On February 28, 1990, I crawled in the doors of Teen Challenge, broken, desperate but without hope of ever being free from a life of drugs and alcohol and destruction. I planned to stay only a few weeks and even had planned for my boyfriend to bring me dope.

I grew up on a cattle ranch north of Mojave, California, in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I believed in God, but didn't know Jesus. I started using drugs and drinking when I was 13 years old, and continued for the next 12 years. Before long I started going in and out of jail. Somehow I managed to graduate Business College during this time with a diploma as a legal secretary.

I was in jail when I heard about the Teen Challenge program in a letter from my mother. But I really had no hope, since it would be my fourth rehab program. I was on the waiting list for five months to get into Teen Challenge because I had a court ordered class the judge wouldn't let me out of. The women's supervisor at that time was Tina Parchman and she would call me and tell me, "Kerry, the judge won't release you, hang in there, we'll get you in. We want you here." I remember hanging up the phone and thinking, wow, could someone (besides my mom and dad) really care about me?

The first day I entered the program we went to a church in Bakersfield and a lady came up to me and asked me if my name was Kerry. She was the wife of my junior high principal who I hadn't seen since then. She cried and told me she had been praying for me since the seventh grade.

Ten days in the program, the intern told me my brother was on the phone. I went to the phone and said hello. It wasn't my brother on the phone, it was my boyfriend putting our plan into action for him to bring me dope. He said hi, and I froze. I had never seen that scripture choose you this day whom you will serve, but I knew God was saying to me, you can either lie, cheat, and steal through this program or you can see who I am. I didn't say a word, with tears streaming down my face I handed the phone back to the intern and said "This isn't my brother."

I was in the program about six months before I began to hope that I might not do drugs again. I completed the year program in February 1991 and stayed and did two six month internships and was hired as staff in February 1992. During my five years as a staff member at the Tri-County Teen Challenge center I worked as the Administrative Assistant, Teacher/Advisor, Induction Coordinator and even, God help us, the Choir Director. In April of 1997 I left TC to work for Ventura First Assembly as the Church Administrator. It has been awesome to work with the team here and to see God doing so much!