Pictured are Debby and Sal DiBianca.
About 280 people gathered recently on the first evening of a three-night “Christmas celebration and fund-raiser” at the Sandhills Teen Challenge Center located near Carthage.
Rows of folding tables placed end-to-end in the center’s gymnasium stood covered with white paper “tablecloths” and intermittently-placed Poinsettias.
The center, 22 years in operation, is part of Teen Challenge, an international Christian drug and alcohol rehabilitation ministry founded 50 years ago by the Rev. David Wilkerson, author of “The Cross and the Switchblade.”
On Feb. 28, 1958, Wilkerson, then a 26-year-old Pentecostal preacher from rural Pennsylvania, disrupted a highly publicized murder trial in New York City. He’d made the 8-hour drive from his village to downtown Manhattan to speak to the seven accused gang members about “salvation.” He rushed to the front of the courtroom as trial proceedings closed and pleaded publicly with the judge for permission to meet the teenage defendants.
Wilkerson became headline news in New York City. The judge had received death threats during the trial, and Wilkerson was almost arrested as a presumed assailant. The judge refused Wilkerson’s request to see the boys and ordered him never to return to his courtroom. Wilkerson founded Teen Challenge (TC), which now helps men and women (in separate centers) of all ages. Wilkerson pastors Manhattan’s Times Square Church, which he founded in 1987.
The Rev. Sal DiBianca, 50, and his wife Debby direct the Sandhills TC Center. They left California 22 years ago to head the Sandhills program after accepting Christ, abandoning drugs and graduating from TC.
After the TC men (about 30 men usually live at the Sandhills center) served dinner, DiBianca spoke.
“I believe the Word of God will transform anybody’s life who’ll allow it to,” he said, noting that about $45 per day is needed to house and minister to each man at the center. “God has called us to be good stewards. We stretch a dollar.”
The Rev. Joseph Batluck, executive director for Teen Challenge Training Center Inc., led a prayer of dedication.
The Sandhills TC men, who ranged from 17 to about 50 years of age, wore dress shirts, pants and ties. They took the stage and sang carols, as Sal directed and his son Brandon played guitar. Staff member Joe Rivera, played drums; staffer Adam Love played bass. The singing men swayed side-to-side, and some raised their hands.
Several men addressed the audience. Kent, a thin African-American from Rocky Mount who “turned forty on Tuesday,” spoke first. His face evidenced healed burn scars, and he paused to pray for help in speaking. He said he was 11 years old when his mother’s boyfriend tried to make a fire in their heater. Flames set Kent afire, and he ran. He spent 14 months in the hospital, and people made fun of his appearance.
“That drove me to be the person I was,” Kent said. “I even hated myself.”
Wanting his hair to cover some scars, he arrived at Sandhills TC with dreadlocks.
“I found peace by coming to Teen Challenge,” said Kent, whose hair is now short. “On April 18, 2008, I received Christ. Ever since then, I’ve been at peace with Christ. I even love myself, now. I love y’all so much. Amen.”
“Kent was trying to drown the pain of rejection by addiction,” DiBianca said.
Eddie Mitchell, 19, said that 10 months ago he was homeless, had pushed his family away and was sleeping under houses and in cars.
“I grew up in church,” he said. He called his mother and came to Sandhills TC on April 4, 2008. “I was always told I was stupid and would never amount to anything. I have hope and a future.”
He noted that he’s getting ready to take his GED test and that his brother and mother were attending the banquet.
“I go to sleep with hope in my heart,” Mitchell said.
Scott from Sanford, N.C., said, “I started using drugs right when I got into high school…I was raised in a good family.”
His family attended the banquet.
“Last year I was hiding out in a barn behind our house…I’m thankful for TC,” he said.
Scott said he was suicidal and that a pastor friend “came by” and “fed” him enough Word to get him by.
“You were a stepping stone to saving my soul,” Scott said to that pastor who attended the banquet.
Scott asked for Sal’s Bible and then read Psalm 116: “I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications…I was brought low, and he saved me…for you have delivered my soul from death….”
Paul, a 31-year-old who said he grew up in church, spoke next.
“I praise God for being here,” he said. “For 16 years I had a taste for alcohol, and it drove me crazy…I’ve put guns in my mouth (planning to kill himself)…On October 11, I rededicated my life to Jesus.”
All the men told their names (at least their first names), ages and where they came from…Raleigh (N.C.), Morehead City (N.C.), Charleston (S.C.), Kingstree (S.C.), Washington (D.C.), Detroit, Michigan, Pennsylvania…. Most men mentioned their particular additions. One 50-year-old said he spent 35 years battling alcohol.
As the Christmas program ended, Kent, who was burned when he was 11, swayed, clapped and raised a thin hand while he and the rest of the men loudly sang these words: “My dead heart now is beating…My deepest stain’s now clean…Your Breath fills my lungs…Now, I’m free…Lift my hands and spin around; see the light that I have found…sin has lost its power; death has lost its sting!”
Rows of folding tables placed end-to-end in the center’s gymnasium stood covered with white paper “tablecloths” and intermittently-placed Poinsettias.
