The Father-in-Law Who Became a Partner in Ministry

Brent Moore, Redeemed Living Founder, Board Chair

Tuesday, Febraury 10, 2026

7:00 a.m.

When I first started dating my wife, I knew I’d have to face her father, eventually.

Rick Parsons had spent 30 years in the Air Force. He was a trained leader, a Bible teacher, and—most importantly—a dad who loved his daughter fiercely. And here I was: a recovering addict, only about 18 months clean, asking for a chance.

I wouldn’t have blamed him for being skeptical. I was skeptical of myself.

But Rick did something that changed my life.

He watched.

He listened.

He got to know me.

And over time, he saw that my conversion was real—that God had genuinely transformed me.

Today, Rick serves on the Board of Directors at Redeemed Living. He’s not just my father-in-law. He’s a partner in this mission.

When Faith, Recovery, and Family Collide: A Father-in-Law Who Became a Partner in Ministry

A Teacher Who Showed Up

When we launched Redeemed Living, we were figuring things out as we went. 

I knew what I needed when I was in recovery—structure, accountability, community, faith—and I wanted to offer that to other men. But building a ministry from scratch? That was new territory.

Rick was working at Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta at the time, driving back and forth from Macon every week. He had margin in his schedule, and he used it to invest in our guys.

At first, he just came by to hang out. Then it turned into discussions. Then weekly Bible studies. For a few years, Rick showed up consistently—not because he had to, but because he wanted to.

“They’re so real,” Rick says. “So authentic, transparent, and sincere. Often they are amazed that somebody would invest in their life.”

That’s exactly what I wanted Redeemed to be: a place where men who come from broken places discover they’re worth investing in.

What Rick Learned from Our Guys

Here’s what I love about Rick: he came to teach, but he’ll be the first to tell you he left having learned something.

“We often think of addiction as chemical—alcohol, drugs, pornography,” he explains. “But I learned that addiction is so much more than that. All of us have faced some addiction to sin. Some of us are addicted to envy. Some to greed. Some to drama.”

He pauses.

“The Lord says, ‘You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.’ We’re all in bondage to sin of some sort until Jesus comes and sets us free from it. What I was trying to teach them was really a lesson for me.”

That’s the thing about Redeemed Living. Yes, we’re helping men recover from substance addiction. But the deeper work is about identity. It’s about helping men understand that their identity isn’t their addiction—it’s in Christ.

Rick gets that. And he helped our guys get it too.

More Than Family

I’ll be honest: when I married into Rick’s family, I gained more than a wife and eventually two beautiful kids. I gained a mentor.

Rick didn’t come to Christ until he was 33.

He knows what it means to be transformed.

He’s taught Bible studies on military deployments around the world, pastored bi-vocationally in South Georgia and now serves as associate pastor at Lizella Baptist Church near Macon.

And through all of that, he’s stays connected to Redeemed.

Even though he’s geographically distant now, Rick sends daily devotionals to Dusty and Walter, two of our key leaders at the house. His church, Lizella Baptist, supports our ministry. And he continues to serve on our board, praying about what the next season of his involvement might look like.

What I do know is this: Rick believed in me when a lot of people wouldn’t have. He watched my walk, tested my faith, and then opened his arms—not just to me, but to every man who walks through our doors.

That’s the kind of community we’re building at Redeemed Living. Men investing in men. Fathers and sons—biological or not—walking together toward freedom.

Rick taught our guys that their identity is in Christ. And in doing so, he reminded me why I started this ministry in the first place.