On February 28, 1958, David Wilkerson, an unknown country minister, ventured into New York City with a burning message from God to share with youth gangs, desperatelty needing to hear it. From this experience working with gang members, David Wilkerson was able to observe the horrible destruction drug addiction inflicts upon young lives. Soon he established homes to care for those hurting people asbound by addiction to drugs and alcohol. These homes provide loving care that introduce these dear ones to a God who loves them and has the power to change their lives. The story of the birth of this work is told in the best seller Christian classic "The Cross and The Switchblade" (Available in our store). Teen Challenge was established 50 years ago and is one of the largest drug and alcohol programs in the world. Today, there are 201 centers in the USA and 800 programs internationally in over 100 countries. Teen Challenge helps those who have life-controlling, and substance abuse problems.
In 1990 we pioneered Long Island Teen Challenge through a coffeehouse outreach in a small VFW hall in Amityville. Today our outreach serves over 700 people weekly and we have established a thriving complex of homes in Long Island and Albany NY and Santiago D.R., where lives are being transformed. Our residential care consists of 7 men’s homes, 2 ladies’ homes, 2 Churches and 5 vocational training programs providing hope, healing and a future. Our home and foreign missions outreaches, Rock the Block and Teen Challenge World Outreach are dynamic tools for evangelisim and intervention, rescuing and restoring hurting people.
In 2004, we established a Teen Challenge men’s home in Santiago, Dominican Republic through a crusade/concert in the city’s largest baseball stadium. In 2007, we held our Rock the Block 3-day outdoor concert in the heart of the city with an attendance of over 22,000 young people. This resulted in establishing a ladies’ home to provide a safe haven for wounded women.
In 2006, we established Albany Teen Challenge and Freedom Chapel North from a Church campus that was donated to us in Albany County, NY. We have renovated the parsonage into a 12-bed crisis home and the Church is an outreach for our students, their families and the community of Albany.
As we increase in capacity, we are expanding our vocational division. Our thrift shop, Blessingdales, TC Auto Repair & Redemption Center, TC Electrical and our newest addition TC Remodeling, not only provides income for the ministry and value to the community, but job training skills for our students.