Does your marriage seem to be going great? “I thought we had a phenomenal marriage. I mean he was a great husband and a great father.”

In a moment that can all change…sexual brokenness and addiction destroys marriages and ultimately lives. Often we don’t even realize how long our addiction has controlled us.

“But then he said some words that you know no wife ever expects to hear. He told me that for our 24 year old marriage that he had been unfaithful at that point for 21 of those years.”

Is addiction destroying your marriage? There is Hope in your Quest for true freedom from alcohol, drug and sex addiction. A private residential Christian rehabilitation program, will show freedom from your addiction and you will find healing and restoration in your relationships.

People controlled by drug addiction, alcohol addiction and sexual brokenness can seek help with the private christian rehabilitation program at HopeQuest.

Many are faced with this issue everyday because they don’t know how to get control of their alcohol addiction. They worry about what will happen if they get caught in their addiction again.

“It is my third DUI in 5 years so it was a high and aggravating misdemeanor.”

Scared of asking for help? Thinking that an inpatient program is just another failure? Ready to become the person you know you can be?

When you start alcohol or drug rehab our former clients recommend that you put 100% into your treatment for addiction. Hold nothing back, desire change and decide that you will be willing to work for recovery.

Recovery from alcohol or drug addiction doesn’t come easy but it gives you the opportunity to become the person that you ultimately always knew you could be.

The financial pressure related to the cost of this ministry has been overwhelming. As a result, I have led us to change our business model to increase program fee revenues for clients who are able to pay for intensive treatment services. However, we have still maintained scholarship options for those who are experiencing legitimate financial difficulties, along with a sliding scale fee based on a person’s income level. Click here to visit the website and read the letter where I announced this change. I have also led us to reconsider the way we budget for the costs of ministry operations at HopeQuest.

In the past, we limited our operating budget to a total dollar amount I felt we could successfully raise the funds to underwrite – regardless of whether or not the resulting budget plan  truly reflected what was actually needed to make the ministry work. Today we’re more realistically planning for dollars required to provide for the actual number of tent poles we must have in order to hold up the existing ministry tent that God has entrusted us with. As the leader of our ministry organization, I have led us to make these two very strategic changes in the way we think about and plan for the cost of the ministry programs at HopeQuest. I believe such changes will in fact help us to continue making much needed and very effective helps available to people who are being ravaged by addiction and co-related, co-occurring, and dual-diagnosis mental health issues.

One other area where we’ve had to make a strategic change is in the area of advertising. As a smaller ministry organization, we have always been able to avoid the cost of advertising by depending primarily on a word-of-mouth marketing strategy which worked because of our unique relationship with Woodstock First Baptist Church and the large number of people who talk about their awareness of the ministry programs at HopeQuest. As our ministry organization has grown, it has become increasingly difficult to survive with the inconsistent levels of client participation that has resulted from a word-of-mouth only marketing strategy. In addition, other organizations – which do not provide the same level of Christian based professional services as HopeQuest – are advertising consistently and frequently on Christian radio. The absence of a similar voice for HopeQuest further impacts our ability to be a present option for people to consider as they deal with their search for Christian based professional intensive residential recovery treatment options. Because the metro-Atlanta area FM stations are so expensive, we have tried to avoid this medium. However, realizing it to be a necessity, we were able to negotiate a rate with The Fish 104.7 FM (Salem Communications Network) to have 9 commercials (one per hour on Sundays between 6 AM and 3 PM) on both their AM and FM stations. We are already receiving a number of inquiries resulting from people hearing the advertisements.

To accomplish the same goal in areas outside of the metro-Atlanta area (click here to see the geographical map highlighting the international impact being made at HopeQuest) we have followed in the footsteps of other successful ministries we highly respect – such as Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family – by launching a daily 15-minute radio outreach program – Just Ask Roy. Click here to visit the website and listen to previously aired programs and/or subscribe to the RSS feed. Through this AM radio medium, which we were able to get at an incredibly affordable package allowing us to expand our outreach efforts to five major cities: AM station WBXR in Huntsville, Alabama; AM station WELP in Greenville, South Carolina; AM station WWNL in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; AM station KCNW in Kansas City, Kansas; and AM station KLNG in Omaha, Nebraska. It is my prayer that this syndicated program will offer hope and encouragement to many while making much needed resources available to people by directing them to the ministry program and professional service offerings available to them at The HopeQuest Ministry Group, Inc.

This year, we are continuing our involvement with the Georgia Association of Residential Recovery (GARR) homes and the National Association of Residential Recovery (NARR) homes, both associational organizations being  focused on raising the standards along with state and federal regulatory requirements regarding organizations involved in providing residential recovery programs and professional treatment services. We have been blessed that both organizations have chosen to recognize our level of excellence and standards in ministry and professional work through asking us to be involved in associational executive leadership.

