Reviews

After years of being hurt and used, I lost myself. I became numb to life and pushed everyone that loved me away. I did not care about myself, my family or my future. I felt like no one would ever love me. But then at Teen Challenge I came to know Christ and now I see myself from a whole new perspective. Life has a new meaning and my family means the world to me. I am so thankful for God’s forgiving grace and for a new life that I have found here.

Before, I only lived for every moment I could get high. I cared nothing about others, myself or my future. I knew I would not ever survive the world I was living in and knew I had to change. Teen Challenge introduced to me true love, forgiveness and hope Jesus Christ had to offer. I have my life back and I am so grateful.

Being here at Teen Challenge has showed me that people can love me and care about me. God has opened up my eyes to the grace and mercy He gives me. Now that I am set free and He has broken my chains, I can run into His arms and accept His embrace.

Coming here to Teen Challenge has made me the girl that I have always wanted to be. God is restoring every relationship with my family members. God is amazing and I am so thankful.

Teen Challenge was the best decision we have made in our entire life. Our son’s life was saved from destruction on this earth and for eternity. The education at Teen Challenge was the finest he could have received anywhere. He became a self-disciplined student with motivated study habits and finished with a 3.9 GPA. He now has the desire and compassion to serve in his community and church, as well as tutoring and mentoring younger kids.

God saved my life. He used my father, my family, my fiancé, my pastor, and close friends to get me to Teen Challenge. He has since restored relationships, honored relationships, taken relationships to new heights. He has declined me from my addiction, depression, and anxiety. He has given me hope and fulfillment. He has given me another chance at life.

God used Teen Challenge in a mighty way in my life. What this program did for me is something that I cannot put into simple words, but I can say that I met Jesus Christ at Teen Challenge.

Growing up, I became devoted to theatre and loved playing lacrosse, but soon after 6th grade I started hanging out with kids a lot older than me and got involved in the wrong crowd. By 7th grade my grades had dropped, I was being suspended often and using drugs regularly. I was completely apathetic about my family and by 8th grade, my depression was out of control. I had been taken advantage of by one of my closest friends and didn’t understand what was happening in my life. A suicide attempt landed me in the hospital – all before my 14th birthday. My mom saw my life and what I was doing to myself and decided it was time to find a safe place for me to find a new way of happiness. I walked through the doors of Teen Challenge broken and in need of repair. I started to see changes in and around me that I could not write-off as coincidence. I saw God working around me and I couldn’t say no any longer. After 5 months at Teen Challenge I let God take the reigns in my life and I haven’t looked back since. Now after one year in Teen Challenge, I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. I think, feel, act, and even look like a different person. He has been the cornerstone in my transformation. Without Him, I don’t know where I would be, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be good. God has saved my life and has given me self worth and, most importantly, love.

I am a recent graduate of Teen Challenge. Before I came to the program I lived a life of drug addiction, violence, and an overall disrespect of any authority. My view of a real man was twisted and I was headed down a path of sin and destruction. My parents had pleaded with me for years to heed their advice and obey them and used many forms of discipline but this world had a hold on my life and I simply would not listen. I was half way through my junior year of high school in January of 2008 when my parents made the decision to send me to Teen challenge. As you can imagine I wasn’t too happy to be there. For the first four months or so I wanted nothing to do with the program or the blessings it could offer me. My plan was to leave when I turned 18 in May (but God had different plans however). On April 25th, 2008 I gave my life to the Lord and decided to finish the program and the rest is history. From that point on I poured into the program and tried to learn all I could from the amazing men that ran it. I found myself reading my Bible constantly and marveled at the miraculous God that I was serving. I soon realized what a terrible life I had been leading as well as all the pain I had caused my family. I became desperate for God and His power to change my heart and heal my family, and our God is faithful. I graduated the Teen Challenge program last April and I now live at home with my family. God has since blessed me with an amazing girlfriend and a great new set of friends. I try to stay involved in my church while I finish high school online. I plan to become a firefighter and should be starting school in January. My family and I try to visit the Teen Challenge campus as often as possible to give back to the students, families, and staff. I thank God everyday for this program and what it’s done for my family and I, and I encourage all of you to help support this program because it’s an amazing ministry and God truly does works miracles on its campus.

I was in and out of mental hospitals for suicide attempts, only to be put on heavier medications. I entered a total of five secular treatment facilities only to become a better prescription addict. At one of the programs I was introduced to crack cocaine. One hit and I was consumed. I began manufacturing the selling crack. I had become so addicted I could no longer think rationally and made many poor decisions. I began selling my body, getting into fights, lying, cheating, and engaging in activities I said I would never do. I came to the end of myself living in a closet, cutting on myself, and all alone. I discovered Teen Challenge on the internet and elected to attempt one more program. The Lord totally transformed my life and I was no longer tossed about by the storms of life. I have been completely delivered from depression and drugs. The Lord fills me with peace and joy as I learn about a merciful and loving God. He’s proven Himself faithful, showing me that He has always had great plans to prosper me. I’ve learned to trust other people around me and my heart ha softened. My relationship with my son has blossomed. I’ve now completed the program and have elected to work as an inter to impart to other women the freedom they too can experience through Christ.

I knew I had hit my rock bottom when I was staying in a homeless shelter from almost overdosing, I was close to death and still trying to stick a needle in my arm in search of the next high. I got kicked out of my last program for getting high on May 10, 2012. I literally cried out to God begging him to save me from the hell I had created. And right away God answered my call, the next day I got into detox and Teen Challenge came in and gave their testimonies. Right when I have given up on myself, God revealed to me that he hasn’t given up on me yet. So I entered the doors of Teen Challenge and since my time here, my life has changed immensely.God has restored my family back to me. God allows me to go out on the Drug Awareness team and share my testimony to the hopeless and let them know that there is hope. And though I am still far from perfect and fall short everyday. I am very eager to let God complete the good work he started within me!

