Latest / Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo / Vaushawn Johnson: Saving Lives, Overcoming Addictions A Life At A Time

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Vaushawn Johnson: Saving Lives, Overcoming Addictions A Life At A Time · Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo

• 0:03
  Welcome to Worldview Matters.
• 0:05
  Discussing controversial issues.
• 0:07
  Discerning current events.
• 0:10
  Defending biblical Christianity.
• 0:13
  No topic.
• 0:14
  Off limits.
• 0:16
  And now, here's your host, David Fiorazzo.
• 0:20
  Hello, friends, family, and Christ.
• 0:21
  Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Worldview Matters.
• 0:25
  We're going local today.
• 0:26
  We're talking about a very important organization in Wisconsin, Adult and Teen Challenger.
• 0:33
  We're going to give you the website.
• 0:35
  It is ATC.com.
• 0:37
  atcnew.com.
• 0:40
  That's A-T-C-N-E-W.com.
• 0:44
  We're going to talk about some of the great work that they continue to do with my special guests in studio, Executive Director Vashon Johnson.
• 0:52
  He's been here once before.
• 0:53
  Welcome, brother.
• 0:54
  Good to see you again.
• 0:55
  Thanks for having us here, David.
• 0:56
  It's good to be back.
• 0:56
  Yeah, thanks for coming in again.
• 0:58
  And Scott, what's your last name?
• 1:00
  Lindner.
• 1:00
  Scott Lindner, right?
• 1:01
  And you are new to the podcast at least and relatively new to ATC.
• 1:06
  We're going to get your story.
• 1:09
  But welcome to the studio, brother.
• 1:11
  Thanks for having us, David.
• 1:11
  I appreciate it.
• 1:12
  You're most welcome.
• 1:13
  I love your organization.
• 1:14
  Now, we did a show with Vashon about two years ago.
• 1:20
  And I'm going to ask him to recap his story.
• 1:24
  and his testimony and he's really good at bullet pointing it now and how he came to ATC and what he does how he became executive director but if you want to hear the full detailed version go to worldviewmatters.tv and in the search bar type in Vashon V-A-U-S-H-A-W look at that it came up already yeah
• 1:47
  There it is.
• 1:48
  Saved from addiction and prison to glorify God.
• 1:53
  And now he's the executive director of Adult and Teen Challenge in Northeast Wisconsin.
• 1:58
  So, brother, let's start with...
• 2:01
  your story.
• 2:02
  Yeah.
• 2:02
  People that haven't, I mean, we have a lot of new reviewers and listeners in the last two years that maybe didn't catch that episode.
• 2:08
  Hopefully they'll go back and they'll search it and watch it.
• 2:10
  So condense that for us.
• 2:12
  Yeah.
• 2:12
  Well, man, it's an honor to be back again, David.
• 2:15
  Yeah.
• 2:15
  And I love how much my story converges with me being the executive director.
• 2:19
  Long story short, God saved me from addiction.
• 2:23
  I was in a jail cell in 2008, 18 years ago.
• 2:28
  I grew up in a family of addiction.
• 2:30
  My mom and dad were addicts.
• 2:32
  My uncles were addicts in the inner city of Minneapolis is where I was raised.
• 2:37
  Unfortunately, I ended up going down that path as well.
• 2:41
  In 1920, started tampering around with drugs and alcohol by the time I was 21.
• 2:45
  I was full blown addict, alcoholic and drug dealer, ran in and had a lot of run ins with law enforcement and made a lot of bad decisions during that time.
• 2:55
  My life spiraled when I was about 27 years old.
• 2:58
  And and that's when I would say my awakening came, you know.
• 3:03
  27, wow.
• 3:05
  Well, when you don't have those godly role models that we know are so important to young kids today, they're not gonna get it from the world.
• 3:14
  They're not gonna get it in the government schools, they're not gonna get it from Hollywood, from corporations, from politics.
• 3:19
  They need it at home.
• 3:21
  They need discipleship, they need role models in their own parents to model that.
