August Newsletter
"There is pleasure in sin
only for a season."
My name is Tyler Talbert. I am from Monroe, N.C., and a graduate of Greater Piedmont Teen Challenge. I have two loving parents and a sister who has supported and stood with me through all of my struggles with alcohol and drugs! As a child I was brought up in church, but never knew what it was to have a true relationship with Jesus Christ. I was saved at the age of seven only because I wanted to do what my sister did.
I really looked up to my big sister in everything she did. I thought if she did it then I needed to do it as well. Around the age of eleven, I started experimenting with tobacco. When I entered high school I wanted to be in the cool crowd with the older kids. They introduced me to marijuana. At first I didn't really like it, but the more I used it the more I enjoyed its effects. Eventually, I became addicted to it like the tobacco. Every morning I would get up to go to school and I would have to smoke some or I would be in the worst mood the rest of the day because I wasn't feeling "the high."
I started failing my grades, not caring what my parents thought about it. I would tell them that I was staying at a friend's house, but really staying up all night going to parties. I would get my friends that were in the same classes with me to mark me present in the teacher's attendance book. That was only the beginning. About the age of sixteen I was introduced to pills and cocaine. After that I didn't go to school anymore. Eventually, I lost my job and my car because of the way I was treating my parents by being deceitful and just flat out lying to them all the time. I had let the devil work in me for so long that it was almost a natural instinct for me to lie, cheat, and deceive.
For a little while I stopped doing drugs and got back into my favorite sport, wrestling. I went for about three months into the season and was doing very well. I started gaining back the trust of my mom and dad so they gave me the car to go look for jobs as well as going to and from school. I started skipping wrestling practice and eventually quit the team. With only two months remaining of my senior year in high school, I let it go and dropped out. The devil had now completely overtaken me. I didn't know what to do except run to drugs. My parents had finally had enough! They kicked me out of the house and on to the streets. At the time I thought they hated me, but I know now they were just showing me tough love.
I moved in with one of my drug buddies who had dropped out of school and was living above his grandpa's carport. We eventually went to his mom's house in South Carolina. After the third day of being there I landed in the Darlington County jail. I had time to just stop and think about what had gotten me there. My parents found out where I was but still wouldn't help me, but thank God my buddy's grandpa bailed us out.
When I got back to Monroe I cried out to my parents to please let me come back home and by the grace of God they did! For two weeks I was clean from drugs, and loved every moment of it. I had a beautiful, loving girlfriend who helped me to stay away from my old friends. That only worked for a little while. I went back to my old buddy who I had just been locked up with two weeks earlier, and hooked up with some of his buddies. They were definitely the wrong crowd to be hanging out with. Within an hour of being with them they broke into a house and stole about two thousand dollars worth of property. About a week later a Union County detective showed up at my house with an order for my arrest.
One night soon after that, I came to my mom crying out for help, wanting to straighten my life out. That's not like me at all! I don't remember doing it because I was so high on pills. I don't think the devil would motivate me to do that, it had to be God! The Bible says in Psalm 40:1, "He turned to me and heard my cry." My mom and dad felt compelled to do something quickly. They knew that if I didn't stop doing drugs now I would either get killed or shortly wind up in prison.
My parents spoke with a man at our church who told them about a place called Greater Piedmont Teen Challenge in Greensboro. When they came and told me about it and that I would be there for six months, I rejected it. But, after seeing my mom's heart break when I yelled at her and told her no, I just couldn't bear the thought of hurting her anymore. Deep down I knew that I needed to go to Teen Challenge. After thinking about it I made the decision to go. After arriving at Teen Challenge, I knew that I was headed on the right path to becoming clean and out of the bondage of the drugs that were destroying my life.
The very first verse I memorized after entering the program was II Corinthians 5:17 which says "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new". John 15:3-4 says "you are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."