I love the Lord because He hath heard my voice and my supplications. Psalm 116:1. I cried out and the Lord heard and sent me to Teen Challenge. I was depressed and without hope because I didn’t know Jesus Christ. Through this ministry the love of Jesus Christ has been made manifest in my life. Now I have hope, faith, love, and a future. Thanks be to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

I really pushed my parents over the edge when I overdosed on pills not once, not twice, but three times with 35 pills. They had enough and did not know where to turn. That’s when they brought me to Teen Challenge. Two months later, Jesus Christ intervened and said, Get ready family! I am the Great Physician and I will heal your daughter and bind up her wounds! God changed me from the inside out that day and has set me free from all the bondage that I was enslaved in.

I thought no one could ever understand and bring me out of the endless suffering I was in. At Teen Challenge, God showed me His amazing grace and opened up my heart to let others in to help. I now know it is not all about me, but helping others, showing love, forgiveness and accepting others for who they are.

I was addicted to money and sex. I forgot how to tell the truth. When God came into my heart at Teen Challenge He softened my heart and gave me emotion. I have learned how to love. He has restored my relationship with my family. I am a new creation because of His grace.

If you want to change and don’t know how or where to begin, I suggest you try Teen Challenge. My life has never been better. I am a graduate and I could not have done it without my Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. I have never found more love any where, I was loved until I learned to love myself. I have learned so much about who the Lord has created me to be. I can not praise Him enough.

In high school I acquired an addiction to painkillers. After four years of ruining my life with drugs and running from the Lord, I realized my life was miserable, and nothing I could do could make my life meaningful. I came to Teen Challenge to find healing for my life and to pursue a relationship with the Lord. Since being at Teen Challenge, I’ve re-dedicated my life to the Lord and have found a meaning for my once meaningless life — to live out every day on fire for the Lord and fulfill His will.

It was the best decision we have made in our entire life. Our son’s life was saved from destruction on this earth and for eternity. The education was the finest he could have gotten anywhere. He became a self-disciplined student with motivated study habits and finished with a 3.9 GPA. He now has the desire and compassion to serve in his community and church, as well as tutoring and mentoring younger kids.

My dad sent me to a secular rehab program for help. I was there for three months, but I didn’t change or give up any of my old ways. When I got back home I tried to do good but I failed very quickly. I started doing drugs again and everything seemed to be worse than it was before. About a year later, my dad caught me doing drugs again and this time he sent me to a Christian program called Teen Challenge. God started to get my attention and work in my life. I saw kids in the program that were once the way I was, but now they had joy and peace in their lives. I wanted that and I was willing to do whatever it took to get that. God directed my steps and changed me one step at a time. He healed all the anger and everything else that was in my life before. I figured out that I couldn’t do things on my own, but that God was the only one who could direct my life. God is in control of everything and I am thankful for the person He has made me today. I tried changing on my own before but it never lasted. Now that I have Jesus in my life, He has made a lasting change. He has taught me to have an everlasting relationship with Him and to live my life as a new person. Now I have a purpose and a plan for my life.

Since coming to Teen Challenge, my life has completely changed. I owe all my thanks to the power of God. I came hopeless, cut off from my family and unaware of a savior. I had no respect for anyone but now through God I can love and respect others and myself. I also have established a great relationship with my family.

To put it simply, Teen Challenge saved my life. I used to feel so stuck in a lifestyle of heroin addiction. I was a miserable person, and did not value my life whatsoever. But going through the program taught me so much about myself. I learned discipline, in more ways than one:) But, I also discovered who I was, apart from this world. I found my identity in the things above, rather than what the world tries to infiltrate into your being. I fell hopelessly in love with my Maker, and that changed everything. I now have a real relationship with Jesus, and it is visible that I am a different person.

We had tried everything we could think of for our troubled son — tough love, Christian counseling, traditional church activities, and homeschooling. But all were to no avail. Teen Challenge taught John self-control, physical work and teamwork, leadership skills and integrity. John received love, discipline, forgiveness, and persistent mentoring from dedicated staff members. Teen Challenge is a God-send for our broken family…restoring our relationship with our son. It is a place of hope, a place of love, and a place of renewal.

We needed help for our son. We tried everything we knew to do to no avail. The schools kicked him out, wanting nothing to do with him. The doctors wanted to hospitalize him, sedate him into compliance. His anger and aggression were dominating our home and our lives. We lived in fear of him and for him every moment of the day and night. We knew we couldn’t do it without God’s help – but things were getting worse. Our first call to Teen Challenge rekindled the hope we had that our son could overcome, that God had a plan. The entire staff, through the Holy Spirit, ministered to our son over the next eleven months. We now have our son back, the son who was always there – just hidden beneath all the yuck that consumed his life (and ours). The programming works because of the willingness of these special people who allow themselves to be used by God to impact the lives of troubled boys and hurting families. It is a true blessing to have found Teen Challenge. They will always be a part of our lives.

When I came to Teen Challenge, I was filled with a lot of guilt. I felt like life had been torn away from me and I deserved to be dead. I blamed God, my family, and my friends. But in all honesty, I was the one to blame. I had caused my own problems and I had caused my own downfall. Since I have been at Teen Challenge, I have rededicated my life to God. I choose this time to walk in His ways and not in my ways. I want to live my life for God, because when I lived it for myself I found nothing. As I continue to learn to forgive myself for all of the things I have done, God is continuously encouraging me with his love and his word. I am slowly learning that even though I don’t deserve this second chance, God says I am dearly loved by him and, because I have decided to live my life for him, I am not the person I was six months ago, but I am made new and whole in Christ. I am so thankful that I serve such a gracious God! I know that without Him, I would still be in a world of hopelessness. With the second chance He has given me, I hope to help other women find the love that Christ has showered over me. I hope to lead many to His love and His forgiveness, because I am a living example of God’s goodness. Indeed, I am loved and I am a new creation! Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

When I cried out to God and he did answer, the burden of shame, guilt, and depression was removed. Everything of the enemy was lifted immediately in the 9 months since being in Teen Challenge. God has given a son his father back, but a NEW & IMPROVED father, he’s given a mother & father their son back. My sons mother and I have a relationship now, we didn’t talk for most of 2012. God has strengthen me and given me hope for the future. Made me a new creation. I can lay my head down at night with no guilt or shame from the things I had to do to fuel my drug addiction. I wake up in the morning knowing God will continue to strengthen me.

