A Special Presentation: The Genesis Project

The Genesis Project

As long as you can still breathe, there is HOPE!

I am pleased to re-introduce a very special person and friend, to Everyone’s Story, Tom Blubaugh. Tom, the author of NIGHT OF THE COSSACK, appeared on this blog in April where he received many international viewer hits. Today, Tom is visiting not as an author but rather to share with us a mission that he has committed to: The Genesis Project, a means of reaching out and helping those who are seeking addiction recovery. Tom shares on the Genesis site that he once saw a church sign that said “God accepts you exactly the way you are but He loves you too much to leave you that way.” Truly, a powerful statement! Please join Tom in this exclusive interview where he shares more on his story about the Genesis Project and why it is so dear to his heart.

A Q&A on The Genesis Project:

Please describe what the Genesis Project is and who you hope to reach out to?

The Genesis Project is a ministry to the abused, the addicted  

and the homeless. My purpose is to give them helps and answers in their pain, life and Christian walk. Genesis promotes a new beginning.

What is your personal motivation for beginning this project? And what is your sustaining impetus for carrying it through?

I was raised in a religious home by an alcoholic father and a codependent mother. At age 12, I was sexually molested by a priest. My life became very confusing. I had no respect for authority and became a convicted felon at age 15. My life was a life of performance, low self-esteem, low self-worth and fear. The first born child is normally (whatever that word really means0 a parent-pleaser, the responsible one who obeys the parental standards—not me. I joined the navy after graduating from high school with a D-. If it weren’t for a caring teacher, I wouldn’t have graduated. I was an angry child. I didn’t know this because I didn’t feel angry, but I suppressed all the anger from my emotional pain. I married at age 24 and was divorced 5 years later. We remarried in 1970 and I became a Christian on Dec. 13th of that year.  In the spring of 1971 I went into severe depression and, I know now, I imploded. All the suppressed anger erupted and scared me. I won’t describe the language or thoughts that I projected toward God, but it terrified me. My perception of God wasn’t healthy, but I think I somehow knew it was safe to be angry with Him, on some level, but at the same time I was deathly afraid of Him. Long story short, in May of 1995, I ended up homeless. I went to a homeless men’s shelter and started rebuilding my life. God had His hands on me and was directing me. In 2002, He told me to establish the Genesis website. He told me He would reach millions of people through it, but when I asked Him how, He said, “that is none of your business.”  This is the answer to your first question.

I hang on to Prov. 16:9 and 19:21. I’m a writer. I have written numerous articles about my life experiences and what I’ve learned from them, how they relate to God and I’ve posted them on the Genesis site. I recently moved the site to Wordpress and I’m rewriting these articles to bring them up to date and I’ll be posting them as blog articles on Tuesdays and Saturdays. One of the problems I had was getting any spiritual help with my angry thoughts. Every time I’d ask a Christian, whether it was a lay person or pastor, I get a quick answer. Usually, “that’s normal.” Okay, so why didn’t I hear any messages on the topic? How come no one shared their experience with it? Why didn’t someone sit down with me and say, “this is how I dealt with it.”  I thought that if I was struggling with it and having a hard time finding help, so were others. In 1987 I found out about Adult Children of Alcoholics, a 12 step program, and I found others like me who were suffering and working toward healing. My sustaining impetus for carrying through is my obedience to the Lord and my desire to help others find answers and help.

Do you have both a short-term and long-term goal for the project?

My short-term goal is to revise the site and make it more effective. It is a work in progress and probably always will be. My long term goal is to share as much as I can that will help others on the path develop and strong relationship with Christ, develop strong relationships, understand who their worth in Christ and find peace.

Have you received any feedback or statistical data to determine if the project is on course?

I know the site receives visitors from numerous countries, that most of them are seeking help with resentments and personal peace and that there are some 2,500 unique visitors a month. One in four bookmarks the site. 38% of the visitors are first time visitors and 62% are returning visitors. The USA, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Chine and Russian

Federation are the top five countries to visit this month.

If you were given only 30 seconds or so--or let's say, one sentence--to encourage someone about to reach out for something that inevitably hurts them/their loved ones, what would that be?

There is nothing I can say that will stop a person from taking this action. If they’re an addict and haven’t experienced enough pain from their addiction, my words will fall on ears that don’t want to hear. It may be different if someone comes to me and tells me they are thinking about doing drugs, but it’s highly unlikely this will happen--unless they are being pressured by someone and they are afraid of giving in.

If you have any questions or comments for Tom on The Genesis Project, he'll enjoy hearing from you!

Author Bio: Tom Blubaugh was raised in a small town in southeast KS. He began writing poetry at age fourteen. Tom has written nonfiction writer most of his adult life. He self-published his first book Behind the Scenes of the Bus Ministry in 1974.  Tom wrote articles for denominational and business magazines  from 1975 through 1995. He co-wrote The Great Adventure for Barbour Publishing Co. in 2009. Bound by Faith Publishers published his first fiction Night of the Cossack in April, 2011. In Feb., 2012, Tom was a guest writer in Unschackled by CJ Hitz, Shelley Hitz and Heather Hart. Tom is married to Barbara. They have six children and fourteen grandchildren. Both are retired. Tom has been public speaker for 40 years. He was a self-employed entrepreneur  from1973 to 1995. Tom retired in 2004 and has devoted most of his time to writing and volunteer work.

You can find Tom on the web at:

The Genesis Project

Tom's personal website

The Write Trail (Tom's blog)

NIGHT OF THE COSSACK