Planting Hope Here: Cultivating Faith Community with Those on the Recovery Journey

People in recovery don't need another program.

Addiction's reach extends into every neighborhood, every church, every family. The need is urgent and the pain is real.

Churches want to help. But too often, good intentions launch programs without relationship, strategies without listening, services without understanding where God is already at work.

Rosario Picardo and Shannon Kiser have walked this ground. Through the launch of Fighting Chance Recovery in Dayton, Ohio-once the opioid overdose capital of America-and years of accompanying churches into everyday mission, they've learned that recovery ministry begins not with marketing plans but with joining God's healing work already underway.

Jesus is already present in recovery spaces, bringing freedom to the captive and hope to the hurting. You're invited to see where he's at work-and join in the transformation.

Planting Hope Here offers a different roadmap-one shaped by the Fresh Expressions Missional Journey framework

As a church leader, you don't bring Jesus to the recovery community. He's already there, bringing freedom to the captive and hope to the hurting. Planting Hope Here helps you learn to join the sacred work of renewal that God is already doing in the fragile, beautiful places where people are reaching for new life.

Author: Rosario Picardo,Shannon Kiser
Publisher: Invite Press
Published: 02/24/2026
Pages: 130
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.35lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.31d
ISBN: 9781963265903

About the Author
Picardo, Rosario: - Roz grew up in western New York as a first-generation Sicilian-American. In 2003, he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Houghton College and in 2007 a Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary. He graduated with a Doctor of Ministry from United Theological Seminary in 2014 and an MBA in 2021 from Dakota Wesleyan University. During his senior year of college, Roz entered the ministry as a military chaplain, serving four years in the Marine Reserves and five years in the Navy Reserves. While attending seminary, he recognized a call to serve the local church and has experience in all facets of church life, through roles ranging from church custodian to associate pastor to church planter and executive pastor of church planting at Ginghamsburg Church for five where they had three campuses and worshipped over 4,000.Roz is one of the founding pastors at Mosaic Church, a seven-year-old United Methodist multicultural church in Dayton, Ohio (www.wearemosaic.org). In addition to his work in the church, Roz is a national speaker, leads a consulting group for church planters/pastors called Picardo Coaching LLC, and is the author of nine books.Kiser, Shannon: - Shannon Kiser serves as the Senior Director of Fresh Expressions North America. She leads a team of mission strategists and trainers in the development and implementation of in person and online training for mission innovation. She is on the pastoral staff of Riverside Presbyterian Church in Sterling, VA, a church that worships in two languages (English and Spanish), engages in several fresh expressions of church, and extends community hospitality through Ridgetop Coffee and Tea. An ICF certified coach, Shannon coaches individual ministry leaders and pioneers, trains organizations to coach fresh expression initiatives, and coaches church teams through the process of adaptive change. Shannon lives in Springfield VA with her husband, and is the mother to two young adult daughters. Shannon enjoys the outdoors, pickleball, gardening, traveling, and her neighborhood swim club.