Throughout 2012, we will continue to make Christ known in the professional mental health and addiction treatment communities as we are involved as a sponsor, lecturer, and conference exhibitor (marketing HopeQuest). It has been my experience so far that the professional community really doesn’t think that Christian and church related organizations can be effective in mental health and addiction treatment work. The quizzical and skeptical inquiries we get concerning the combination of “professional” and “ministry” is quite interesting. It is likely that the staff at HopeQuest will become leaders in the pioneering effort of bridging the gap between the medical professional community, the mental health professional community, the addiction treatment professional community, and the religious based (not all of them are Christian) recovery discipleship programs. It will be another interesting and effectual year! It is a necessary involvement if HopeQuest is to continue growing and become a respected participant in the professional intensive treatment community.

We have initiated the process of obtaining organizational accreditation by The Joint Commission (Click here to learn more about the accrediting organization). Last year during our marketing efforts at the National Conference on Addiction Disorders (NCAD), I was able to to meet and discuss this process with Dr. Mary Cesare-Murphy, the Executive Director of the Behavioral Health division of The Joint Commission organization. She was very accommodating and helpful as we spent much time together helping me to understand the process of achieving this organizational goal. Once we accomplish this, we will have everything we need in place organizationally to begin accepting insurance company reimbursements as a form of client fee payment.

Finally, everything within us is praying that we’ll be able to launch our major gifts emphasis this spring, hopefully by April 1st. The Cherokee County Planning and Zoning Board has approved the overall direction of our campus site master plan.  It is imperative that we continue with this planning process and raise the funds to begin the development of our own campus facilities. We are literally busting at the seams in our currently leased spaces. In addition, we must plan for the spaces needed to train professionals and ministry leaders who desire to adopt the HopeQuest model and replicate components of our ministry programs in other areas.

Our overall budget requirements for the year totals $1,590,000 ($132,500 monthly) and includes only those things that the Board of Directors and I have worked to understand as necessary expenditures to accommodate the ministry work. I am grateful for the many professional Christian men and women (medical doctors, therapists, psychologists, nurses, etc.) who participate in the HopeQuest mission by donating their services. Otherwise this budget would be larger.

With all the Lord is leading us to embrace in 2012, I am praying for many to rise up to the task of funding this great work through consistent sacrificial gifts to underwrite the operating budget. In addition, I am outlining some of the key projects that our partners in hope might review in prayerful consideration of how to support this work. It is the Lord’s ministry, the Lord’s vision, and it will require the Lord’s people to pull together if we are to continue in the unfolding of this worldwide vision of making a difference for Jesus Christ.

Here are some immediate needs we have:

1. $3,500.00 to replace the 10-year old mattresses in our client residential spaces. These mattresses were used when we received them and have served us well for a long time. However, they must be replaced.
2. $5,000.00 to repair the septic tank in our current women’s residence. We’ve had to pump the tank three times now at approximately eleven day intervals. The environmental folks tell me that the field lines are stopped up and must be replaced. This work is scheduled to take place on Monday, January 23, 2012.
3. $3,000.00 to cover the cost of the consultant who is helping us with our standards and compliance review regarding accreditation project.
4. $26,400.00 to cover the annual cost ($2,200 monthly) of our daily fifteen minute AM station radio program as outlined above.
5. $25,920.00 to cover the annual cost ($2,160 monthly) of our weekly commercial spots (Sundays 6 AM – 3 PM)  on The Fish – AM and 104.7 FM – stations.
6. $7,000.00 to cover the materials for renovating an unused building on our campus so it will be suitable and accommodating for administrative and ministry work.
7. $4,500.00 to cover the cost of replacing an Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning system.
8. $10,000.00 to cover the cost of a commercial software package for system data backups. As a standard of practice, I personally build all of our information technology server solutions and most of our workstation/desktop solutions from donated hardware and open-source (no-cost) software solutions (other than the highly discounted things we purchase through Microsoft’s charitable organization discount program). I also develop our internal software applications such as our Electronic Health Records (EHR) system and collaborative [team] budget planning system. As a result, we have a very sophisticated enterprise level network computing and software application environment at literally no cost. However, we are at a place where we need to procure a commercial backup solution for organizational data. It’s just one of those things we cannot build on our own.
9. $4,000.00 to cover the cost of upgrading the one MAC system and Adobe Master Collection CS5.5 – needed in our marketing department to support our above mentioned advertising efforts, website development, radio programs, and etc.
10. $1,500.00 to cover the cost of our participation in the Georgia School of Addictions Studies Conference (GSAS).
11. $1,500.00 to cover the cost of our participation in the Georgia Addiction Counselors Association (GACA).
12. $3,500 to cover the cost of our participation in the National Association of Addiction Treatment Professionals (NAATP).
13. $32,960.00 to cover the annual cost of our organizational insurances: general liability; professional liability; umbrella liability coverage; auto coverages; directors and officers liability coverage; workman’s compensation insurance; and etc.
14. $10,000.00 to cover the cost of printing a professionally designed organizational ministry information packet with components usable for prospective donors, prospective clients, professional partners who are interested in referring clients to us, and interest we receive at conference exhibits. It is a necessary tool and we have reached a point where not having it available is impacting our ability to present ourselves as the professional organization that we are.
15. $18,000.00 ($1,500.00 Monthly) to cover the cost of a consistent monthly newsletter focused on: 1) keeping our ministry partners informed, and 2) furthering the interest of prospective donors as we work toward their involvement as partners-in-hope.
16. $15,000.00 to cover the cost of reprinting three major products we use in our outpatient accountability, support, and counseling group efforts: the Building for Freedom workbook; the Journey I workbook; the Journey II workbook; and the Twelve2Life workbook.
17. $8,436 to cover the cost of staff development for select employees who are charter staff members of The HopeQuest Ministry Group, Inc. organization and it’s flagship program: TREK. The staff development is directed towards advancing the employees level of certification regarding their work in the professional addiction treatment context.
18. $9,780.00 to cover the cost of providing the Successful Living Seminar: Friends & Family – a family (and other close relationship) group counseling and educational event provided every other month for clients and families who are participating in the residential and non-residential intensive treatment programs.
19. $14,000.00 to cover the cost of one participant in the 90-day TREK Program (residential intensive treatment service ministry program) and its following 180-day Continuing-Care post-intensive phase follow-up program. The bottom line is that the organization’s scholarship committee can only make the scholarship available for someone with a legitimate financial hardship if the funds are available.

