Curtis Interviews Scott Hockett, Founder & Exec Director of Damascus Road

This video segment is from Restoring Hope, a TV series hosted on WHMB40 and serving the Indianapolis area. Crosswinds Counseling offers counseling services throughout Indiana.

Background

After achieving a series of corporate success, building a healthy bank account, and maintaining a marriage of more than 20 years, Scott Hockett came to a point where he realized he had to admit that he had a problem with alcohol abuse. He, along with the support of his wife, enrolled himself into Saul To Paul Ministries, an in-house discipleship program for men over 18. He thought he was just going to get in, “dry up” and move on with his life, but something happened. He realized that when men graduated from the program, there was a need for resources for those who have gone through addiction-recovery services. These men still needed a place to stay, transportation, employment and ongoing community engagement. Meeting these ongoing needs became the mission of Scott’s non-profit Damascus Road LLC to “The mission of Damascus Road LLC, is to come alongside men who are recovering from addiction, and assist them in rebuilding their lives spiritually, emotionally, socially, and financially. “

Interview

Curtis: Scott Hockett is here and he is the founder and executive director of Damascus Road, a recovery ministry here in Indianapolis. Scott, thank you for being with us. Tells us about Damascus Road. This is a ministry that has done some incredible work in the lives of men here in Indianapolis.

Scott: Damascus Road was really born out of an absence that I discerned whenever I started going to Saul To Paul ministries. It’s after the 7 month period of time that you spend there really rebuilding a broken life. So when I started going back to Saul To Paul they asked me immediately to engage post-program, and just come back and share once a week, and I think it’s sort of their way of staying connected to people that have graduated the program and really keeping those people engaged with Saul To Paul for future alumni. So that those people would see that after Saul To Paul there’s a place to go. There’s an effort as a disciple, and that is to become a disciple-maker. And so coming back every week I discovered there was an absence of a program, really a next step, so the guys can really leave there after 7 months and not face-plant.

Curtis: So it was born out of that experience. What does Damascus Road then do? Where does it take men in that next step?

Scott: Primarily we focus on fellowship with like-minded people with the commonality of brokenness through drug and alcohol abuse, and really training them to be discple-makers. Our goal is to first of all bring someone in that is already in a relationship with Christ, and then help them engage because we believe the missing piece in success post-addiction is engagement. Staying engaged in other people’s lives, so there’s a little less time to think about yourself.

Curtis: I suspect in the midst of this pandemic when isolation has been more of a struggle for everybody, it’s been the exact same case in keeping people engaged. Keeping people out of isolation has been a bigger problem than ever these last two years.

Scott: You know it is a challenge for a lot of people, but it has not been a challenge for Damascus Road. We really just trusted the Lord with what He’s brought us. We trusted Him with His guidance and direction in terms of what protocols we needed to install and maintain. Truthfully, our guys didn’t miss a day of work. Some of the businesses that we connect them with as a job were what Indiana determined to be necessary. So we were able to work through that entire pandemic.

Curtis: Scott, I know that the motivation for this for you, is very personal. I know that you have a journey through this same thing. You talked about Saul To Paul. Do you mind sharing a little bit about your journey, and why you’re so passionate about helping men in this situation?

Scott: Sure, I think when you get to a point where you are repentant and you get yourself into a position where you can be shepherded and where you submit to a new authority and a new place like Saul To Paul. Where you have rules. Like, I’m mopping the floor and you have a work schedule. I’ve got to mop the floor, I’ve got to do different things along those lines, and also we’re studying the word of God 30-40 hours a week along with fellowship and things that are really centered around Christ and developing Christ-walk. And then you get 30-40 hours of hard labor.

So, when you really think about the journey from my perspective, Saul To Paul was a result of my wife sending money to them on a monthly basis. When I confessed that I was a drug addict and alcoholic and adulterer, I was a treasonous husband. I was in another country. I was in Canada working on a business that was about to die, but it was on life support, and I confessed that to her. We knew that I needed to get in and get some help somewhere. We just didn’t know where. There weren’t any beds available in the places that we were checking, especially in that time of the year because it was the winter. So there weren’t beds available. So she looked down and she just had a thank you letter from Don Sink who was the director of Saul To Paul and said “Oh my gosh. Saul To Paul. We can send you to Saul To Paul.” So I went to Saul To Paul kind of expecting that I would be there a few weeks, you know just to get “dried out.” Really refocus.

But when I went for my interview there, Don asked me a question. He said, “What do you want.” and I said, “I want to have a closer relationship with God, and you know I want my marriage to be fixed, and I want my children to have a father that they can be proud of.”

He said, “Well, are you sorry about your sin, and do you view it as sin?”

I said, “Of course I do. And I am sorry. My wife knows that.”

And he said, “Explain that to me.”

So I told him I was the leader and director of a very successful business. Imagine, I had a 22-year marriage at the time. I’d been treasonous. By all accounts, she should have left me. Many people including family members said ‘Run. You need to get away from him.’

I was the leader of a very successful business, but I was highly functional in my addiction. I was highly functional. I could work and drink and didn’t have a problem functioning, but I told Don I disappointed all my employees so I’ve got to make things right with them as well.

He said, “Are you sorry to God.”

Curtis: And what did you say.

Scott: It was an eye-opening question because you don’t rebuild anything until you rebuild with Christ. So really that journey [at] Saul To Paul began with repentance. That repentance led to incredible hope.

Curtis: Wow. Scott, thank you so much for sharing your story and for sharing about Damascus Road. Powerful stuff and a great reminder for us to turn to Christ. Scott thanks for being here tonight.

Scott: My pleasure. It’s been an honor to. 

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