involved and I would confess to my bible study and my Regen small group – fighting isolation and pride. I’ve learned that the desires of my flesh are far more powerful than my own strength to overcome the temptation. But whenever I confided in God that I was tempted and called Him to rescue me with the expectation of being rescued, He did every time.

– Male Participant

Regeneration, though labeled a recovery program, is truly a discipleship program. The steps really walk you through the core of the Christian life: recognizing a need for God, recognizing I am helpless to save myself, trusting in Him, confessing sin with radical honesty, putting on the new self with new practices, and seeking forgiveness and peace with others. There are countless things I learned from regeneration, including: radical honesty with myself, others and God; dependence on the living and active Word of God; and a surrender to His will. As a leader, I have learned even more about leadership as I get to walk alongside other women going through the process, while at the same time being encouraged and advised by ministry leaders.

– Female Small Group Leader