Faith-Based Addiction Recovery & Second Chances | Steeple People Podcast, Episode 12
Daryl Murray grew up in a Christian home, but his faith became his own as a teenager on a youth choir tour to New York City. A few years later, during a summer internship near Times Square, he told a homeless man at a church door to come back the next day for breakfast. That small moment stayed with him and opened his eyes to how easily believers can walk past people in need, just like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
That conviction led Daryl to two years of street ministry on New York’s Lower East Side, then to youth ministry in Hendersonville and to East Nashville Cooperative Ministry. As he saw the same faces return again and again, he realized addiction was driving the cycle of poverty. What began with three rented beds in a recovery house has grown into Welcome Home Ministries, which now operates 11 homes for 85 men leaving alcohol and drug treatment. Along the way, there has been neighborhood pushback and surprising provision, including a $5,000 gift that grew into a $25,000 match before the need was ever announced.
In this episode of Steeple People, hosts Amy Jo Girardier and Michelle Dyer talk with Daryl about what recovery really looks like, why how we serve matters just as much as what we offer, and what it means to tell a hurting man, “Welcome home.” Listen now, and join in praying for the ministry as Daryl’s wife, Glenda, retires and Welcome Home looks ahead to its next season of leadership.
Share it with someone who loves someone battling addiction, or who needs to hear that it’s never too late to come home.