235: Christina Dent and Compassion for Others

Christina Dent, Founder and President of End It For Good, a conservative nonprofit advocating a health-centered approach to drugs rather than a criminal justice approach. Christina lives in Mississippi and changed her own mind about how to best handle drugs after she became a foster parent. She started End It For Good several years ago to invite others to learn and consider changing their minds too so we can save lives, preserve families, and strengthen communities.

Today, Christina shares how she survived a literal train wreck, the loving mom who challenged her views of drug addiction, and starting End It For Good to educate others on the issue. Christina’s story reminds us that the grace of God heals our deepest needs.

Listen to Christina’s story now!

Stories Christina shared:

• Leading End it For Good
• Growing up in a Christian home in Mississippi
• Giving her life to Christ at a Christian camp at 9
• Family devotions and how that influenced her
• Experiencing a train wreck in Chicago
• Her parent’s cancer diagnosis
• How the suffering shaped her
• Meeting a mother and child through foster care
• The problems with our cultural narrative about drugs
• Why it’s easier to “otherize” people
• Researching to find a better way to handle drugs
• The three ways that prohibition of drugs harms people
• Understanding the reasons why people use drugs
• What your church can do to help

Great quotes from Christina:

I want my life to matter. If it’s short or if it’s long, I want to be faithful.

Her struggle with addiction is not a lack of love for her son. This is not a criminal issue. What a tragedy it would be to take this son from a mother who dearly loves him.

We’re using trauma to fix a problem made worse fundamentally by trauma. The criminal justice system is not the right tool for a complex medical crisis like drug addiction.

Resources we mentioned:

• End It For Good
• 2 Minutes
• Chasing the Scream (The Opposite of Addiction is Connection) by Johann Hari

Related episodes:

• Shari Malott and Fighting for Hope
• Rob Decker Discovers God’s Tenderness for Him
• Craig Greenfield and Good News for the Poor

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