• 3:25
  You and a lot of young people today don't get that.
• 3:28
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 3:28
  And yours was kind of a...
• 3:30
  more of a severe case because both of your parents were, yeah, yeah.
• 3:34
  And you followed in their footsteps.
• 3:36
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 3:37
  You know, there's a saying you can come become a product of your environment, right?
• 3:41
  Or the home that you're raising.
• 3:42
  In my case, that was the case.
• 3:43
  Me and my two younger brothers both became addicts and got, you know, at a really early age,
• 3:51
  But man, you know, my mom still, you know, I always say my first drug was my mom dragging us to church.
• 3:55
  She was a Southern girl from Texas.
• 3:57
  So I was exposed to Christianity as a young boy.
• 4:00
  But when you grow up in a very dysfunctional home, it's hard to make that parallel of the dysfunction you see in the church that you're going to.
• 4:08
  The two words then lining up.
• 4:09
  And when I got old enough and I kind of started being able to make my own decisions, I just walked away from God.
• 4:14
  It wasn't something that I was really interested in doing.
• 4:17
  So did you feel like your mom or were you going to church, did you feel like you were kind of hypocritical?
• 4:23
  I feel I was forced.
• 4:24
  Forced?
• 4:27
  Forced Christianity, you know?
• 4:29
  Forced Christianity.
• 4:30
  You know, so, but yeah.
• 4:32
  And, but you know, I'm grateful because anytime I did get in trouble, right?
• 4:36
  Like I always knew to go back to God.
• 4:39
  Now the motivation was not pure, but my, the heart and the understanding was, is that God can get me out of trouble.
• 4:47
  Right.
• 4:47
  And that became who God was.
• 4:49
  He was like my get out of jail free card, not a guy who loves me and cherishes me and wants a relationship with me that I found out later.
• 4:56
  So when did that really click for you when you really were truly either repentant or converted?
• 5:02
  Yeah, yeah.
• 5:03
  And that would happen in 2008.
• 5:05
  I had my first second or this would be my second drug crime and I'm facing a lot of years in prison this time around.
• 5:13
  But it was actually a jail minister when I was locked up incarcerated in northern Minnesota that a jail minister came into the jail every week to speak with his inmates.
• 5:24
  And he shared the gospel with me the way I needed to hear it that day.
• 5:27
  And it's that Jesus wanted a relationship with me.
• 5:30
  I knew of God to get me out of trouble.
• 5:33
  I knew of God, you know, from what I was raised in church and the dysfunction.
• 5:37
  And but I didn't know of this God who wanted a relationship with me.
• 5:41
  And it became something that the way he spoke, you know, you know how you have the moments where.
• 5:46
  You can be in a room and the pastor's talking to you.
• 5:48
  And it's like, man, there's a lot of people in the room, but it's like he's speaking right to you.
• 5:52
  Right.
• 5:53
  And it was one of those moments where the Holy Spirit was using this pastor to speak right to my heart.
• 5:57
  I went back to my cell that day and I mean, I surrendered my life to Christ because I really heard the call that it was about a relationship.
• 6:05
  And that's what I desired.
• 6:07
  So when you did get out, did you connect with Adult and Teen Challenge while you were in prison?
• 6:12
  Yeah, that's the interesting story.
• 6:13
  So long story short of that is after I converted and gave my life to Christ in jail, circumstances didn't change, right?
• 6:20
  I'm still heading to prison.
• 6:22
  But another inmate caught wind of me, you know, watch.
• 6:25
  I would get up every morning.
• 6:26
  I would turn on Christian network.
• 6:29
  I would watch sermons and different things.
• 6:31
  And the other inmates, I was driving them crazy with all my biblical stuff.
• 6:35
  But another inmate told me about Adult and Teen Challenge in Minnesota.
• 6:39
  And he said, well, man, maybe that Christian stuff you always watch, and maybe you go to this Christian program, your lawyer can get you in.
• 6:46
  And that was my first introduction to Adult and Teen Challenge.
