Sue Luft has begun a class for the women of Teen Challenge on Wednesday evenings. This class meets at our building during PowerPoint and she is assisted by several GCR women. It is hard to know who is blessed more by the fellowship and study. Below is her story of how God led her to this ministry. Read and be blessed!

Teen Challenge Bible Study

 

            Teen Challenge is a faith-based ministry for men and women who are struggling with addictions, depression or other problems that keep them from living productive lives.  Although it originated as a ministry to teenagers, that is no longer the case.  One must be out of high school to enter the program.   It is a highly-regimented, 12-15 month program that is bathed in prayer and scripture, with extreme accountability for the first 9 months.  The participants must pass tests to move through various phases of the program.  The last phase is called “re-entry”.  In this phase, the participant moves into the “re-entry” home, and is allowed to have a job, cell phone, bank account and car.  They still live on campus, but with somewhat less accountability, as they ease their way back into society.   The bottom line premise for this program is “there’s only one answer for your problems, and His name is Jesus Christ”. 

            There are many Teen Challenge ministries located around the world.  Teen Challenge/Midland has a campus south of town on Cotton Flat Road.  All of the staff live at the campus, which also includes a dormitory for men, a cafeteria/catering service, a chapel, and a wood-working shop where pallets are made for commercial businesses and the crosses are made to sell for fund-raising.  A new women’s center is under construction at the campus site.  When it is finished, the women will move out to the campus from their present home on Texas Avenue. 

            The Women’s Center currently has a capacity to house 19 women.  These women come from all parts of the country—North Carolina, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas.  They come from all walks of life, and currently range in age from 19 to 49.  

            God first put Teen Challenge on my heart about four years ago, when Gary and I ran into one of Gary’s former Lee High students selling crosses outside of WalMart.  This young man had been a trouble-maker in class, disrespectful, and difficult to teach.  He recognized “Coach Luft” as we passed by, and they talked while I went into shop.  The young man wanted Gary to know that he had changed since those high school days.   He apologized for his bad behavior and thanked Gary for trying to get the best out of him.  He said Teen Challenge had changed his life.  When I came out of the store, Gary had bought one of the crosses, and on the way home he told me about the conversation.  We were both very impressed----this ministry is truly changing people’s lives!

            That encounter stirred a desire in my heart to get involved with a ministry that was making a difference.  I started looking for places where God was working, and wondering what I could offer that would be useful to such a ministry.  I work full-time, and I have no special training in counseling, so I felt limited as to time and ability, but I couldn’t shake the desire.  I believe the Lord especially put Teen Challenge on my heart, because I kept being drawn by their advertisements on K-Love, or by observation when I’d see them selling crosses, and when they would visit our services at GCR.   After our move back to Midland, I specifically started asking God to show me where I could get involved and make a difference.  I told Gary and others that I didn’t know why Teen Challenge always popped in my head, but I would really love to be involved with that ministry.

            Lo and behold, just a few weeks after I started praying for God to point me in the direction He’d like for me to go, Scott and Shannon Reynolds (directors of Teen Challenge/Midland) visited the early service at GCR.   I decided that morning to “step out on the water”!  So I approached the Reynolds’, letting them know that I felt drawn to their ministry, had no special training, but that I was willing to be used if they needed me.  Shannon asked for my business card and phone numbers, and I left with hopes of somehow being linked into service with Teen Challenge. 

            I didn’t hear anything else from them until that February morning, just a few weeks ago, when Shannon and the Teen Challenge women visited GCR’s early service.  It “just so happened” that they came and sat down front on the rows right behind me and Gary!  When I realized who they were, I was so excited!  During prayer time, I went to pray with Shannon.  She remembered me from our prior meeting and invited me to go to IHOP with the ladies for a special breakfast “treat”.   I knew this was God opening the door that I had been praying for, and I jumped at the chance!  After breakfast, Shannon took me out to tour the Teen Challenge campus, and then we went back to the Women’s Center.  All of the ladies introduced themselves, told how long they had been at Teen Challenge, and then told me what God was doing in their lives through this ministry.  It was such a sweet time!