These listed projects total up to $203,496. It is my prayer that we will raise this money and set it aside in order to be assured that these strategic projects can be funded to a point of completion this year and without interruption. Please pray with me toward this end and please prayerfully consider how the Lord Jesus may be leading you and your family to be involved.

I look forward to sharing with you soon about some other exciting things that are happening as we all continue together in making a difference for Jesus in the lives of people who are in need of redemption, deliverance, healing, and life transformation.

Your brother and co-laborer in Christ,

Rev. Roy A. Blankenship, MAMFT, LPC, CCADC, BCCC
Founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer

The HopeQuest Ministry Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2699
Woodstock, Georgia 30188

Website: www.hqmg.org
Phone: (678) 391-5950
Email: Roy.Blankenship@hopequestgroup.org

Not sure what to give? Think about joining our Five Dollars to Freedom Program! For more information visit http://hqmg.org/2011/11/five-dollars-to-freedom/

If you want to start with just a one time donation go to our donate page right now and give online http://hqmg.org/donate/

As HopeQuest reaches out and impacts lives, the resources of this ministry are stretched to challenging capacity. The level of care HopeQuest offers individuals is on par with top clinical facilities yet offered at only a fraction of the cost. The reason for this is because it’s not about money – it’s about people – it’s about reaching out to the hurting and broken. However, funding is needed to operate at the level of excellence for which we strive to maintain. We need your help to offset the underwriting costs for residential treatment. Through your donation, lives are saved, marriages are healed, and families are restored. To allow for those not able to afford the nominal costs of our 12-week residential care and counseling, the financial impact is absorbed and faith is applied. That’s where you come in. Through your tax deductible donation, the resources needed to build into the lives that come through our doors can continue without interruption.  If you are able to give, or know someone that could help by making a tax-deductible donation to HopeQuest, please have them contact us at 866.377.7589 or online at http://hqmg.org/donate/

Votes Save Lives… and doesn’t cost a thing! Help HopeQuest Win 50K Grant

If you are unable to give or even if you can give but feel called to do more, then I have an opportunity for you. The HopeQuest Ministry Group, Inc. is in the running for a grant that can be as much as 50K. How can you vote?

Go to the Giving of Life website and vote. (http://givingoflife.com/browse/hopequest_ministry_group_inc/)  this is the link for easy reference. You can vote once just by clicking the link. Then go to the top and register for more votes you get 3 more for each e-mail address you have. Then if you link your Facebook and twitter you can get two more. So with just a minute or two of time you can vote 6 times. If you have multiple email addresses (ie. one on Gmail, one for work, one in Yahoo, etc.) then you can register with each of those addresses as long as you use a different name in the name field each time. Then start sharing the news. We are doing a really big Facebook push so if you go to the HopeQuest Facebook page (facebook.com/HopeQuest) then you can share the information onto your page. Also e-mail to friends and family that you know might not use Facebook. Again we have until November to get votes but if we don’t start the push now we won’t be able to make up the ground we need.

The way we win: Giving of Life (The organization giving away the grants at givingoflife.com) on November 4th will pick the 50 organizations that have the most votes (right now we are number 15 overall so we do qualify for the moment) then from that 50 the top 20 will be used to choose three ministries at their discretion. Third place gets 10k, second place gets 20k, and first place gets 50k. Thanks for the help!