Tennesse Valley Teen Challenge Inc

Information may not be reliable

Welcome to our website! We hope you find everything you need. We have been in existence since the year 2000. We continue to grow and help people of all ages with life controlling problems. We have officially moved into our new buidling!!

Our Teen Challenge was initiated by Memphis Teen Challenge in June of 2000. We have since incorporated and received accreditation from the National Teen Challenge office in Springfield, MO. We are also a 501 C-3 non-profit organization.

Lifeline: Six Month Outpatient Program
We started with one meeting a week with few in attendance. We now have over 200 participants with meetings in six surrounding counties. This is our lifeline outpatient program. We also have about 25 trained facilitators that help lead our small groups. A month does not go by that we do not pray with several people to make Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior. Last year we prayed with over 185 people.
Clifton Prison Ministry at CCA:
Program Director Jimmy Willoughby
This program has 20 students every six months. We also help the men that are coming out of the prison to get back into society.

We conduct rallies in the public schools. We have spoken to over 4,500 Junior High and High School students. We have a state-of-the-art Power Point Presentation along with live graduates that speak to the students. We encourage students to stay drug, alcohol and tobacco free.

We continue to refer people to our one year residential programs we have across the United States. The court system throughout our area continues to use this service. Some of our students in our out-patient program come to realize they need more help than what our lifeline program can offer. So, we refer them to the one-year residential program.
Facilities: In March of 2009, we offically moved into our new facilties located at 1450 Florence Road. The facilities are completely paid for. We are working on building another facility that will be a work area for the men in our program for work therapy. We are still trying secure funding for this new building.
Our future plans are now a reality:

The Five Phases of Teen Challenge International:
1. Out-patient and referral service.* This is what we are currently doing.
2. Crisis Home: This is a temporary home preparing them for the one-year residential program. There is not many of these around because it costs about as much to run this as the one-year residential program.
3. Induction: This is the first four to six months of the one year residential program.
4. Training: This is the last six to eight months of the one year residential program.
microsoft_word_-_intake_application_for_one_year_program
5 Re-Entry: Six month in-house program after the year program has been completed to get them back into society.
Summary: We currently do Phase 1, Phase 3, and Phase 4.
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. If you would like to know the story of how Teen Challenge started as told in the book "The Cross and the Switchblade," visit our store where you can order a copy of the book.
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.