The Salvation Army ARC Alumni Discussion Page

Some of the things I have in dirt.

Alumni dinner. Men serving men.

Alumni Dinner at the Pittsburgh ARC

Found this today. I wrote this over 10 years ago.

My Story Captain Mark Unruh

I’m a Philly boy. I come from a big family. We were always respected, or feared depending on the way you look at it. Growing up I looked up to my older brothers who openly spoke to me about drinking alcohol and smoking Pot. By the age of 12, I was helping my brother cut up kilos of Pot to sell. My brother loved to boast to his friends about how well I could roll a joint, even though at that time, I wasn’t allowed to smoke it. It didn’t take long for me to start taking some for myself. I remember how we all laughed when he taught me smoking a joint for the first time. Years before that, they would get me drunk and laugh at the way I acted. It all started early. At the age of thirteen my brother and I smoked 2 grams of Hashish on the way to Sunday school. Sunday mornings were very strange. I started singing in the junior choir around the age of 5 or 6. I loved singing solos. The Sundays that I sang, all the ladies would stop me on the way out of the church to thank me for singing. They would praise me, I loved it. If they only knew what happened before and after church, they may have cursed at me.

I was only 13 when I cut church by telling my parents that I was going to my friends church, but this was a lie. We had planned to break into a Sporting Goods Store and steal guns. We got the guns, and proceeded to shoot out all the windows in the houses that bordered the woods where we hung out. The problem was, people lived in these houses, and we were soon captured. I thank God now, that no one was injured on that day. But, it’s a funny thing being me it danger didn’t even pass my mind. I was the youngest of four boys, my older brothers were feared by the community. Because of this no one dared to rat on me. I was released with only having to pitch in for the broken windows. By this point in my life I was using something, whatever it was, daily, to attempt to be someone or something that I wasn’t. Drinking, Smoking Pot, Cleaning out peoples medicine cabinets, and even braking into Drug Stores to get high. I was also a car thief. Getting high and cruising was one of my favorite pass times. The pastor at my family church told my dad, not to bring me to church anymore. I know must have really hurt my father.

At the age of 14 I was arrested for 2 counts of Auto Theft, conspiracy, receiving stolen goods, and concealed deadly weapon. Looking back I think this is were my dad stopped yelling, and started praying. I wasn’t going to school very often. I was suppose to go to Washington High but I never made it to class. I probably wouldn’t have gone at all if it wasn’t a place for me to sell drugs. I quit school half way though 9th grade. It took me a while to get there, but shortly after my 16th birthday I had enough school. A few years later the school district of Philadelphia sent me to a Welding School. I laughed at this for the longest time. It had seemed like I was rewarded for not going to school. I was out of control, and it took another 16 years for me to give up control of a life that I had never had control over.

Through my late teens and straight through my twenties, I constantly used substances. Until my late twenties I was functional. What I mean is, I was able to hold jobs, for at least 3 or 4 years at a time. I made good money and collected lots and lots of toys. Cars, Motorcycles, Boats, even a nice house. On the outside I looked like a winner, but I was dying inside. I was physically addicted to alcohol, and opiates by my 21st birthday. By my twenty fifth birthday I could not make it to work without going to the liquor store first, it was the only way to keep from shaking and getting sick. By the age of 28 I started to spend most of my time in a hospital or in a full blown addiction. I cried, God heard me.

I didn’t know it till eight years later, but my parents prayers began to work. From the age of 25 through 30, I would get sick, I’d cry out for help, and I’d end up in a hospital. The next problem was that hospitals became part of my sickness. I soon found out that once I was in a hospital, everyone that had gotten tired of having to deal with me, would feel sorry for me and accept me back. Things got worse once I found out the certain hospitals would medicate you while you were there. It was free drugs and a free place to stay and another welcome home when it was over. I was sick.

After a couple more hospitalizations, my brother died in an active addiction. Because of my addiction I missed his funeral. This was about a year after his best friend killed himself. Both were people I looked up to in life. By this time I was heavily medicated, in a psych ward. I cried out, and God was listening. Some people in the recovery world call it a “momentary lapse of sanity” I call it God kicking me in the back side and telling me to wake up. I walked, (shuffled) into a social workers office in the hospital and told her the truth. I told her about my lies regarding my mental condition that I used the hospital to get medication. I told her about my history, and I told her about my Christian family. God spoke through this women. She told me how the enemy had been tripping me up, and that my parents were right. She made an appointment for me to check out a long term program that offered a spiritual approach to recovery. It was The Salvation Army ARC in Philadelphia. I went.

