GENEVA, Ala. (WTVY) – Freed from a drug addiction, one couple now runs a ministry to help others find the same freedom.
That’s the mission of our May Silent Hero of the Wiregrass and her husband.
Connie and Dustin Roney met in a drug house. Today, they run a ministry to help others find a way out of addiction.
“The only difference between us and them even now is just the grace of God in our lives,” Dustin said.
“We just believe that Jesus, He is the answer,” Connie said.
The Roneys founded Christians Who Care about nine years ago. Their goal is to reach those impacted by drugs.
Connie and Dustin Roney founded Christians Who Care about nine years ago. Their goal is to reach those impacted by drugs.(Connie, Dustin Roney)
They say their hometown faces the same crisis as every corner of the nation.
“I believe the drugs in Geneva are rampant,” Connie said.
Building a ministry from the ground up
Their mission began with a speaker and worship music at a friend’s home, then grew to a parking lot. Today, the ministry operates out of a building on West Magnolia Avenue.
“One of my prayers is that life comes from this building. That’s what Christ is. Christ is life and it’s an abundant life and we want others to be able to experience that abundant life,” Dustin said.
Every year they hold a Thanksgiving feast, giving out jackets, shoes and blankets just in time for winter. Every other Friday night, the building turns into a gathering for a hot meal, worship and a message.
They also provide showers, wash clothes and offer hygiene items to those in need.
“It’s not a handout, it’s a hand up,” Dustin said.
From addiction to ministry
Connie said 13 years ago, prayer changed everything for her.
“I was in my mother’s house on the floor. I was just laid out, prostrate, praying, begging God to take it from me. I said, ‘God, please take this from me’ and I’m telling you, I was in there for hours, crying, pleading with God, and I’m telling you, it was like a light switch. God took my meth addiction of 13 years,” she said.
For Dustin, his turning point was learning they had a daughter on the way around the same time that Connie had that experience.
“I think one of the things that God did through all that, through the grace of God, is that she (his daughter) doesn’t have to know who I used to be, who we used to be. She’s never met that man before, and that’s just a blessing of God, the grace of God,” he said.
Freed from a drug addiction, Connie and Dustin Roney now run a ministry to help others find the same freedom.(Connie, Dustin Roney)
Connie said receiving the Silent Hero of the Wiregrass award is a blessing.
“The funds are going to be used to buy things for people that need them. I probably will buy a lot of blankets for this year’s Thanksgiving feast,” she said.
Dustin said their message to anyone who feels forgotten is clear.
“We want to reach the unreachable, and we want to touch the untouchable, and we want to love the unloved. Those that have been neglected by the world, those that have been put off, those that have been forgotten, those that have been hurt or harmed or wronged — those are the ones Christ came for,” he said.
The Roneys will soon have Narcan at the ministry, an overdose treatment.
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