Today we’d like to introduce you to Derek Black.
Hi Derek, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
Choose RCVRY started as a crazy idea God gave me in the summer of 2019 as I pondered ways to make a greater impact in the world. I was raised in a safe home, but the religious background was very rule focused that shamed anything outside of its pre-determined norms. So when I was exposed to pornography in the third grade, a closet addiction to all things sexual came and wrapped its arms of darkness around me. Shame told me I couldn’t say anything to anyone or get any help out of this confusing secret world I built for myself. No amount of church or relationships or marriage or having kids or actually being in the Christian ministry could save me from this inner addiction. I remember starting a family and standing in front of churches teaching the Bible and counseling others all while knowing I had hidden active subscriptions to porn sites and had reached out to porn sites/producers for my own porn concepts.
There are so many today who don’t view pornography as destructive, but I knew in my gut it was wrong. I wanted to change and get free, but I couldn’t seem to beat it. In my religious world I literally didn’t know there were places that specialize in recovery from sexual addictions. My wife and I talked about things, but I only vaguely told her about my “struggle.” Fast forward 10-12 years and I finally found freedom from my addiction. That recovery mainly involved my own grit of reading and listening to anything I could find on all things faith and addiction, specifically in the porn, masturbation, and sexual areas. There was a season in my life struggle where I wrestled with so much confusion, I experimented with cross-gender sexual thoughts and behavior (cross-dressing and wondering who I really was). Deep down I knew who I wanted to be and for me, who God had made me to be.
Even though my faith background was filled with legalism and hypocrisy that felt so empty, I knew my faith still mattered to me–only in the right way. Well that faith led me to the concept about being made in the image of God–both genders. I remember for me feeling this deeply held conviction that God made me to be a man who respected women and stayed within those lines sexually. Slowly abandoning old behaviors and replacing them with renewed views and respect of fellow image bearers became my new norm. Further my deeply held belief that Jesus forgives all things wrecked me in the most beautiful way.
My wife stuck with me through all of this and we’ve worked through the more specific details of those active addiction years. Since 2018 I’ve been walking what I call a sexually sober lifestyle that literally freed me to wholeheartedly show love to my wife the way she deserves and view/treat all women the way God intended.
During that same timeframe, Freedom House in Soldotna, Alaska came into my life! I now work as the spiritual care coordinator over Freedom House, a sober transitional ministry home for men and women coming out of primarily substance addictions. Walking side by side with residents in recovery inspired me to think through the details of my own life story. Witnessing so many lives of transformation in recovery inspired me to shout these stories of hope in the world. In my own recovery I learned to embrace my creative bent for good rather than destruction. I new I liked technology and fashion and I wanted to redeem these things from my story. So in 2019 the brand Choose RCVRY was born.
While several friends helped me in the beginning, one particular one became a friend through helping me get the brand further off the ground. As my wife and I got to know her and her own family more, we learned more of her own recovery story. The freedom and joy she (and other friends I’ve met now too) walks in after years of not only substance addiction, but after also years of human/sex trafficking just shook me to the core. I realized how my past pornography addiction was not a sexual activity I kept just for myself. Those women behind the screens were real women just like my new friends. Fresh wounds were ripped back open and I re-entered my life story deeper than I had ever done before. Since starting the Choose RCVRY brand, my own processing of my addiction past intersected my present in a beautiful and radically transforming way.
Today collaborate with those same friends in an amazingly redemptive way–me from the porn/sexual abuser side and them through the sexual trafficking victim side. The best way I can explain it is God has radically changed my very view of humanity to the core. I now operate my life and my brand in a way that protects the rights of men and women, shows respect to all humanity as image bearers of God, and shouts the hope of recovery from all addiction.
To this day, run by family and friends, Choose RCVRY is a small Alaska-based brand that flows from this passion to spread hope with the world. We ship worldwide and pray to impact as many people as possible!
The company is more than just another lifestyle apparel brand. We push forward a life and death mission. Addiction recovery is a life and death matter, a lifestyle, and a mission. We seek to shed light on the need for recovery and support recovery efforts by donating a portion of sales to recovery ministries–both from addiction and from human trafficking.
Whether in your own story or in life of a loved one, this darkness creeps in and destroys. BUT the stories of recovery are so freaking amazing!! We believe they need spread as loud as possible! That’s what we’re about… amplifying hope and empowering more people to shout the hope of recovery!
We believe in dreaming big and making a dent in this world for good. God made us in His image and gives us the innovation and inspiration to create and make a difference with our short lives. And it’s possible and necessary to tell this authentically beautiful story in a way empty religion simply can’t. Choose RCVRY exists in this spirit. Never give up in this life. Rewrite the story. Tell a better story with us. Make a difference with your life. Let’s go!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Other than the life journey of recovery which presented a ton of struggles in life along the way, the brand building process of the Choose RCVRY business also presented many challenges. To this day the most challenging area for me is how to get this message out to more people. I sincerely want to share my faith roots, but I consistently face skepticism or misunderstanding from the Christian community. I sincerely believe Christianity struggles to help those in addiction and sexual areas, so I aim to rattle some religious norms with the Choose RCVRY brand. Some resonate while others stand at a distance. If the brand can inspire more people who feel stuck out there (just like I felt), then I consider that a success. And so we continue to shout hope over the hell of addiction and human/sex trafficking, we continue to empower recovery, and we aim to rattle religious norms. Finding this audience who resonates with us is our biggest challenge.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Choose RCVRY?
Those that come from backgrounds of addiction and human trafficking want to end stigmas and help spread the hope of recovery with the world. Those with the heart of Jesus want to be His hands and feet in a world so obsessed with religious division rather than the love of one another. So we made an apparel brand to shout hope over hell and rattle religious norms. We seek to fund hope through apparel purchases and be a uniting voice in the world.
We do this through our own designed apparel, through online content in the form of social media, podcast, and YouTube channel, and through in person outreach trips where we share stories of hope. Additionally, we take a portion of our profits and give back to support ministries/organizations helping people recover from addiction and/or human trafficking.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
My aim is big but from very small beginnings. The Choose RCVRY brand aims to become a household brand in the apparel spaces of faith and recovery themes, activewear centered around self care in the outdoors, and general fashion. I hope to see the Choose RCVRY name become synonymous of hope and change over all the darkness and disunity in our world. Inspiring the Never Give Up and Rewriting the Story of Hell is what we want to be known for!
Contact Info:
- Email: support@chooseRCVRY.com
- Website: https://choosercvry.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chooseRCVRY/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chooseRCVRY/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChooseRcvry
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIOAF4sfiiuq_1CIX5iYpxQ
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@choosercvry
Image Credits
Derek Black
Laura Black
Britney Baier
Courtney Dukowitz