I was so far from God. I lived my life as I wanted. I stole and cheated from everyone or I sold the junk to pay for my next fix. I lost everything in a cycle of selfish depravity. I have tried rehab programs, prison, probation, and various drug programs. They didn’t work. Doctors could never help me, neither could the psychiatric nurses. The prescriptions never worked either. My time at Teen Challenge helped me to learn new life skills that were essential for my new drug free life. At Teen Challenge, Jesus gave me a brand new life. He rescued me from the pit. He redeemed my soul. Now my children are back in my life and I am a single parent to my 12 year old daughter. Thank you Lord for your special ministry of Teen Challenge.

9 yrs ago today l graduated Teen Challenge..Sunday the 22nd I have been clean & with my Jesus for 10yrs….33 yrs of addiction had consumed my life almost to the point of death…I know the meaning of LIFE today & have a heart that remains grateful for these past 10 yrs…thank you!

A year ago I was lost. I had no direction in life, no meaning. The life I knew was failing me. The things I loved to do became useless. I had begun selling myself to support my addiction. Accepting nothing but abuse my whole life, I knew I was worthless. I was searching and experimenting and finding nothing but hurt and self-affliction. I went home and shortly after started the process of coming to Teen Challenge. Now I am filled with the joy of the Lord. I know my stains are wiped clean. Surrendering completely to Christ has been the best choice I’ve ever made. Everything I ask Him for help with and give over to Him is taken care of…He has restored me.

After 15 long years of addiction I can remember thinking that being an addict was all i would ever be. I had many negative labels on my life and believed what the enemy was trying to convince me. I was trapped in my own skin and had no purpose in life. I finally got to the end of myself and came to Teen Challenge and was introduced to a man named Jesus who loved me anyways! I spent a year in the program renewing my mind as the Holy Spirit began to show me who I really am! Now i no longer have to walk around with my head down because I am a NEW creation. The Sarah i was for so long, no longer exists and the Lord has shown me my new purpose in life. Thank you Jesus!!

After 20 years of struggling with alcohol addiction, I was beat down, tired and lost. By the grace of God I found Teen Challenge. I have been set free from the chains of addiction. My relationship with Jesus Christ has been restored. I now live with hope of eternal life with Jesus Christ my Savior.

After I witnessed the death of my mother at age 14, my life began to spiral into binge drinking and rebellion. After two years of this decline, my father was able to enroll me into Teen Challenge. I finally realized all the things I’ve been going through didn’t have to be there anymore. Since then, my life has never been the same. I have a better relationship with my dad than I have ever had and I now have a hope and a future. After that night, I was able to release all the anger and bitterness. To have God’s love and peace is the best thing that could ever come into my life.

After living a sinful life and being bound to drugs and alcohol for over 20 years, I came to Teen Challenge. Since my arrival, God has been fixing things I didn’t even know were broken and totally transforming me. He has given me more peace and joy than I have ever had in my entire life. He’s also teaching me how to love and trust others and myself. For the first time in my life I can look at myself in the mirror and be okay with the person looking back at me.

God heard my prayer in a jail cell and gave me back my life at Teen Challenge. I’m now celebrating five years of sobriety. God works everything for the good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. God met me and restored my relationship with my dad before he passed away. Thank you for supporting Teen Challenge. It truly gives people a second chance!

All my life I was a two-faced Christian. My rebellion started around the age of 13 when I smoked my first cigarette, which led to alcohol, then pot, and then cocaine. I thank God for all He has done for me. He has restored my relationship with all my loved ones and has given me a second chance to live for Him. I also want to thank Teen Challenge for all they have done for me.

All of my life I have been running and searching for an answer to fill a void in my heart. I tried to fill that void through people, places, and things wanting so desperately to fill that void. One evening I had a dream that brought me to my knees, sobbing and crying out to the Lord with all I had left. I prayed to God to save me because I didn’t want to die like this. Within a matter of days, by His mercy, grace, and forgiveness He placed me at Teen Challenge with a plan and purpose for my life. My love for the Lord has His love for me puts a smile on my face and in my heart. All that I thought was lost forever because of my sin He is restoring, healing, redeeming, reconciling, revealing, and so much more. The best testimony I can give is what Christ is doing in my life now – wow and Amen!

Approximately ten years ago, my life was in a dismal valley of despair and selfishness due to unresolved hurts. As a teenager with no real purpose other than partying weekends and every available moment in-between, I was angry at the world and felt empty with my life ahead of me. I rebelled at most authority figures out of disenchantment from a broken home life. At the final phase of my difficulties, I was given two basic choices. First, I could allow the State to sentence me to their programs and systems until I attained the age of 18 or I could try a completely new way of life, cease from complaining about my parents’ problems, and trust the Teen Challenge Program. Teen Challenge believed in my potential and invited me to focus on who I was and how I could be a better person. They offered me a chance to contemplate what life is about in the desert (away from society) for nearly a year, and emerge a brand new adult with a strong enough character base to stay out of trouble and possibly have a fulfilling life.

As a child, my parents made the hard choice to send me to live with my grandmother. Back and forth I went between two states, the many uprootings building high, protective walls. After graduation, worldly pleasures became daily habits. I began to use crack. My dad urged me to attend Teen Challenge. Foolishly, I thought I could do it on my own. It was only a matter of time before I was arrested. By the grace of God, I was sentenced to a rehab facility. After a month at Teen Challenge, I felt a great burden lift. I was ready to allow God to heal the hurting child within. I know now how much God loves me, and how his plan brought me to this moment. The walls are coming down and the path is straight before me. With God’s grace, I will walk it with the spiritual armor provided by Teen Challenge.

