Who runs HopeQuest? Robert Aaron Long got treatment for sex addiction at rehab that promotos 'ex-gay therapy'
When Robert Aaron Long was arrested on March 16 he said he was on his way to Florida to carry out his fourth attack on a business tied to the pornography industry, the police said. The 21-year-old-man has been charged with eight counts of murder, which he committed after going on a shooting spree in three massage parlors in Atlanta. Reports suggest that Long confessed to suffering from porn and sex addiction, due to which he wanted such places to close down or end.
The first spa which was Long's target was in an area familiar to Long. It was located within a mile of an evangelical treatment facility, HopeQuest, where Long, spent time as a patient for what he described as “sex addiction,” according to a former roommate. Bayless, who was Long’s roommate at Maverick Recovery, a sober-living facility in Roswell, Ga., in 2019 and 2020 in the months between his stays at HopeQuest, said Long felt his very salvation was at stake, as he told his roommate that he was “living in sin” and “not walking in the light; he was walking in darkness.”
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The evangelical facility where Long was been treated, HopeQuest in Acworth, Georgia, is located in a secluded forest at the end of a residential street about 30 miles outside Atlanta and down the road from Young’s Asian Massage parlor. After killing four people and wounding a fifth there, Long drove 27 miles to two more spas in Atlanta where he fatally shot four more people. Out of the eight victims, six were Asian women.
HopeQuest reportedly has links to influential evangelical organizations and has promoted “ex-gay therapy,” the idea that people can become heterosexual through counseling. Long, 21, who grew up in a conservative Southern Baptist church, was a patient at the treatment facility in 2019 and again in 2020, according to his former roommate Tyler Bayless. The facility advertises its services on its website for treating “sex addiction” and “pornography addiction,” beside various descriptions for what it believes these addictions could include. Bayless revealed that Long blamed his descent into addiction on pornography and used a flip phone instead of a smartphone to avoid temptation online.
HopeQuest is affiliated with many big evangelical churches in and around Atlanta, including the North Point megachurch and the historical First Baptist Church of Woodstock. With several counselors licensed by the state of Georgia, it is also a “professional” member of the evangelical organization 'Focus on the Family'.
Who runs HopeQuest?
According to the official website of the facility, Troy Hass is working as the Chief Executive Officer of the organization. "Troy Haas, MDiv, currently serves as the Executive Director of the HopeQuest Ministry Group and has almost 30 years of ministry experience, including six years as an IMB missionary in Kenya and 15 years as Director of Restoration Ministries at First Baptist Church of Woodstock. Troy’s personal struggle with addiction and own journey of recovery have enabled him to minister to others with authenticity and grace, providing hope that freedom is possible. Troy and his wife Melissa have dedicated their lives to encouraging, enabling and equipping the body of Christ to live out Galatians 6:1—Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently," the website states.
Troy has done his Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and his Bachelor of Arts degree from East Texas Baptist University. He resides with his wife Melissa and their three children in Woodstock, Georgia.
HopeQuests's founder and creator, Roy Blankenship, calls himself as 'ex-gay'. He is not longer associated with the facility. The center's current director of clinical programs, Wayne Carriker, also considers himself 'ex-gay'. The facility has refused to comment.
These remarks were made by the Internet and individual organizations, MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and nor does it support these claims being made on the Internet.