Working to overcome Challenged to change

For 50 years the challenge has been the same: a life free from drug and alcohol addiction through the power of a supernatural relationship with Jesus Christ.

The message of Teen Challenge may sound absurd to some, but it's captured the hearts and lives of teens, men and women for half a century. And organizers, alumni and current students hope for more life-changing results in the future through Teen Challenge of the Permian Basin's fall banquet fund-raiser in Midland, which features gang-leader-turned-Christian-minister and author Nicky Cruz.
The organization's impact has been strong in West Texas since 1971, when "The Cross and the Switchblade," a film about the nonprofit's founder David Wilkerson, came to Odessa.

Today, Teen Challenge of the Permian Basin consists of several facilities in Midland: the main campus is a 70-acre "farm" located five miles south of the city, complete with dormitory, cafeteria, wood shop, auto shop, welding shop, chapel, offices, classrooms and staff housing; a house downtown, which serves as the Women's Center, the Crosbyton Intervention Center with house and land, and plans for an expanded women's facility at the main campus and a center in Lubbock for women with children.

It's all part of an interdenominational mission to help addicts break free, become physically well and spiritually alive.

Program participant Michael Parrott, 45, said that's exactly what happened to him. After years of alcohol abuse destroyed his health, relationships and career, the certified teacher said he finally came face-to-face with his sin.

"It got to the point where I had lost just about everything and none of the other treatments seemed to work," he said. "When I got to Teen Challenge, I really felt the love of Jesus Christ and the acceptance that's here, and it made a difference in my life."

Now 11 months into the regiment of Bible studies, chores, chapel services, education classes and vocational work, Parrott said he's a changed man equipped for ministry and graduation from the program in a few months.

"My walk with the Lord is like it's never been," he said. "This is a long-term, life-changing program, geared through the change that can only come through Jesus Christ."

Strict rules and discipline outline the faith-based atmosphere at Teen Challenge of the Permian Basin, but 25-year-old Molly Harville said she's glad she's stuck it out.

Only five months into the program, Harville said she came to the Women's Center because of an addiction to painkillers. She had turned to them after a compromised lifestyle in college led to her loss of a softball scholarship and a ruined reputation in her small hometown of Paris.

"For five years I completely destroyed my life, but I was completely delivered when I walked through those doors," she said. "I have a new confidence because I was so afraid of failure before."

Education Director Nick Hanges, 27, said he came to Teen Challenge of the Permian Basin in 2006 from a life of drug addiction, mental instability, family trauma and suicidal thoughts.

"I had my first overdose when I was 23 on over-the-counter medication and by the time I was 25, I was shooting heroine intravenously - I didn't care about the consequences," he said. "I came to Teen Challenge not knowing what to expect - thinking this was just a religious program."

His life-controlling problems faded to the background with intense discipleship studies and daily work among men of similar pasts. Hanges said about 50 men, ages 17 through 63, and 16 women are currently in the local program. He graduated a year ago and now works as a staff member.

"It's really a place where you can have a spiritual awakening - my problem was I was spiritually dead," Hanges said. "It was a process, and a lot of it was learning how to live a different way without putting a chemical in my body or taking a pill - instead turning to my faith and God for strength and hope."

It costs about $70,000 a month in charitable donations to operate the Teen Challenge facilities, Hanges said, but he feels it's money well spent when lives are changed for the better.

"Nothing else ever worked for me, and I always ended up going to the same thing and ended up sick and tired of the way I was living," he said. "Now I've been blessed with a new life."