Shiloh Mens Ministries Rehab Facility >> Testimonies

Hello, my name is Arthur Johnson. I was raised in Miami Florida. I have two brothers and two Sisters. I was the second to the youngest. My Mom was a single parent raising five kids. I was raised in the Projects and it was hard during those times. I always wanted to help my Mother out during those exceedingly difficult times, but it was not easy finding a job at such a young age. I started selling drugs at the age of ten. I was making money to help my Mom out, but it was not enough. When I finished school at the age of seventeen, I started trafficking drugs from Miami to Alabama and to Georgia. Nobody had told me about the consequences, I had to find out the hard way. I got busted in Alabama in 1993, and I was sentenced to prison for eight years. I was paroled in 1995 and started doing the same thing over again, and this time I was using drugs myself and became addicted to Cocaine, I was using it every day. It was a huge problem for me and my family. I got busted for Cocaine. I did not know what to do. This time I was facing life in Prison. I lost all hope because I thought my life was over, but while I was in Prison, I attended Church, and learned about Jesus Christ. He was the only One I had during those times. I asked Jesus to please help me out of this mess I was in. I got saved while in Prison, but it felt like I was still missing something. I got out of Prison in 2011, but it was not until 2017 that while I was attending Church that this Young Lady asked me do you want to go to Shiloh Ministries in Liberty, Texas? I said Yes to that invitation and she put me on the bus headed for Texas. I really did not want to go, but I knew I had to. When I got to Shiloh, the Staff was kind to me. I did not believe it. Nobody had ever showed me this much love before and that was the beginning of real change in my life. Shiloh helped me to understand why Jesus Christ death was so important to me and why He died. It was because of Jesus Christ that I am a changed man today. Shiloh Ministries was used by Jesus to Disciple me. After people get saved there is an absolute importance to get discipled. I want to thank Shiloh Ministries for helping me to have a better life today. I teach Sunday School and I drive the Church Van now. I love who I am today, and I am thankful for Pastor Rocky, Sister Debbie, and all the Staff of Shiloh that allowed me to sit at The Feet of Jesus for one full year. That one year of Discipleship changed me and now I have a different outlook on life. I want to Thank everyone that has a part of Shiloh. I am thankful for people that loved me when I thought all hope was lost. Now my hope is in my Lord and Savior Jesus. Merry Christmas!!
Love, “King” Arthur

Hello my name is Jamie Nelson from Dothan Alabama. I graduated in 2013 from Shiloh Ministries. Since graduation from Shiloh, my life has been great, of course I have had my ups and downs, but no matter what I go through, I get all my strength from my Lord. He provides all my needs! I pick up my cross Daily and follow Jesus Christ; I am gladly surrendered to HIM. I am a temple of God where worship takes place. Witnessing is an honor and a privilege, I am excited about telling others of what Jesus Christ has done in my life. The Lord has privileged me to have a street ministry for HIM and the Holy Spirit guides me to the ones He wants me to speak to and pray for. The Lord lead me to call HIS ministry Eternal Touch Ministries! I prayed and asked HIM because I wanted the name to give HIM glory . It is HE that does the ministry, I just surrender my will so His will be done. The Lord Jesus delivered me from a 28 year drug and alcohol addiction and I am not the same! He has also baptized me in the Holy Spirit so I can be a bold witness for Him! My Savior lives and He empowers me so His Grace will be on display. He desires to touch and set free every captive. I received my GED while at Shiloh. God’s hand was upon me as I only had a fifth grade education coming into Shiloh. I'm now a bussiness man with my own Tire Company. I love to hunt and fish but most of all I love to fish for men. I want all people to know my Savior, so He will become their Savior. The Lord has commissioned each of us to make disciples out of all people. It’s the greatest thing I can do for what he has done for me! Matthew 28:18-20, “Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen! Update 2023. The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful woman of GOD. Meet Candace Nelson. GOD is GOOD!

