Lindsey Pierzina & The Gospel Center Rescue Mission: A Refuge of Hope

For over 80 years, the Gospel Center Rescue Mission has stood as a sanctuary in the city of Stockton, its doors open to anyone in need. The mission is the largest residential addiction treatment facility and the oldest operating shelter in San Joaquin County, having been founded shortly after the Great Depression to provide hope and resources to those who found themselves struggling.
They have helped thousands upon thousands of men, women and children through the darkest times of their lives, greeting them with compassion no matter their situation or circumstances, and the mission boasts an incredible 71 percent success rate. Lindsey Pierzina, the director of the men’s program, is one of the first to speak to the mission’s powerful healing work. “This place is about compassion and about helping people, and about fixing the person as a whole, not just one aspect,” Lindsey said. “It’s the whole. Mind, body, spirit.” She is a passionate advocate for the mission and its work, coming alongside those who enter the program and reminding them that there is hope, for at one time, she was in their same position.

Lindsey’s testimony is raw and powerful, and she offers it without hesitation as hope for those who feel lost beyond saving. As a child, she was raised by her grandparents while her parents struggled with drug addiction. When her grandfather passed away suddenly, she began to turn to substances to manage her pain, using methamphetamines for the first time when she was only 12 years old. She dropped out of high school and for over a decade found herself trapped in the cycles of addiction. In her early 20s, Lindsey discovered she was pregnant and had a beautiful daughter, but even then she was unable to break free from her addiction. Only when CPS removed her daughter from her care did she remember the Gospel Center Rescue Mission and turn to them for help. “That was my breaking point,” Lindsey said. “I reached out to them and by the grace of God, they took me in, even though I wasn’t clean.”

The process of getting clean and establishing a new life for herself wasn’t easy. After entering the program with the sole purpose of getting her daughter back, she also realized she had to choose this life for herself as well. “I could either make the choice to leave and go back to what I knew, or start attending classes here,” she said. She made the choice to stay, and through months of healing, hard work and compassionate care of the mission and other similar programs, she transformed her life and reunited with her daughter. Lindsey is now a mother of four, married to a loving husband who has also experienced the mission’s healing work. “This place has been a huge part of my life,” she said. “Because of what I learned at the Gospel Center Rescue Mission, I’ve grown into the mother, the friend and the woman I always hoped I could be, someone others can trust and rely on and feel safe with.”

Now, Lindsey has dedicated her professional life to giving back to the mission that restored her hope and purpose. When she graduated from the women’s New Life program, she was offered a position as a part-time employee in their recuperative care facility. From there she became a women’s case manager, and now she serves as the director of the men’s New Life program. “This mission, this family changed everything for me. It taught me that my past does not define me and that God had bigger plans for me than just being ‘another addict,’” she affirmed.

The Gospel Center Rescue Mission has continued to grow to meet the community’s needs; in 2025, the doors of their New Life Program Multi-Purpose Center opened, greatly expanding the mission’s capacity and reach. “We’ve had a nonstop influx of people,” Lindsey said. “We’re completely full right now.” Their current bed capacity can serve approximately 10 percent of San Joaquin County’s homeless population, and they hope to continue growing to meet the ever-evolving needs.

With the ongoing support of the community and the selfless dedication of people like Lindsey, the Gospel Center Rescue Mission will continue to open its doors and offer compassion, hope and second chances to those who need them the most.

To learn more, please visit gcrms.org.