A story of hope for addicts – ‘I’ve seen miracles … I am one’

If you have the pleasure of meeting Harvell Hunter, you can’t miss his smile, or the way he talks about his faith or his passion for the ministry that takes place at the Carthage Crisis Center.

As the men’s program director, Hunter helps many people every day. He’s come full circle – showing up at the center as a resident and recovering addict three years ago, and now serving in the same place that helped him “step farther into the light” as he says. Even though he’s shared his testimony many times through the United Way, churches and news organizations, there’s more to his story that reveals experiences some would call miracles … And he believes in them.

“I’ve seen miracles,” he said. “I am one. God’s had His hand on me my whole life. I should have died so many times – and I did die a couple times and was brought back – crazy things nobody can explain … Nobody can tell me God isn’t real.”

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Please note, Hunter says there’s more but here’s a lot of his story …

Where it began.

Hunter was born in St. Louis, Mo. He was 2 years old when his parents separated, and he and his mom moved to Coffeyville, Kan., where she remarried. Living in poverty, Hunter says he and his three siblings would receive items from the Salvation Army. Looking back, he says there’s a huge difference in receiving items and receiving help.

“I think that’s where my passion for this place comes in,” he said of the Crisis Center. “I had never even heard of a place like this. The whole city is involved. God knew I would need this place, and I feel like He placed it here just for me.”

Hunter was 12 years old when he first experienced addiction. At the age of 15, he overdosed on alcohol and had to be resuscitated.

From there, it was a reckless path and pattern of brokenness.

Addicted.

“I thought I could do better on my own,” Hunter said. “I was 15, and took the first chance I got to get away from my family and away from Coffeyville. But it just got worse. I was heavily involved in the drug and crime world … I was 20 when I went to prison for bank robbery.”

Hunter served eight and a half years in federal prison, and then another year after he violated his parole. Throughout his prison time, Hunter said he heard the Word of God but didn’t listen.

“I had this attitude that I was going to do things my way – nobody was going to tell me what to do – and it fueled crazy things.”

Like cage fighting, drugs, alcohol and sexual behavior.

“The drug world is all around us,” he said. “And it’s crazy how it guards itself, clicks together and how it lives.”

While addicted, Hunter married and had two children. He described that chapter as the “generational curse” because like his father, he left.

Eventually, Hunter experienced a better life in an upswing moment. While seemingly having more control over his addiction, he married again and had a good job with a cleaning service. They had a child together, and life was good.

“I had hurt my back and had to quit cage fighting,” Hunter said, showing a family picture from that moment in time. “That was a happy time.”

That was in Galena, Kan., and just when Hunter got more involved in church, the attacks came crushing down.

“My wife and I started fighting, I drank again, just not understanding the things going on around me,” he said. “Something happened to my best friend from the cage fighting world. His wife called and said something wasn’t right. I went over there, and he was on the floor – spinning – and I know what drugs look like. And that wasn’t drugs. I called my preacher to come help me, and he told me just to call the police or take him to the hospital. He didn’t come help me.”

The police came though, and took his friend to a psychiatric hold, and Hunter walked away from church all together.

“What I saw scared me,” Hunter said.

In 2010, Hunter became addicted to meth and so did his wife. That was the drug that led to his homeless chapter.

“I slept on couches, once in the back of a truck,” he said. “I lived in that for 10 years … I didn’t see my kids all that time.”

Pivotal Moment One.

Hunter was traveling between his first wife, second wife and another girl he knew in Iowa. When he learned his 15-year-old son was in trouble for behavior problems, he got on the road to go to him. He had taken a car, and during the long drive he woke up a few times in near-death accidents. He was running off the road, or about to hit overpass pillars.

“It was Jan. 15, 2020,” Hunter said. “I got lost and drove the wrong way for two hours, and had pulled over alongside Highway 80. I was tired and feeling anxious. I tried to get high – it was cold. I had these knots all over my hands from where I missed. I had that needle and just thought about hitting a big vein instead of a little one, and just ending it all. There was no help. I had no relationships. Dying seemed like an OK idea. I cried out to God … and 30 minutes later I went to jail.”

As Hunter retold this part of his story, he laughed. “I was livid! I cried out to God and I went to jail. But He has a way of doing things in ways we don’t understand.”

Due to the pandemic, law enforcement had to take Hunter to Jasper County, Iowa, and then transferred to Jasper County, Missouri.

As soon as he was released, he went back to his drugs – then jail again – in that pattern until spring.

Pivotal Moment Two.

Hunter was doing drugs near Spring River in the Kellogg Lake area when the police showed up again. He said he remembered it was March 2, 2020, and he found himself in a cell surrendering to the Lord.

“I knew how jacked up I was, how I had jacked up the lives of everyone around me – I cried like a baby,” he said. “I was so broken. But I remember telling God I’d do what He wanted.”

He started his drug program, and credits the progress he made to local deputy sheriffs, public defenders, guards and a judge – all who showed him kindness, even when he didn’t deserve it.

“The impact they make is real,” Hunter said. “I started doing Bible study and the prayer circle … I died in Jasper County, Iowa and was brought back in Jasper County, Mo. That’s so cool. Nobody can tell me God isn’t real.”

The New Chapter.

Hunter had 300 hours of community service to do. He served at Carthage Crosslines Ministry, and continued to meet people who supported and encouraged him. He said a cop asked him what he wanted to do as a career, and Hunter replied with his once-dream of culinary school.

At the time, life was very decent but he said the Holy Spirit was telling him it wasn’t right to live with his ex-wife, so he inquired about living at the Crisis Center.

He moved in, and they assigned him a job … kitchen manager.

“I’ve been cooking for three and a half years now,” Hunter said with a huge smile. “I can’t take credit for anything that’s happened – that’s all God.”

For a time, Hunter had a driving job but once again, it seemed like divine intervention brought a blessing disguised as something else.

“I had a wreck, got the flu and got fired in the same day,” Hunter said. “That was in March this year. Seven days later, Jim [Benton] called and asked if I’d be the men’s program director.”

On top of those duties, Hunter visits the Jasper County Jail on Tuesdays to do ministry – a place that holds 16 arrest records of his. He also has an apartment, and two of his kids live with him. He has three biological kids: ages 18, 15 and 11.

“I can’t un-do all the bad things I’ve done, but I hope they’re proud of me and where God brought me out of,” Hunter said. “If you know someone going through addiction, just love them – especially when they don’t deserve it. That hopelessness is a darkness than can only be lightened with love. God loved the world in its darkness through Jesus. And addiction – any kind – is rooted in darkness, but if you let go of it, you can break free from it. It has to be their decision, but my job is help pull them farther into the light … like the angels – posing as people – did for me in my life.”

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