John 3:16 Ministries has been helping men in Arkansas and Missouri with addictions since 2003. The ministry runs a spiritual boot camp at their location at 75 Holmes Road, Charlotte, Arkansas, and has faith houses as far north as Butler County and Van Buren. Over 1,300 men have benefited from the program, according to organizers with the program.
Bryan Tuggle, the director of John 3:16, graduated from a similar program called New Beginnings in 1995.
“I knew it (the program) worked on me,” said Tuggle in a 2020 interview posted on john316thecure.com. “I knew that it would work on other men.”
With the help of his wife Beverley he started John 3:16 Ministries at a 200-acre camp just outside Charlotte. The property was originally a camp for wounded Vietnam veterans called “Camp Steer.” Its current capacity is 180 men and a man undergoing rehabilitation will spend 6 months to 1 year at the camp.
Getting into the program is not easy, though. A man who wants to be accepted into the program must be 21 or older and pass a screening process to prove that he wants to recover. He must attend a worship service and stay to be interviewed. The interview process serves to make sure the man has hit his personally lowest point and is ready to get better.
“You can’t come to Jesus being made to,” said Tuggle. “You’ve got to come to Him wanting to.”
Once a man is accepted into the program, he becomes a resident of the camp and may not receive any visitors for 28 days. After that he may receive only approved visitors for a few hours on Sundays.
Upon becoming a resident of the camp, the man will attend religious services and counseling. He must also work and learn skills at the ministry’s print shop and automotive body repair shop. He will also do community service. In 2020, one of the ministry’s community services was to help clean up Desoto County after a tornado struck Jonesboro, Arkansas, on March 28 of that year. The ministry has also assisted at the Food Bank of Arkansas.
The cost to the man going through the program is nothing to the individual, said Tuggle. A man’s stay at the camp is funded through donations from churches, businesses and individuals. He wants men with addictions to know John 3:16 offers a man a place to rebuild himself through works and faith and return to his family.
“When I was sick, I tore my family all to pieces,” said Tuggle. “I saw how Jesus put my family back together. If he did it for me, he will do it for you.”
Anyone needing more information about John 3:16 can contact the organization through their website at john316thecure.com or by calling 870-799-2525.