TEEN CHALLENGE CHAPEL WILL BE NAMED IN MEPPELINK'S HONOR

A chapel, planned to be built at Mid-America Teen Challenge, will be named for and dedicated to the Rev. Herb Meppelink.

Meppelink, who headed the Cape Girardeau Teen Challenge for 17 years beginning 1972, is now National Teen Challenge Director.

Meppelink was on hand Tuesday as Mid-America Teen Challenge kicked off its first capital campaign to raise $250,000 for construction of the chapel.

Jack Smart, executive director of Mid-America Teen Challenge, announced that $47,550 in donations and pledges has already been received.

Meppelink oversees about 120 Teen Challenge centers nationwide.

"I just want to say it works," Meppelink said Tuesday. "The Teen Challenge ministry is great. Seems there ought to be a way to do this without being so confounded religious, but that's the way it happens."

Missouri State Rep. Mary Kasten and Cape Girardeau County Collector Harold Kuehle serve as co-chairman for the drive.

Mid-America Teen Challenge has been around 23 years, helping young men with "life controlling problems," said Smart.

The 14-month treatment program is based on the premise that biblical teaching can "lead men out of the quagmire of drugs and alcohol," Smart said.

Teen Challenge operates on a 287-acre farm north of Cape Girardeau. Currently 109 students are enrolled in the program. "Which makes things interesting because there are only 108 beds," Smart said. "One ends up on the couch."

The program receives no government funding, depending on private contributions.

The program includes an opportunity for students to pursue high school diplomas. A work experience is also included. Teen Challenge operates a farm, raising cattle and berries.

"Those young lives have had an effect on our community," said Kasten. "They are not only taught God's will and way, but the work ethic is being formulated.

"Certainly the community is better off for having TC in the community," Kasten said.

Kuehle said, "Everyone wants to be part of a winning team. I you join up with Teen Challenge, you are joining a winning team. When young men and young women stay with the program, they are winners."

Kuehle said, "We give a lot of money to different things. But with Teen Challenge you can see the lives changed."