October 6, 2017

Overcoming drug and alcohol addiction is a feat many strive to accomplish, but Poplar Bluff native Willie Holloway did it and in a few weeks. He will share his story with the world during an episode of The 700 Club. Tim Smith, a Nashville-based producer with the Christian Broadcast Network, was in Poplar Bluff Thursday to film Holloway's segment. ...

Overcoming drug and alcohol addiction is a feat many strive to accomplish, but Poplar Bluff native Willie Holloway did it and in a few weeks. He will share his story with the world during an episode of The 700 Club.

Tim Smith, a Nashville-based producer with the Christian Broadcast Network, was in Poplar Bluff Thursday to film Holloway's segment. While his videographer strategically rearranged Holloway's living room to create a makeshift studio, Smith said a major focus of the show is promoting a Biblical world view and that Holloway's story was a perfect fit.

"Some of our guests are entertainers, musicians, but a lot of our stories are of real people with real problems and how they found peace with Jesus Christ," Smith said, adding that Holloway has an amazing story and his segment is "basically a testimony to how God has done miracles in his life."

Sitting in a kitchen chair underneath a microphone and bright lights, Holloway said he wasn't nervous.

"I contacted them with my story, and believe it or not, they contacted me back," he said with a smile.

When he was a little boy, Holloway watched his father struggle with anger and alcohol issues. He said his dad was mentally and physically abusive to his wife and children and that he never once told his kids that he loved them.

"I didn't want to grow up to be like him," he said. "I saw other boys whose dads took them to games and things like that. I always wanted that."

Holloway said there were three things he knew he wanted; to be a professional baseball player, and a loving husband and father. But along the way, he fell into a similar lifestyle centered around substance abuse and over time developed severe addictions.

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"We do all types of stories on The 700 Club," Smith said. "We do miraculous recoveries, miraculous healings where God heals somebody. A lot of miracle stories and testimonies and this is Willie's."

Holloway said with the help of his wife of 43 years, Evelyn, and his faith in God, he eventually turned his life around. He said to be featured on the television show is a celebration not only for himself, but also for his wife.

"My wife has really been there for me," he said. "She didn't shun me aside. She didn't like what was going on. She hated it, but she stayed by my side because she's a Christian. She gave me her faith in God and it helped me through."

Holloway said through thick and thin, one thing he's proud of is that he was able to be the loving father to his kids that he had always wanted.

"That part I had down," he added.

Today, Holloway and his wife have six children, 12 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and one on the way. Aside from being a devoted family man, he's also a motivational speaker and penned "The Life and Times of Willie Holloway," a self-published story of his journey through addiction. Holloway said the opportunity to be featured on CBN is "a blessing" and that he plans to start a motivational speaking tour in the next year.

"It's huge, it is. This is really an honor to be a part of. I'm looking forward to taking my story farther," he said. "...I had work to do, too, not only God, but He was there to do what I couldn't and we're here now, talking about it."

Smith said Holloway's episode of The 700 Club will air sometime around the end of October or in early November.

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