Patrick Tidwell felt hopeless. He was living in a park in Sacramento seven years ago, addicted to methamphetamine and other drugs. One day he finally cried out to God.
“I feel like I'm going to die, God, if you don't do something in my life,” Tidwell remembers.
His desperate prayer seemed to backfire. Things got even worse.
It got so bad that he got on a bus and headed north to Washington, back to a church he remembered from years before called Set Free NW.
He’s been drug-free since he arrived on Sept. 1, 2018, at the facility, which was then located in Elma.
“If things would have been going right, I never would have got on the bus to come to Set Free,” Tidwell said about how his prayer was answered in reverse. “I thought my life was ended. I didn't see how I could have any fun without drugs. But I knew I had to give up drugs. I knew it was either prison or death or God had to save me, and He did.”
Tidwell is now the women's program director and the outreach coordinator for Set Free Northwest church, which is now based in an expansive colonial-style building south of Chehalis built during the Great Depression as a poor farm. Over the years it has also been a tuberculosis sanitarium, a senior living facility and shelter for women and families known at the time as Safe Family Ministries.
Now offering help to those suffering from homelessness, addiction and despair, Set Free NW describes itself as “a spiritual hospital where Jesus is our medication ... a live-in discipleship ministry where many are healed of various addictions and life hurts.”
Another patient at this spiritual ICU is Margarito Gomez.
He once had a family and job, which he lost after making bad decisions. He ended up homeless and drug addicted in Vancouver, Wash. He was with a woman who, out of the blue, asked what he would do if someone came to challenge him. Would he fight them to the death or change his life?
“Why would she tell me that? It gave me goosebumps. It gave me chills,” he remembers. It felt like a divine message. “So I said, you know what, I'm done with this. My heart and my soul, my spirit, belongs to no one but the Lord.”
And yet, he needed another push. He said that God would need to come to him. Later that day they happened to be heading over to a church called Living Hope to spend the night. It was there he encountered Set Free NW, who said he should join their ministry right way.
He couldn’t believe his prayer was answered that quickly — quicker, in fact, than he wanted. He wasn’t actually ready to leave the streets.
But the woman he was with said she was going, so he asked Set Free if they’d cross town to get his things. They agreed. He had no other way to drag his feet, so he came up to Chehalis with them.
The woman didn’t last in the ministry, but he did. He’s been part of Set Free NW since January 2019. He works in their outreach programs with people living the experiences he knows all-too well.
“They’re trying to get it back in life,” Gomez said. “They’re not able to believe in themselves anymore. We understand their pain because we went through the same situation.”
I met Tidwell and Gomez at the Southwest Washington Fair last month. They were manning a booth representing a number of Christian ministries. (Full disclosure: I was volunteering at the booth with my daughter on behalf of Health & Hope Medical Outreach, a free clinic.)
Tidwell said that helping people get their life back on track, whether from addictions or broken relationships, starts with the heart and soul.
“A lot of people come in thinking it's just about getting sober, but really it's about putting God first and letting God have control of your life,” Tidwell said. “And so what we do is we love people unconditionally. A lot of people need to be heard. We listen to people, and we have a pretty rigid program. That's not easy, but it works. I've seen it work over and over and over.”
Gomez said the community at their ministry helps him when he is tempted to be discouraged.
“I'm ashamed of what I did,” Gomez said, “but I'm not ashamed of testifying what the Lord did for me.”
Open House this weekend at Set Free NW
Set Free NW will host its third-annual open house this Saturday, Sept. 13, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at 3149 Jackson Highway south of Chehalis.
The event will include tours of the facility, bounce houses, kids games, food, prizes, live music and a car show.
The invitation adds: “See how God is healing His hurting sons and daughters!”
Call 360-560-5135 for more information on the event. Contact Pastor Mike Tallman at 360-310-0577, or visit www.setfreenw.org, for more information on Set Free NW.
Brian Mittge is a community enthusiast who has written for The Chronicle since 2000 as a reporter, editor and columnist. He can be reached at brianmittge@hotmail.com.
