HOUSE RULES

What is expected of you while you live here

“Be still and know that I am God.” · Psalm 46:10, ESV

Read this all the way through before you sign anything. Where a section asks for your initials, you are saying you have read that section and understood it. Ask about anything you do not understand — the time to ask is now, not after it costs you something.

Grounds for immediate discharge

• Being under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
• Possession of alcohol and/or drugs, including banned substances — see the Medication section.
• Possession of weapons.
• Having sex on the property or in the house, or with anyone you meet through Celebrate Recovery or MMBC.
• Threats, verbal or physical, toward yourself or anyone else; acts of violence; fighting.
• Destroying property, or altering the physical construction of the premises, including interior walls.
• Failing or refusing to submit a U/A.
• Unaccounted time, or discrepancies in your time off the premises — not checking in or out.
• Stealing of any kind.
• Repeated rule violation.
• Lies, whether on your intake paperwork or anywhere else, and any criminal activity by you or your guest.
• Leaving the property without permission, or being in an unauthorized area of the property.
• Refusing to follow staff directions — the House Manager or Assistant House Manager.
• Soliciting or entering into an agreement with an MMBC church member for anything — a car, a job, money, sex, anything — unless the Director approves it in advance.

Discipline action

• Loss of privileges, including but not limited to 24 to 48 hour passes, and written assignments.
• While you are on discipline, every privilege you have lost stays lost — including visitation of any kind — until the discipline work is finished to the Director's satisfaction.

Earned privileges

• Curfew is 10 pm Sunday through Thursday, and 12 am Friday and Saturday.
• The weight room and workout equipment, as long as you have a spotter.
• The common TV and TV room.
• Off-campus passes, or a 24-hour pass, as approved by the Director.
• TVs, DVD players, personal radios, game consoles, and the like.

Curfew and earned privileges — read and understood

House rules and regulations

1. Check in by text with the House Manager, Assistant House Manager, or Director every time you leave the house and every time you return.
2. Do not walk off the property. If you do, take all your belongings with you.
3. No pornography, written or electronic, is allowed on the property.

Pornography policy, 2024 — read and understood · Jeff A. York

4. Gambling is not permitted, by participants or guests, on the property.
5. No pets or animals may live on the property unless staff approve it.
6. Overnight absences must be approved, and the request must be made in writing before the event.
7. Your vehicle must be street legal, licensed, insured, and registered. One vehicle per resident, and it is subject to search.
8. Respect the privacy of every resident, on and off the property, including house guests and family. There are no open beds unless the Director says a bed is open.
9. No open flames, candles, or incense on the property.
10. Do not loan or borrow money, clothes, or any other personal property.
11. Do not go into another participant's room unless you are invited and he is present the whole time.
12. No foul language and no disrespectful behavior toward each other or toward staff.
13. If you are on probation or parole, your officer will be notified if you leave the program, are terminated from the program or from employment, fail a drug test, are intoxicated, or break any law while you are in the program.
14. If you quit or are removed from the property, the Director or staff will pack and remove your property. A written inventory is required before any personal property leaves.
15. TVs, DVD players, and radios in your room are a privilege, not a right.
16. No tobacco during Bible study, church, Celebrate Recovery, or praise and worship.
17. Smoke only in the approved smoking areas — not the front yard, not the driveway.
18. Be respectful to anyone you meet from our neighborhood or the community.

Visitation

• On-campus visitation begins once the Director approves it.
• Visitors must be approved, and are limited to immediate family and friends.
• Every first-time visitor meets with the Director first and is required to follow all our rules.
• Family are welcome and encouraged at weekly church services.

Off-campus passes

A weekend pass — twice a month — must be requested in writing on Wednesday, or at least 24 hours in advance, with a detailed plan: where you will be with addresses, who you will be with with names and phone numbers, and when you will be back. Other passes may be given and approved by the Director.

House keeping

1. The facility and property are kept clean and orderly at all times. The Assistant House Manager or House Manager inspects at random, weekly.
2. Be out of bed, dressed, and accounted for by 7:00 am.
3. Do not set the house air conditioner below 72 degrees.
4. Weekly room cleaning includes vacuuming and dusting your room.
5. A monthly chore list is posted by the Assistant House Manager or House Manager.

