From Prison to Purpose: How Will Found His Calling in the Forgotten Step

Brent Moore, Redeemed Living Founder, Board Chair

Tuesday, Febraury 24, 2026

7:00 a.m.

When I think about what makes Redeemed Living work, I think about people like Will.

Will didn’t come through our program as a resident. But his story? It’s the same story so many of our guys are living—just a few chapters ahead.

Two decades in prison. A life defined by addiction and impulsive decisions. The kind of past that makes most people write you off for good.

But in 2017, God put His hand on Will. And everything changed.

I'm trying to give back what was freely given to me. The one-on-one discipleship did for me what nothing else in my life ever could—and what I couldn't do by myself.

A Different Kind of Recovery

Will started being discipled one-on-one by a man named Riley O’Berry here in Valdosta. Week after week, month after month, Riley poured into him—not in a classroom, not in a program, but in relationship.

That’s the piece so many recovery models miss. Men complete 30 to 90 days of treatment, detox in hospitals, or get released from jail determined to change. But then what?

They walk out into the same broken relationships, the same empty apartments, the same isolation that fed their addiction in the first place. That’s the “Forgotten Step”—the gap between treatment and real life where so many men fall.

What Will received from Riley was exactly what we try to offer at Redeemed Living: time, structure, and a brotherhood that walks with you.

When God Answered a Prayer

Around 2020, after years of being discipled, Will and Riley prayed a bold prayer: Lord, use me and my story in broken men’s lives.

Within weeks, Will was volunteering at Refuge of Hope in Quitman, doing one-on-one discipleship with men in recovery. Then they prayed again—Send me more broken men.

A few days later, I was looking for someone to lead the discipleship program at Redeemed Living.

I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in a God who answers prayers and positions people exactly where they need to be.

Will met with Casey Corbin, who was on our board at the time, and then with me. I knew immediately: this was the guy.

What Will Brings to Redeemed

Today, Will serves on our Board of Directors and leads our discipleship program. He teaches our Tuesday night Bible study. He’s on call for our guys 24/7—not because it’s in his job description, but because he genuinely cares.

“I’m trying to give back what was freely given to me,” Will told me recently. “The one-on-one discipleship did for me what nothing else in my life ever could—and what I couldn’t do by myself.”

That’s the heart of what we do at Redeemed Living. It’s not about running a program. It’s about building a family.

Will understands that because he’s lived it. He knows what it’s like to have an empty cup—to be sober but still lost, clean but still broken. And he knows what it takes to fill that cup with something that lasts.

A Man on a Mission

What amazes me about Will is that Redeemed Living is just one piece of what God is doing through him.

He started a ministry called Agape Grill, where he and a group of men who’ve found victory in Christ travel to recovery centers across the Southeast. They bring a big smoker, cook baby back ribs all day, share their testimonies, and then a preacher gives an invitation at the end. It’s evangelism with a side of barbecue—and it’s changing lives.

Now he teaches Sunday school, leads Wednesday night Bible study at his church, Tuesday nights at Redeemed, and Monday nights at Bridges of Hope in Argyle.

“I’m more of a shepherd than a pastor,” Will says. “I’m still getting over my fear of speaking in front of crowds. But this is where God has led me.”

Why the Forgotten Step Matters

When I talk to donors and supporters about Redeemed Living, I often explain the “Forgotten Step”—that critical gap between treatment and real life where men need structure, accountability, and community to truly rebuild.

Will is living proof of why that step matters.

He didn’t just get clean.

He got discipled.

He got poured into.

He got time and patience and someone who believed God could use his story.

Now he’s doing the same for the men at Redeemed.

“A lot of these guys can get clean for a minute,” Will explains, “but then their cups are empty.

All they have is sobriety. They don’t have God in their lives. Redeemed gives them a foundation—and we don’t run them off. There’s not an end to the program. When they’re ready, that’s when they move forward.”

That’s the vision we’re building toward: a place where men don’t just survive recovery—they thrive in it. A place that feels like home. A brotherhood that lasts.

Will gets it.

He lives it.

And every week, he’s helping our guys find the same radical freedom he found.

From prison to purpose. From broken to called. That’s what God does when we let Him work in the Forgotten Step.