On Saturday November 22, 2008, Evangel Ministries Celebrate Recovery group attended the State Regional event at Ward Church, located at 40000 Six Mile in Northville, MI. The event, which is slated to become an annual event, brought together Celebrate Recovery groups from all over Michigan. Networking was the major theme for the event. Creative ideas for membership enlargement, meeting procedures, community involvement and Celebrate Recovery events were shared.

     The event, which began at 8 am with breakfast, followed a traditional Celebrate Recovery meeting agenda. The breakfast was followed by a rousing Praise and Worship lead by the band from Ward Church. The large group potion included a testimony by Peter Diaz, Michigan State Representative, and a very moving video by Brother Jerry who heads a prison ministry and has brought more than 100 men and women to the Lord through Celebrate Recovery. It was stressed that outreach is an important part of a Celebrate Recovery group. Advice and tips were giving on how to start a jail or prison ministry, but it was noted that a jail/prison ministry is not for everyone.

     During the small group share potion, all the different Celebrate Recovery groups were encourage to split themselves between the 14 tables so that they were seated with someone from a different group to make networking possible. Each table was given a question on a Celebrate Recovery related topic to discuss and told to select someone from the table to speak on the conclusions that were reached.  A wealth of information and ideas came out of the session and gave everyone something to take back to help improve their own Celebrate Recovery group. The event ended with a prayer request and a closing prayer.