“Changing One Life At A Time”
Tennessee Valley
Teen Challenge Inc.
www.tvteenchallenge.net
731-926-2555
“The Faith Based Solution For The Drug Epidemic”
Beginnings of Teen Challenge:
Teen Challenge started in Brooklyn, New York in 1958 by Rev. David Wilkerson. Wilkerson was a young country preacher pastoring a church in eastern Pennsylvania. One February afternoon, Wilkerson read an article in LIFE Magazaine about seven teenagers who were on trial for murder.
During a gang fight in Manhattan, these teens beat a young man to death. Troubled by what he read in the article, and sensing God wanted him to do something for the teens, Wilkerson made a trip from his hometown in Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania to the urbun area of New York City.
Some time after this, Rev. Wilkerson resigned his church in Pennsylvania, and moved to the New York City area to work full time with teenage gang members. This new work was eventually called “Teen Challenge.” Soon, Teen Challenge began to also offer help to those addicted to drugs and alcohol.
During these early years, a large home was obtained on Clifton Avenue in Brooklyn. A year-long residential discipleship program was started in this facility. This Teen Challenge program is still helping people change their lives in today! Due to its success, residential Teen Challenge Centers began cropping up in cities all across America.
Most of the centers offer a 12-18 month residential program for men, women, boys and girls. These centers are designed to help individuals learn how to live drug-free lives. The programs are discipline-oriented and offer a balance of Bible classes, work assignments, and recreation.
As of January 2002, at the beginning of the 45th year, there were 178 Teen Challenge programs in the United States and another 150 in other countries around the world. A study completed by NIDA in 1974 claimed an 86% success rate 7 years after graduation.
Teen Challenge is one of the oldest, largest and most successful programs of its kind in the world. Established in 1958 by David Wilkerson, Teen Challenge has grown to more than 170 centers in the United States.
While most of our centers are for adults, some do offer residential programs for teenagers.
To get information on a specific Teen Challenge center it is best to contact that center directly.