Pastor Tom Devlin

Director of Men’s Services

 

 

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My name is Tom Devlin. I am thirty-two, from
Youngstown, Ohio. Both of my parents are from
severely abusive homes. They got married young
when my dad returned from the Marine Corp. in
Viet Nam. When I was young, I had crooked teeth,
glasses, and red hair. This gave me a complex,
because people teased me, and as a consequence,
I became self-conscious. Because of the teasing, I
found myself fighting a lot, which eventually got me
expelled from high school. I started drinking at age
fifteen. It started with just beer, but progressed to hard liquor.

After I joined the Army, I married my high school sweetheart. I got out of the Army and started working on the road for my dad. This is when it all started to go downhill. I ended up doing everything a married man should not do. Through all this time, I continued my drinking and fighting. In 1999, in a street fight, I was stabbed with a broken golf club in the face and neck, severing my coratid artery. But for God’s grace, I would have died. Hate, embarrassment, self-pity, and vengeance began to dominate my life. My parents soon after divorced, and on September 11th 2001, my divorce was final. I quit my job and tried to get back into the Army, but they denied me because of physical disabilities caused by the stabbing. I started dealing OxyContins and other drugs, and became involved in organized crime. Binge drinking and clubbing became a big part of my life. Everything started falling apart.

In October of 2003, I ran my Yukon, drunk, through a stoplight, smashing into four cars. This landed me in legal trouble in which the option of Teen Challenge came up. I was court ordered one hundred twenty days in lieu of jail. I was going to do my time and go back home, but God had a different plan. He instantly took away the hurt, pain, bitterness, guilt, shame, and hate that oppressed me. He filled me with peace, joy, and love that I never knew. I have been forgiven and in turn learned to forgive.

I am blessed with a beautiful, God fearing wife, a son Jaeden that is two, and a daughter Gracie that is one. The Lord immediately gave me favor by putting me into fulltime ministry. I served at the Youngstown Teen Challenge Crisis and Referral Center, which is the very spot where I got into the wreck, and was used to send me to Teen Challenge in Muskegon, Michigan. After two and one half years I was called to be the Men’s Supervisor at the Detroit Life Challenge. I recently moved back to Youngstown and was blessed with a phone call from Pastor Chris Gilger. I am now serving the Lord at the Warren Family Mission helping to restore broken lives one by one. I live by the scriptures Romans 12: 1-2, I beseech you brethren, by the mercies of God, the ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to the world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. I give my God all the glory, walk and talk with Jesus, and let the Holy Spirit guide me, direct me, mold me, and shape me. I have not yet arrived, but I’m not the man I used to be!