REPLACING A BELIEF IN DRUGS WITH FAITH IN GOD

Jam-packed with participants, Teen Challenge hopes to get more funds to
"help more people."

Two months ago, Dedtra was sitting in a county jail in Arkansas, facing her
12th felony conviction and 15 years in prison.

Today, she is learning how to start a new life based on biblical principles
and faith in God.

The 25-year-old woman's light blue eyes spilled tears as she talked about
searching for love and power in a world of drugs. She started smoking pot
when she was 12 and ended up a meth addict with a rap sheet that made her a
habitual offender when she was arrested in August.

It was in jail that she realized her life was out of her control. "I got
down on my knees," she said. "I needed a mighty move from God."

A cousin who is an Assemblies of God pastor told her about Teen Challenge.
She had been in several recovery programs, including Alcoholics Anonymous
and Narcotics Anonymous, in prison and out, but none stuck.

This is her last chance. "If I blow this, I go to prison," she said.

Now in Teen Challenge of the Ozarks, Dedtra sees a chance for change.

Teen Challenge operates 166 centers to help people get off drugs and alcohol
in 45 states and Puerto Rico. While it claims an 86 percent success rate
after seven years, the real measure of success is souls saved, said Troy
Lyon, director of the West Branson facility.

"We believe we can have a life-changing experience" through the Teen
Challenge program, said Lyon.

Brandi, a 31-year-old mother of three, has been in Teen Challenge for nine
months.

When drugs and alcohol took over her life, leaving the petite 31-year-old
without her husband or children, she "just wanted to die."

Led by her mother to call for help, she was fortunate there were two beds
open in the 21-bed facility at the time. Those beds are all full now.

Teen Challenge centers in the United States are privately funded and the
program is provided free. The residential program is based on one year, but
lasts as long as it's needed.

It has 4,516 beds in its residential centers; an additional 4,031 people
were on waiting lists in 2001.

"If Teen Challenge had more funds, we could help more people," said John
Castellani, director of Teen Challenge International.

Along with Dedtra and the 19 other women, Brandi spends her mornings
studying from the Teen Challenge workbooks and the Bible. In the afternoon,
she helps in the kitchen, the garden or the laundry room, doing her work
assignment for the week.

In the evening, she has time to think about what she is going to do in three
months when she completes the program.

"I'm going to be a mom again," she said softly.

Herb Meppelink has been working with Teen Challenge for 37 years. For the
past year, he has been program director for Teen Challenge of the Ozarks.

Brother Mepp, as the residents and staff call him, says drugs and alcohol
are not his clients' real enemy. It is how they grew up, living lives that
provided no basic ethics.

He says the program teaches those ethics by using the Bible. Students learn
how to apply biblical principles to their lives.

Dedtra, for example, found it hard to give up smoking, which she was
required to do. She found herself walking around outside of the dormitory
hoping to find a discarded cigarette butt left by a visitor.

She applied what she had learned. "I knew it was an attack from the enemy,"
she said.

But while God is at the center of the program, Meppelink says religion is
still a personal choice. "I cannot cram religion down your throat," he said.