Anthony and Emily Huerta are Missionaries through Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Tyler, Texas. Together they feel called to mobilize individuals into their God given destiny—to know God and to make HIM known. Emily is a second generation missionary and at age 15 p

ioneered the ministry of KEEPS Boutique in 2008. KEEPS serves teen girls in foster care by provoding free brand new clothing through personalized shopping appointments, girls night-out events, KEEPS Summer Kamps and other local outreaches across East Texas. God designed KEEPS Ministries to draw His Daughters out of brokenness and into relationship with HIM. Anthony came to know The LORD personally on June 16, 2015, one month into Shiloh as a Shiloh Student. After experiencing The Father’s Unconditional Love for the first time, he realized his life needed to change in order to reflect this reality. One month after graduating Shiloh, Anthony joined YWAM Tyler where he now leads The Mobilization Team. The goal of the Mobilization Team is to mobilize people into a missional lifestyle through evangelism, worship and training.
Anthony and Emily also work with YWAM’s discipleship schools, training people of all ages and countries. The aim of these schools coincides with their life’s mission which is: discipling others To Know God and to make HIM Known across The Globe. Shiloh was blessed to host Anthony, Emily, and their Parents a few weeks ago. Anthony & Emily shared a message at Shiloh Church. Their Message is on YouTube at Shiloh Church & Ministries in Liberty TX. The title of the message is Cultivate the Internal Revival. Please take a listen and be blessed with the message.

Hello I am Daniel Allen. I am 33 years old from Lake Charles Louisiana. From a young age I could feel God moving on my life. In a Baptist church in our small community at the age of 8 I gave my life to Jesus. Though I was save, I was missing true heart connection with the father. At 16 years old I walked out of the

church and started seeking attention from where ever I could get it. My poor decisions to drink and party led to the eventual use of marijuana at the age of 18. The years that followed were filled with experimentations with sorts of drugs, only to find myself in the end hopelessly addicted to both making and using crystal meth. Easter Sunday just after my 27 birthday, I was sitting in a bar parking lot waiting to make a drug deal, when the Lord Jesus spoke to me. He told me that the person I was becoming was not the Son he had created me to be. This experience broke me. I spent the next two evenings praying with my mother for God to help me. A few months later on the afternoon of Feb 4 I was arrested on multiple charges. A few weeks later while sitting in jail I opened a letter my parents mailed me with information on Shiloh Ministries. While reading the information a peace that could not be explained began to come over my life. In that moment God healed me from years of addiction to drugs and nicotine. From that point on I knew in my heart that Shiloh was where I belonged and I never had to use again.

My name is Dan Nelson and I am from Lake Geneva Wisconsin. When I arrived at Shiloh, I was a battered and defeated man. Years of just trying to make it in the world had taken its toll on my family and I. Without Jesus, I had tried to do everything on my own. The result was constant struggle, anxiety, and failure. I tried to cope with the ways of the world. What I walked into that day in 2011 was a love that I was unaware existed: the love of Jesus shown through the staff at Shiloh. Through the next 12 months of Discipline and Discipleship, I reformed my thought process and graduated with a new purpose in life. After graduation I have been able to see the world through spiritual eyes and have been able to guide my family down the narrow path and toward the small gate. (Matthew 7:13-14) Fear, anxiety, self-consciousness have been replaced with the fruit of the Spirit and the confidence to overcome all challenges. (Galatians 5:22-23, Hebrews 10:35-36). Our life has gone from living paycheck to paycheck to the peace of financial stability and a great career not due to myself, but due to the discipline and biblical leadership teachings I learned at Shiloh. This does not mean life has been without challenges. In 2024 a stalker forced his way into our house in what police described as a murder suicide attempt at our daughter. Both my son and I were stabbed before we disabled the attacker. Besides the divine protection for my family, I was able to address my anger, fear, and questioning through my relationship with the Lord. At his sentencing, I was able to forgive the man and spoke on God's plan for him when he eventually gets out and his need to sow positively back into society. I continually press on to become more mature in Christ and was fortunate to be able to teach on Discipline and Discipleship recently at Shiloh. Thank you Pastor Rocky and Sister Debbie for your commitment and thank you for the place called Shiloh Church and Ministries!