I was introduced to the drug scene and I began abusing pain killers to numb my feelings. It soon became the very thing I lived for, an addiction I could not control. It ruined my relationship with my family and I craved that lost relationship with my Father especially, so I looked to relationships as well. I found myself in the most miserable place of my life. Outpatient rehabilitation programs did nothing and it seemed my life was spiraling out of control. I had even influenced my younger sister in the same direction. Oxycontin and Ecstasy were the only two things that brought me any relief but the coming down was hard and I was so depressed many days I could not even get out of bed. The cycle I was stuck in seemed to have no escape until my parents found Teen Challenge. God met me here at Teen Challenge and began healing me from the inside out! I came angry and bitter and unwilling, but God began to wash away all the hurt I had carried for so long and showed me He had a plan for my life…a good one, not one for destruction. My entire thinking about life has changed as God has renewed my mind and I know I am a new creation in Him. he has given me direction and purpose and restored my family relationships. I have a burning desire to serve Him and now as a graduate of the program I am a full time intern pouring that same hope and healing into lives like mine. Thank you for making this possible for me.

As I was growing up, I had my first drink at 6 years of age. My childhood was filled with abuse and neglect. I was acting out by the time I was eight, and went through different schools and foster homes. I had legal troubles as well. It didn’t matter. . .no one seemed to care. At 16, I was adopted by a loving family and they wanted to take good care of me, but the pain and emptiness of my past continued to affect me. I tried getting involved with sports in high school, but I eventually found meth, and it made me feel invincible. By the age of 20, I was sitting in a jail cell with warrants from two counties. I knew I needed to make a change or I wouldn’t make it. I called my parents and they told be about Teen Challenge. I now have a real relationship with God, and my relationship with my family has been restored. At Teen Challenge I had an opportunity to work through all my childhood pains. I graduated from Teen Challenge and two years later married my best friend. I can’t wait for what God has for us!

By the time that I was 18 I had quit school and had been involved in selling meth for about 4 years. It just got worse from there… Car accidents, prison, I seemed bent on self destruction. But God did not want me to die – He made me to be alive with Him. He brought me out of prison to Teen Challenge. Now I have a future again, and I am actually excited to be a part of my family again! I now look forward to each new day and how I can serve God and my fellow man.

Before coming to Teen Challenge, I hated living. The bondages that I clung to kept me going; and my idols were numerous during this time in my life – anesthetics for the soul as it were – alcohol, drugs, sex, etc. I clung to these pleasures completely recognizing that they too were meaningless and hated it – myself, others, the activities, everything. Life lost all purpose and so I sold myself to the pleasures of the moment and degenerated quite rapidly – turning to quick money by selling marijuana and selling my soul to the world for a momentary respite from the hatred and pain within. I cried out to Jesus Christ to save me – to change me from being the monster that I was; and to come into the lives of those that I have corrupted and to make something worthwhile out of me, to impart that which I have lacked for my whole life. God led me to Teen Challenge, and having been through what the program has to offer – I have grown, I have life, I can ove, I have Christ living in me… a Living Hope walking with me and guiding me. Where I once considered waking up to being a failure (that I hadn’t died during my slumber), I now look forward to God’s lesson for me today. Not every day is ‘peachy’, but EVERY day IS blessed – by the One who made all there is, by God Himself. Praise God for the venue of Teen Challenge where I could be worked on and molded – pruned and tended – cleansed and discipled.

Before I came to Teen Challenge, I was a lost soul looking for love in all the wrong place and trying to get high every time I got out of school and off work. When I got here at Teen Challenge, I didn’t want people telling me what to do. Then I saw people that I knew in jail and lose everything they had. I did not want to end up like them. While in Teen Challenge, I found out that God was the only way to be happy. About five weeks into the program, I gave my life to God and I could not be happier. My family is happier than I have ever seen them. They know that I was in a place that I got the help I needed and got a better life with my savior Jesus Christ. I stand on the scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone the new has come.

Before I came to Teen Challenge I was addicted to crack cocaine and alcohol. Thanks to Teen Challenge I have learned how to put my trust in God and to stop giving up on Him. Praise God for what has been done.

Before I came to Teen Challenge, my life was one big perpetual lie. My life had very quickly got out of control and became a constant search for the numbing effects of the pills. In my selfish despair, I didn’t care who I hurt or used as long as I got what I wanted. Since I came to Teen Challenge and cried out to Jesus, I’ve learned how to rely on God for my needs to be met and how to look to Him for answers. My family relationships have been restored and I must pass all that glory to my God. I plan to serve God with my life now by answering the call of youth minister. Praise God!

Before I came to Teen Challenge, I was bound by the streets, prison, and cocaine. God has restored my life from that and much more. I am so grateful for what He has done. Praise God!

Before Teen Challenge, I felt alone, hopeless, and very much afraid. After 20 years of addiction to Vicodin, I came to Teen Challenge. I have found deliverance, love, forgiveness, hope, and acceptance at the cross of Christ. I stand complete in Christ alone.

Before Teen Challenge, life was really hopeless and empty. I was working full-time when someone tipped off the police that I had meth in my house. After searching my home and finding meth, I was looking at going back to prison for the fourth time – for 15 years. My family didn’t trust me; I was unreliable and continued to hide my drug abuse from them. I hated that I was a user and a felon – always running and hiding all the time. I knew I couldn’t save myself, so I decided to apply for Teen Challenge. After graduating from Teen Challenge, I am now living on my own, doing online schooling and working full-time in construction. My relationships with my family are so much stronger. . .they trust me now. Friends and family can tell that I am a very different person. I am free from always being on the run and feeling like I have to hide. God has given me a lot to look forward to – a second chance with Him!

By the age of 16, I was already steeped in drugs and alcohol, and I had been banned by law from all public schools in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I had charges of gang violence, instigating a riot, and assault. Through the watchful eye of the sheriff’s department the violence was curbed in my life, but my drug use escalated. My friends, the group I hung with, couldn’t stand me anymore, and my family was afraid to be around me. For the next 17 years I wandered from crack den to crack den and nasty rotten motel rooms. I was involved in all sorts of vile filth…all the while turning my back on Jesus and trying hard to forget Him. Yet Jesus never turned His back on me. Jesus tells me in Isaiah 49:16- He can never forget me, but that He has graven me upon the palms of His hands. I was heartless, unlovable, untouchable, and unwilling to want anything different. But Jesus had compassion on me and loved me. I know that Jesus loves me because He gave me more in one day than what the world and the devil had taken from me in 37 years. Today I’m in love with Jesus, born again, filled with the Holy Ghost and I’m homeward bound!

