Jill Howell and Corey Sparks are two women in addiction recovery whose lives have been transformed by the work and encouragement given at Destiny Outreach Ministries in Springville, Virginia. Recently, IPHC shared a story about Pastor Steve Branch and his efforts in the recovery community, utilizing the tools provided through the Celebrate Recovery program. According to the website, “Celebrate Recovery is a safe place to find freedom from your hurts, hang-ups, and habits… It is a biblically based approach to help us achieve long-lasting recovery by healing our hurts, guiding us toward new healthy truths, and developing life-giving habits.” Pastor Steve’s willingness to love as Jesus does and see the potential in those who are broken and hurting has made the difference between life and death for many. You can read that article here: https://iphc.org/gso/2025/05/01/love-like-jesus-does-pastor-steve-branch/
Jill and Corey’s lives, and the lives of their families, have been forever changed first by addiction and second by the recovery community that welcomed and fought for them.
Jill Howell was an all-American kid, athletic, intelligent, and high-achieving. She began experimenting with substances in high school, which led to an 18-year-long addiction. After multiple arrests on drug-related charges, she tried to take her life with blood pressure pills.
Jill Howell’s Booking Pictures Amid Addiction
At the time, she was a mother to two children, had never been married, and felt hopeless, broken, alone, and unworthy. In that moment, she prayed, “I’ve failed my kids. Take me out of here. Just don’t let me go to hell.” Her life was spared, and she explains, “I started going full force after the Lord. I found my way to freedom.” Jill turned her life around, restoring her relationship with her children. She has been sober for more than six years now. Her recovery journey and commitment to the Lord sparked a passion inside of her to share her story of hope and help her fellow sisters and brothers walking similar addiction and recovery paths.
Jill Howell with Sons Trey and Ryan and Howell’s Mother, Sue Horn
Corey Sparks’ story began with an unstable homelife, including a father who passed when she was six and a mother who was an addict. At sixteen years of age, she found herself homeless. She connected with a man, married, and found herself pregnant. Like Howell, she would also be arrested multiple times, and that first child would eventually be taken from her and her parental rights terminated.
Corey Sparks’ Booking Pictures Amid Addiction
She found herself pregnant again six months later and made the decision that she had to make a change. Coming off the drugs led her to feel all of the pain that she had been masking for years. She was working to get clean, but she was hopeless and depressed. Her husband said to her, “Let’s go to church.” Corey agreed, saying, “I was carrying so much shame, guilt, and depression. We went to church, and the Spirit of God compelled me to the altar.” This choice to fall on the altar began the life change that Corey desperately needed. Over time, God restored her family and overturned the termination of her parental rights, reuniting their family, and she has now been sober for 13 years.
Tony, Corey, Rylee, and Tony Sparks
When Jill and Corey met through Celebrate Recovery, they realized they shared a passion to help the hurting and the lost on their recovery journeys. Together, they began dreaming up some big plans for Tazewell County, Virginia: “A Hope and a Future Ministry.” This ministry, named for Jeremiah 29:11, will be a long-term, 12-month, faith-based, Christ-centered recovery home. They plan to start with women and eventually include women and children. Here, those in recovery will have a safe, stable home where they will be introduced to the Lord, taught how to live a life of freedom, receive counseling and parental training, work on attaining a GED (if needed), and regain their driver’s license. The residents must attend church and the Celebrate Recovery meetings at Destiny. Jill and Corey explain that statistically, when an individual is involved in a faith-based recovery program, they are more likely to succeed in their recovery journey, stay the course, and avoid relapse.
Jill and Corey call this future ministry a “God-sized dream” and are already working with the county and others on grants, possible locations, and raising the funds to make this dream a reality. The time frame on this dream depends on when the money comes in, and they are already seeing the Lord move in their favor. Jill and Corey are ready to go! You can watch a short video about their testimony and plans here: https://youtu.be/toKgSkPSAPk?feature=shared
Jill and Corey both say their recovery journeys would have been impossible without God, Pastor Steve’s heart for the broken, and Destiny’s willingness to take a chance on the Celebrate Recovery Program. Now, these two warriors are working to make these incredible changes possible for other women.
Jill Howell and Corey Sparks Have God-sized Dreams