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God is so good.
For those who really know me they know what Christ Jesus has done for me.
I was an addict from the age 15-23. I have burned so many bridges, I have died on multiple occasions, I have had many heart attacks, and numerous car wrecks in that time frame. I had no desire to live and I never wanted to face the emptiness and pain I had . In 2020 after a intense few months of hell literally opening up to me ,the heaviest bit of addiction, and a series of events that changed me for the worse I had reached rock bottom- 2 arrests within a week for public intoxication was enough for me to see that death was my only future if I continued down the same path(never had been in trouble with the law prior). I decided to surrender my will and get the help I needed. I gave my life to Christ. Shortly after this decision I reached out to Shiloh Ministries for help and was checked in by May of that year.
One year later I had graduated with an understanding of discipline and the word. 5 weeks later I decided to jump into a discipleship training school at YWAM Tyler TX and went to Panama, right after that I went into their school of evangelism and visited Tanzania then graduated. I made a slow transition back up here to Tulsa after spending a great summer with Tristen Moretti who helped me to learn to enjoy life again socially. Once back in Tulsa I went back into sales, went back to school to finish my associates , and I met my now wife. Come 2023 I am graduated with a psychology degree(Associates), I have proposed and married my wife, Parker McKinzie, all within the span of 7 months. 6 weeks after our marriage we found out we were pregnant! 2024 I’m with my wife preparing for our baby come July, about to move, and I can honestly say I’m the happiest I’ve ever been- God is so good- Christ is the reason for this transformation and that is the secret. Walking, talking, and working through every bit of every day with Him is the reason why a destroyed life is able to continue on completely renewed and finding purpose. If you have hurts, hang ups, pain, sorrow, addictions, and questions- reach out to Jesus and He will answer.

Joseph McKenzie

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Hello, my name is Jacob Kristen from Bryan, Texas. It was just over a decade ago that I had my divine appointment at Shiloh Ministries. As a young man in my early 20’s, I showed up to Liberty, Texas hopeless, lost, full of fear, & completely devoured by drugs. One year later I left with the foundation properly laid to begin walking in the destiny I was uniquely designed for. In sports, smart coaches often call time out when things aren’t going to plan in order to stop the opposing team’s momentum. Shiloh was a necessary mandate from God on my life in order for me to escape & overcome what the enemy was in the process of doing *OR* had planned for me: Kill, steal, & destroy (VERSE). Graduating from Shiloh was no easy task, however. I arrived entitled, with zero work ethic, no identity, many resentments, & a mind fixated on narcotics. I went in thinking drugs were my problem, only to realize they were merely a symptom of a much bigger issue: Lack of relationship with my creator. Isn’t it refreshing to know that God isn’t interested in treating symptoms? Jesus (God in the flesh) came into this fallen realm to redeem us. He specializes in addressing root causes & restoring us whole. This type redemption only happens once we’ve had enough of doing it our way & are ready to embrace His way (VERSE). At Shiloh Ministries, Pastor Rocky & Sister Debbie have devoted their lives to creating an atmosphere necessary for God to restore the lives of broken men. This obedience permeates down to their entire flock and creates an environment of love. Shiloh is a bible boot camp of the Highest order, that thoroughly washes students in the Word of God daily. It’s this discipline I learned inside the Shiloh classrooms, that I took with me & still embrace 11 years later. In my life I’ve learned it’s all or nothing when it comes to serving God. Sitting on the fence by spending more time on Facebook, T.V., & the things of this world is indeed choosing something. Jesus makes clear in his word, that lovers of the things of this world WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD (VERSE). Many of you are married. I’m sure time was invested daily getting to know your bride. If God bores us, how excited will he be to have our company? Yet many will no doubt expect to go running to their bridegroom the very moment His arrival is announced during the midnight hour (VERSE). Jesus warns us in Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” To the lukewarm “Christian” straddling the fence, I always ask: what makes you think you’ll find God in the flesh standing at the door of the banquet hall? I’d challenge “Christians” everywhere by asking yourselves how well do you really know HIM? Are you too busy to embrace a relationship with someone you hope to schedule an eternity with? Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:” I’m grateful for my struggle with drugs because it forced me to seek supernatural help. Rest assured there’s no job, spouse, treatment, circumstance, or anything else available in this world capable of correcting addiction. It takes the creator to rewire the mind of the creation. Shiloh Ministries is one of His best tools.

