Group substitutes Jesus for meds

Author: Mary Lane

Dave, a large man covered in tattoos and his colleague, Chris, a skinny, black-haired man with a thick Boston accent, stood in front of a group of some 40 Middlebury College students at a Christian Fellowship meeting on Nov. 4. Both share testimonies regarding their transformations from drug-addicted criminals to upstanding members of society. Such changes occurred, they professed, through religious conversions undergone through Teen Challenge, a Christian rehabilitation program for men and women of all ages.

"When I came into Teen Challenge, I had been high on crystal meth for five days," Dave told the group. "I've been able to transform my life through [the church] and learn to pastor and speak to gentlemen in prisons."

Chris has a similar story. He was addicted to oxycontin and heroin before entering the program, but is now the head of the Education Department for Teen Challenge Vermont.

Such stories are very common for Teen Challenge, which boasts a 67 percent success rate for graduates living drug-and-alcohol-free lifestyles, according to a survey by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Of those surveyed, 72 percent had sought prior treatment, while 88 percent credited Teen Challenge with breaking their addictions.

"About 80 percent of prisoners who go through state-funded programs end up back on the streets again," said Dave. "We're successful through 'the Jesus factor.'"

The program was founded in 1958 when pastor David Wilkerson read in Time Life that a teenage gang had killed a wheelchair-ridden man and stolen his sneakers. Horrified, Wilkerson went to New York and went so far as to storm a courtroom trying to find the delinquent boys.

"While he never managed to minister to the boys, he did get dragged out of court trying to reach them, resulting in a picture of him in the paper held back by cops and brandishing a Bible," said Dave. This, Dave said, gave Wilkerson the "street cred" to minister to the down-and-out in inner city New York. Wilkerson's ministry grew quickly, and he soon bought a house in the city, where he founded the Bible-based rehabilitation program that currently operates out of 157 locations in the United States.

While Teen Challenge receives no federal funding, the program has been praised by President George W. Bush as part of his Faith-Based and Community Initiative, and receives several positive mentions in White House reports on drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

"Government can pass law and hand out money but it cannot love," Bush said in a March 9, 2006 speech.

Christianity is the main component of rehab, explained Teen Challenge Vermont Executive Director Richard Welch in a recent interview.

"[Participants] stay with us for about 15 months and are discipled in the Word of God," said Welch. "It's all about studying the Bible and applying Biblical principles to life."

Teen Challenge Vermont was founded in January 2005 and works with male adults only.

"We've had 31 graduates," said Welch. "About half of those who enter finish."

While many applicants initiate contact with Teen Challenge, the program also seeks to recruit participants from nearby prisons.

"We regularly go to all the prisons across the state and testify as to what God has done in our lives," said Welch.

The program's Web site states, "It is not required that a student have a conversion experience to enter or complete, but conversion is regarded as the greatest hope for breaking an addiction."

Welch himself came into the program as an 18-year-old heroin addict.

"I fell in love with Jesus and the ministry and wanted to serve God and help men get their lives together," he said of his career decision to come to Vermont in 2003 to start up the flagship center. Many of the men at the Vermont center have come from prison, but the state allows only five people on parole to live in the Teen Challenge house at a time.

The rehabilitation program is open to men of all ages but, under Vermont law, sex offenders, extremely violent criminals and arsonists are not allowed. Throughout their enrollment in the program, men and women undergo a strict regimen of prayer, religious study and various chores in the morning. Chris and Dave both had to memorize 536 scripture passages during their 15-month program.

Patients work jobs in the local community in the afternoon, and all paychecks go directly towards funding the program. The strong work ethic the program fosters often results in job opportunities upon program graduation, said Dave and Chris.

"These men gain knowledge on how to be responsible employees and apply Biblical principles to their work ethic," said Welch.

Men in the Vermont program must be free of piercings and keep their hair cut short. All romantic relationships must be ended before entering rehabilitation.

"Of course, if you are married or engaged or have children with someone then we work with that," Welch said. "Working with families is very important. We just don't want our men to be distracted by non-serious relationships, which detract from the healing process."

Teen Challenge also does not allow the use of medication at any of its facilities. The Web site states, "Teen Challenge believes in the faith modelÖ[and] does not subscribe to the medical model of helping an individual involved in drug abuse."

Consequently, most Teen Challenges require patients to detox before entering the program. "Men come here of their own free volition," Welch said. "We don't deny that some people have chemical imbalances, and if they want to leave and get help, then that is their decision."

Chris promoted Teen Challenge's belief that chemical imbalances are often caused by chemical abuse. "This was the first program that got me to take responsibility for my actions," said Chris. "So many other programs give you pills or excuses. Here, they told me it was my own problem, and helped me get out of it."

Upon graduation from the program, men and women are equipped with an "exit plan."

"You're required to have a home church, a place to live and a job," said Chris. "Any denomination is ok, but your pastor must call in once a week. After six months of this, then you graduate."

"I'd say it's not so much a rehabilitation program as a fellowship program," Dave told Middlebury students. "We don't give our guys medicine. We give them Christianity."