Teen Challenge Ministry Institute Southgate, California

A creative non-fiction piece based on a Christian achoel and drug rehab center called Teen Challenge

                          Imagine that you are a meth addict who is living on the streets of Skid Row in Los Angeles, California with absolutely nothing, except for the corrupt world that has surrounded you for your entire life. Then one day you see a young man and woman coming your way with a Bible in each of their hands. They inform you that they are from a ministry institute called Teen Challenge that is located in Southgate, California. These strangers ask you whether or not you believe in God and Jesus Christ. You respond by saying that you are not a Christian, but that you interested in hearing what they have to say. They then decide to sit on either side of you and suddenly begin to share the gospel. After they are done sharing the gospel with you, they ask you whether or not you are ready to accept Jesus Christ into your heart. You respond by saying that you are ready to start a personal relationship with Christ and that you are eager to learn more about him.

                       They then tell you more about their ministry called Teen Challenge and how they can help you enroll into a one year program that will completely change your life. They take you back to their campus and introduce you to their admissions consular, who helps you fill out the required papers that you will need in order to get into the program. She asks you if you would like to go to either LA County or Kern County for 4 months, before you are ready to transfer to a long term facility. You choose to go to the LA County Induction Facility, because you feel more at home in the inner city. She says that is a great choice and that you can move in as soon as you are ready. You decide to move in that next day and do an excellent job while you are there. The day has come where you are finally able to move onto the long term phase, your choice on where you will be moving to is already made up for you, since you are a Female and there is only one female long term residential center in California. You will be moving to the Ventura County Women’s Center, where you will be for 9 or more months.

                     While you are there you are finally able to complete the exam that you need to take to get your GED. The great news is that you have passed and now have your GED certificate! A couple of months go by and before you know it you have already completed the program. During your time at the women’s center, you have finally been able to overcome your meth addiction and have learned how to be a true servant of your lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Your future plans might include going back to the Teen Challenge Ministry Institute and getting your ministry degree, so that one day you can help others, who are like what you used to be, overcome their addictions as well and learn the good news of the gospel just like you did.

                         Teen Challenge is a Christian based program that helps teenagers and adults alike who have drug, alcohol, and other life-controlling addictions overcome their problems through finding faith-based solutions. There are currently over 195 centers all across the nation, including 550 more centers worldwide. Teen Challenge Ministry Institute is located in South Gate, California and allows graduates of the Teen Challenge program to come back and learn how they can minister to those who have some of the same addictions they did. I was fortunate enough to have been able to help out at this location on a mission trip I went on during my spring break this year, and through this opportunity I can definitely testify to how effective this ministry has been in the lives of many of the graduates that I had the pleasure to meet while I was there.

                        While at the ministry institute, I learned from two Teen Challenge graduates that there is a one year program that each Teen Challenge student, male or female, must go through when they are finished with the 4 month induction phase. This program helps students learn how to recover from their addictions in a healthy way and eventually be able to be accepted back into society by also having the chance to take online classes, so that they can earn their GED certificate if they have not already. They also offer Christian discipleship classes and individual advising to help the students recover from their addictions both emotionally and spiritually. 

                      There are currently about half a dozen residential communities across Southern California where students, who are over the age of 18, are encouraged to live in while they are involved in this one year program. While I was volunteering at the Teen Challenge Ministry Institute, I remember one of the graduates saying that every person that wants to join the Teen Challenge program has to first go through a 4 month “induction” phase, before they are able to move onto the 9 month or more long term program. He also told us that during this time men and women are usually kept together, but once they get to the long term phase they are separated and live in different residential centers across California.