A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
(Proverbs 18:24 KJV)
I’ll never forget the very first youth group I pastored. There was a girl who was always so sad and depressed. She would just stand in the corner of the room by herself before and after each meeting.
One night she came up to me and said, “Pastor Blaine, nobody in this youth group likes me. They’re not very friendly.”
She had absolutely never made any attempt to talk to anyone. She always looked so mean and depressed that most were afraid to even approach her. I told her that she-not everyone else-was the problem.
“Put a smile on your face. Introduce yourself. Take an interest in others. Friends will follow,” I told her.
On the other hand, we once had a really odd-looking young man in our youth group. He was a happy, outgoing, friendly young man and had girls constantly vying for his attention. All the other guys who thought they were better looking than he couldn’t figure it out.
The world says looks, image, and beauty are the highest priorities in relating to one another; but in truth good character and the fruit of the Spirit are what will make you attractive to others. Kindness is what makes you desirable to be around. 1
How do you come across to others? Determine to smile and speak to
everyone you see today. A smile from you will inspire smiles from others.
People like to be around those who make them feel good.
1 Blaine Bartel Copeland, Oneight(r) Devotional, pp. 64,66.
by Lindsay Roberts
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Blaine and Lori Bartel didn’t set out to build a place like this. They became it.
Blaine once lived at the top of the ministry world—national TV, a booming youth movement at Church on the Move, and a growing church in Dallas. But while the stage lights were bright, the darkness underneath was darker. A secret 23-year sexual addiction buried everything he valued—his marriage, ministry, finances, reputation, and identity.
Crushed and barely holding on to life, he spent over a year in deep therapy, wrestling with shame and fighting for healing. Then, somewhere on a windswept highway between Kansas City and Tulsa, he heard the voice that lifted him out of the soil:
“I am not going to give you a recovery. I am calling you into resurrection.”
Everything changed.
Blaine found complete freedom and began decoding a Jesus-centered path that leads men out of the grave and into new life. For more than a decade, he’s been guiding other men through that same resurrection.
Lori was walking her own road—rebuilding after 17 years married to a chronic alcoholic, carrying both the wounds and the courage of a woman who refused to stay broken. She was searching for purpose, for peace, for somewhere her heart could breathe again.
Then God crossed their paths.
They met over pasta at Ti Amo (“I love you”—God’s little wink).
A year later, in a simple wedding wrapped in hope, they said yes to each other and to a calling bigger than themselves.
Today—13 years in—they share one mission:
To pull men out of addiction and to rebuild the marriages addiction has shattered.
House of Resurrection is the fruit of the very ground that once tried to bury them—a sacred space for honesty, healing, and brand-new beginnings.
They are joyful parents of four grown kids, proud grandparents of two, and happiest anywhere with lakes, beaches, sunshine, and reminders that darkness never gets to write the final chapter.