At the age of 35, my marriage of 10 years ended. I was devastated. I turned to drugs. I started doing drugs by IV. I would lie, cheat, rob, steal and do anything to get more. My health deteriorated. I had grand mal seizures and was on two blood pressure pills a day. I had abscesses in both arms. But, all this did not make me quit. I continued to abuse drugs trying to fill the void and pain in my heart. I had even planned a way to end my life. But once more I cried out to the Lord, and once again He heard my cry. He worked through my probation officer and the judge, and I was sent to Teen Challenge. Today, I know that Jesus is all I need. My Lord has healed me. He has given me a peace and joy that floods my soul. He comforts me and fills that void in my heart. He has also healed my body.

For 14 years, I was enslaved in the vicious cycle of drug abuse. I lived in a state of confusion, misery, darkness and hopelessness, to the point of suicide. I called out to God and He answered and brought me to Teen Challenge. I now have hope, joy, peace and a future thanks to Jesus Christ. It was here that I fell head over heels, weak in the knees, googley-eyed in love with Jesus. My life is no longer my own, but He that dwells in me. I’m free!!

For the last 9 years I have been to 10 secular rehabs trying to break free from addiction to alcohol. By the grace of God I found Teen Challenge. I have been set free. My relationship with Jesus Christ has been restored. He has filled the void in my life. I am no longer consumed by alcohol. I am free from the bondage of sin, and I am filled with the hope of eternal life.

For years I was bound by pain pills, which eventually led me into a heroin addiction. But, today I’ve been set free! Teen Challenge has drastically changed my life over this past year. I will never be the same. I give all the glory to God.

God is amazing and without the help from Teen Challenge, my son Casey wouldn’t be the person he is becomming today! I am so proud of him and I cannot thank you enough Teen Challenge!!!!!!

God used Teen Challenge to turn my son’s life around! God is so good. And the Teen Challenge Ministry is incredible! God bless you and Gary in the good work that is being done there.

For 23 years, I struggled to overcome addiction. I threw away a marriage of 7 years and let down two precious children. I’ve always felt a calling on my life to serve God. The Bible says that the calling that He places on our lives is irrevocable. Coming to Teen Challenge has re-ignited the fire in my life. I’ve always wanted to do something for God. The goal that I set for myself when I arrived at Teen Challenge was to win every day. By that, I mean, to live in victory for Jesus, knowing that the battle has been fought and the victory has been won. Coming to Teen Challenge is the best decision that I’ve made in my life other than accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior

Growing up, I had a loving family with parents who wanted nothing but the best for me. I went to church and knew about God, but I never had a real relationship with Him. Not knowing about His promises and love for me, I found it hard to cope with life. I began drinking and using drugs at a very young age, and as I got older the abuse only got worse. After hurting my family repeatedly, I felt like I had no one left to turn to. I found myself hopeless, and ready for a change. I went to Teen Challenge to get my life back together, and since then my life has been filled with so many blessings. I met my beautiful wife, and now we are leading worship at our church. I thank God for this program and all the wonderful things He has done for me.

At the age of 18 I was as introduced to Crystal Meth. My Journey started with simple usage but soon developed into manufacturing and then selling the drug. The result – I have been in and out of jails and rehab centers. Last April I was given a chance to receive induction into the rehab program at Teen Challenge. While in the program I was introduced to Christ where I gave my life to Christ. Since then my life has turned around. The relationship I have with my family today is better then ever. At first, it seemed a little awkward and different and somewhat confusing. It came to me though that as long as I leave my life in God’s hands, He will direct my paths! I still mess up and know it will take time for me to correct the things I have done, but at least now with the help of Teen Challenge, I have started to live a clean and sober life!

Before coming to Teen Challenge, I was addicted to pain pills and alcohol. My life was going nowhere fast. Between incarcerations and rehabs, I was wrapped up in a life of sin. Teen Challenge opened my eyes and my heart up to Jesus Christ who came and died for my sins, so that I may live in eternity with Him. Now I’m back with a new outlook on life and living for my Savior, who rescued me from a deep, dark place. My future is looking bright.

I was raised in a Christian home where I was taught good morals and strong work ethic. After graduating high school and attending college, I began to climb the corporate ladder of prestige, position, popularity, financial success, and security. I got married and had three children. I had the house, the cars, and everything you could possibly want. But I was unfulfilled, discontent and dissatisfied. I was introduced to the party life, high rollers, women, cocaine, and crack. Soon, I tumbled, and I hit hard. I lost everything, and I mean everything! I was reduced to a street level bum. A junkie. I robbed, cheated, and stole. I was empty, devastated, always looking for the next high, and would do whatever it took to get it. I couldn’t be trusted. Nobody wanted me around anymore. Everybody I encountered, I took advantage of. My relatives talked to me and introduced me to the idea of Teen Challenge. Finally, I was so low I decided to give Teen Challenge a try. Today, I’m glad I did! I am truly delivered from my years of addictions. Jesus Christ has forgiven me and He is my Lord. I love Him, and I want to serve Him the rest of my life. Slowly I’m rebuilding my reputation. Slowly people (family and relatives) are learning to trust me again. Today, I can truly say, today I am a Christian. A man of prayer, study, and integrity.

I was not brought up as a Christian. Intelligence and education were stressed as the most important things in life, so I became a very good student and had aspirations for myself. At age 13 I was sexually assaulted. I then became rebellious and started experimenting with drugs, which became a lifestyle for me. By age 24 I started using heroin, which led to a 20-year-addiction and a lot of psychological problems. All of my dreams faded away and I was dying in my addiction. I lost my will to live and was completely broken. I decided to go to Teen Challenge and after a few months I turned over everything to the Lord Jesus Christ. My life has permanently changed. I finally felt God’s presence. I never wake up sad or depressed anymore. I’m happy to be alive and I dedicate my life to Christ.

What started as recreational cocaine use had become a full-blown addiction. A month after graduation, I was convicted of numerous felonies and eventually found myself in a state prison. By the grace of God I was allowed to come to Teen Challenge instead of another prison sentence. Since coming here, I’ve learned and experienced the true blessings of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Relationships are being restored, and my future is full of hope and opportunity.

