The most striking characteristic of Keith Oldenberg is his honesty.
He tells his tale of a personal odyssey from homeless and Godless drug addicted wanderer to God fearing member of the Nazarene Church in a very matter of fact tone and in an almost third person narrative like a candid journalist who says in effect about a controversial contemporary news story, “I report. You decide.”
Keith reports that he was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on January 30, 1966 of German and French ancestry. He grew up in a family structure that many ominous parallels with the city of his birth, “The Big Easy” where drinking, parties, corruption and fine dining are the standards of behavior. Keith says that religion played little or no role in his middle class family who although both his parents were heavy drinkers always managed to maintain an outward appearance of respectability and did not abuse him or his other siblings in any emotional or physical way.
Keith felt loved and says that his parents provided all the support he needed to establish himself in life.Keith relates that he took his first drink at the age of 12 or 13, and by his 18th birthday was a daily drinker. It was not long into his drinking career that Keith quit school in approximately the 9th grade. He went to work in the career path of many residents of New Orleans and began working in the restaurant industry and became a short order cook. His career continued to develop in New Orleans and at last Keith landed a job with the Del Frisco chain of restaurants and became a manager and at the height of his career with this company had a staff of 15 people and charge of a multi-million dollar enterprise for his shift.
Unfortunately, Keith’s addiction to alcohol kept pace with his growing paycheck so that if he earned $2,000 a week then the $2,000 would be spent mostly on alcohol, parties and good times with only the bare minimum spent on the basics like housing, transportation and clothes. As can be imagined, management involved more stress and late hours, and further fueled Keith’s downward spiral. He reacted by attempting the “Geographical Cure” and went on the road. He reports living in at least four states after his 18th birthday: Texas, Washington, Missouri and finally Florida. But no matter where Keith ended up the outcome was always the same and he reports failure after failure as an increasing addiction led to social isolation and a endless cycle of working himself up to nice apartments and vehicles, only to lose nearly everything usually because of an arrest for being drunk and disorderly and then a seemingly endless repeat of the cycle.
By the year 2000 Keith had cycled to the bottom of the pit of despair and hopelessness. He had for years been psychologically addicted to alcohol but had progressed to the “Third Stage” of alcoholism which is physical addiction and needed to be constantly drinking lest he go into withdrawal. By this time Keith had washed up in Central Florida and had as usual in his cycle of personal destruction lost everything material, but this time had also lost his will and ability to keep full time employment and was working the day labor pools in Orlando. His income was quite low in this line of work, although he could have obtained temporary housing; instead he opted to live on the streets mainly because drinking was forbidden at the Salvation Army and other homeless shelters.
Then one Sunday morning Keith went to breakfast at the “Good News” service at the First Presbyterian Church recreation center which is largely staffed by Central Care Mission clients who are themselves drug addicts in recovery. This service made an impression on Keith and although he did not immediately ask for placement at Central Care Mission, the wheels in his head began to spin and he slowly but surely began to realize that the root of cause of his drinking problem was a spiritual one; that he had cut himself off from God and finally realized the only possible path to survival would be an unconditional surrender to the Absolute.This knowledge was the turning point in Keith’s life – Late one night alone and on the streets of Orlando he prayed for the Lord to come into his life and his prayer was answered, and in short order thru the aid of the Compassion Corner Ministry at the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Orlando, Keith asked for and received admission to Central Care Mission where he entered the rehabilitation program on October 3, 2002. After completion of the basic program requirements Keith stayed on as staff driver and delivered clients to job sites in the greater Orlando area in a timely and safe manner while at the same time completing a vocational program for Chef at Florida Technical College. After graduation he became a line cook at the Hyatt Hotel near Disney and in training to become a Chef. Keith at last became a Chef when hired by Center Pointe Church where he has since served with distinction.
Keith takes no credit for his resurrection: In his opinion the Lord did all the heavy lifting, so that getting his life back together was no great feat; in fact his life, which had before been so difficult, lonely, defeatist and filled with terror and shadows of demons had become bright, positive, and filled with hope, glory and companionship. “I’ll always need to keep my personal relationship with God strong thru service to others at Center Point Church and Central Care Mission. They are my life lines,” concluded Keith.
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