There’s a moment in every rock-bottom story when a person decides whether they’re going to die there or fight their way back up. 

For 45-year-old Jamie Scher, that moment came in a jail cell, alone, ashamed and convinced his life no longer mattered. Jamie grew up on Long Island and describes his younger self without hesitation.

“I was a heroin addict and I kind of just ended up homeless up there,” he says.

His mother, living in The Villages, moved him to Florida hoping he could get clean. He hoped so too. 

I thought by coming down here, I would get away from it all,” Jamie says. “I figured I could run away from my problems, but they caught up to me quickly.”

“I was right back into my addiction and within a year I lost my job and even started stealing jewelry from my mom to feed it,” he adds.

 When Jamie’s mother asked where her jewelry had gone, he lied. When police showed up, that lie caught up with him and shattered everything.

A month later, sitting in the Sumter County Jail, he got a call that made him dig deep. Jamie’s mom was willing to drop the charges against him, but on one condition . . . that he agree to participate in a rehab program.

“I’d been in programs before, so I figured I could fake my way through this one, too,” Jamie says, that is, until she revealed the “deal breaker,” as far as he was concerned. 

“She was like ‘this one’s a faith-based program,’ and I was like, “Oh heck no!” Jamie says. “I told her Christians are hypocrites, holier-than-thou. I’d rather be with convicts than with Christians.”

Still, he agreed to the interview, but only because he’d planned on sabotaging his chances. 

Instead, it backfired.

“They somehow accepted me into the program,” he says. “I was shocked. Go figure.”

That program was the Christian Care Center Men’s Residence in Leesburg, a ministry village tucked behind First Baptist Leesburg. Jamie went in armed with enough anger, skepticism and pain to build walls no one could climb. He also went in with another scheme.

“I’ll use the Bible to show them how stupid they are; how gullible they are to believe fairytales,” Jamie says.

But something happened that he still struggles to fully explain.

“God revealed himself to me in mighty ways,” Jamie says. “I gave my life to the Lord and turned my life around.”

From that moment on, the trajectory of his life changed.

He graduated the program with the intention of going back to bartending, the only work he’d ever known. When he asked if he could do that and still live on campus, the answer was  “no,” so he stayed. Not out of obedience at first, but because something inside him felt different.

He spent two years working in the children’s shelter as a janitor and cook. A few years later, he became the director. He kept studying, eventually earning his bachelor’s and becoming a youth pastor. Later, the Christian Care Center asked him to return to the same men’s program he once went through, but this time as its leader. Today, he serves as the Director of the Men’s Residence.

And that’s not the only place he leads.

Jamie is now the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Weirsdale, where Sunday attendance has grown from about 15 people to between 85 and 115 each week. 

Jamie says he can’t help but smile at the thought of the growing congregation. 

“Everyone out there has found their purpose it wasn’t just about going to church. Their purpose was being the church,” Jamie says, explaining that mindset of ‘being the church’ is exactly what led to his latest calling.

A Second Chance Village in the Making

On seven acres in Weirsdale, Jamie and his church family are building something bold, Rise Up Ministries, a growing ministry village modeled after the one that saved him; a full-circle concept, considering his background. 

“This ministry we’re starting will help the homeless and the addicted,” he says.

They already have:

• A transition house for men finishing recovery programs
• A food pantry and clothes closet
• Volunteers praying with people, helping with job searches, offering guidance
• Partnerships forming with Lake and Marion County organizations

Their first month open, they fed and clothed more than 400 people. This month, having fed 100 people in a single day, they’re well on the way to surpassing last month’s outreach.

“There’s not much help out there in Weirsdale, but our community has really stepped up,” he says.

Local businesses are donating labor, materials, sheds, food and funding. Others stop by with meat, produce and canned goods to fill the shelves. But the need is growing faster than their space can handle.

Their next goal is a 4,000-square-foot building on County Road 42, a larger food bank and clothing closet to reach even more people in crisis.

And every single person who walks through their doors receives more than supplies.

“Each person is sitting down with one of our people. They’re getting prayed over, they’re getting guidance, resources, help with job searches and mental health, too,” he says.

Jamie knows exactly what these people are feeling because he once sat in the same place. He says he can relate to their misconceptions, pain and hardship.

“God doesn’t waste our pain,” he says. “He uses it in order for us to help other people.”

A Purpose Fueled by Pain

The thing that hits hardest is when Jamie talks about hope.

“At one point, I didn’t know where my next meal was gonna come from,” Jamie says. My only hope was to die. I didn’t even wanna wake up the next day.”

Then someone stepped up for him, like he steps up for others today.

“It gives me peace,” he says. “I think our purpose is to help others the same way that we ourselves were helped.”

He shares his story every Sunday, every chance he gets. Vulnerably. Honestly. Because he believes healing comes from truth, connection and compassion, not shame.

How to Help Rise Up Ministries

Jamie says even though he, his team, his congregation and locals are ‘all in,’ additional help is not only welcome, but desperately needed.

“It takes a community to feed our community,” he says.

Rise Up Ministries needs:

• Food
• Clothing
• Volunteers
• Monetary donations
• Community partners

Anyone who wants to help can email Jamie directly at jamie@christiancarecenter.org
or visit firstbaptistweirsdale.com and donate through the church’s site.

They also invite anyone to join them for worship or events, including their Thanksgiving community meal on Nov. 23 starting at 12:30pm. No requirements. No paperwork. Just people loving people.

“We want to rebuild people’s lives,” Jamie says. “There may not be many people with a former heroin addict as their pastor, but it’s all for a reason and I’m invested in my calling to bring that same hope I was given to those out there struggling.”