Couple of things re: the morning service and pot-luck we had with Teen Challenge.
My eyes are still hurting from the tears that flowed listening to some of the testimonies. It's absolutely amazing the way God has worked to restore these people. A couple of them had multiple suicide attempts, a couple of them had multiple overdoses where they had died and were revived by paramedics. Almost all of them had been rejected by and lost touch with their families, but now have been restored and back together with them. Mocha-momma had Hannah do two or three kleenex runs to get more tissue for her eyes.
The testimonies we heard were all a little different, but in most of them there was one consistent piece to their stories---a father who had abandoned them early in their lives, or who was abusive and addicted himself. Men, we need to reach out and start mentoring young men to become responsible husbands and fathers.
A last bit of humor. At the place where we had the pot-luck, the storage room with additional chairs and tables was locked, and we couldn't find anyone in the building with a key. I went and looked at the door, pulled out a credit card, and did the old shimmy and got it opened. I didn't think anyone saw me, but a few did. One of the guys in the Teen Challenge program came up and said that if I couldn't have opened it that way, there would have been no shortage of guys in the room who could have broken into it with no problems. He actually pulled out of his wallet some little metal shimmy thing that he had used for such things in his recent past. One of our church guys came up later and asked me if there was a scout merit badge on breaking into locked rooms.
If you know anyone seriously addicted and their life is in shambles, see if there is a Teen Challenge program near you. This is a program that was started back in the late 50's by David Wilkerson, (The Cross and the Switchblade) and I guess there are around 350 programs world wide.
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4 comments:
I know it's good
I commend you for having such a kind heart but before becoming involved with people who do not have such a kind heart, I invite you to take a closer look inside the world of Teen Challenge. http://teenchallengecult.blogspot.com/
Karly Cordaloni,
http://teenchallengecult.blogspot.com/
This is a biased anti-TC website which censors positive feedback for the organization.
User comments that are favorable to TC are deleted.
This is a proven fact.
Bonifay, FL (West FL Teen Challenge Boys Ranch) regularly has volunteers, typically retirees who come and help out around the place living in RVs on site.
Here's a first hand account.
http://billanddolly.wordpress.com/2007/03/08/florida-bound/
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