January 22-24, 2010, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Global Teen Challenge (GTC) will be conducting a special training seminar for Executive Leaders of Teen Challenge January 22-24, 2010, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This training is open to all TC leaders around the world.
 
It will begin the evening of January 22 and then go all day on the 23rd and 24th. You will be responsible to cover your own transportation costs as well as food and housing while in Argentina. Please contact Patty Batty at the Global Teen Challenge office for housing details:  patty.batty@teenchallenge.cc 
The courses offered will focus on leadership issues in Teen Challenge today. This is for current senior leaders in TC ministry as well as those who are preparing for senior leadership. This is not for entry level staff, only senior leadership.
 
Click here for a detailed schedule of workshops for the Argentina training.
 
This Executive Leaders training is part of the long range goals of GTC to provide training for staff at all levels of the ministry. For the past 10 years or so we have conducted Leadership Training Institutes (LTI) around the world for all TC staff.  This Executive Leaders training targets senior leaders and expands the training we offer for TC centers around the world.

 

March 22-26, 2010, Columbus, Georgia USA
Global Teen Challenge and Teen Challenge of the Southeast Region will be conducting a special training seminar for Executive Leaders of Teen Challenge on March 22-26, 2010. Details are still being finalized for this week of training, but we would like you to mark your calendar and save the dates.
 
Click here for a description of this event. This is the first of 4 one week intensive training sessions planned for the next 2 years. Between each week of intensive training will be several months of additional training offered in a distance learning format, with weekly assignments and opportunities for interaction with the other senior leaders who are participating in this 2 year training course.
 
More details will be presented in the November issue of the Leadership Link newsletter.
 
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At the Teen Challenge 50th anniversary celebration last year in New York City, we presented the great need to start Teen Challenge in many new countries. At that time many individuals and Teen Challenge centers pledged financial support to help start new centers around the world. We want to give you an update on what has been happening around the world.
 
Last summer there were 38 countries with standing invitations for Teen Challenge to be opened in their nation.  In recent months we have seen new invitations come, asking for help. Here are a few updates.
 
Mauritius (an island nation off the east coast of Africa)
 
A police officer contacted Global Teen Challenge asking for help to start a Teen Challenge in his country. Mauritius has the distinction of having one of the highest per capita rates of drug addicts in the world.
 
With the help of the Assemblies of God churches in that country as well as others interested in helping, this new Teen Challenge was launched a few months ago. One of the first major activities was a week long evangelism outreach on the streets and in the schools of the country. Mike Zello, GTC Regional Rep for Africa and Bernie Gillott participated in this outreach.
 
The condensed version of The Cross and the Switchblade book was published in Mauritius in advance of this outreach and used to introduce drug addicts and others to the potential for God to help them.
 
Chuck Zierle recently conducted training for them on setting up a coffeehouse ministry for outreach in their nation.
 
Israel
 
There are currently several faith-based residential programs operating for men in Israel. Petr Minister, national director of Teen Challenge in Czech Republic, has been assisting in the early steps of setting up a new Teen Challenge ministry in Israel. Plans are being put in place to open a Teen Challenge program for women.
 
Israel offers several unique challenges because of the multi-cultural context of the country. Many of the drug addicts in Israel are of Russian descent, so there is a great need to have a Russian language component to the Teen Challenge ministry. The Arabic community also has been affected by drug addiction as well as those who speak Hebrew.
 
Petr Ministr has been coordinating a series of training sessions for those interested in learning more about Teen Challenge. They will conduct training in Living Free support group ministry later this year. Plans are also underway to translate the condensed version of The Cross and the Switchblade into Hebrew. The Group Studies for New Christians are also going to be translated into Hebrew and Arabic.
 
Haiti
 
The French-speaking island nation of Haiti in the Caribbean is overwhelmed with all kinds of serious problems. With an 80% unemployment rate, it is a prime setting for drug addiction and the crime life that goes with it.
 
Teen Challenge in Minnesota has taken the lead in helping to pioneer this new Teen Challenge ministry in Haiti. A director has been hired, and early plans are in place to set up this ministry. They are also looking to set up micro-enterprise businesses that will enable this ministry to become self-sustaining.
 
Georgia
 
This nation just south of Russia was in the news last year when military conflict with Russia broke out. Teen Challenge in Kazakhstan is helping to pioneer this new ministry. Doug Boyle, missionary from Australia who pioneered Teen Challenge in Kazakhstan, is providing key leadership to this new ministry being established in Georgia.
 