 Later, as Shannon and I talked, she mentioned that she would love for the ladies to be involved in our women’s bible studies, but the scheduled times listed in Family Matters just didn’t work with their regimented schedule.  She wanted the ladies to be able to develop relationships with godly women in our congregation, and to have an outlet in the public that would give them a break away from the Women’s Center.   She also hoped that it could be an ongoing thing.   I knew, again, that this was God opening a door!  I immediately saw this, not just as an opportunity for myself, but how it could be a great outreach ministry for any GCR ladies that might like to help lead a special study for the Teen Challenge ladies.  To fit their schedule, it would need to be on Wednesday nights.   I told her that we all meet together for PowerPoint on Wednesday nights, but I felt like we might be able to host a study for them, and I would go back right then to see if we could get permission to do such a thing.  I could see God moving “right before my eyes”!  What a blessing I received that morning, and when I least expected it! 

Brenda Sorrells and Dee Gaines caught the vision, too, and before I could even reach Tim Baugh to discuss it, Brenda had already paved the way!  Tim assured us that this outreach opportunity fit right in with GCR’s mission statement, and we had permission to proceed.   The only caution was that we couldn’t open it up to all of the women in the church at one time, because the elders really want all adults to be in PowerPoint on Wednesday nights.   So, we approached a small group of ladies, shared the vision, and asked them to consider helping with the study, if they felt led to do so.  The study would begin on Wednesday, March 4th, from 7:00 – 8:30.  That’s tough, because we all hated to miss Powerpoint, but felt God was calling us to do this.  Ten  ladies agreed to be a part of this first study, and I am so thankful for their sweet, loving hearts!  They are Cheryl Proctor, Arlene Bogart, Donna Cowdrey, Claudia Gleeson, Patrice McKinney, Frances VanCuren, Iris Riggs, Shari Horne, Becky McWhirter, and Dee Gaines. 

For this initial study, the Spirit led us to the “Deeper Still” study taught by Priscilla Shirer, Beth Moore, and Kay Arthur.   The 7-week study is entitled, “Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed”.  It is about the life of David, and it has been perfect for the opening study with this group!  The small group discussions have been very good, as these women are not afraid to share their comments.  They are refreshingly open about past mistakes and the struggles they are encountering daily.  They have repeatedly told us that Wednesday night’s class is the “highlight of their week”!  We are developing relationships that hopefully will have a far-reaching impact as these ladies graduate from the program and go back home to their families and friends.  What God can do through their changed lives is limitless, and to know we had a small part in His work is SO exciting! 

Please pray that we will continue to be led by the Spirit as plans for the next study are already being made.  This is an exciting time for GCR’s Women’s Ministry!  I love it when God invites us to join Him on an adventure that only He knows where it will lead!  Michael W. Smith has a new song out, entitled “The River’s Rising”.  The words of this song capture what I am feeling when I think about what God’s doing here.  “I feel it, I feel it, I feel it in my bones, and I just don’t think I can hold it anymore!  The river’s rising, flowing out of me…I’m gonna dance, and sing, and move my feet, ‘cause the river’s rising, flowing out of me.  I’m gonna let the world know, take it to the streets…I’m gonna dance, and sing, and give a shout of praise—Hallelujah!”  (You’d have to hear it to appreciate it, for real!)

            The Lord’s got big plans and big blessings to bestow through Teen Challenge and GCR—“I can feel it in my bones”!  I want to be a part of those plans, don’t you?  If you’d like to help with the Wednesday night study, feel free to give me, Dee, Cheryl, Brenda, or any of these ladies a call.  And most of all, please pray that God will be glorified as we try to listen to His voice and follow His leading in this outreach opportunity with Teen Challenge.