The center, 22 years in operation, is part of Teen Challenge, an international Christian drug and alcohol rehabilitation ministry founded 50 years ago by the Rev. David Wilkerson, author of “The Cross and the Switchblade.”
On Feb. 28, 1958, Wilkerson, then a 26-year-old Pentecostal preacher from rural Pennsylvania, disrupted a highly publicized murder trial in New York City. He’d made the 8-hour drive from his village to downtown Manhattan to speak to the seven accused gang members about “salvation.” He rushed to the front of the courtroom as trial proceedings closed and pleaded publicly with the judge for permission to meet the teenage defendants.
Wilkerson became headline news in New York City. The judge had received death threats during the trial, and Wilkerson was almost arrested as a presumed assailant. The judge refused Wilkerson’s request to see the boys and ordered him never to return to his courtroom. Wilkerson founded Teen Challenge (TC), which now helps men and women (in separate centers) of all ages. Wilkerson pastors Manhattan’s Times Square Church, which he founded in 1987.
The Rev. Sal DiBianca, 50, and his wife Debby direct the Sandhills TC Center. They left California 22 years ago to head the Sandhills program after accepting Christ, abandoning drugs and graduating from TC.
After the TC men (about 30 men usually live at the Sandhills center) served dinner, DiBianca spoke.
“I believe the Word of God will transform anybody’s life who’ll allow it to,” he said, noting that about $45 per day is needed to house and minister to each man at the center. “God has called us to be good stewards. We stretch a dollar.”
The Rev. Joseph Batluck, executive director for Teen Challenge Training Center Inc., led a prayer of dedication.
The Sandhills TC men, who ranged from 17 to about 50 years of age, wore dress shirts, pants and ties. They took the stage and sang carols, as Sal directed and his son Brandon played guitar. Staff member Joe Rivera, played drums; staffer Adam Love played bass. The singing men swayed side-to-side, and some raised their hands.
Several men addressed the audience. Kent, a thin African-American from Rocky Mount who “turned forty on Tuesday,” spoke first. His face evidenced healed burn scars, and he paused to pray for help in speaking. He said he was 11 years old when his mother’s boyfriend tried to make a fire in their heater. Flames set Kent afire, and he ran. He spent 14 months in the hospital, and people made fun of his appearance.
“That drove me to be the person I was,” Kent said. “I even hated myself.”
Wanting his hair to cover some scars, he arrived at Sandhills TC with dreadlocks.
“I found peace by coming to Teen Challenge,” said Kent, whose hair is now short. “On April 18, 2008, I received Christ. Ever since then, I’ve been at peace with Christ. I even love myself, now. I love y’all so much. Amen.”
“Kent was trying to drown the pain of rejection by addiction,” DiBianca said.
Eddie Mitchell, 19, said that 10 months ago he was homeless, had pushed his family away and was sleeping under houses and in cars.
“I grew up in church,” he said. He called his mother and came to Sandhills TC on April 4, 2008. “I was always told I was stupid and would never amount to anything. I have hope and a future.”
He noted that he’s getting ready to take his GED test and that his brother and mother were attending the banquet.
“I go to sleep with hope in my heart,” Mitchell said.
Scott from Sanford, N.C., said, “I started using drugs right when I got into high school…I was raised in a good family.”
His family attended the banquet.
“Last year I was hiding out in a barn behind our house…I’m thankful for TC,” he said.
Scott said he was suicidal and that a pastor friend “came by” and “fed” him enough Word to get him by.
“You were a stepping stone to saving my soul,” Scott said to that pastor who attended the banquet.
Scott asked for Sal’s Bible and then read Psalm 116: “I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications…I was brought low, and he saved me…for you have delivered my soul from death….”
Paul, a 31-year-old who said he grew up in church, spoke next.
“I praise God for being here,” he said. “For 16 years I had a taste for alcohol, and it drove me crazy…I’ve put guns in my mouth (planning to kill himself)…On October 11, I rededicated my life to Jesus.”
All the men told their names (at least their first names), ages and where they came from…Raleigh (N.C.), Morehead City (N.C.), Charleston (S.C.), Kingstree (S.C.), Washington (D.C.), Detroit, Michigan, Pennsylvania…. Most men mentioned their particular additions. One 50-year-old said he spent 35 years battling alcohol.
As the Christmas program ended, Kent, who was burned when he was 11, swayed, clapped and raised a thin hand while he and the rest of the men loudly sang these words: “My dead heart now is beating…My deepest stain’s now clean…Your Breath fills my lungs…Now, I’m free…Lift my hands and spin around; see the light that I have found…sin has lost its power; death has lost its sting!”
1 comment:
My grandson is at Sandhills Teen Challenge. He was involved in the drug life and running with a really bad crowd. Thank God that He placed him in a situation where it was TC or jail and he agreed to go to TC. I praise God that in the 70 days he's been there, he has surrendered his heart and life to Jesus Christ and is on the road to a new life. I thank God every day for the job that Sal and Debbie and the rest of the staff is doing to rescue these men through the power of Jesus Christ.
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