Before I came to Teen Challenge my life was a complete disaster. I started using meth when I was 17 years old, right after my son Keiler was born. Once I started I just couldn’t stop. I loved this drug and what it did for me. It gave me confidence that I never had before. It made me lose weight fast when I have struggled with weight my entire life. It gave me energy to keep up with my son and then some. I was invincible. I could do anything and everything! But…it also destroyed mine and my family’s life. I kept thinking that if I could just get away and start over I would do it the right way… But the truth is I was just running away. But there was no escaping myself. I used the entire time I was there and quickly got sent back home. I used for another year straight. I started doing things I never imagined myself ever doing. Lying, stealing, cheating. Anything to get more drugs. My life was consumed with getting high. Death became an appealing thought. But then my mother asked me to go out to breakfast and while there she asked me if I would go to Teen Challenge. I had nothing to lose. I didn’t think it would work since I’d already been to two other rehabs. But I said yes. Believing whole heartedly that it wouldn’t help. After just a few short weeks at Teen Challenge, being surrounded by all the love and support of the staff/students I rededicated my life to Jesus Christ and made a real commitment to walk in his will. Ever since that day my outlook on life has changed. I now have a hope for my future, for my son, and for my family. I am truly set free from my addiction and from Satan’s grasp! I am free to live with Jesus! Thank you Lord!

The decision to come to Teen Challenge has restored and strengthened the relationship with my family. Teen Challenge has also helped me gain the self-respect that was lacking in my former life. I’m a new creation in Christ!

It’s been 2 1⁄2 years since I graduated from Teen Challenge, and my life is a walking miracle. I was abusing alcohol since junior high school and I was a full blown alcoholic by the time I was 19. The blackouts, the DWIs, the rollovers, the depression, the suicidal thoughts. I’ve been to psych wards, treatment centers and support groups, but my addiction only got worse. The freedom I was searching for only came when I came to Teen Challenge and found God. And that has made all the difference. He has given me my life back. I now hold a steady job. I’m active in my local church. I’m living out my Christian faith every day. I’m a walking miracle.

I was introduced to methamphetamine nine years ago. It was after a four-month binge on this drug, that I found myself near death, as my organs began to shut down and a stroke was predicted for my near future. During this disastrous time I was divorced, angry and seriously depressed. In order to shut off these feelings, I increased the amount of drugs I was using and began experimenting with different techniques to increase my high. Through all of this, it was always my intention to do right for my children; but due to the hold these drugs had on my life, I lost custody of them. This was my rock bottom. Knowing from experience that my best efforts only made things worse, I cried out to God and found my way to Teen Challenge. Things began to change quickly. I was delivered from the desire to get high almost immediately and found myself seeking the purpose for my life. Through the reading of God’s Word and Teen Challenge, I have asked for the forgiveness of my sins and asked Christ to be the leader of my life.

Hi, my name is Kay-C and I am a 26 years old and I have been set free. I actually came into this world as a drug addict, I don’t know much about my real mother except you name it and she did it. I was adopted into a wonderful loving family. My drug use started when I was about 16 by smoking marijuana but eventually grew to pain killers which took over my life. In October 2011, I found out I was pregnant. I continued to go to the doctor and abuse my prescriptions. On May 9th, 2012 I had my son. I asked the nurse if he was going through any withdrawals, she looked at me and said your son is not going through any. I know now that had nothing to do with me, it was God who did it. God had already started breaking the chains of my past. A week after having my son I lost custody of Him. I went completely downhill for two months. My family kept reaching out to me for them to help me. I looked at my beautiful son and said, ok lets do this, I’m not going to be that hopeless drug addict my biological mother was. Within a week I was on a plane on my way to Teen Challenge. I have been here for six months now and so many wonderful things have happened. Upon completion of this program I will receive the custody of my son back, God is restoring my family back to me. I am so excited to be the mother God has called me to be. I may have come in this world addicted to drugs, but because of God I am not going to go out that way. The scripture I stand on is Job 33: 27-28 You will sing God’s praises to everyone you meet testifying, I messed up my life and let me tell you it wasn’t worth it. But God saved me from certain death. I am alive again; once more I see the light.

When I got into junior high I began to go out with them on the weekends and that is when I began to drink. By high school I was well known in my community for soccer but I had a routine party schedule on the weekends. When I was sixteen I got a DUI in a stolen vehicle. This shocked my community, my coach, and it shamed my family. I was let off with just a little probation because the judge didn’t want to hinder my future with my soccer and schooling. My senior year my coach opened up an opportunity for me to play against high-ranked teams and universities. This was a time to be scouted and to experience soccer at a higher level. But inside I had a huge fear of failure so when I was introduced to meth by a friend of mine, I found my escape in it. I started using quite a bit and people saw a change in me on and off the field. I ended up barely walking with my class because of so many days missed, and my personal coach and scouts were fed-up with no-shows and unreturned phone calls. After graduation I crashed my friends car while drinking and driving and ended up In a 30 day rehab. Here is where I realized I had ruined everything I had been working my whole life towards. When I got out of rehab I quickly got back into my addiction. I worked and tried to go to junior college but I couldn’t do either without being high. My addiction had spiraled out of control and because of being untrustworthy I wasn’t allowed in my family’s home, and I lost my job of two years. My parents heard about Teen Challenge and by the grace of God I was granted to go to the program.People always ask me what it was like in Teen Challenge. I tell them it was a year of getting to sit at the feet of Jesus. In the presence of Jesus there is healing, hope, restoration, and one can begin to dream again. Today I am clean of addiction, and I am getting certified as a chemical dependency counselor.

I always believed in God. However, from an early age my life was defined by an endless cycle of domestic violence, alcohol and narcotics abuse which lead to a life of crime, loneliness and the brink of suicide. I was at the end of my rope. I came to Teen Challenge and found in Jesus Christ the only love that satisfied my soul. Fear, loneliness and drugs no longer rule my life. The love of Jesus set me free.