It’s sad that 3 more years would pass before I surrendered, but that’s the way it went, I was pigheaded. The first man that I ever met in an Officers Uniform was Major Earl Schaffer. He was the administrator at the Philadelphia Center in 1990. He prayed with me, and I heard God. I attended bible study, and prayed daily, but at that point my communication with God was limited, More one-sided, me speaking but not listening. I didn’t want to hear everything He was telling me. After a couple of months, I relapsed, but this was different. God had started a work in me and even though I was still fighting something was taking place.

After my relapse I was sent to the Wilkes Barre PA Center. Captain Fred and Beth Muhs were the Administrator and Director of Special Services. Captain Fred Muhs was an inspiration. It is always good to have someone to look up to, and Fred and Beth were special. There was something that Captain Muhs said to me that got my attention. It may not have seemed like much to him, but it meant a lot to me. Today I know that it wasn’t Captain Muhs speaking to me, but God speaking through him.

I’d like to say that by me going to The Wilkes Barre Center that I surrendered, but I didn’t, I was still fighting. After 90 days at the center I decided to go home for a visit. I was nervous. Before even getting to the bus station, I had bought a ½ pint of vodka. Between that ½ pint and home I had drank over a quart of vodka and purchased twenty dollars worth of He**in, I OD’d on the railroad tracks in North Philadelphia, and woke up in a Hospital. I had to call my mother and tell her what I had done. She had been waiting for me. Phone calls like that aren’t easy, but I’m sure it was harder for her to hear than it was for me to tell her. At least I was still alive. I ended up back in Wilkes Barre. I was in that center more times than I should have been allowed, but every time I relapsed, I’d cry out to God, and He listened. While I was at the Wilkes Barre Center I received a call from home. One of my best friends had died of an over dose. He was found in an alley, close to where I had almost died. He was found with a needle still in his arm.

My next relapse was in Wilkes Barre and it would turn out to be my last. By this time the administrators in Wilkes Barre were the Klemowski’s. With tears in her eyes, Leann Klemowski put me on a bus for The Harrisburg PA Center. I thought a lot about her on that trip. I thought a lot about my mom, and my dad. I thought about the tears they’ve shed over the years. Then I felt them praying for me. I knew they were praying for me, I felt them praying for me. I started praying, I know God heard me, I heard God, He was speaking to me. I was ready to listen. I had surrendered.

At the time I didn’t really know what was happening. I had gone forward at many meetings. I had even gone forward at FET ( Friday Evening at the Temple), and the ARC Retreat, but this was different. That night after my intake at the center was done, and I was given a bed, I laid there and communicated with God. Personal communion, me and God. I totally surrendered my life to God, and I told Him that I would do what ever He asked me to do. I realized on a personal level that all the lessons I had learned in Sunday School as a child were the truth. I realized that I am who I am, God is who He is. I realized that Christ did come down here to be born a man, to live as an example for us to, (try to) follow (to the best of our ability). And, that He died on The Cross, for me. The truth of The Gospel became truth for me.

The Muh’s were now the Administrators of The Harrisburg Center, and many of the men I knew from Wilkes Barre had transferred to this Center to help open it. As soon as the van came to pick me up at the Bus Station they started asking me, what are you going to do different? How many times are you going to relapse before you get it? What are you expecting to be different here? I didn’t really have an answer for them at that point. I knew things were going to be different, but I couldn’t answer because it was going to be something totally new. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was ready for anything, whatever God was about to do in my life was going to be what was different. The only thing I could tell them was that I didn’t know what I was going to do, because I’d never done it before. I was going to trust God completely. It was new.

I think that the most relieving part of my surrender was, to know that my past, was my past. That through the blood of Christ Jesus, I was washed clean. In the past, I wouldn’t allow Him to wash me totally clean, because I still held on to a lot of the sinful nature, (shortcomings) that were a part of my life. Total Surrender, Washed Totally Clean. For the first time in my life I was truly, wholly clean. Eight years in programs and Hospitals, and I was now clean, for the first time. I had wrestled with a lot of issues, the amount of sin in my life, (I was to bad), hypocrisy, (how could I have said I was saved, but I continued to sin), but this time was different. I was washed clean. I knew it in my heart, it was a reality.

