The Teen Challenge of Arkansas Prison Outreach has been going strong for the better part of three years. Due to our dedicated staff, we have been able to take Christ to the Ouachita Correctional Facility with the same detail and structure that we give the men who enter the program here in Hot Springs. It has been a blessing to see men who have nothing to lose fight to gain not only their salvation, but a life on the outside that is filled with hope and promise. James was one of those inmates who signed up and completed the program. Here is what James said about Teen Challenge of Arknasas:
 
 My childhood was a roller coaster ride that went from totally permissive one minute to strict rules the next. I never knew what my boundaries were. I did know, however, that if I was
persistent enough or threw a big enough fit I would eventually get what I wanted. As I grew older I got into drugs, sex, and gambling. The next thing I knew, I was in prison for a murder
that I didn.t commit. I had children and a fiancé. I could not get married because of my conviction and the possibility of losing our children. In the end I lost both.
 
My grandmother, who was my biggest supporter through my time in prison, sent me a Bible and asked me to read it. I read some and I went to some services, but then an inmate friend of mine invited me to a Teen Challenge of Arkansas Becoming A Success Seminar. I was told God could fix my problems. I did not buy into it. A few months later, the full Teen Challenge of Arkansas program came to our prison, taught two Teen Challenge staff members, Will and Presley. It was a gift from God. I began to study the Scriptures, not just read them. They began to come alive in my life. Two months into the program, I realized that I was becoming a new creature. The urges
to get high were gone. I stopped smoking and I was on my way to a new life.
 
Life got difficult and continued to get harder. My fiancé kept getting high and our children were taken away by the state. I was tempted to give up, but praise God, .Greater is he that is within me than he that is in the world.. This was stirring within me. I began to realize that there was a battle within me for my soul (Eph. 6: 12-18). I feared for what my life would become after being paroled. I always thought I would stay with my grandmother, but then she died. Fear came upon me. I feared that if I was paroled to a friend.s house from my past, I might not be strong enough to continue my new walk with the Lord, but God is faithful. My uncle and aunt came to visit me soon after and we discussed my being paroled to them. Things were falling into place. Thanks to the Character Qualities classes, Group Studies for New Christians, Scripture memorization, and principles I learned in Teen Challenge, I found a new life in Christ.
 
I graduated from the Teen Challenge program in
prison. I am enrolled in National Park Community
College and begin my classes soon. The Lord has blessed me with a place to live, transportation, food, a church to attend, a way to go to college, and a family that cares about me. I plan to share my testimony one day, the Lord willing. I praise God for Teen Challenge and their awesome program that helped to change my life. Special thanks to Will and Presley for their instruction, for their belief in me, and for their dedication to me and my brothers in prison.
                                                                                      - James