Being brought up in the church, yet chasing the lusts of this world, I was bound for failure. An addiction to oxycontin left me poor, broken, and full of shame…leaving a trail of destruction behind me. Through Teen Challenge, Jesus Christ has given me freedom from addiction and an inexpressible joy as He continues to restore and renew all that was lost and destroyed in my life.

Once I graduated from high school, I chose to hang with the wrong set of friends. I started drinking and it began to consume me. I went to college, but still continued to party. Eventually my addiction led me to drop out of college and to quit working. I had met a young lady, who encouraged me to be a better person, but I was too caught up in my addiction to change. We had a son, but even he wasn’t enough to make me want to change. I eventually lost everything and everyone that ever mattered to me. After trying unsuccessfully to get help on my own, my grandfather encouraged me to try Teen Challenge. Since coming into the program, God has given me an overwhelming sense of peace, love, hope and happiness. He has forgiven me and shown me His true grace and mercy. God has restored the relationship with my family and my son as well as teaching me the principles that lead to a joyous and prosperous life. I know that through God, there is always hope!

I had turned away from everything I was raised to believe and went my own way. This led me to a 10 year addiction to pain killers and heroin. While in my addiction, I lost 9 of my closest friends to their addictions and I always wondered why it wasn’t me instead. Yet, nothing really sunk in until my brother also died. As I stood and spoke at his funeral I knew that I would be next if I didn’t make a major change in my life. Seeing the pain in the eyes of my family was a major motivation for me. I didn’t want to put them through any more pain. I began to reach out for help and the ladies at my church began to fast and pray for me. They took me in and had someone sit with me around the clock as they detoxed me from all the drugs. After two weeks they brought me to Teen Challenge. This program has changed my life. I came in here with no hope…I was 24 and knew that I had ruined my life. Now I am excited for what God has done, is doing and is going to do! My family is proud of me and want to be part of my life again. I am going to Bible college in January. I can see now that everyflling I have been through I will be used to help bring someone else out of that life I was trapped in. I have peace now where before I was full of anger and resentment. I have learned how to allow Jesus to lead me and once I’ve learned to follow, He will use me to lead others.

I didn’t realize at the age of fourteen that I would be in a battle for my life. I loved living life on the edge. It was then I started experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Then my father was murdered. That was the pivotal moment that threw me into the pit of hopelessness. The battle waged on with eight DWI’s and numerous years in jail, two failed marriages and a grand jury indictment. Trying to fill the void in my life with everything but Jesus, I started attending chapel in jail. There I learned how to pray. I asked the Lord to show me what He wanted me to do. Within a week , I heard about Teen Challenge. That was the beginning of victory! I completed the program successfully and began working full-time in the heavy duty truck industry where I am still employed today. I am now celebrating a life of hope with my children. I thank God and all who are affiliated with Teen Challenge for laying down the blueprints to the foundation of a life of hope. I give our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ all the praise and glory!

I was really messed up and lived like a thief, liar, and a severe drug addict. I was really lost in the world and had no concern for anyone who was around me–not even my family or my daughter. I was on a path of self-destruction and was lost with no direction where I was going in life. During my time at Teen Challenge, God showed me who I really am and how much He loves me. Choosing to come to Teen Challenge was the best choice I’ve ever made in my life. I was broken hearted and God totally healed me from all my pain and restored my relationships with my family; and most of all, my relationship with my daughter. God has taught me how to be a Christian man. Thank you, Jesus!

I grew up in a Christian home knowing Christ. However, I turned away from God and began living a sinful life involving alcohol and drugs. For more than a decade an alcohol addiction gradually destroyed all I had-my friends, my job, my future, and was soon to take my life. The grace of God led me to Teen Challenge’s doors through the prayer and help of my family. Since then the Lord has been at work in my life restoring my health, healing my heart, and reestablishing a relationship with Jesus Christ. He has given me hope for my future and a desire to serve Him the rest of my life.

I made good grades, did my chores, and obeyed my parents. Everything shifted during the summer before 9th grade. I gravitated toward the wrong group of friends, tasted my first sip of alcohol and smoked my first cigarette. Unhealthy habits slowly progressed. I got kicked out of school, rebelled against authority, and started spiraling violently out of control. I began abusing alcohol and prescription pills. To ease the expensive habit, I began taking a cheaper, but much more potent drug called black tar heroin. Then, I was arrested and put in jail for two counts of assault and battery with a deadly weapon. By the grace of God, I was sent to Teen Challenge. I now have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. God has filled the void that I had previously filled with drugs, alcohol, and women. The Lord is restoring relationships with my parents and brothers. I am slowly earning their trust back. I now have the peace of God in my heart, and I hunger and thirst to know Him more each day.

I started drinking at age 14. As years went by and life got harder, my dependency on alcohol became so intense that I could no longer face the day without a drink. By the time I reached Teen Challenge, I was drinking a bottle of vodka a day and dabbling in other drugs as well. That’s when Jesus stepped in and literally restored my mind, heart, and soul and has given me a hope for the future and a peace that is truly not of this world. I will be forever grateful.

I thought I had everything. I was playing college football and making money, but I was truly empty inside. Even though I had the fame that came with playing football, I began using drugs and found myself facing a possible prison term for drug distribution and various auto theft charges. In a jail cell, I got on my knees and prayed for a way out, and God provided Teen Challenge. Here God has saved me from a horrible life of sin and has given me the foundation and knowledge to be the Christian man He wants me to be. I give Him all the glory for my new life.

I was introduced to drugs at the age of fourteen. For the next few years, I was constantly in trouble with the law and sin consumed my life. By my senior year of high school, I’d been completely sucked into the fast and easy life of drug dealing. When the police raided my house, I was charged with two felony drug distribution charges. Thank God, the judge had mercy on me and at the age of eighteen, I was on my way to Teen Challenge. I have been given anew life and victory over those old desires through the shed blood of Christ and my position in Him. I praise God; He can use any seemingly disastrous event in our lives to fulfill the plan and purpose He has for us.