My journey had begun. Shortly after my surrender, I was confronted with a new conviction. I was very happy, JOYOUS is the best way to describe how I felt, but it hurt me to see other people hurting the same way that I had hurt for so long. I had to tell them that I had been in pain, while in recovery for eight years, and that my hurt was comforted as soon as I totally surrendered. I found myself praying for these people. As I was praying one day, God spoke to me, He said, tell them about Me. This was a scary thing, to share Christ with others. God made it easy for me. That day a fellow named Mike came into the center, he was someone that I knew from The Wilkes Barre Center. He was in and out of that center while I was in and out of the center. He knew the old me. He approached me and said, “your different, what’s up?”. That was the opportunity that God used to free me of my fear of sharing His Love. I told Mike what was up.

I started to share my experience with him, about all my past attempts at recovery, all my experiences of how I surrendered my life to Christ, and how I had found Joy in my surrender. I prayed with Him. I’d like to say that he accepted Christ that day, but he didn’t. I like to say that he stayed at the center and got the help he needed but he didn’t. I pray that he has since surrendered. But I don’t know. I do know that my communion with God had grown to the point that, God was now speaking through me. I spoke to God, He spoke to me, and now He spoke to Mike through me.

Personal Bible study became a part of my life. There wasn’t a day that went by that something I had read that morning became real to me throughout that day. I would speak to Him, I would read His Word, and He would speak to me. Sharing Christ with others became my biggest conviction. I had been in pain most of my life. The pain of active addiction was one thing, at that point we are still functioning in a survival mode. We do whatever we can do to maintain. We feel compelled to do whatever it takes to make it through the day without being sick. We start this lifestyle by making a self-centered decision, and we maintain this lifestyle by continuing to hurt ourselves and others. Once we are in program, we’ve begun the surrender process, but many times it ends quickly. God calls to us over and over, and we get help, over and over, but if we’re still in survival mode, we can’t totally surrender. When we answer Him, by seeking help, we’re started on the path that He’s laid out for us, but if we don’t surrender all, we go back to our old ways and continue in pain. This is what hurts me the most, to know that each and every person in The Center has been brought there by God’s guidance, but they stop listening once they’ve gotten in the door and they start feeling better. They return to a pain that is unnecessary.

One day my old spiritual counselor from the Wilkes Barre Center, Mary Kapshall, (now Captain), came to visit at Harrisburg. She was very happy to hear about my deliverance. I told her about my conviction to share Christ with others. God had spoken to me through her in the past, and now He was going to call me to total commitment through her. She prayed with me, and then opened the Bible to 2 Corinthians 1:3-6. As I look back today, this portion of scripture rings true. At the time it may have been somewhat out of context, but God called me. He spoke to me and said, Mark, I want you to tell others that the pain they suffer can be relieved, the same way I have relieved your pain. Tell them that through the giving of my Son, you have found Joy. That by excepting the Gospel Message as Truth all the pain that you experienced has been comforted, and that their pain can be comforted as well. He spoke to me. God said ‘Tell Them, Comfort Them’.

I didn’t tell Mary that day that I knew that God was calling me to Officer-ship, but I knew in my heart that this was the call. It wasn’t the first call, but this time I listened. I was called to reach others, the same way that I had been reached. At this point I still had yet to share my call with others. I asked around to see what was necessary to become a Salvation Army Officer. I left my ci******es at the Alter and God took all desires to smoke, right there. I asked Him to help me with my language and an anger problem that had been with me all my life. Not only did He deliver me from these vises, from that day on I became sick to my stomach when I smelled cigarette smoke. It turned my stomach when I heard a curse word, let alone say one. And my anger problem had already been lifted. I became active at The Corps. I started asking questions, and then I prayed. I was an 8th grade graduate, my drivers licence had been taken away five years earlier. I prayed. I took the GED test and pasted with college scores. I got my GED. I went to court for my driving tickets, the judge dismissed all charges when she heard my testimony. I got my licence back. God was giving me what I needed. I knew it was a true calling.

That year I graduated the program and was given a job at the center. I was the Food Service Supervisor. (Head Cook). At the center’s Christmas Awards Banquet I was asked to give my testimony. This was when I announced that I had been called by God to be a Salvation Army Officer. I continued to become more active at The Corps. Men’s Club, Bible Study. I enjoyed spending time with people that were good Christian men and women. People living life on life’s terms without the need to run to drugs and alcohol, they turned to God instead of running from their problems.

Going to The Corps. Was key in my success in program. It’s one thing to go to 12 step meetings everyday. I had done it for eight years and still couldn’t get more than 90 days abstinent without relapsing. But my activity at the Corps was a big help. I thank God that the people at the Edgemont Corps were as friendly and excepting as they were. The Officer at that time was Lt. Carmen Johnson, (now Captain Campbell). I started adherent classes, she was making sure I was for real. Eight weeks of Adherent Classes. Then when the time came, Soldiership classes, eight weeks of classes. My parents came to my enrollment as a Soldier, it was then that they found out that I had been called to be an Officer. They cried when I told them. God had not only answered there prayers for my deliverance He had called me into Officer-ship.

