...the road leading to death. But all along, Ken knew the direction he was heading was a dead end.  He was empty inside and began to drink quite heavily.  By age 17, Ken kept a bottle of whiskey in his car, slipping out of school throughout the day for a quick shot.  He was rarely a "fall down drunk."  In fact, few people knew he drank as much as he did.  He liked that perpetual "numb" feeling that helped to mask the emptiness in his heart and sense of purposelessness of his life.

By age 19, Ken was a confirmed alcoholic - but for his age, a relatively successful and popular one.  He had a great job, friends, he excelled in sports, etc. and sang/played guitar in rural bars on the weekends.  One night in 1980 at 2:00 AM, after drinking heavily, he exited a freeway on his motorcycle and came to a red light.  As he waited for the light to turn green, he realized that he didn't know where he had been or where he was going. And at that moment, he saw the truth in what his friends had been trying to tell him for the past six months.  He was an alcoholic.  What he once thought he could control now controlled him and it frightened him to death.

At that point, Ken did what all good alcoholics do - he drank more.  He remembers the loneliest moments of his life being the last 10 minutes of each day, just before falling asleep.  He used to actually time his drinking so that he was just drunk enough that he'd pass out the moment he hit the pillow without the room spinning.

It was during those last 10 minutes of daily consciousness that he was forced to face himself; and from that, he found no escape!  But it was another six months before Ken would hit "rock bottom."

...the road leading to life. It was again at around 2:00 AM.  This time he was alone in a park.  Both of his arms were in a sling; but he can't remember why.  He does remember picking up a six pack after the bar closed.  And drinking alone in the park, he saw the cross of a church a ways off.

He'd seen that cross before, but he'd always fought with God.  At that point in his life, he'd rather have died than admit to God, or anyone else, that he needed help.

But that night, the fight was all over and Ken threw his beer bottle against a pole and cried out to God with three simple words: "OK, take it!" meaning his life.  And on that day, Ken met his Higher Power personally.  His Higher Power was Jesus Christ.

Still drunk, Ken climbed into his truck and went to sleep!  But when he awoke the next morning, something was different.

For the first time in his teen/adult life that he can remember, he felt unconditional love.  Oh, he had been loved by his parents and by others.  He just didn't feel the love unless he was doing something significant.  The second thing he intuitively knew was that from that point on, his life had meaning and a purpose.  He wasn't exactly sure what it was at the moment and, frankly, he didn't care.  That sense of meaning and purpose has never left him since.

Shortly thereafter, Ken was introduced to a 12 Step program.  He knew life was unmanageable.  His best thinking had not served him well.  He found courage as he embraced step 2 where He came to believe that a power greater than himself could restore him to sanity. But he ran into a problem when he came up to Step 3: and made a conscious decision to turn his will and his life over to the care of God as he understood Him.

The way Ken saw it, the concept of God, by definition, suggested that somewhere out there is the highest God, the top God.  He wasn't looking for any old higher power.  He wanted one that he could know and relate to personally.

Shortly after that realization, Ken dropped out of the 12 step program.  His girlfriend at the time, now his wife Bonnie, stood by his side and encouraged him to get involved in the church they attended.  They also became engaged and married in the summer of 1983.

Ken's recovery journey took a different twist than most.  For the next few years, he worked hard and excelled as a self-taught marine mechanic.  In his and Bonnie's spare time, they led a youth group of church and community kids.  Eventually, they sold most of what they had, and along with their 1st child, went off to Bible College where he graduated four years later with 3 kids and a Bachelors Degree.

FULL TIME MINISTRY: In 1991, he and his young family moved to the West Coast to become a youth pastor and later moved into a Senior Pastor role.  In 1996, he and his wife left the security of that position and began a Saturday night church for unchurched young adults in the heart of the city.  In 1999, he accepted an Executive Pastor role in an established and larger city church with a reputation for reaching out to the broken in our society.  The idea of a healing or recovery ministry didn't enter his mind until 2001 when he was asked to lead like-minded volunteers to begin a faith-based recovery ministry for his church and surrounding community.

FREEDOM SESSION IS BORN: Six months later they began with 22 participants, 11 of which became the first graduates.  Ken found himself re-writing most of the recovery program they were using, making it more practical and a greater emphasis on interacting personally with God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  After he had re-written over 50% of the material, in fall of 2003, he went back to the drawing board and wrote an entirely different 32 week program called Freedom Session.  In 2005, he wrote and self-published the Participant's Guides and captured the teaching segments live on DVD so that other groups could run the program without having a qualified recovery teacher on site.

In 2009, he and Bonnie condensed, revised and re-filmed the program and released the 2009 edition across Canada and into the US.

Freedom Session is unique among many Christian recovery programs in that its goal is not recovery, but healing.  Ken and Bonnie believe we all have at least one chosen drug of choice that we use to escape or numb our pain.  Freedom Session forces us to face that pain/hurt and bring it into the healing presence of Jesus Christ.

Freedom Session International - the charity arm of Freedom Session - was also established in 2009 and is committed to equipping churches/ministries in Canada and around the world to more effectively minister to the broken, the addicted and afflicted.

Ken & Bonnie are taking an extended "sabbatical" through spring of  2010 during which they will be ministering to churches, pastors and leaders across Canada who are wanting to more effectively minister to the hurting among us.  Eventually Ken & Bonnie's plans are to re-enter pastoral ministry as a Lead Pastor couple of a mid to large sized church.

I know God is using Freedom Session to change lives, Ken says.  And that's good enough for me.  If I died tomorrow, God would still continue to use the principles and truths within it to heal and restore lives.  Hurting people don't need me and they don't need Freedom Session.  What they do need is a life-transforming interaction with their Creator.  Freedom Session will help lead them on that journey - a journey of freedom and healing.                                                  - pastor ken b. dyck