Paul started abusing drugs and alcohol when he was only 17 years old drinking and smoking marijuana. As he got older, he followed a path into the party lifestyle. Over the years, his addiction grew deeper and deeper into meth and pills. “It was for the party for a long while and then it became an addiction. It was an everyday thing and before I knew it, my addiction was running my life.”

Living in San Antonio, Paul’s addiction eventually drove him to job loss and homelessness. Paul felt defeated. Paul struggled with coping in general with life so he copied with drugs, alcohol, and partying. He struggled with lack of fulfillment in his job and a loss of purpose. He didn’t know it at the time but he had lost his Jeremiah 29:11.

Paul was going to buy a bus tickets to Dallas but decided he didn’t want to go to stay Dallas. So he bought a bus ticket to Alexandria for a new beginning. On his way, the bus stopped in Shreveport and Paul decided to stay. “I got off the bus here in Shreveport for some reason and I didn’t go to Alexandria. I found the Mission, and there is no doubt in my mind that God sent me here”  Paul explains.

Before the Mission, Paul was an agnostic and lived a life of addiction, homelessness, self-sabotage, and job loss.Paul desired to be free from his addictive lifestyle and decided to give Jesus a chance. Paul gave his life to Jesus and allow Him to turn is life over. “Giving my life to Jesus is the best thing I’ve ever done” says Paul. Paul came to the Mission ready for change and jumped right into the Mission’s New Beginnings Program.

Today, he has graduated from the New Beginnings Program and has joined the Mission’s Ministry Intern Program where he is learning how to help other men who are in the same situation he once was in. 

Just like in the Bible when Paul gave his life to Christ and became new, our Paul did the same thing. He gave his life to Christ, found who he is in Christ, and rediscovered his Jeremiah 29:11. Paul came to the Mission with hate in his heart but today, he has love for Jesus and a passion to help others find the hope and freedom he has found. 

Check out the video below and hear from Paul how Jesus transformed his life and made him into a new man.