I continued to get more and more active at the Corps. Men’s Club, Bible Study, and now Songsters, and even Band, (they let me play the Bass Drum). If they only knew what that meant to me. Allowing people to participate is very special. While attending Corps programs I made good friends. Tom, Frank, Harry, Cory, and the rest of the guys in Men’s Club. We would meet with the Home League ladies to go bowling or to ball games. One day while at an event I started a conversation with Tom’s daughter. At the time I didn’t know it but we were going in the same direction. I called them a few days later and asked her mom, Dot, if I could ask Mary to go on a bike ride with me. It was on that bike ride that I started to get to know the women that God had matched me with for His Work. Mary had also recognized God’s call in her life. We discussed many matters and found that we shared the same views, six months later I asked Tom if I could marry his daughter, he said yes and so did she. We started preliminary paperwork for training school. After a few years, a wedding and a child, we arrived at the training school.

During our summer assignment from Training School Mary and I recognized our calling was to the Adult Rehabilitation Ministry. After spending time in prayer we decided together to send a letter to the Training School Principle to request ARC ministry. And on the platform, as we stepped up to accept our first appointment we were very happy to learn that we had been accepted into the ARC Training program.

After 15 years under our belts, ARC ministry never gets old. It is definitely not boring. We get excited which time someone graduates our program. We pray for and with our men. We share God’s love and assure them that no matter what their past has been and no matter what sins they’ve committed, we are all a part of the “whosoever”. That Christ died for us, all of us, and that by accepting Him as our Savior we can overcome. We can overcome our past and overcome any obstacle or temptation that comes our way. It is by God’s Grace through Christ Jesus that we can become new. And it is by our maintained relationship, (constant “conscience contact with God” step 11) that we are fully set free from our additions. It is by complete submission of self will and acceptance of God’s will.

Today I sit in my office, exactly where God called me to be. I comfort others that are going through the same pain that I went through with the same comfort that God supplied for me through a relationship with His Son, Christ Jesus. I have followed God’s direction, and I continue to follow every day. If it hadn’t been for men and women of faith that told me about Christ and displayed Christ likeness, I wouldn’t be able to sit here and type this letter. And, as I type these words I can’t help but to believe that some day one of the men that I have reached will be sitting and typing such a letter.

https://youtu.be/ZX2Yz53-RLg?t=15

Life Recovery Message Cured? Major Mark Unruh

Recovery begins with generosity. That’s why The Salvation Army is grateful for the support of Lowe's Home Improvement for donating $200K to meet local needs during the most difficult of times. When strikes, Lowe’s steps up, and it makes all the difference for those we serve.

https://youtu.be/Z2FJhQryWZg?t=1016

Life Recovery Message Christmas Day 2020 Major Mark Unruh

https://youtu.be/z_LEZyRx9Lw

Life Recovery Bible Message Step 12 Major Mark Unruh

https://youtu.be/5fcqnMoU-iE

Life Recovery Bible Message Step 11 Major Mark Unruh

https://youtu.be/BgNitgjHFbI

Life Recovery Bible Message Step 10 Major Mark Unruh

https://youtu.be/pLk9sKq2rHU

Life Recovery Bible Message Step 9 Major Mark Unruh

https://youtu.be/drmBixSdqgc

Life Recovery Bible Message Step 8 Major Mark Unruh

https://youtu.be/rqYqbsrxQ_s

Life Recovery Bible Message Step 7 Major Mark Unruh

https://youtu.be/wPwMvaCiWVI

Life Recovery Bible Step 6 Message Major Mark Unruh

https://youtu.be/XZ15LDD19Eo

Life Recovery Bible Step 5 Message Major Mark Unruh

https://youtu.be/2JomItRpAzM

Life Recovery Bible Step 4 Message Major Mark Unruh

https://youtu.be/U1cYm46Y9ts

Life Recovery Bible Step 3 Message Major Mark Unruh

https://youtu.be/repyuZwr_YQ

Life Recovery Bible Step 2 Message Hope in Faith Major Mark Unruh

https://youtu.be/8AKf9UCVEh4

Life Recovery Bible Step 1 Message Self Perception Major Mark Unruh

https://youtu.be/B7pX0ovqSq8?t=154

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