Pastor Tim: Always going after 'misfits'

COEUR d’ALENE — Pastor Tim Remington’s church is much larger than the building on Best Avenue and Ninth Street where he was shot Sunday afternoon.

As founder of Good Samaritan Rehabilitation nearly 15 years ago, Remington has helped more than 1,600 women and men complete the faith-based nonprofit addiction recovery treatment program.

“It’s nothing to get 30 or 40 calls a day,” Remington told The Press six years ago.

Those who enter the Good Samaritan program — 120 days for women and 60 days for men — are expected to follow strict rules: no visitors, no TV, no makeup, no violence, no personal money, no naps, no phone calls. They live either at the women’s ranch or one of the men’s ranches, where they’re up at 6 a.m. every day and have plenty to keep them busy.

There’s a $2,500 fee to enroll, with scholarship opportunities. The Good Samaritan program for women includes 12-step spiritual studies, finance classes, classes to learn to resolve and avoid distorted relationships and regain moral values, Bible studies, prayer, sewing and gardening. The women have chores and take turns preparing meals in the kitchen.

Over the years, The Press has published numerous stories about people who have successfully completed the Good Samaritan program and turned around their lives. Remington has often said the program is more successful than many others — he’s claimed an 80 percent success rate — and there are many testimonials to support his assertion.

In February 2014, for example, a letter to the editor from Todd Dubois of Hayden lauded the program and refuted criticism from another Press reader who suggested the program was a way for Remington to make money. Dubois wrote:

“I myself went through his program, and I can honestly say that it was the best $2,500 investment I have ever made. Period!

“It helped deliver me from a lifetime of drugs and alcohol, and without that program I wouldn’t have the relationship with Jesus that I now have. If I had stayed in that lifestyle, believe me, I would have blown much more than the $2,500 I spent on the program.

“I truly believe that the only way to recover from drugs is through a relationship with Jesus Christ, and Pastor Tim’s program gave me that opportunity.

“To say that Jesus was sold to me is an absurd accusation. It is a free gift, and without the Good Samaritan program I may never have received it.”

Remington, originally from Riverside, Calif., comprised a staff of one at Cataldo Lighthouse Ministries in the Silver Valley before moving to the church’s Coeur d’Alene site in September 2006. His mission focused heavily on helping people with drug and alcohol addictions.

“They used to call us the misfit church for years,” Remington told Press reporter Bill Buley in a feature story that was published Aug. 5, 2006. “That’s what we go after.”

Remington later changed the church’s name to The Altar Church. According to the church’s website, altarcda.com, members hold a number of beliefs, including:

DIVINE HEALING

“We believe in the divine healing in the body of Christ and that Christ can, and still heals today. We believe in the laying on of hands by the elders of the church for those that are sick and believe God to be faithful to his Word.”

SEPARATION

“We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord. God commands His people to separate from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices, and associations, and to refrain from all immodest and immoderate appearances and actions as not to be a stumbling block to anyone else.”

SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST

“We believe in that “blessed hope,” the personal, imminent return of Christ who will rapture His Bride prior to the seven-year tribulation period. At the end of the Tribulation, Christ will personally and visibly return with His saints, to establish His earthly Kingdom which was promised to the nation of Israel for 1000 years.”

CREATION

“We believe that God created the universe in six literal days. Without determining the meaning in the ‘day’ before there were stars or planets to determine it.”

FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

“We believe that men and women are spiritually equal in position before God but that God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual functions for men and women in the home and the church. The husband is to be the leader of the home and men are to be the leaders (pastors and deacons) of the church.”

LAWSUITS BETWEEN BELIEVERS

“We believe that Christians are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christians or the church to resolve personal disputes. We believe the church possesses all the resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between members.”

LOVE

“We believe that we should demonstrate love for others, not only toward fellow believers, but also toward both those who are not believers and those who oppose us because of our faith. We are to deal with those who oppose us graciously, gently, patiently, and humbly. God forbids the stirring up of strife, the taking of revenge, or the threat or the use of violence as a means of resolving personal conflict or obtaining personal justice. Although God commands us to abhor sinful actions, we are to love and pray for any person who engages in such sinful actions.”

Remington concluded his 2006 interview with Buley this way:

“The Bible is not just a favorite book of mine,” he said. “The Bible is my life. It’s my dictionary. It is my way of life.”