Community Recovery began as an outreach of New Community Church in October of 1999 founded by Dr. Mark Vander Meer, Associate Pastor of New Community Church. The main goal at that time was similar; present Jesus Christ and the 12 Steps to bring many into a recovery process and healthy living as defined by the Bible.

We utilized the Celebrate Recovery (R) curriculum and association from 1999 to 2003. Community Recovery’s weekly Friday night event of dinner, recovery worship, and support groups started on October 1 and has met every Friday through today for over 20 years! Throughout the years we saw restoration of hundreds of people and reached thousands. Our average attendance on Friday nights was from 150 to over 200 consistently as things grew into the 2000’s and beyond. In 2016, Community Recovery started a Monday night version of the Friday night event. By this time, the ministry had acquired two school size buses and was transporting over 100 people weekly (multiple trips). For years the community asked if we would add a second night with the same format and we did. After acquiring a new building at 1975 Jefferson SE in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Dr. Mark and Pastor Greg Chandler introduced a Monday night version of the Community Recovery event at the new building. Monday night recovery grew well at the Jefferson building and then moved to Calvary Christian Reformed Church in Wyoming, Michigan, a southwest suburb of Grand Rapids which continues through today. In addition, Community Recovery started two more sites in 2019 at Richmond Reformed Church of Grand Rapids and at City Life Church of Grand Rapids in 2020. Since 2016, Dr. Mark trained dozens of pastors in Bangladesh, Kenya, India and Sri Lanka to begin Community Recovery sites of different designs to bring hope to the world at large. Today they are self supporting and thriving.