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My Name is Chase Smith. I was born in 1989 in Houston Texas. At an early age I began having behavioral problems and as a result was put on many psychiatric medications. Shortly before high School I began to use illegal substances and alcohol and abused psychiatric medications. I quickly became dependent upo

n them and over the course of the next few years my drug use began to spiral out of control. I had been a competitive swimmer growing up but gave it up because I would rather have been getting high. I had been a decent student but began to cheat just to skate by. My drug use started with weed, then occasionally alcohol, then amphetamines, and eventually everything I could find. I found myself intrigued with eastern philosophy, the “supernatural” and dabbled in the occult. There was a dark force in my life driving me further down a path I never thought I’d find myself on. I was completely opposed to the idea of Jesus and thought it was illogical and often mocked Christians. I began drinking heavily around the age 18 and in direct correlation I began to get in fights and going to jail. One of the first times I was in Harris County jail I remember accidentally placing my hand on a Bible and I remember it sending a jolt of what I felt like electricity up my arm. After that I began to go to the Wednesday Church Service in the jail, and every time I would go a feeling of peace would fall over me. Yet after I was released, I slipped right into my old life and forgot all about the experience I had had. Things continued as they were for several years until I ended up having to go to Prison. I spent about a year in Prison and when I was released, I went to live in Austin, Texas. It was in Austin that I had sunk to a new level of depravity. The farther I sunk the more I realized how helpless I was, and I realized how little I knew, and my heart began to soften more and more. I lived in New Mexico for about two years, and it was after I ended up jobless and homeless in the middle of a small town where I knew absolutely no one that God began to work to do something amazing. I had been released from County Jail on probation and my probation officer filed for an interstate compact, so I could be sent back to Houston to my family. She said the chances of it being approved were very unlikely. Not only was it approved but it was approved by the very next day and next thing I knew I was on a grey hound back to Houston. But when I got back, the same old problems faced me. Drugs and Alcohol still had a grip on me. I had overdosed on heroin once in New Mexico, and after I got back to Houston my kidneys began to fail from using meth and I ended up in the hospital. But I thought “oh well, you live and then you die and then that’s all.” So, it didn't faze me. I did not believe in hell or the devil or anything like that. Months later, I mixed alcohol and drugs and had my last overdose. What I experienced is not important, but it was after this I realized I had been wrong about heaven and hell, about the devil, and most importantly, I was wrong about Jesus. For almost a year, I think I continued to drink, and smoke weed, knowing deep down though that God was calling me. I remember finding a Bible and putting it on my dresser… I never picked it up but I use to look at it and wonder what it said. Towards the end of that year, I sabotaged my job with my drinking, ruined my relationship with my family again, and was practically speaking– homeless. A friend from High schools Dad who was a Christian who lived close by let me come and stay with him. One day, he took me to Church, and in Worship, I remember being overcome with emotion and The Lord ministered to my heart. It was somewhere around that time that I know I must have gotten saved, though I do not know the exact moment or day even. I remember feeling like a different person. I tried watching TV and remember being grieved by the stuff I heard and saw on it. Things I use to enjoy, and think were entertaining, It was strange. I did continue to have problems with prescription medication however and it was then that my Friend’s Dad told me about Shiloh Ministries. As soon as he told me about it, I said I would go. I knew in my heart that I was supposed to go there. Shiloh was an exceedingly difficult year at times, but it produced fruit in my life that will never die. Since then, I have diligently studied God’s Word, been continuously changed from season to season by His Power and made more like Him in all things. I am not perfect; bit I am not the man I use to be. I have hope and joy and a purpose. I am free from the slavery of sin and drugs. I went to YWAM Tyler, Texas after graduating Shiloh and there I met my future wife Chelsey. It was during my time at YWAM that my Dad’s cancer reached a point of no return, so I went back home prematurely to be with him in his last days. Chelsey accompanied me, and since that time we have not been apart. We got married about a year after my Dad passed, and now two years later, we are having our first Child, Elijah Christian Smith. The Lord has been so gracious to me, The Chief of sinners as Paul wrote and every day I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I had no career path or skills, and it was God who continued to put people and signs in my path to go to welding school, so I did, and soon after, I was told about a job by a former Shiloh Graduate. I got the job and excelled there. I made it through 2 layoffs and when they decided to turn the company over to a sister company, they kept me on. This job just so happened to have excellent medical benefits, and I had been worried for some time about how I was going to get treated for Hepatitis C, which I had contracted in my former life. But with my Health Insurance the medicine was affordable, and now today, I am free of Hepatitis, and have the privilege of witnessing to my coworkers. In this season, The Lord has lead Chelsey and I to put down roots at a local Church where we are currently drawing up a strategy for street evangelism to the homeless. The Lord has also been calling me to teach The Bible, we have also partnered with several other Ministries overseas, and have been given the privilege to be able to give resources and occasional teachings to these ministries. Jesus is real and HE is the only way, and HE is gracious to all, and HE desires that none perish. I am a living testimony of His Love, His Grace, and His Mercy.

