About Us

The Mission of the Twelfth Step Ministry at The Phillips Family Center for Spiritual Development is to provide hope, help, and support in a safe, inclusive environment to the recovery community of North Texas.

The Twelfth Step Ministry at The Phillips Family Center for Spiritual Development is a Non-Profit Organization (ID 01-0862158). It is our goal to reach as many people and to give them a place where they can find hope, a friend, a sponsor and support from their peers that have a shared experiences.

We are an adults-only facility

Dr. Tom Shipp, the long time pastor of Lovers Lane United Methodist Church translated his calling to provide help and recovery for the alcoholic, by drawing on his community of faith to realize this mission. Dr. Shipp was dedicated to helping the alcoholic by embracing them as members of the church and offered one on one counseling to anyone needing his help. Then, in September 1977 Dr. Don Benton became the pastor of LLUMC and he too understood the importance and impact of ministering to the alcoholic. In 1989 Dr. Benton initiated the expansion of ministry programs at the church and the congregation purchased the Center for Spiritual Development (CSD) located at 5324 W. Northwest Highway, Dallas, Texas.

In October 1991 Dr. Benton along with his son Don Jr., “Dink” launched the Twelfth Step Ministry at LLUMC and Dink became the founding director of the program. Dink Benton developed the Twelfth Step Ministry in order to provide recovery services to a variety of people suffering with addictions.

Since the early 1990’s the Twelfth Step Ministry has been providing recovery and support services to community members in North Texas. Then in December 2005 the Twelfth Step Ministry was formalized and incorporated with it’s own board of directors.

Following Dink’s departure from the Twelfth Step Ministry, Bob Dicken took over in 1997 and served as director until 2009. During Bob’s tenure he helped to add and expand the number of twelve step recovery fellowships to the Center’s programming and provided information and referral services to those in our community.

In 2009 Marie Krebs was named the Executive Director. During her tenure, Marie made many improvements and brought awareness to our community about The Twelfth Step Ministry. Due to Marie and her commitment, The Twelfth Step Ministry was awarded the Community Organization of the Year, by the Texas Association of Addiction Professionals, Dallas Chapter,  was recognized by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) of the White House, as a leader in the recovery community and received the Corporate Community Leadership award from Caron Texas. The Twelfth Step Ministry has achieved both local and national recognition as the leading recovery center in the Southwest which were major achievements under Marie Kreb's leadership.

In 2023, Twelfth Step Ministry was a recipient of the Prism Award presented by Mental Health America of Greater Dallas. This award pays tribute to those who have made a lasting impact in the community on behalf of individuals with mental illness. Andrea Tabor is the recipient of the Gratitude of Giving—Hope Award presented by Sierra Tucson Treatment Centers. Andrea was selected by her peers for her contributions to addiction recovery and for her years of giving hope to others.