One Man's Story

I accepted Jesus into my heart at a summer youth camp in the mountains of Virginia. I was 14 years old. I grew for a couple of years but like many teenagers I rebelled and spent some time away from the Lord. When I was 21 I rededicated my life to God and promised to serve him in any way He would like. Almost immediately God opened up doors for me to enter the Music Ministry and I spent the better part of my adult life in various ministry positions, including the role of pastor.

Unfortunately, I found myself in a situation where a church I was serving just up and dumped me. I was extremely angry at God and decided to find my peace elsewhere. Naturally I turned back to patterns of behavior that I had learned during my teen age years and I made the tragic mistake of trying crack cocaine. Like most people that ever try it I was hooked immediately and my ongoing use led to my eventual arrest for possession. After my arrest I was able to stay clean for a while but whenever any major event would happen in my life I would relapse. One of my relapses landed me back in jail on a probation violation and I agreed to go to a long-term program. Fortunately, for me, my probation officer decided to send me to Teen Challenge.

I arrived here a broken man with little hope (in my deceived mind set) for any kind of future. Through this ministry I have been reminded not only of God's unfailing and unstoppable love for me but of the truth that He has a plan for me. A plan filled with hope and a bright future. Check out Jeremiah 29:11 and get it straight from His mouth. God is healing me mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and even physically. I've lost over 50 pounds and have a goal of loosing even more by the time I graduate. God is also helping heal relationships with my children and as I am more and more obedient to His word, He blesses me over and over again. I give Him the glory and thank Him for the Teen Challenge program.

Tom