It is a good book to introduce you to the Teen Challenge Ministry. After reading that book you will understand what makes them different than even other Faith Based drug and alcohol programs.
The spirit of adventure that is serving God that you sense when you read that book is still the core spirit of the Adult and Teen Challenge ministries.
My only advice would be that you ask the intake person you talk to on the phone if that particular Teen Challenge Center believes in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as written about in the Cross and the Switchblade book and if they say that they don't teach that there, or if they say that the leadership is "reformed" or anything like that don't go to that center, call the next one closer and ask them.
The new name is Adult and Teen Challenge to avoid confusion that it is just for teens. Teens normally go to a boys ranch center, most of the ATC centers are 18 and up with few younger than 21.
Most ATC centers are in line with the Assemblies of God statement of faith doctrinally. However there are many now that are under leadership that is more "reformed" or similar to Calvinist doctrine. They do everything the same as the other centers but they don't have the same success rate and the level of spiritual intensity among the students (residence are called students at ATC) is not the same.
There are three chapters in the Cross and the Switchblade dedicated to this subject of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the dynamic part it played in the success rate of the early Teen Challenge centers. It was also during this time that a Catholic priest introduced the book to some other priests in a Catholic university and thus began the Charismatic movement within the Catholic church, you can read about it in wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_charismatic_renewal
My main point is that you don't want to go to an ATC center that has abandoned the importance of this teaching on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as it relates to the success rate of the graduates. It was surveyed in the 60s and many times since that this is the reason that the ATC centers have the highest long term success rate. Those students that do not experience this or do not believe in this doctrine have a much greater relapse rate. That is what every survey done in the past 60 years has shown. People can argue about it all they want, but the surveys don't lie, those centers that promote this doctrine have a higher longterm success rate among the graduates than those that do not.
Right now there is a trend going across the country for some Teen Challenge centers to get money from the State by opening up 30 day detox and 90 day short term clinical rehabs that insurance pays for and state will help fund. Then if the students want to join the long term Faith based program after the 90 days they can. This is very controversial move because the concern is that they will not be able to preach Jesus Christ as the solution for the short term program and get the funding. They are hoping to funnel these people into the Faith based program and therefore maybe reach people that would never have entered into the program without going through the short term state funded program first.
I don't know what I think about that. I have heard positive and negative things about it.
Even my pastor who is a pastor over about 15 other pastors is a Teen Challenge Graduate.
1