The condensed version of The Cross and the Switchblade is being translated into the Georgian language. They are also preparing to translate the Group Studies for New Christians curriculum.
 
Please pray for all these countries where Teen Challenge is being established. There still remain 37 countries on the list who are asking for Teen Challenge to be established in their nation. Please click here for a list of the nations seeking to have Teen Challenge. Please pray with us that God will raise up leaders with a vision to see this ministry established in each of these countries.

Living Free is a small group ministry designed to help people who struggle with life-controlling problems. Teen Challenge, churches, prison ministries, and missions of all types use Living Free groups for focused discipleship ministry to help people avoid and overcome the traps of addictions and other problems that ruin lives.

 

Many centers use the small groups as a supplement to the core Teen Challenge curriculum. The Living Free groups give the students a structured environment to encourage one another, talk about their lives and choices, care-front delusion in each other, discuss the Bible, and listen to what God is saying to them. Groups that are especially useful for centers include those dealing with addictions, overcoming disappointments and failures, conflict resolution, family violence, eating disorders, anger, co-dependency and sexual purity.

 

Teen Challenge and Living Free have been associated in ministry since 1988 when Living Free under the name of Turning Point was launched by Dr. Jimmy Ray Lee. Jimmy founded Teen Challenge centers in the cities of Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee, and served on the national board of Teen Challenge for a number of years. Many Teen Challenge associates have helped develop the small groups and have served on the Living Free faculty and board of directors.

Some Teen Challenge centers use the Living Free groups as an outreach to the community by helping churches establish small groups, working with inmates in prison, or providing help for people who cannot enter a residential facility. It has also been used as a support group for family members of those who are students in Teen Challenge programs. Some centers use Living Free groups for graduates of Teen Challenge as a tool for helping them adjust to living in society outside of Teen Challenge. A byproduct of such ministry is goodwill in the community, safe places where graduates can find ongoing help, and referrals as more people are exposed to Teen Challenge.

 

Centers in the USA which have found the groups helpful include Southern California, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia. And Teen Challenge centers in countries including Colombia, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, and Macedonia, to name only a few, have incorporated the groups into their ministry for many years.

 

Elena Kulagova in Siberia is using Living Free groups in their Teen Challenge ministry as well as providing this training to churches for their use. One man who attended the Teen Challenge Leadership Training Institute returned to his local church and invited Elena to come and train their church on using Living Free. After the pastor and all the church leaders had participated in this training and gone through Living Free groups, they saw great changes in their own lives as well as those struggling with life controlling problems. This church now uses Living Free in all their home meetings. As a result the church added 150 new people in six months. Living Free has opened many new doors of ministry for this local church.

All that is required to begin the Living Free groups is to train group leaders (facilitators) using the 6-hour video training DVDs and have these facilitators go through the Insight Group before leading a group with the students. The Living Free website has many helpful suggestions and the Living Free staff are available to respond by phone or email.

 

The Teen Challenge ministry in Kentucky has established a number of non-residential ministries across their state using Living Free groups as the heart of their community outreach. They call these outreaches Lifeline Connection. If you would like additional information on how these operate, please visit Lifeline Connection website or click here to contact Skip Arp .

Living Free small group materials are available at the Teen Challenge USA online store  or at the Living Free website. Materials are available in English, Spanish, Russian, French, Polish, Arabic, Czech, Macedonian, Urdu and a few titles are available in other languages.  The training videos can be viewed online in English, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic.

 

If you are interested in using these materials, or if you want permission to translate them into other languages, contact Living Free for more information.

 

Sao Paulo, Brazil was the location for the Brazil - Latin America Southern Cone Teen Challenge conference. About 70 people attended from 5 different countries. Global Teen Challenge provided three of the conference speakers for the event, Jerry Nance, President of Global Teen Challenge,  Duane Henders, GTC Latin America/Caribbean representative and Gregg Fischer, Curriculum Director. Carlos Decio, Exec. Director of Teen Challenge Portugal and Claudio Ghiringhelli, Exec. Dir. of TC Argentina also served as speakers.   
 
The conference itself was a mix of encouragement, teaching and training, fellowship and planning for the future. Numerous people told of how their vision was enlarged and of an even greater burden to reach the addicted and hurting. One young lady, who had been working as a volunteer with Teen Challenge, told of how the Lord confirmed her call to work full-time in Teen Challenge ministry during the conference.

 

Teen Challenge has a long history in Brazil with over 100 ministries presently operating. We hope that this conference inspires even more growth and fellowship for Teen Challenge in South America.