From Parents and Students…

“A year ago we were hurting and at a loss. This year we are missing our boy but knowing that he is in loving and capable hands. We are so proud of him.”

“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.”

“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. The program taught John self-control, physical work and teamwork, leadership skills, and integrity. John received love, discipline, forgiveness, and persistent mentoring from dedicated staff members. It was 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.”

“Teen Challenge saved my son and my whole family in the process. I will praise God every day for your work.”

“I’ve seen the life changes. It’s the real deal.”

What Students Say…

“I prayed by my bunk for the first time. I confessed my sins and gave my life to Jesus in that prayer. I regained the relationship I once had with my parents. I developed respect for authority, a work ethic, and learned how to love myself and others. Now I strive to make God proud of me.”

“God used you 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.”

“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 anywhere, 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.”

“I was beaten down from life. And now through God’s grace, my relationship with Him and other loved ones in my life, I have a purpose to live!”

“My name is Steve H.; I am 17 years old from Phoenix, Arizona. When I was two years old, my grandma took me from my birth mother because she was a drug addict and could not take care of me. My grandma took me to church a lot when I was young. When I was eight years old, my grandma died from a liver disease she got from drinking when she was younger. She knew she was going to die and she wanted me to be taken care of so she set up for a good Christian family in our church to adopt me. I continued to go to church, but I blamed God for taking my grandma away from me. I lost my mom to drugs and my grandma died and now I had a great family and a real mom who cared about me and loved me like one of her own children but I had a lot of hurt and angry feelings inside of me.

I became rebellious toward my new parents especially my new mom. 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. I went to camp with my church and I accepted Jesus into my life. I thought it would change everything and I would stop getting in trouble. But things just kept getting worse because I was trying to change on my own and not let God work in my life.

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.”

“Hi, my name is Matt Reeves, I’m from Boca Raton Florida, 19 years young and a recent graduate of Teen Challenge. Before I came to the program I lived a life of drug addiction, violence, and 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 halfway 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 then 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 from the 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 every day 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 work miracles on its campus.”

“Thank you to the caring Teen Challenge team that helped in Dominic’s transformation into a man of God! XOXO”