Kent Clark: Man with a mission

In this issue we run our first stories about finalists in our 11th annual Hope Award for Effective Compassion. Last year Grace Centers of Hope in Pontiac, Mich., won, so here’s my recent interview with Grace CEO Kent Clark, who’s been married for 47 years and has spent 27 of them heading up what was an old rescue mission badly in need of revitalization.

What was it like when you started? Same people in, same people out. Feed them, clothe them, shelter them. They would draw a welfare check, leave the center, then come back. That was wrong. We had to do more than simply be a feeding trough for drug addicts. Many of them had been there for three or four years. Two weeks after I became the active CEO they arrested 27 men out of our big dorm for stealing cars.

You told the board things had to change. We started telling people, “We will help you for 30 days while you look for a job or get an apartment. After 30 days you have to leave, and you can’t come back for a year—or you can go into the one-year drug rehab life skills program.”

What do you emphasize in that one-year program? First of all, Christ. There has to be a change from the inside out. Programs do not change drug addicts—only a heart change and only God can do that. We believe salvation is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ—and there’s hope for the worst of the worst. We emphasize the gospel in all of our classes—teaching people how to live from the biblical perspective, with accountability and responsibility.

You offer skills classes, and they have to attend church: You don’t ask them to make a profession of faith or say anything, but they do have to listen. You can get a GED, and most of our folks are going on to college. Life skills classes: Most of our moms don’t know how to be moms. Overall, if you are here to help people, you’ve got to start with a truthful premise. Our premise is that men are sinners, and until there is a change of nature, there is not much change in practice.

‘There has to be a change from the inside out. Programs do not change drug addicts—only a heart change and only God can do that.’

They also have to submit to random drug tests and work? They do. A lot of drug tests. It bothers me a bit that we spent approximately $35,000 last year on drug tests, but that’s because we want accountability. The one-year program also has the biblical principle “He who does not work does not eat.” All of our people earn their keep with job responsibilities whether it’s working at our thrift store or in our kitchen (we served 150,000 meals last year).

What comes after the one-year program? Then you can go into Little Grace Village, where we rent you a room or an apartment. You get a job. We help you with that. After two years in aftercare you have the opportunity to buy one of our houses on contract. We have 45 houses now, and 16 of our people have bought them.

What percentage of those who come to Grace Centers are addicted or are victims of abuse? About 98 percent of our folks are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. Some domestic violence goes along with that. Many have been sexually abused as well. That’s especially true of many of our women, who have to deal with issues of the past. The gospel is so awesome and wonderful because it clears up that whole past: God removes our sins as far as east is from west, and that’s where we see recovery.

You don’t take government money: If you did, what do you think would happen to your mission? We would go straight down. No doubt about that. It’s been great to see every day how God supplies our need as we live by faith and not by sight, and as we trust Him. In the Old Testament they had enough manna for the day and anything beyond that spoiled. God provided.

We told stories last year about some graduates of your program. How did you meet Ginger Couch, and what’s happened to her? I was eating at a restaurant uptown in Pontiac, and she was my waitress. I saw the tracks on her arm and she was also a cutter, and it was obvious that she was in big trouble. She was prostituting down on Seven Mile Road in Detroit to buy her drugs. I would go in there on purpose just to see her. I would say to her, “Now I’m going to give you a good tip, but you can’t buy drugs.” And she’d make that promise and we’d talk. Finally I began to tell Ginger something like this: “Ginger, you’re going to die if you stay out there. You’re going to die. You need to come to Grace Centers of Hope.” She came, and five years ago she came to know Christ and her life totally turned around.

What happened to James and Miranda Glascock? Both of them were addicts. James is 38 now. He came when he was 18 years old with just the clothes on his back. We call him Big Young’un because he’s a big strapper and one of the kids in the day care called him “young’un.” He went through our program and sang with our Men of Grace: That’s a group of men who traveled all over the world, sang for two presidents, made 12 CDs. James and Miranda met at the mission. She was a heroin addict. They married and they have two babies. We claim them as our grandchildren as well. They bought a house from us, and they are one of the four couples who have their house paid off. Both of them now work at Grace Centers of Hope.

Those are happy stories, but I imagine you have many sad ones. Far more funerals because of overdoses and relapse than I would ever desire to have—maybe 15 per year, and mostly young people. It’s very, very sad. We war not with flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.

How is Pontiac doing, and what are your relations with City Hall? The city of Pontiac was a bankrupt city, and Grace Centers of Hope has the distinction of being the first faith-based rescue mission ever to be raided by a local police department. The police thought we were a problem: Get rid of the rescue missions, get rid of the homeless shelters, get rid of the problem. Things have tremendously changed now. The mayor is a frequent visitor to Grace Centers of Hope, attends all of our events. The Oakland County court system sends people to us. One of our graduates is a City Council member. The city of Pontiac has come out of bankruptcy and is coming back.