Kevin Joyce: A Heart for Serving

What started as a normal Thursday ended with a neck surgery and a broken foot for Kevin Joyce.

How Kevin Came to Greenhouse Project

I first met Kevin about 10 years ago when I served on staff at CityTeam and he came through our long-term discipleship recovery program. Kevin said,” I tried everything to get sober. For about 15 years I tried and nothing worked until I accepted Christ. It seems so easy when you look back in retrospect, we accept Christ and repent and ask for forgiveness. And things get better. But it takes work and it takes effort. When you add Christ to the mix it's a no brainer”, he continued, “I actually relapsed and ended up going back to CityTeam. John wasn't there anymore because he had moved on to start Greenhouse Project. But I ended up graduating and going down to North Carolina to help my daughter with her children while she was at work and at school”. Kevin and I had kept in touch. He says, “There had been talk at one point that John wanted to start Recovery houses and he called me saying that he received the old Alumni Group House and that he was making it into a discipleship house. He wanted to know if I might come back to help him”. 

I knew we were getting ready to launch our Discipleship Program and I needed somebody that was a leader, so I reached out to Kevin and we talked about what he was doing in life. There were some changes happening down there for him in North Carolina, so I invited him to come and join our Discipleship Program to help as one of the leaders, and he did! Kevin says that things were changing for him and he needed a new place to live, “I was just walking and I started praying about what I was going to do because I really didn't have any place to go. The phone rang, and it was John. He said, ‘Hey, you want to come help me run these recovery houses?’ So that’s how it started”.

We launched the Discipleship Program in 2022 and Kevin joined us about 6 months later to lead the program. Eventually, when we launched Greenhouse Recovery, we knew immediately that we were going to open a few positions for people that came to our program, and Kevin was the first one. He went through the training to be a Certified Recovery Peer Specialist so we brought him on staff as our Intake Coordinator and he’s been doing a great job. He’s been connecting with treatment centers, helping intake people into the program, he helps manage the houses, and so much more. 

A Normal Thursday Turned Into A Hospital Stay

On Thursday February 13th, 2025, Kevin was walking to catch the bus so he could go see his girlfriend. He saw a woman in a minivan coming down the street, and she seemed to be slowing down, so he took a step off the curb in order to cross the street. Kevin waved at the woman in the minivan as a thank you for letting him cross the street, however, instead of slowing down, she stepped on the gas. Kevin was hit. The impact knocked him down and he flew into the air a little bit before landing almost in the middle of the intersection. The woman who hit him was an older lady who seemed confused. She apologized to Kevin, saying that she didn't see him. When it first happened it didn't hurt very badly, so feeling bad for the woman, he told her to just go. Kevin then got on the bus, thinking he’d continue on his way to his girlfriend’s place, but by then he was really hurting. When he went to get off the bus, his legs couldn't hold his weight, and he collapsed. He ended up in the emergency room with a broken foot, a herniated disk in his neck, and a messed up back. Kevin had to get surgery and is still recovering in a rehabilitation center. 

A Heart for Serving Others

Even though Kevin is in the hospital and in a lot of pain, he’s still taking calls from people, doing intakes, sending emails, and just continuing to serve the community. We tried telling him to not do anything and to just relax and focus on recovering, however, Kevin is a guy who can’t sit still. He wants to help and serve because he understands that the new life he’s been given in Jesus Christ is all dependent upon the Lord and him serving other people. So even in his brokenness, God has shown him to serve and to continue helping out others, to not stop taking phone calls and emails, and still trying to manage to make sure things work well.

The reality of life is that bad things happen, even to nice people. Ultimately, we know they're good for the Kingdom and that God works all of these things out. He has a plan even when we can’t see or understand what that plan might be. 

This is why Greenhouse Project exists. Kevin's circumstance becomes a perfect teaching illustration on what God's unconditional love and grace does to a broken sinful human. Jesus transformed Kevin, and now Kevin is giving all of himself to the Lord. Even in a hospital bed!

Please take this time to pray for Kevin in his recovery journey and watch his testimony with the link below. Please share with anyone that could be impacted by a testimony!