Medication

Medication policy — read and understood

Employment and fees

1. Begin looking for work when staff direct you to. The job has to be approved and has to be conducive to sober Christian living.
2. If you have a disability or are on unemployment, you begin applying for jobs or services with the appropriate agencies when staff direct you to, as a condition of residency. You may be asked to show staff your applications and résumé submissions.
3. The program fee is paid in advance, or on time, every week. It is currently $145.00 a week, due Monday.
4. You are responsible for your own toiletries — deodorant, toothpaste, soap. Some items are provided to a new resident when they are available or needed.

Food stamp policy — read and understood

Church, Bible study, and recovery

1. Church attendance and Sunday school are mandatory.
2. Celebrate Recovery is mandatory.
3. Bible studies and workshops, on campus or off, are mandatory.
4. Have your Bible and your journal with you at all of the above.
5. D-Group leaders check journal entries weekly.
6. Be dressed appropriately and ready to go at program time.
7. At any off-campus activity, sit with staff and with each other. At Michael Memorial Baptist Church we sit in the first three rows on the east side of the sanctuary, unless you are sitting with your family and staff have been told beforehand.
8. Use the restroom before service.
9. Be respectful in behavior and in language.

Guests

• No guest or visitor comes onto the property without prior approval from staff.
• No guest goes into a participant's bedroom.
• No overnight family visits without prior approval from the Director.

Kitchen

• Evening meals are served daily, normally between 4:45 and 5:30 pm depending on the day.
• You are expected at every meal, whether you eat or not.
• Someone is assigned to the kitchen and the dishes — see the chore list. After every meal the kitchen is clean, the dishes are put away, and the floors are swept and mopped. Clean up your own messes.
• Lunch items are provided if you work off-site, but packing your lunch is on you.
• Special dietary needs go in writing to the Director and the House Manager.
• Shoes and shirts in the dining room and kitchen at all times.
• Do not leave dirty dishes in the sink. Wash your own.

Grooming, dress, and appearance

• Clean shaven, though mustaches, beards, and goatees are fine if they are neatly trimmed.
• Haircuts must be realistic and within the rules the Director sets.
• No new piercings, tattoos, or hair dye, on pass or at the facility.
• Piercings you arrived with come out and stay out while you are in the program.
• Tank tops in bedrooms and the weight room only, and while working on the property unless staff say otherwise.
• Pants at your natural waistline. No sagging. If your pants have belt loops, wear a belt.
• No bandanas, and no gang colors or signs, ever.
• Be fully dressed any time you are out of your bedroom — shirt, pants or shorts, and shoes.

Who does what

House Manager

• Assigns the monthly chores and sees that they are done, daily or as needed.
• Is told whenever a participant leaves the house for any reason, and when he returns.
• Handles safety issues when the Director is not available.
• Is who you go to when a problem comes up with another participant and the Director is not available.
• Is trusted to hand out discipline assignments and to recommend that a man be removed from the house.

Assistant House Manager

• A man clearly called by God to assist the House Manager in the daily running of the facility.
• Shares the House Manager's duties and is also responsible for the safety of every participant.

D-Group Leader

These men help the House Manager keep up with participants' needs and appointments, including court and medical. Their focus is the spiritual growth and the journaling of their group, and they lead the weekly D-Group meetings off campus.

New Participant Mentor

These men help every new participant adjust and learn the program and the schedule. They make sure everyone is awake and accounted for at morning pray-in and at D-Group, that the new man knows and follows the rules, and that he has his bedding and hygiene needs.

These rules and guidelines are subject to deletion, suspension, modification, or addition at any time by approval of the Founder, Director, Assistant Director, or Board Members. They are a guideline, not a contract for graduation or for continuation in the program. Graduation or dismissal is entirely at the direction of the Founder, Director, Assistant Director, or Board Members, in keeping with the purpose and goals of Joseph's Home.

Signature