I was introduced to marijuana at the age of 14 and it slowly progressed to cocaine and pills by age 18. I barely graduated high school and then moved out of my home and moved in with a friend. I quit my job and at this point I started robbing people to get what I wanted. I was put on probation and soon after violated and went to jail. When I finally decided to come to Teen Challenge and through the love that everyone showed me, in which none of the people I have never meet before, on the second day here I gave my life to the Lord. I know that the Lord does love me and that through Christ I have been forgiven. Since I have got saved the Lord has blessed me a lot. He has given me even better relationships with my family. Through the Teen Challenge program, I have learned a lot about how to be more Christ–like and be a better leader and have learned a lot about how to experience God and stay in God’s will. I want to thank the staff and the other leaders because they have presented me with what I needed to build the right foundation.

I was raised in a Christian family, going to church every time the doors were open. As I got older I started rebelling against God, which led me to selling drugs, clubbing, and ultimately to cocaine addiction. I deserved prison or death. But God was gracious and had mercy on me by allowing me to attend Teen Challenge. Now I am back in His arms praising and giving Him all the glory. Thank God! Hallelujah!

I was sexually abused as a child and my parents were unaware. I grew up feeling shameful, disgusting, alone, and unworthy of love. I hated myself. I blamed my dad and felt he should have been there for me to protect me. I went to church but never had a relationship with Jesus. Suffering with severe anxiety, I lived in fear and it held me back from everything. I felt extremely disconnected from the world. I began using drugs to reduce the feelings of fear and anxiety that overwhelmed my daily thoughts. It held me prisoner for years. I have a three year old daughter who is the love of my life and deserves a mommy who serves the Lord. Praise God she has that now. My family is being restored and my mind is renewed. Jesus has set me free from drug addiction. Since giving my life to the Lord I am now able to share my testimony. Before coming to Teen Challenge my anxiety was unbearable, but God has given me strength and calmed my spirit. He has also given me a boldness that allows me to spread his good news.

Throughout my teens I struggled with alcohol and marijuana. By the age of 21, I had 7 minor-in-possession of alcohol charges, a DUI and a very long list of misdemeanors. At the age of 22 I tried heroin and became so deceived by it that I chased that drug for what seemed like forever. Drugs and alcohol have taken so much from my family and me. They took my father’s life. I came to Teen Challenge with nothing. I’m leaving with everything!

I’ve never seen a ministry that glorifies Christ and His power take lives back from the brink as much as Teen Challenge. I’ve visited the campus – awesome – talked to the staff – the best – and even talked to the kids who have been there – powerful testimonies of how their lives have been changed. This is a first class program with lower than expected fees. Don’t miss checking them out. You’ll see the difference right away. I’ve also talked to parents who have had their girl there, and that feeling of being impressed with the program continues, right through graduation and beyond

In times of trouble I turned to alcohol. When things went good, I rewarded myself with a drink. With this thinking I lost my wife of 20 plus years and my five children. Teen Challenge taught me to pray, to worship and trust God’s faithfulness. I am saved! He has restored my family!

I went through a divorce and turned to drinking. I went from job to job trying to keep people from knowing I was drinking again. Before I knew it, I was smoking pot, then finally smoking crack cocaine. This only led me to a lonely dead end road. I was gone two or three days at a time with no one knowing if I was dead or alive. God spared my life through these years and kept me from the enemy in many ways. I finally got to the point of stealing, lying, pawning things and could not hold a job. Before coming to Teen Challenge, I was having very depressing thoughts of death. Since coming to Teen Challenge, God has restored to me a sound mind. He has also restored a relationship with Him that I wasn’t sure He would do because of how much wrong I had done.

My freshman year in high school is when I got into doing drugs, I started hanging out with the wrong people and I started stealing from and lying to everyone who cared about me and wanted to help me. Finally, my dad sent me to a secular program for help. I was there for three months, but I didn’t change or give up any of my old ways. When I got back home I tried to do good but I failed very quickly. I started doing drugs again and everything seemed to be worse than it was before. About a year later, my dad caught me doing drugs again and this time he sent me to a Christian program called Teen Challenge. God started to get my attention and work in my life. I saw kids in the program that were once the way I was, but now they had joy and peace in their lives. I wanted that and I was willing to do whatever it took to get that. God directed my steps and changed me one step at a time. He healed all the anger and everything else that was in my life before. I figured out that I couldn’t do things on my own, but that God was the only one who could direct my life. God is in control of everything and I am thankful for the person He has made me today. I tried changing on my own before but it never lasted. Now that I have Jesus in my life, He has made a lasting change. He has taught me to have an everlasting relationship with Him and to live my life as a new person. Now I have a purpose and a plan for my life.

When my son committed suicide at the age of 22, I lost it and started drinking, and smoking crack rock. Something I said I would never do, I did. I lied, stole, and did whatever I had to do to get that next hit. I would sleep in dumpsters, not eating for days and using the ones that loved me. I gave my life to Christ at the age of 52. I owe my life to God and the Teen Challenge. There I found love, peace, joy, happiness in that hole in my heart that I thought I could never have. I will never forget what I learned in the nine months at Teen Challenge.Without God and Teen Challenge, I couldn’t have made it. God is my life now and forever. Thank you Teen Challenge and my Lord for my new life. Try it. I know you will become a different person. I did.

I’m 32 years old, and I’ve been a drug-user for most of my life. Behind my mom’s back my dad was slipping drugs into my bottle to get me to sleep through the night. Before I came to Teen Challenge, drugs were literally all I knew. But when I got here, the people here didn’t seem worried about what I had done. I got a clean slate and for a guy like me a new start is a powerful thing. This time I’ve found the power and strength to live drug-free.

Teen Challenge is an awesome ministry that God built to help people with life controlling issues. The house, the food, the clothes,the bed, and the staff are blessings from God. This is not just a Program. It is a life transforming ministry that will change your life completely, if you allow God to work in you and through the staff HE has placed there. I am forever grateful to the men and women who lay down their lives to help the hurting in this world. I am truly blessed to call them my family. They pointed the way to the cross through all the healing I went through. They taught me that Jesus is the answer to EVERYTHING I need. And that true joy was in Him alone. Thank you Jesus for Teen Challenge and all the men and women you have placed there.