A Teen Residential Program and Community Counseling Center
As I sit to write this it’s still hard for me to believe that Garry is no longer with us. What a tremendous blessing it was to share life and ministry together with Garry for these last 9+ years and be counted among his friends. I’m a better man for knowing him and under his leadership and guidance The Joy House Counseling Center has become what it is today. I’d like to pay tribute to my friend, let me start with how we met.

Around 2010-11 I began hearing about this tremendous Christian counselor in our community. He had been used by the Lord to help many people I knew. In 2011 we met for the first time over lunch and there was a shared bond between us in our love for Christ, people, family, and community. It was clear to me that Garry was blessed with a special gift to counsel. We continued that friendship over the coming months and I became concerned about losing him as a resource in our community because of funding. Through those conversations the Lord got the idea on the table between us of what if God wanted to use us together. Neither one of us could escape this possibility, this vision gained life under God’s direction.  The Joy House was well established at this point and I felt we could raise the necessary funds and free Garry to use his gift. It is through our relationship that The Joy House Counseling Center was born. The counseling center was launched in the spring of 2012 and under his leadership over the last 8+ years it has become what we envisioned, a regional resource for Christ-centered counseling along the 515 corridor where every client can find the help they need at an affordable price. So many lives have been touched by the Lord through him personally and under his leadership.

 
GARRY BARBER-A TRIBUTE FULL ARTICLE
We have been asked by many of you how you can help the Barber family during this season. A Garry Barber benefit fund has been made for his family. You can donate by dropping by any United Community Bank branch and making a deposit to the Garry Barber benefit fund or you can donate online by pressing the button below. 
GARRY BARBER BENEFIT FUND
The Joy House has been amazingly blessed this year with a new addition to our Joy House family. Seth and Jenn Ellzey are our new girl’s house parents.  We are so thankful that God brought this couple into our lives at just the perfect time.  

The Ellzeys have walked on a unique journey that has brought them perfectly equipped for the role of girl’s house parents. Seth has worked in children’s and youth ministry for years while God worked in his heart the gifts he uses now at The Joy House.  Jenn has served in campus ministries, kid’s camps and inner-city ministries. She has also been on several mission trips in Europe and Central America including living in Portugal for six months while ministering to local children.
 
Jenn and Seth met in late 2013 through sharing the common interests of youth ministry and missions. Within a year they were planning their wedding and serving together at the same church in Baldwin County, where she oversaw all youth and children’s ministries from nursery through college and career. For the past four years they have worked in children’s home ministries learning and growing in their houseparent skills.
 
They believe that the call in house parenting is to model the basic Biblical principles as described in Micah 6:8, to “seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” Their hope is to see young ladies’ lives transformed by the Gospel and families made new through the mercies of God.
 
 Here are a few words from our Executive Director, Steve Lowe, regarding The Ellzeys joining our team. “I’m really excited to welcome Seth and Jennifer to our staff. They have demonstrated a heart for Christ and teens that has been evidenced through their role as house parents in other ministries. Those experiences have also shaped the kind of environment they wanted to minister in that made The Joy House a great fit. They have hit the ground running and are already doing a great job serving our young ladies and their families.”
 
 

When you pray as a community for God’s hand to be there in a specific area or idea in life it is wonderful to see firsthand His guidance and outcome. We prayed for the perfect fit for the Counseling Center Assistant job and God brought us Jamie Piper. We are looking forward to seeing where God leads her in her new position and how He will use her to bring about His glory.

Jamie Piper serves The Joy House as the Counseling Center Assistant. She has three bachelor’s degrees, Business Management, Marketing, and IT. She has over twelve years of experience in marketing, operations, and sales. The majority of her career was spent at Chick-fil-A, where she put all of those skills into play, consistently reinforcing “Eat More Chicken”! Chick-fil-A also allowed Jamie to move out of her hometown and landed her in the mountains. Now she is pursuing a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health to be a Licensed Counselor. 

After losing her brother to suicide, Jamie realized that even though you may know someone well, people still live every day in the darkness that you know nothing about. She began to listen to God's calling for her to help people find their own light in the darkness…to sit with people in their pain. The Joy House is where Jamie feels God has led her to start on this journey.

Here are a few words from our Executive Director, Steve Lowe, regarding Jamie joining our team. “I feel blessed to welcome Jamie to our staff to serve as our next assistant in the counseling center. As we met it was clear that our meeting was providential for both. Jamie has demonstrated a love for people and has sensed a call from the Lord to pursue Christian counseling. While pursuing her degree she desired to plug into a counseling setting. She comes to us with a tremendous background in business that will allow her to serve both our staff and clients well.”

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Copyright © 2020 The Joy House, Inc., All rights reserved.

Our contact information is:
P.O. Box 247
Jasper, GA 30143
Phone: 706.253.7569
Fax: 706.253.7570

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