Dr. Randy Benner, board president, and Roy Reeves, co-founder of Heritage Church, at a banquet for Crossroads Gospel Mission.
“ And that’ s what we’ ve done and it’ s been successful,” he said.“ We say,‘ we don’ t just get them job-ready, we get them life-ready. We don’ t just give them a handout, we give them a hand-up.’ I mean, it’ s just... It’ s so succinct, but it’ s so what we are. It’ s so what we are.”
He said it wasn’ t effective to just share a Bible verse or a Bible study with the men they minister to when they didn’ t even have a driver’ s license or a Social Security card.
“ You have to kind of meet them where they’ re at and you have to have somebody help them navigate through all the pitfalls, the ups and downs that they already have,” he said.“ And when you do that, they know that you care. They don’ t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
He said they tell their volunteers that the men don’ t care how much Bible they know or how much they love Jesus, they want to know that the volunteer cares about them.
“ And when they know you care about them, their ears are open and they’ re much more receptive to the gospel message,” he said.
Benner said the ministries that he’ s been involved with like Hope House or Life Under the Son also had the“ one-on-one” philosophy because that was what he believed in and what had to be done to make an impact in someone’ s life.“ But also, they want to know that you’ re there for them, even though they’ ve messed up. They’ re going to continue to mess up but you’ re there with them,” he said.
He said after he became the president, he looked at the physical property, which was in horrible shape. Crossroads’ officials could barely make ends meet, so they couldn’ t afford to upgrade the property.
“ And I’ m not faulting the previous people at all. They were just trying to keep it afloat. I mean, they were just trying to keep their heads above water,” he added.
He said they spent more than $ 300,000 in renovations. He said the bathrooms’ walls were black with mold so they gutted them back to the studs. He said they refurbished the bathrooms, painted the inside of the facility and put on a new roof, just so it was livable.
A man living in the facility asked him why they were doing all of the renovations. Benner said, he asked him what he meant and the man replied,‘ making it so nice.’
“‘ I said, so nice?’ And he said,‘ Yeah, nobody wants to do nice things for poor people,’” Benner recounted.“ It broke my heart. I mean, it just broke my heart. And I said,‘ Well, you don’ t think you’ re worth it?’ And he said,‘ Well, other people don’ t.’ I said,‘ Oh, I think you are and I think God does, too,’” Benner said.
He said the Family Outreach Center in Albany, which they are part of, has chosen them to be the template for this 17-county area. He said other recovery centers can come and talk with them about what they do and what guidelines they use for their program.
“ We said,‘ Yes, we would love to share what we think God showed us, what we think works, where we’ ve been successful, where we haven’ t been, and things like that. So, that’ s been an exciting thing that somebody would recognize the organization,” he said.
22 MoultrieScene AUGUST 2025