“Once a junkie, always a junkie.”  That’s what Herlindo had been told, and that’s what he believed about himself.  However, even 16 years into his heroin addiction his mother told him something different: “Son, I know that some day you are going to change.  I am praying for you.”  Today Herlindo is San Diego County’s Director of Teen Challenge, the very organization that helped him turn his life around in 1990.

In this episode Kevin talks to Herlindo and his assistant director Mike about the impact that Teen Challenge has had on their lives, and the lives of countless others.  The ministry was started by David Wilkinson (author of The Cross and the Switchblade) in 1960, and it is still helping teens and adults step out of drug addiction today.  Teen challenge is not a rehab center, and does not just teach behavior modification.  Instead, it takes those whose lives have been destroyed by drug addiction and introduces them to the one person who can actually help: Jesus Christ.

Learn more by visiting TeenChallenge.org(/SDTC for San Diego).  You can help Teen Challenge help others by praying for them, donating to the organization at GiveTC.com, and getting involved in Teen Challenge events such as the San Diego Walk for Recovery on September 24th.

This episode first aired on July 2nd, 2016.