One might not think that businessmen and doctors belong in the same room as people who used to be incarcerated. But every year, for 3 weeks at 5:45 a.m., they all gather as men. For what?
They come together for Men’s Connect Spiritual: Because of Others’ Testimonies Christ Answers My Prayers, also known as Boot Camp. Led by Darryl K. Webster, men and boys from all walks of life come together to discuss ways to address current issues and past trauma.
Answering the call
It all started in 2005, when Webster, pastor of Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church, noticed an increase in violence in Indianapolis.
“At that time, there was a lot of killing in our communities,” Webster said. “Boys were struggling to move from boyhood to manhood and so I said, ‘Let me at least bring them in and do something intense that talked about boyhood, manhood, and fatherhood.’ That’s why I started Boot Camp … I wanted to do something to be proactive instead of reactive.”
Now celebrating its twentieth year, Webster’s Boot Camp has expanded to multiple cities. Their events include a three-day combat camp in April and a three-week camp in the fall.
But as Webster and many members of the program put it, “Boot camp is not an event but a lifestyle.”
Organizers put the concepts into practice by establishing a certified recovery house that assists those who have been released from prison or are recovering from substance abuse. Other participants apply the concepts to their own lives.
Marcus Richardson, 39, worried frequently about whether he would be a good husband or a good father; his parents divorced when he was nine years old.
Since joining Boot Camp in 2010, Richardson has learned how to deal with the trauma that came from his parents’ divorce and how to be a good family man.
“I learned that it’s okay to make mistakes and you can come back from those mistakes,” Richardson said. “I was able to learn scriptures and lessons that teaches me how to be a better husband and father, like how to train up my kids and how to really listen to my wife.”
Boot Camp also helped him deal with grief from his brother’s loss and shame from his past. Likewise, Boot Camp helped Shune Currin by teaching him how to set aside an old habit.
Putting pride aside
Currin, 62, previously battled Stage 4 bone cancer, resulting in the amputation of one of his legs. This, combined with back issues, makes it difficult for him to walk long distances, resulting in him using a wheelchair.
Currin visited the Boot Camp program at the Putnamville Correctional Facility to inspire inmates. Because his desire to serve was greater than his pride, he allowed another man, one of the inmates, to push him in a wheelchair for the first time.
“That was the day I was able to let pride go and pick up being humble in that area,” Currin said.
Currin credits Boot Camp with keeping him motivated. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in 2021 and given only two years to live. Boot Camp provided him with a platform to inspire others battling cancer.
“The acronym for Boot Camp (stands for) Because of Others’ Testimonies, Christ Answers My Prayers. So, by others seeing my testimony, I was able to help answer somebody else’s prayer.”
Part of Boot Camp’s mission is supporting men who are currently or have previously been incarcerated.
When 65-year-old James Miller joined in 2009, he had been released from prison earlier that year; he had also battled substance abuse and homelessness.
“Before joining Boot Camp, I was without direction, without purpose,” Miller said.
The group poured into him in multiple ways, even helping with his sobriety, which he has maintained for over 18 years.
“It helped me in the sense that I wasn’t the only one in that group that had struggled with addictions and they showed me that long-term abstinence and more importantly, long-term healthy recovery was possible,” Miller said. “I was sitting there among men that already had 10, 15, 20 years clean so, imagine a person who’s early in recovery and not sure if he can do it, not sure that he was deserving of recovery with all the things he’s done, only to (see) that there was other men like me so I wasn’t alone. They gave me hope.”
Other Boot Camp members even encouraged Miller to continue his education. Miller is now a social worker at Richard L. Roudebush Veterans’ Administration Medical Center, where he supports veterans experiencing substance abuse and other issues. He regularly uses values that he learned from Boot Camp.
“Some of the key values of Boot Camp (are what) I still use today in social work – accepting people for where they’re at, helping them to see their strengths and not their challenges and not their faults,” Miller said. “It helped me to be patient, it helped to be an active listener, it helped me to use all the resources I can around me.”
For Miller, Boot Camp helped him turn his life around in a positive manner. He moved from being homeless to owning a home and from struggling with addiction to helping others recover from substance use.
For boys and men
Boot Camp offers the same help to boys, like 17-year-old Joshua Hunt.
When he began attending Boot Camp with his father and grandfather at the age of nine, he was concerned that he would be overlooked due to his age.
“I feel like they wouldn’t respect me as much because they’re adults, they know stuff, and I don’t,” Hunt said. “But Pastor Webster, my grandpa, and my dad and all the Boot Camp have made sure that they actually honor the young kids. They make sure that we know that we’re seen and loved.”
The feeling of intimidation was replaced by acceptance and Hunt learned many lessons from Boot Camp, namely how to take off his “mask.’
“Taking off my mask for me is being fully transparent with people and telling them about all of me instead of just the desirable traits and just letting them know who I fully am, including my past sins, some mistakes that I made, the people I’ve hurt, whatever it may be” Hunt said.
Boot Camp helped him see women as people, and let go of misconceptions of how men should be.
“When I was younger, I used to think that men shouldn’t be crying and how men should always be strong,” Hunt said. “I think that Boot Camp has taught me that actually men need to not only lean on each other, but on other people whether it be their wives, their families. Crying is not an unmanly thing; men are allowed to do that.”
Since 2005, Boot Camp has inspired and improved the lives of men, both young and old and, in turn, has helped them inspire the people around them.
“Boot Camp has a set of principles that are life principles that is good for every area of your life,” said Currin. “I am Boot Camp because I preach it to all my friends, even though they don’t go to the church. I preach it to people I know (who are) out of town, that have now been able to come on to Boot Camp even though they’re in a different city. Boot Camp is not just a one-time event.”
Darry K. Webster’s Spiritual Boot Camp Connect, headquartered at 4958 Ribble Rd. in Indianapolis, is open to boys and men of all ages. Participants do not have to be members of Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church to join. For more information, contact 317-546-8131 or bootcampconnectllc@gmail.com.
Recorder Intern Deidrick K-G. Dickerson is a student at Pike High School who aspires to a career in journalism.
