Strawberry: 'You're not a mistake just because you make a mistake'

Former Major League Baseball player turned pastor Darryl Strawberry spoke to a crowd of about 100 people Sunday night in Cape Girardeau as he shared his story of recovery and restoration.

With four World Series championships under his belt, Strawberry is widely known for his successes on the field and his more damaging lifestyle off it.

Now, Strawberry and his wife Tracy, also a pastor, run Strawberry Ministries, a Christian recovery program, out of St. Peters, Mo. He came to Cape Girardeau on Sunday to give testimony at the Celebrate Recovery program at St. Andrew Lutheran Church.

Celebrate Recovery is a nondenominational, faith-centered program offered nationwide to help people overcome "hurts, habits and hang-ups" of any kind through fellowship with others. The St. Andrew Lutheran Church holds meetings for men's and women's groups each Sunday evening.

Joanne Erlbacher has been the women's ministry leader since the church began offering the program nearly five years ago. She said she read an interview with Strawberry in July in USA Today and decided to reach out to him.

"I got online and looked up the ministry and sent a request for him to come speak," Erlbacher said. "I thought there was probably no chance at all of this happening, but I got an immediate response from his niece and three weeks later we had it all worked out."

Strawberry spoke to the group about his drug addiction and his 10-year road to recovery. He said he knew what it felt like to be "written off" by the rest of the world.

Battling an addiction "doesn't make you a bad person," Strawberry said. "You're not a mistake just because you make a mistake."

He outlined three points that he said helped him on his path to recovery: focus on the good, stop dwelling on the bad and be willing to change.

"Do you want to be well? That's all Jesus is asking you," Strawberry said to the crowd. "That's what you really need to ask yourself."

Beverly Holloway works for the Gibson Recovery Center. She said she brought several people who seek treatment from the center to listen to Strawberry's testimony.

"I very much enjoyed what he had to say ... the fact that even if you're on top of the mountain or a big star or whatever, you're still human and can fall, but God is always there to pick you up," Holloway said.

Strawberry admitted his journey was not an easy one and affected many others.

"My life destroyed everything around me," he said. "I was like a tornado. I couldn't even stay clean and I had a $5 million contract. That just shows the depths [addiction] can take you."

Strawberry, who stuck around to shake hands and speak with those in attendance Sunday, said he hoped people who heard his testimony and were battling addictions of their own would leave "changed, because they know God has not forgotten them."

"God is lining people up to spread his message ... people like me that didn't necessarily attend Bible college to become a minister," Strawberry said. "I think He wants to show the world He's empowering those who people maybe wouldn't think he would empower."

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

804 N. Cape Rock Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.