Michael and Julie Bigley are living testaments of God's transformative power of Grace and Mercy. Michael, once bound by a 32-year battle with addiction, found freedom and redemption through the love of Christ. As a Shiloh graduate, he emerged from the darkness that had consumed him for decades, not by his own strength but by the overwhelming power of God working in his life. Today, Michael is a vessel of God’s healing, leading other men out of the bondage of addiction, offering them the hope that only God can provide.

Julie’s journey is a profound example of God’s ability to turn ashes into beauty. After experiencing the trauma of betrayal in her first marriage, Julie faced deep emotional pain, yet she chose to surrender her wounds to God. Through His grace, she found healing and was able to forgive and rise above the betrayal. Now, she leads women who have experienced similar heartache, guiding them to the only One who can truly restore their hearts. Julie’s ministry is a testament to God’s ability to redeem even the most broken places in our lives.

I was once a man who looked like a good father on the outside,but inside I was broken.I loved my daughters deeply. I spent time with them, laughed with them, took them to church, and tried to give them good memories. To the world, I was a “great father.” But behind the scenes, I was battling pain, pride, self-hatred, and things I didn’t know how to face.Instead of surrendering those things to God, I turned to alcohol. What started as a way to cope became a chain I couldn’t break. I drank to numb the pain, but the more I drank, the worse everything became. I became someone my daughters couldn’t fully depend on. I made selfish decisions, put them in situations they shouldn’t have been in, and asked them to help cover my sin.I wasn’t just hurting myself I was hurting the very people I loved the most.Over time, the mental and emotional weight became overwhelming. I had reached a place where I felt like the world would be better off without me. I didn’t want to live anymore,but instead of ending things all at once, I was slowly destroying myself. I was choosing a slow death.I was trying to escape the pain I was in, not realizing I was only multiplying it for myself and for everyone around me.Eventually, everything came to a breaking point.One night, after getting into an argument with my wife at the time, my pride took over. When I was told I had nowhere to go, I walked out into the woods. That night, I walked back and forth getting liquor, drinking all night into the morning.When morning came, I went back to the apartment,but I was locked out, and my phone was dead.So I went back into the woods… and kept drinking.At some point, I laid down in what was shade but when the sun rose, I didn’t.I don’t know how long I was out there.I only know that when I was found, my body had shut down and they were battling to bring me back.I was rushed to the hospital, and over the course of multiple days and even two different hospitals, doctors fought to stabilize me.My kidneys had failed. My body was completely dehydrated, my blood thick and dark from the loss of fluids and electrolytes. I had severe burns from the sun across my abdomen and side.My heart stopped multiple times.They had to shock me with a defibrillator on top of those burns fighting to get my heart to beat again.I was placed on a ventilator with a tube down my throat, unable to breathe on my own.My family was told I would not make it through the night. And while all of this was happening… my daughters—the ones I claimed to love so much—were being faced with the reality of growing up without their father.Because of my choices.Because