I thank God for Teen Challenge. Through the program God has saved and changed my life completely. I will continue to serve the Lord for as long as I live and let His light shine through me to others who need Him as well. Scripture says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." "Taste and see for the Lord is good!" Please continue to pray for me and my brothers at Teen Challenge. May God bless you for your support of Teen Challenge. Because of your help, I have a new life.
From the Director ...Rev. Dennis Kyseth
We have been very busy around here for the past couple of months. Twenty-three of our twenty-four beds are filled. Four men will be graduating this month. I apologize for failing to include my "From the Director" letter in last month's newsletter. I was just too rushed to finish the newsletter and get it off to the printer in time.
Love is in the air here at Teen Challenge. On May 29, our Program Director, Joel Lord was married to Tamara Currin. On July 16, Shane Tucker who works in our thrift store was married to Sarah Calvin who is also employed in our thrift store. Both Joel and Shane are graduates of our program. I have known them from the first day they arrived here. To watch God's healing power work in them, and turn them from what they were into the fine young men of God they have now become is extremely gratifying. Upon arriving here, I don't think either of them ever dreamed things would turn out the way they have.
Friends, these are only two examples of what your contributions are accomplishing. I could tell you hundreds of stories like that of Tyler Talbot whose testimony appears on the front page of this newsletter. Thanks to you, and the grace of God, lives are being miraculously changed. Because you gave Mom's and Dad's have their son's back; wives have their husbands back, and children have their daddy's back. That has got to make you feel good about giving to Teen Challenge. Large or small, all gifts are deeply appreciated, and tax-deductible.
I don't know if it is because of the ongoing recession or not, but business in our thrift store, Blessingdale's, is on pace to break last years sales figures. That's good, but it is sad to see some people come in to the store, and as inexpensive as our prices are, they sometimes don't have enough money to pay for the things they need. We have a real need for good, gently used furniture and other household items. Many people just can't afford to go out and pay furniture store prices for a bed or sofa. Many can't even afford to go to Wal-Mart any more. Please check around your house, and if you have things you are not using, please bring them to our thrift store on the campus of Teen Challenge at 1910 Boulevard Street. For large items, you can contact us at 292-7795 and schedule a pick-up. We would be so grateful if you would first make certain that items are in good, usable condition.
"Thank you God for every one who helps us in any way. We ask that You would bless each and every one of them in a very special way, and in whatever area of need they may have. Your Word says '...if we give, it will be given back to us, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over'. Our friends and partners have needs that only you can meet. Please bless them, in Jesus name. Amen."
Grandover Golf Tournament update...
August 14th is going to be the grandest tournament we have ever had. We are very grateful to Foreign Cars Italia for once again being our tournament sponsor. Our breakfast this year is being sponsored for the first time by Metro Medical, Burlington, NC. This will also be the first year we will have a prize sponsor, Dr. Marion Griffin from Asheboro, NC.
We are grateful to Mr. Bud Durham and Mr. Ron Norton for obtaining some great prizes; not the least of which will be four sets of Foundation Clubs including bag and head covers which will go to the first place, low net team. A total of seven teams will win prizes. A hole-in-one on holes three and eleven will result in that player winning a prize of $5,000. There will be other prizes and door prizes given away. Each player will receive a great goody bag that includes an Attractions Dining and Value Guide book.
The registration table and practice range will open at 7 a.m. After a delicious continental breakfast the tournament, captains choice, will get underway at 8:30. Upon completion of play, prizes will be given away while lunch is being served in the Griffin Room, If you enjoyed last years lunch, you will enjoy the lunch again this year-the same menu we served last year. It was such a hit last year, we're doing it again. Lunch will include Bar-B-Que chicken, charbroiled hot dogs and hamburgers with all the trimmings, baked beans, red bliss potato salad along with desert and a cold glass of iced tea. This will taste mighty good after tournament completion on the West Course.
We are still looking for a lunch sponsor for $3,500 and two drink stations (soft drinks only) sponsors at $1,500 each. Call us for details at 292-7795. We still have room for more teams and sign sponsors.
This is our biggest fundraiser of the year. Please be in prayer with us that the tournament will be a huge success.
