From Addict to Pastor

Seven years ago, Joshua Al-jaouni sat in a courtroom in The Dalles, Ore., awaiting his sentence. He had just pled guilty to six drug felonies related to methamphetamine and three convictions for identity theft. Faced with the possibility of extensive prison time, for the first time in his life he was ready to take ownership for his actions.

“I remember thinking that ‘Whatever happens to me, I deserve it,’” he says.

The judge offered him two choices: Either spend six years in prison or enter a drug recovery program and have his prison sentence postponed for six months. Joshua chose rehab and joined The Harbor, a men’s recovery program run by Portland Rescue Mission. In addition to providing support to overcome substance use disorders, The Harbor focuses on spiritual transformation and life skills development.

Joshua admits that, at first, he was just going through the motions to avoid prison. He had experienced seasons of sobriety in his life before – he would clean himself up, go to church, get a job, find a girlfriend. Life would start to look good. But inevitably he would return to drugs and lose it all. It became a familiar cycle.

“It’s funny because I’m going through the Old Testament right now and noticing that Israel went through that cycle, too,” he says.

The need for approval drove my addiction. God keeps showing me that my identity is in him and not the things that we've done in our past or present.

Nine months into his time at The Harbor, Joshua noticed a change in his heart.

“There was a realization that, oh man, maybe this stuff is real. Maybe God is real,” he recalls. “I just decided to jump all in for Jesus.”

For most of his life, Joshua had been desperate to please others. He discovered growing up in The Dalles that the kids who smoked pot and did drugs seemed to be easier to gain approval from. During recovery, he realized true freedom and acceptance could be found in a relationship with his Heavenly Father.

“That need for approval kind of drove my addiction,” he admits. “God keeps showing me that my identity is in him and not the things that we’ve done in our past or our present. It’s been a real humbling experience.”

After 14 months at The Harbor, Joshua graduated and was put on probation. His attorney noted at the time that he was her first client to successfully complete the entire program at Portland Rescue Mission. Not only did he avoid prison, but he eventually had his felony record removed in 2022 thanks to a new Oregon law that gives local district attorneys discretion to vacate felony convictions for those who have served their sentences and demonstrated rehabilitation. He was one of the first people in Oregon to benefit from this law.

When he was still moving through his recovery program, Joshua had been encouraged to consider pastoral ministry while in a prayer group at a workshop in Oregon City called HeartChange. In the months and years that followed, he continued to pray and consider whether God was calling him to be a pastor. He was once even stopped by a stranger at Safeway who asked him if he was a Christian. Joshua said he was, and then the man said to him, “I don’t know why I’m supposed to tell you this, but you have a pastoral calling on your life.” Joshua was floored.

“I remember I just broke down in tears crying – God had answered my prayer,” he says.

Joshua decided to apply to Multnomah University, but his application was initially rejected because of his low GPA. So instead, he enrolled at Portland Community College and began taking classes, eventually raising his GPA enough to be accepted at Multnomah.

Around that same time, Joshua was approached by his pastor at As Is Church and offered a job as the youth director for Underground PDX—a CrossFit program for youth run by the church. As Is Church is situated in Gresham’s Rockwood neighborhood, one of the poorest and most diverse neighborhoods in the state. Joshua was originally connected to the church through a program called Thirsty Thursdays for recovering addicts.

Because of his past, Joshua felt at home ministering and worshipping in the Rockwood community.

“Whenever people used to throw out the name Joshua Al-jaouni out there, they had all kinds of bad things to say about me,” he says. “Rockwood is kind of like me. And it took people to come alongside me to get me where I am today. And that is the same for this whole community. We have to come alongside our community and walk through the tragedies and the heartbreak and show compassion.”

Joshua is now the outreach pastor at As Is and is involved in several community initiatives, including leading an organization called Shalom Rockwood that brings together leaders from several churches in the area for prayer each week. He also directs Adopt the Rock, a weekly outreach that exists to serve unmet needs in the neighborhood. He is passionate about seeing revival in Rockwood, and he believes it starts with building trust, showing up, and being consistent.

“In one of the apartments that we serve, there’s over 88 languages spoken there – talk about reaching the nations in our own backyard,” he says. “My heart is really to see revival come and to see the church come together, worship together, be together, like be the church as the big ‘C’ church.”

Joshua realizes that revival ultimately isn’t up to him, though.

“The more I study Scripture, the more I realize it isn’t my job to convert people. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job. My job is to speak the truth in love and share my testimony and love people right where they’re at.”

Thanks to his connections within the Shalom Rockwood ministry, Joshua was introduced to Tim Osborn, long-time Portland pastor and cohort curator at Western Seminary. They met at around the same time that Joshua learned Multnomah would be closing its undergraduate programs. Tim encouraged him to apply for one of his upcoming cohorts in Portland at Western.

“At that time, I had no idea what I was going to do, so it was just another answer to prayer,” Joshua recalls.

Paying for seminary has not been easy. He started a GoFundMe page and has raised just enough money from supporters and friends to complete his first two semesters at Western.

“I’m blown away at how God is providing and using the people that are in my life for this opportunity to go to school,” he says. “I know that when I am where God wants me to be, he will take care of the rest.”

In addition to drug recovery and pastoral ministry, Joshua’s story also includes restored relationships. After completing his recovery program, he married his wife Kehli, who completed the women’s recovery program at Portland Rescue Mission around the same time Joshua graduated from his. They now have a nine-month daughter Aleena, who climbed all over her dad during the interview.

“She is a handful,” he says with a grin.

In addition to his daughter, Joshua has five other children, including sons from a previous relationship when he was in the throes of his addiction. For many years, he was completely out of the picture with his kids. But recently, he has worked to re-build relationships, including with his 16-year-old son, who recently moved back in with him and his wife.

“God just continues to bring restoration and restores things I never thought possible.”