Grand Strand pastor needs help turning abandoned Pee Dee home into addiction recovery shelter

LAKE CITY, S.C. (WMBF) - A former drug addict turned pastor has spent the last several years bringing addiction recovery centers to the Grand Strand.

Now he’s expanding his ministry to the Pee Dee.

A cocaine addiction nearly cost pastor Tim Carter his life.

He started Sunshine Recovery Ministry in Myrtle Beach in 2018

Carter and his wife started a thrift store in Myrtle Beach and later founded a drug addiction recovery shelter in Georgetown.

Carter recently felt a calling to start a shelter for women and children.

He later came across an online ad for an abandoned house in Lake City.

“And we put in a bid and the starting bid was $18,000, and the guy said we’ll put you in with the other 35 (bids) we got,” Carter said.

More and more bids came in, and it became more and more unlikely Carter would be able to afford the home.

Carter said he prayed over the situation, and God delivered.

“We got a call that they’d had a few numbers come in well above what we were willing to offer, and when she (realtor) got through explaining to them (property owners) what we wanted, the brokers decided we should get the property,” Carter said.

In just a few weeks, Sunshine Ministries raised nearly three-quarters of the $27,000 closing cost.

Carter plans to close in less than two weeks.

The Lake City home will become the new addiction recovery shelter.

The current Georgetown shelter will house women and children.

“This is the second vision God laid on my heart when I was in the hospital dying of an overdose, when I cried out, God if you let me live, I’ll serve you, this is the vision he gave me,” Carter said.

You can donate to help Carter purchase and remodel the property by going to www.sonshinerecoveryministries.org/ or call 843-429-1778.

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