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By Bill Van Tassel
WINTHROP — David Wilkerson, a Pennsylvania country preacher, had no idea in 1958 where his walk of faith was going to take him. A very young Wilkerson was inspired to go to Brooklyn, N.Y., curious about a murder trial of some teenage gang members.
His experience there with the young men on trial and what Wilkerson started ultimately became the subject of his book and a 1972 movie, “The Cross and The Switchblade,” starring Pat Boone.
After gaining some unwanted fame by being escorted from the courtroom in his efforts to talk with gang members, he soon realized at the bottom of these young men’s troubles were drug addiction and a lack of faith. He moved to Brooklyn and began the ministry, Teen Challenge.
Through the learning process involved with such a life change and the complicated problem of drug abuse/addiction, the organization of Teen Challenge has grown today into an international program.
Although Wilkerson died in 2011, the Christian organization — standing on the base of hundreds of success stories — still holds to its roots of faith-based intervention.
Teen Challenge New England has had a rehabilitation center in Winthrop since 2007 and has had its own share of success stories in helping men of all ages become free of addiction to drugs and/or alcohol. The national and international organizations offer help to more than 28,000 men and women of all ages faced with life-controlling problems.
One reason behind Teen Challenge’s success has been its policy of using individuals who have gone through the program, having had to deal with their own addiction issues. In fact, all the directors of the programs in New England are all Teen Challenge graduates except for one.
Wilkerson, as well as the current leadership of the many Teen Challenge programs, would tell you the use of biblical principles is the main reason for victory in overcoming addictions.
Keith O’Brien is the director of Teen Challenge in Winthrop. O’Brien is a 2006 graduate of Teen Challenge in Brockton, Mass., having successfully put behind his addiction to alcohol and drugs. He is also on his way to attaining his ordination as a minister and certification in drug counseling. He has served as director going on five years and has four others working with him, including two apprentices.
A large brick home built in 1853 that has been in a local church trust since 2001 serves as the Teen Challenge facility. In addition to the work and fundraising residents do outside the home, they also chip in to run and maintain the large home in Winthrop. Currently there are about two dozen residents there.
The day I sat and talked with O’Brien, the men were in New Hampshire, contracted to do different jobs at the Motor Speedway in Loudon.
The program is self-supporting, raising money in a variety of ways. A choir is put together to sing at churches where congregations can provide donations.
A golf tourney and fall banquet are held each year. Contract work like the one now at the Speedway are sought. Awareness booths or tables are occasionally set up in place to raise awareness of Teen Challenge. Often, people who became aware of the program’s success and Christian focus send donations or volunteer their help. The residents come from a wide range of income levels, and some can pay their own way through the 12 to 15 month program.
The curriculum is faith-based and challenging. O’Brien says the number of residents who opt out, however, is very low. Usually it is in the first phase (of five) that the requirements put on the addict causes him to leave. Every day in the program requires Bible studies, frequent prayer including mealtimes, and outside reading of faith-based literature. The men who attend Teen Challenge have previously been through detox and choose to enter the program to get their lives back on track.
“After the first 30 days,” says O’Brien, “the retention rate increases.”
Still modeled after Wilkerson’s original ideas, the program has developed and taken shape, holding on to his goal to show troubled young people God’s love for them.
In the last phase of the program, before the resident graduates, the staff works hard in finding practical ways for the graduate to readjust to family, others and the working world. O’Brien noted several of the Winthrop facility’s success stories in Maine; a few of these will be highlighted at the fall banquet.
“There’s Josh, who graduated two years ago, back with his family and in control of his anger.” He also told of a Maine fisherman who got addicted to heroin in dealing with a tough occupation. “He had amazing perseverance,” bragged O’Brien.
The director says he has seen an increase of residents in Teen Challenge with the rise in opiate addiction in Maine. “There has been a dramatic increase in detox centers, unfortunately with people dying,” O’Brien noted.
Teen Challenge today has more than 200 centers in the United States and about 1,000 around the world.
They are all helping residents overcome addictions and live as Christians in a drug-free world. On its website it declares, “We have found a power that captures a person more strongly than narcotics, but He captures only to liberate.”
