CLOSER TO GOD, FURTHER FROM DRUGS

New Center Tackling Tough Addictions

His jaw slack, his bluish-green eyes shining and unglazed, Travis
Hoefling took in last Sunday's Fourth of July spectacle over Elliott
Bay with childlike awe.

"It's the first time in eight years I've watched the fireworks show
sober," the 23-year-old former cocaine addict said. "It's like being a
little kid again."

Past treatment programs didn't help Hoefling kick his habit. But Teen
Challenge -- a faith-based rehabilitation center dedicated yesterday
in Rainier Valley -- is helping him stay clean by "getting close to
God again," Hoefling said.

The new center is the first in Seattle for Teen Challenge
International, a nonprofit ministry with about 370 facilities
worldwide, including one for men in Spokane and three for women in
Yakima, Richland and Graham.

The nonprofit organization was established in 1958 by the Rev. David
Wilkerson, author of "The Cross and the Switchblade," a story of
street ministry in New York City.

Teen Challenge is somewhat of a misnomer, since clients -- referred to
as "students" because of the yearlong curriculum they must complete --
are 18 and older. Teen Challenge is "not a laid-back, glorified
drop-in program," but a "spiritual bootcamp," said the Rev. Willie
Parish Jr., executive director of the Seattle program.

Program Director Grady Smith, a former crack addict who graduated from
Teen Challenge in Spokane in 1993, said the center for many men is
"like the last stop."

Students learn discipline and responsibility by living in a highly
regimented environment.

Every 30 minutes of each day is planned, starting at 6 a.m. and ending
with lights out at 10 p.m. The schedule includes chores, chapel, Bible
study and group activities. Visitations are limited.

"We teach the guys how to live a successful Christian life, how to
deal with fears and the things that caused them to fall into the
lifestyle of drug addiction," Smith said. "Discipline is something
people don't have when they come here. They get good jobs, lose them
and mess up a lot of relationships."

Teen Challenge International says two studies show an overall success
rate of 70 percent to 86 percent.

Tom Hunt of Sunnyside, who went through three rehab programs before
enrolling in Teen Challenge in Seattle last month, said dealing with
substance abuse means more than shaking a drug habit.

Even when he was sober before, "I wasn't filled with happiness," said
Hunt, who turned 28 this week. Now he says his life is bearing
spiritual fruit, including peace, patience and self-control.

The Teen Challenge center has five students so far in a new
six-bedroom, four-bathroom house at 4833 S. Othello St., just off
Rainier Avenue South. It can hold 12 students and one live-in staffer.

Since students stay for 60 to 90 days before continuing the program in
Spokane or another larger Teen Challenge facility, the Seattle center
serves about 50 men a year, Parish said.

The $208,000 house was financed largely by the Assemblies of God
denomination. More than 30 individual churches of different
denominations donated appliances, furniture, bedding and other items.

The program costs $1,500 per month, of which each student is asked to
contribute 50 percent. The other half is financed by Teen Challenge,
which receives no government support and relies primarily on private
donations.

Al Spears, another new Teen Challenge resident, is sponsored by his
deacon at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Baptist Church in Renton.
Spears was orphaned at age 11. His parents were killed May 29, 1970,
in a car crash in Alabama that he survived. For many years he tried to
ease the painful memories, first with cocaine and later with alcohol.

"God is just delivering me," said Spears, 40. "Right now, (being in
Teen Challenge) is opening up something spiritual within me. I'm
really feeling free for the first time."