On September 01,1991

Celebrate Recovery started in 1991 at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. At that time, the church was meeting at a high school gymnasium. John Baker wrote Pastor Rick Warren the “now-famous, concise, 13-page, single-spaced” letter outlining the vision God had given John for Celebrate Recovery. After reading John’s letter, Pastor Rick said, “Great, John — go do it!”

The first night 43 people attended, and Celebrate Recovery was born. Beginning with only four Open Share Groups — Men’s and Women’s Chemical Dependency and Men’s and Women’s Codependency — the ministry has grown to over 14 groups today. Over 27,000 people have gone through the program at Saddleback Church. Many of them are now serving in Celebrate Recovery and the Church. Celebrate Recovery is the number one outreach ministry at Saddleback Church, with over 70 percent of its members now coming from outside the church.

The first 10 years were the birth stage of Celebrate Recovery, and now God is calling us to take it to the world. There are now 35,000 Celebrate Recovery churches around the world, and that number continues to grow. We are part of a movement that is bringing the healing power of Jesus Christ to the hurting and broken through working Celebrate Recovery’s Step Studies, The Journey Begins, and The Journey Continues. To date, over 5 million individuals have completed a Step Study.

In addition, Celebrate Recovery is not just growing in churches, but in recovery houses, rescue missions, universities, and prisons around the world. New Mexico was the first state to adopt Celebrate Recovery into its state prison system and now has Celebrate Recovery pods in all its state prisons. In August 2004, Celebrate Recovery was announced as California’s state-approved substance abuse program for prisons. This is an exciting and growing outreach opportunity for every Celebrate Recovery.

We are a part of something much larger than one church’s Celebrate Recovery. We are part of a movement that God is blessing.

History of Celebrate Recovery at The Journey

August 2004

Ivan and Wendy Wooden learned about Celebrate Recovery during their first visit to the Celebrate Recovery Summit and knew right away they wanted to introduce the program in Craig. “I think the Lord just called us to do it,” Ivan said.

Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-centered 12-step program for anyone with “hurt, habits or hang-ups,” Wendy said.

“It lets you let go of things you have been holding onto,” Ivan said.

A leadership group of 10 members  was formed from their church, The Journey at First Baptist. This group after completing their first step study has helped other individuals working thru their recovery, complete a step study and in turn become leaders themselves.

The first open meeting was  held April 7, 2005 with approximately 10 individuals in attendance.  Celebrate Recovery at The Journey continues to grow to this day, adding new programs  such as Celebrate Recovery® Inside , which is the prison and jail extension of the Celebrate Recovery® ministry and most recently The Landing, Celebrate Recovery’s student ministry geared towards Junior High and High School age students has been added for those in need. This curriculum is designed to mirror the same material as the adult Celebrate Recovery curriculum, only packaged for students.