If you walk into God’s House of Hope of Kilmichael now, it’s a different place. The yellow walls and green trim have replaced with gray walls and décor with a rustic feel. Rooms that once held eager students, now soon be home to those seeking a life away from addiction.
When the facility’s doors open in February, those who have taken paths in life that led them down the wrong road, will enjoy a home blessed by the generosity of the community.
Two entryways separate the men’s hallway from the women’s, and in the middle, is the new worship room. There are still rooms that have the feel of a classroom but slowly, they will be classrooms for different lessons – life lessons.
Staff members Rebekah Johnson, Marcell Berry, and Abby Wilder moved into the new home at the beginning of October. Berry and Wilder said they’d never been to Kilmichael, but Wilder said she’d heard of it. All three women said the outpouring of kindness from the community has been overwhelming.
“I’d heard of B.B. King, but not Kilmichael,” Berry said, laughing. “Everyone that we’ve come in contact with has welcomed us. It shows that they have hope for their community through God’s House of Hope.”
“Everyone is super nice and welcoming. They’ve treated us like we’re family,” Johnson said.
“I’m very excited for the things to come,” Wilder said.
The women said they have a routine every morning where they pray for the residents who God will guide to God’s House of Hope for restoration and to become productive in Him and in their communities.
The two smallest residents Raylee King, 7, Raygan Whitaker, 5, the children of Rebekah Johnson, are students at Winona Elementary School. Johnson said there has been a little period of adjustment for the girls, but they love their new school.
“The teachers called and told us that they were in good hands, and they reassured us they would be okay,” Berry said.
For them, it’s been reassuring as well. For the women, every step of this process which is unfolding right before their eyes has been a step of protection, much like their lives.
Berry said her sister Teresa met Amy Shook-Coyle in 2016 at Restoration Ranch in Sheffield, Ala., her hometown. She said her sister was at Restoration Ranch praying for her [Marcell] to be released from her addiction.
Ten years prior to her sister going to Restoration Ranch, Berry said her younger sister began sowing tithes into Restoration Ranch, right around the time Shook-Coyle entered the program.
“When Amy left and went to Holcomb, Mo., where she met Rebekah, my son cried out for help, and he went to Missouri,” Berry said.
Fast forward a few years to when Shook-Coyle and Jennifer Sprayberry opened God’s House of Hope of Nettleton, Berry said her sister and her daughter joined the staff at God’s House of Hope.
“And I came through the doors on April 17, 2017. I spent 18 months there, and I went back home. I did well for a year, and then I backslid. It was brief, but it was real. I knew what I had to do and I knew where my help came from, and I went back to God’s House of Hope of Nettleton,” she said.
She said while she was there, she and Shook-Coyle talked about her coming on board as staff at God’s House of Hope of Kilmichael.
“That’s God’s promise to us. He never wants us to suffer,” she said.
Berry said her youngest sister is now a resident at God’s House of Hope.
“My mom thinks so much of Amy; she’s an answered prayer for the Berry family,” she said.
Wilder said she was in the Pontotoc County jail and was told she needed to call Shook-Coyle for help. “So, I did. I got her personal cell number, and she told me ‘Well, I’m getting ready for church but here’s the house number [to Nettleton].’ And I called, and I called and I called until I was accepted, and I’ve been here ever since.”
Wilder said she’d been in three other programs, but she never completed them, but this time she completed the program at God's House of Hope.
“When I was at [another facility], I knew I needed to help but I didn’t want to change. I just wanted people off my back. The Lord began to work on my heart, and He put a desire in me to change,” Wilder said. “But, I went out in the world again, and He had to show me that He will take his hands off of me and I surrendered and submitted. I put my life in his hands and my heart changed.”
Wilder said she hid her addiction well because when people saw her, she was always smiling.
“But, I was dying slowly. When I did cry out for help, they just thought I was okay. But I was dying inside and outside.”
The women said preparing for the new residents is a lot of work, but they can feel God’s presence as they do the work.
“There are people that God has handpicked for this program that have people praying for them and they don’t even know it,” Shook-Coyle said.
“They have to have the desire to change in their hearts,” Berry said.
“God will take them to the lowest of lows in order to get them to change,” Wilder said.
Coyle said the outpouring of support from the Kilmichael community and Montgomery County as a whole -- churches, organizations from not just Mississippi, but in parts of the country -- has been overwhelming.
She said right now, the biggest need is food, toiletries, rakes, lawn mowers, shovels and other things to help with the grounds upkeep and cleaning supplies. She said churches and organizations have been adopting rooms and they’re responsible for painting and decorating the room.
Shook-Coyle said donations are always accepted and if anyone wants to purchase food for GHOH Kilmichael, they can call Greenlee’s Shoprite at 662-262-4265 and tell them you want to donate to God’s House of Hope.
