TEEN CHALLENGE FIGHTS ADDICTION WITH FAITH

MANCHESTER -- Outside the realm of faith, the notion of leaving your day
job as pastor of a small-town Pennsylvania church and traveling to New York
City to save seven lost souls sounds crazy.

As it turned out, Pastor David Wilkerson's leap of faith some 40 years ago
panned out.

He not only intervened successfully in the lives of those seven souls --
teens accused of a gang-related murder whose story was the basis for the
book and subsequent movie, "The Cross and the Switchblade" -- but
Wilkerson's resulting faith-based outreach, Teen Challenge, has grown to be
a successful drug and alcohol treatment program, with outposts scattered
across the United States and beyond.

Most recently, the organization has found a home here in Manchester under
the direction of recovering addict turned Assembly of God minister, the
Rev. Steve Gadomski.

"We've been the best kept secret in America, what with the faith-based
issues a lot of people have had over the years. But that's changing," said
Gadomski. "With 43 years of success, we're gaining in popularity."

Due to space constraints, the program has existed in Manchester for 3 1/2
years as a crisis and referral center only on Conant Street, with a
temporary residential center on Elm Street in Nashua.

But the goal was always to find the right home for the program, which it
did recently by relocating to the former Sisters of Mercy school on Laurel
Street.

Spokesman Maureen Giles says the 86 percent success rate among those who
stay with the program is no fluke.

"It's our belief that the Holy Spirit is able to cause a genuine spiritual
awakening while effecting permanent change in the lives of these men," says
Giles. "What it's always done, why it's so successful, is that they don't
substitute one drug for another drug; they give them prayer."

Prayer and a highly organized curriculum that takes each resident through
five stages of recovery spanning 15 months.

"It's not on a strict timetable. What we want to see is change within the
person," says Gadomski.

Cost is minimal, he says, about $3,000 a month for each resident.

"We're nonprofit, so we aren't eligible for insurance money. But we ask
students to do the best they can. There's a $500 induction fee, then a $350
sponsorship per month while they are there," says Gadomski.

Often residents will ask family members to help subsidize their stay, he
says. But funding continues to be a hurdle.

In July, federal drug czar John P. Walters, speaking at a Teen Challenge
graduation ceremony in Riverside, Calif., drew criticism for President
Bush's proposed three-year $600-million funding plan that would allow
faith-based recovery clinics to be eligible for federal money through a
voucher program.

Critics of that plan from the American Civil Liberties Union, among others,
said funding faith-based initiatives with federal tax dollars stirs the
ongoing debate over separation of church and state.

So far that proposal has not been passed by Congress, forcing Teen
Challenge to rely on the kindness of charitable strangers. "Most men that
come don't pay; they just don't have it. So we go to the community for
grants or private donations and corporate sponsorships," says Gadomski.

Given the age range of those in the program, the name Teen Challenge is
hardly fitting, a throw-back to Wilkerson's New York City street ministry,
which targeted addicted teens.

Today the outreach includes 241 centers in 77 countries helping men and
women age 15 and older. The Manchester center is restricted to men over the
age of 18. One resident is 58, but mostly it houses a lot of young people
in their mid-20s, says Gadomski.

Most often they come as referrals from the courts, or by personal
reference. Sometimes pastors call, or a troubled mother who doesn't know
what to do with her addicted son.

Gadomski says all 22 beds at the Manchester center are currently filled,
and empty-bed syndrome is not a problem.

"We don't like to have a waiting list. We try to plug people in to another
center in New England, like Brockton, Boston or Connecticut," says Gadomski.

He got involved with Teen Challenge about 14 years ago, after finding his
way back from addiction.

His story is not unique.

He came from a dysfunctional, abusive home. His parents split while he was
still a kid and, at 13, he buckled under peer pressure and took his first
drink.

From there his drug use spiraled and by age 23 he was a full-blown
functioning alcoholic and drug addict.

"I was always a successful businessman, always took care of my family. I
was responsible in terms of providing for my family, but I would also drink
until I passed out," he says.

He didn't turn to crime to feed his addiction, but near the end when
cocaine was his drug of choice, money that should've boosted his family
instead fed his habit.

He also had three arrests for drunken driving.

"One day I just realized I had no power to overcome my addictions. My wife
was a Christian and was still involved in the church. I had turned away
from it and gone back to my addictions. In March of 1989, I rededicated my
life to Christ," says Gadomski.

After working in various community ministries, he found his way to Teen
Challenge in 1991 and has been involved ever since.

"How often do I see myself here? All the time. Every day. We have a good
character development program and academic teaching from Biblical
principles that really gives men the tools to overcome," he says. "That's
the key. Success here is based on having a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ."