ASHLEY TERRY
“Proud” doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling of watching someone overcome addiction — but seeing what they choose to do with their newfound sobriety can be even more rewarding.
For nearly two decades, Adult and Teen Challenge of Texas has been helping men find a path of redemption through its Azle campus, offering them an opportunity to overcome addiction, rebuild their lives and become productive members of the community.
Adult and Teen Challenge of Texas is a faith-based, nonprofit residential recovery and discipleship program that helps those struggling with drug addiction, alcoholism and other life-controlling issues.
During the Azle Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon Oct. 6, Executive Director Greg Ambroson shared how the broader organization got its start in 1958, when Pennsylvania pastor David Wilkerson traveled to New York City to assist gang members who were facing trial.
“He had a vision to bring these guys out of the city and to help them and to rehabilitate them — and so he did,” Ambroson said.
Ten years later, the program expanded to Texas with its San Antonio men’s campus. Today, Adult and Teen Challenge of Texas operates 12 centers in the state — two right here in North Texas — ministering to adolescent boys and girls, women, women with children and men.
The 7.5-acre Azle campus, located at 1099 Flat Rock Road, was established in 2007 and strictly operates as a men’s campus.
“When we originally opened, we had a small house over in Weatherford before we came to this location,” Ambroson told The Azle News. “When I came on as the director, we had about 20 students, and now we usually run around between 60 and 70 students.”
For almost 20 years, the Azle campus has provided care for more than 1,500 men, using biblical teaching, mentorship and practical job and life skills to equip each participant with the tools needed to build a stable and independent life.
“Our vision is to put hope within the reach of every addict,” Ambroson said. “We take people who are gamblers, who have pornography addictions, gaming addictions … We see all kinds of things.”
Through the 12-month recovery program, residents receive 24/7 housing, meals, transportation, mentoring, parenting classes, group and individual biblical counseling, relapse prevention, anger management, drug and alcohol education and a 13-week intensive life reconstruction course. Residents participate in a work-study program, where they receive vocational training in several areas, including finance and budgeting, driver safety, building maintenance and landscaping. They can also obtain their Texas food safety certification and receive access to GED courses and a testing center.
“Our program is set up in three phases,” Ambroson said. “The first phase is kind of detoxing from their old habits, but also just kind of breaking away from all the stress, anxiety and the pressures of life in those first couple of months. We really focus, in their second phase, on helping them to understand who they are, what they're created for — kind of the meaning of life, if you would. When they get to their third phase, we teach them how to interview, we teach them how to write resumes, we help them learn how to dress for job interviews and we help them find a job.”
Once hired, their care doesn’t stop. Ambroson said all residents are held accountable to a budget and are taught how to balance a checkbook and take care of outstanding debt. The program also works with these individuals to ensure their driver’s licenses are current before stepping out into the real world.
Unlike clinical treatment facilities, Ambroson said Adult and Teen Challenge operates as a faith-based recovery program that relies heavily on charitable donations to cover the cost of its services.
“We admit any willing student who wants to come in. We don't hold anybody back,” he said. “We don't actually have a charge. We have a small admissions fee and some fees to get some blood work done to make sure you don't have any transmissible disease, but other than that, if people don't have money, we bring them in.”
To help fund its operations, staff members at the facility speak at various churches about the cause and host several fundraisers throughout the year, including a spring gala and a fall golf tournament — the latter of which will take place Nov. 2 in Fort Worth. The nonprofit also raises money through a vehicle donation program, a work therapy program and a student sponsorship program.
“On the weekends, you’ll find us out in front of Walmart or Dollar General and what we’re doing is we’re selling our crafts and just bringing awareness,” Ambroson said. “We have several microbusinesses. We have our own coffee line where we roast and package our own coffee, we make air fresheners, we make candles, we design and print our own T-shirts, and we sell wood craft products — whatever it takes.”
Over the years, the Azle men’s campus has seen its fair share of success stories. In fact, Ambroson said the faith-based program’s success rate is right around 80%.
“It’s really kind of the Jesus factor, if you would, that makes us different from other programs,” he said. “Every success looks different, but the ones that really give me the most encouragement is where you see husbands, wives and families restored, where they're actively involved in a church and they're actively involved in their community. Their life is just completely different, where they went from being a user and a manipulator to being a dad and a husband — leading by example, becoming men of integrity. It's encouraging.”
Ambroson said one particular success story stands out to him involving a man who grew up in Miami and later moved to the Azle area. He explained that after falling in with the wrong crowd, the man started gambling and experimenting with drugs.
Once he entered the Adult and Teen Challenge program, Ambroson said the man asked God to give him a sign that this was where he needed to be. Coincidentally, the man — who had a Cuban background — arrived on the same day the nonprofit held its own Cuban feast and knew it was the right place for him.
Today, that same man owns a residential and commercial painting business in the Azle area and most of his crew are also graduates from the Adult and Teen Challenge program.
“Not only is he walking it out … but then he's taking the guys who have graduated from the program and pouring back into them, mentoring them and helping them walk it out, as well,” Ambroson said. “It's just perpetuating what he received; he's just giving it back, and it's literally changed our community.”
Ambroson said many graduates from the program are now successful business owners and are also members of the Azle Area Chamber of Commerce.
“Not every story is a success story, but every story is a potential and an opportunity for God to do something new in their lives,” he said. “Guys think they're coming in just to get sober, but it's way more than that. It's truly to become not just a surviving member of society, but a vibrant member of society — and that's what it's really all about.”
Men in the Azle area who are currently fighting addiction are encouraged to call the Azle men’s campus admissions line at 817-401-2451 or send an email to [email protected]. For more information, visit teenchallengetx.org for statewide services or FortWorthRehab.org for information about the Azle men’s campus.
“We may not be everybody’s first pick,” Ambroson said, “but we’ll do whatever it takes to help them out.”
