With unshakeable faith and a heart full of compassion, Dr. Spellman has labored for more than 38 years to restore broken lives torn apart by addiction and substance abuse.
She has been committed to doing God’s will with resolute determination and to fulfilling the vision that God placed in her heart so many years ago. Willing to stand alone and demonstrating tremendous courage, Dr. Spellman navigated uncharted waters to establish long term, Christian drug and alcohol treatment facility that continues to do battle on the front lines against the addiction epidemic.
Dr. Marion Spellman is the Founder and President of the Peniel Residential Drug/Alcohol Treatment Center located in Johnstown, PA. With her faithful and professional staff, Peniel provides long-term, intensive, faith-based addiction treatment with a unique approach and effective results.
It is this life’s work of Dr. Spellman’s through Peniel that has inspired the creation of a new award by the International Church of God of Cleveland, TN.
According to its charter, “The Dr. Marion Spellman Inspiration of Hope Award” was established to be presented to “a pastor, administrator or Christian worker who is serving as a role model to give hope and inspiration to the church, to the community and to the rehabilitation of disenfranchised individuals within their generation.”
At the award’s inception, International Director of Intercultural Advancement, Bishop Doyle P. Scott, Sr., designated the honor to be given every two years at the Church of God General Assembly to someone who is an influential legacy leader.
On August 2, 2018 at the Church of God 77th International General Assembly in Orlando, FL, the inaugural “Dr. Marion Spellman Inspiration Of Hope Award” was presented to the first recipient – Bishop Jonathan Ramsey, Jr., the Senior Pastor of the Rehoboth Church of God in Bloomfield, CT.
Dr. Ramsey was the longest serving Administrative Bishop in the Southern New England Churches of God and he has also served in the Florida Cocoa Region. He has a reputation for reaching out to those disenfranchised and in crisis, which made him a natural fit for the award.
Peniel, our Board of Directors, Advisory Board, staff and students are delighted to see Dr. Spellman receive the recognition she so rightly deserves as a pioneer in the field. Her legacy is one that will be forever cemented in the annals of Church of God history as a chosen servant who not only answered the call, but did so with the kind of passion, dedication and determination that does indeed inspire hope. Hers is a commitment that is unwavering to God and to neighbor alike.
Peniel’s standard of care and excellence in administration is unrivaled in treatment. This award further indicates and confirms the need for quality treatment like that provided at Peniel and the need for effective and inspirational leadership like that of Dr. Marion Spellman.