Former Stock Car Driver Hangs Up Driver Suit to Put on Minister Suit After Battling Years of Addiction
by James Coulter
Jammie Dunnahoe, Sr. was called to preach at the young age of 18. He shunned his call, turned away from God, and turned to drugs and alcohol instead. For more than a decade, he was addicted to alcohol, marijuana, and meth.
“When I was 18, I was in a dark place,” he said. “I heard a voice speak to me. I knew it was God. He spoke to me and said I have work for you to do, preach the Word! And from that moment on I was miserable and I lived a miserable lifestyle until I obeyed what God told me to do.”
Four years ago, he became clean, turned his life back to the Lord, and finally answered the call to ministry. He has since received his local minister license, enrolled in Bible college, and plans on preaching the Word of God.
Most of all, he wants his life to serve as a living testimony of God’s redemption, even for a former alcoholic and drug addict.
“Everywhere I walk, I want my life to be a beacon light to shine everywhere I go, so that people see that there is a difference in me, where I can help people right here in the great town of Winter Haven and throughout Central Florida wherever I travel and go,” he said.
At the young age of 16, Dunnahoe was involved with drugs like meth. In 2007, following a messy divorce, he turned to alcohol to cope, and he later began taking marijuana.
However, he eventually surrendered his life to God and turned away from his addictions. He stopped drinking alcohol seven years ago and taking marijuana four years ago. And the most miraculous part? He never once went to rehab. He simply quit cold turkey.
“I never had to go to rehab or get help,” he said. “I never had to go to any drug rehab or AAA classes. God is what got me through that. I turned away from those people [other addicts] and got back into the church to separate myself from that type of people and to cleanse my soul.”
Currently, Dunnahoe is enrolled in Bible college and has received his local minister’s license to become an evangelist. He currently serves through the Pentecostals of Winter Haven, where he has participated in the church’s outreach program to the local poor and homeless.
Pastor Dr. R.S Blevins helped counsel Dunnahoe through his additions and hard times. Eventually, the pastor molded him into an upstanding citizen with a proper moral compass. Now, the pastor has become impressed with his overall recovery, transforming from an addict to a minister reaching out to the addicted and afflicted.
“He worked hard and turned it [his life] around,” Dr. R.S Blevins said. “So, he has learned to fall in love with the ministry. And he has acclimated himself to the ministry. He loved that he was easy to pick up, easy to catch up. He loves what he does… [Now you can see] how this man’s light has been shining these last few years and how God had changed his life.”
