Teen Challenge celebrates

Adult & Teen Challenge Mid-America, formerly known simply as Teen Challenge, held its annual banquet on April 8 at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

About 1,000 attendees packed the place to pay tribute to students and graduates of the program, which has become synonymous with addiction deliverance. Among those present were donors, churches and members of the community, who were blessed with a mini concert, testimonies, prayers and more.

The banquet's theme was "Let Us Rise Up & Build," taken from the Bible passage Nehemiah 2:18. Among the new things Teen Challenge has built are a staff dorm, a prayer tower, a water tower and maintenance shed, which all have been paid for.

In the printed program, executive director Rev. James Bolin, said, "The vision and the heartbeat of this ministry is to reach every addict that comes to us for help," adding, "There is so much more God has for us."

How powerful it is to hear from the men whose lives have been transformed by the 10-month free program, so instead of hearing from just one speaker, the event featured testimonies from several. Every donor and supporter saw the fruit of their labor and their prayers.

Speaking of prayers, some pastors on the program were Pastor Zack Strong of Christ Church of the Heartland, the Rev. Gary Brothers of Cape First and Pastor Bill Carter of Full Gospel Pentecostal, Alto Pass Ill.

Teen Challenge is able to continue its life-saving work because of those prayers and donations, in addition to Cape and Jackson thrift stores, a car wash on Independence Street and a lawn service.

"It's due to the generosity of our donors because of the folks here tonight," Bolin said. "We want the community to know that without them, there would be no Teen Challenge."

Please consider donating. Your generosity will be put to good use as the organization builds into men's lives and boasts a 70-86 percent success rate, according to Teen Challenge's pamphlet. To give, contact teenchallengemidamerica.com, or call (573) 335-6508.