Second chances: House of Refuge helps men get back on right track

Seven men sit around a table: some fresh from prison, some drug addicts, all painfully aware of the many ways a man can get into trouble.

It is 8 in the morning, a good hour for sleeping in if you have a hangover. But there are no hangovers here. No laziness, either. Here, instead, you're up at 6. You make your bed, sit down for breakfast, help do the dishes. By 8 you're either heading to work or you're sitting around the table in Bible class.

Having already tried other paths to stay sober and out of jail — willpower, self-help books, various 12-step programs — the men are now hoping to start life over at the House of Refuge. Today's topic: Ephesians 6, "the armor of God."

"Are all evil forces 'out there' only?" asks Pastor Steve Sandlin.

"No!" say the men.

"Where are they?"

"Inside the flesh!"

That's why we need the armor of God to protect us, the pastor tells the men. "We need to rely on him, thoroughly, not on our own strength." This submission to God's will is central to the House of Refuge — but is only part of the reason why the program is successful, says Pastor Rob Ferris.

The two pastors — known to the men as simply Pastor Steve and Pastor Rob — started House of Refuge 15 months ago to help troubled men get back on their feet.

"Steve and I wanted to do something, but we didn't want it to be another Rescue Mission. There were already agencies providing 'three hots and a cot,' but we wanted to do something more." The House of Refuge, Pastor Rob says, deals with "immediate needs, spiritual needs and future needs." The residents learn conflict resolution and how to balance a checkbook, and each man gets help finding a job. In this way, he says, the residents are able to ease back into a world where there are rules and freedom.

Pastor Rob is state coordinator for Prison Fellowship, and Pastor Steve is the minister of Central Christian Church, on the corner of 400 South and 300 East. It's the church with the catchy slogans on its sign, most recently "Having truth decay? Brush up on your Bible!" House of Refuge occupies the north wing of the church building.

According to Pastor Rob, House of Refuge is "the only faith-based state-licensed residential support program" between Boise and Phoenix, and San Francisco and Denver.

The program is state-sanctioned but is now facing a battle at City Hall over a conditional-use zoning permit. At a hearing before the Planning Commission last week, some neighbors — an Eastern Orthodox church across the street, and several local businesses — voiced concern that the program might bring undesirables to the neighborhood, although later it turned out that they hadn't realized the program had already been in operation for more than a year.