of my sin.Because of my selfishness.That was the path I had put them on.But God had grace on me and He spared my life.I lived,but even then nothing had truly changed in my heart.Even after coming that close to death, I was still trying to find a way out. I didn’t want to fully surrender. I looked for people who would agree that I didn’t need to commit to a full year at Shiloh which I had agreed to only to say I tried but I had already started drinking again, even using the pain from my burns as an excuse.I had been spared but I was still the same man inside.That’s when I gave in and went to Shiloh and at first, I was there physically but not surrendered.It wasn’t until about three months in that everything changed.God began to reveal His grace to me in a way I had never experienced before. He showed me the damage my life had caused the pain, the broken trust, the destruction left behind by my sin. Not to condemn me, but to open my eyes.To show me what I was living in.And then to show me something greater:That there was another way.That He is that way!In that moment, I broke.I found myself in the chapel, overwhelmed, and I broke down crying. That was the moment I fully surrendered. Not halfway. Not conditionally. Completely. I laid everything down at that altar my pride, my sin, my past, my future… even my children. I trusted God fully, not just to save me, but to lead me, to change me, and to align my life with His will.That’s when real transformation began.And looking back now, I can see something I couldn’t see then:God didn’t just save my life,He separated me for a season to restore it.

In a way, it reflects what Scripture says in Philemon 1:15: “Perhaps this is why you were separated for a little while, that you might have him back forever.”

For a season, I was apart from my daughters,not to lose them, but so that God could rebuild me into the father they were always meant to have. The father he called me to be. And on July 30th, 2025, I graduated from Shiloh unsure exactly what I was stepping out into but fully trusting in God and that wasn’t the end, it was just the beginning.Since then, God has opened door after door.I’ve been given opportunities to preach, teach, minister, and share my testimony, and I now serve as a deacon and teacher in my church,something I never could have imagined in my old life. I was blessed with a great job working 4 10’s giving me time for my ministry work. One of the greatest testimonies of God’s work in my life is what He has done through my children.During my time at Shiloh, as God was restoring me as a father, He began to birth something new in us. My daughters and I started going out together—serving others, praying with people, giving out food, Bibles,and simply showing the love of Christ.

What began as small acts of obedience has grown into a ministry called Daughters of the Redeemed.That name carries our story. It represents my daughters as daughters of a father who has been redeemed by God,a living testimony that God doesn’t just restore individuals, He restores families and rewrites legacies.Today, we continue that outreach by visiting nursing homes, reaching people in need, and sharing both hope and love that only comes from Jesus Christ.Our mission is to point people to the same grace that changed our lives,because I know what it’s like to be at the end of myself,and I know what it’s like to be given mercy.I will never forget where I came from.I will never forget what I deserved, and I will never stop giving God the glory for what He has done because I am not who I used to be.I am a father restored.A man redeemed.A servant called.And a testimony of the grace of God.