• 6:49
  He gave me an application he had been holding for six months.
• 6:52
  And he said he wasn't going to go.
• 6:54
  So he gave me his application.
• 6:56
  I filled it out, turned it in.
• 6:58
  A few weeks later, I got a letter from Adult and Teen Challenge Minnesota saying that they would allow me to come to their program if the judge would let me go.
• 7:05
  And the judge obviously did.
• 7:07
  The judge did.
• 7:07
  That's God's favor there.
• 7:09
  Absolutely, man.
• 7:10
  He had a plan for you, brother.
• 7:11
  He did.
• 7:11
  That's awesome.
• 7:12
  He did.
• 7:12
  Absolutely.
• 7:13
  Awesome story.
• 7:14
  So you were in the program for how long then?
• 7:15
  One year.
• 7:16
  So it's a one-year program.
• 7:17
  So I went in, and I'll never forget, December 8, 2008.
• 7:22
  And I graduated on December 30, 2009, graduated the one-year program.
• 7:26
  From there, the Lord just really started beckoning me to ministry.
• 7:30
  I didn't know what that looked like.
• 7:31
  I just wanted to give back to the program they gave to me.
• 7:33
  I went to our two-year training program in Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge Ministry Institute.
• 7:39
  And then from there, I just kind of started climbing my way up the ladder, serving at ground level, serving the other men in the Minneapolis program.
• 7:47
  became a manager, and then the Lord would take me to prison ministry for a couple years and then bring me here to Green Bay to plant a new adult teen challenge right here in Howard, Wisconsin.
• 7:56
  And what year was that when you planted it here in Green Bay?
• 7:58
  It was in the middle of the pandemic in 2020.
• 8:00
  Wow, so about six years.
• 8:02
  A year that we all remember.
• 8:03
  Wow, yes.
• 8:05
  Some of us don't want to remember that.
• 8:08
  Well, I'm thankful that you're here, for many reasons.
• 8:12
  Obviously, you were at my church recently in Green Bay, One Way Christian Church.
• 8:15
  Pastor David Roth, great leader and man of God, had Vashon and his team come in, some of the graduates, and they did some worship.
• 8:22
  They put on a great program, and
• 8:24
  And that's why I was reminded to have you back again.
• 8:27
  But just side note, what's happening in Minneapolis is horrific in almost every aspect of culture, government.
• 8:36
  That state is a mess.
• 8:38
  And I'll tell you, friends, elections have consequences.
• 8:41
  Wisconsin is not too far behind.
• 8:43
  If we, the Bible believers in Wisconsin, the Christians, true Christians, don't get out and vote for the right people because—
• 8:51
  We don't want to don't Minnesota are Wisconsin is one of the lines people say.
• 8:56
  So I want to just talk about some of the programs on the website, some of the things you're doing.
• 9:02
  Let's first let's talk about some of the stats here.
• 9:05
  Seventy eight percent sobriety, ninety one percent relationships, ninety two percent reduced recidivism.
• 9:13
  Can you explain those briefly for us?
• 9:15
  Yeah, that's really the national results of Adult Teen Challenge our ministry from a national standpoint, right?
• 9:20
  There's 74 centers that was conducted in that.
• 9:24
  And ultimately, if I could just tell you, David, it's not about the Teen Challenge can't save anyone.
• 9:29
  It is the conduit and it's the doorway to Christ, right?
• 9:33
  Our program is built on biblical principles and is built as a Christ-centered program.
• 9:37
  And when we take men and women out of addiction and we introduce them to Christ, he is the one who helps them, sets them free and puts them on a new path, including myself.
• 9:47
  Right.
• 9:47
  And so those statistics are really just it's what God does when he gets a hold of a person's heart.
• 9:53
  Right.
• 9:53
  Like there's nothing that the Lord can't handle in a person's life.
• 9:57
  So amen, brother.
• 9:58
  I'm just looking at some of this information now.
• 9:59
  This is a little brochure I got when they were at our church putting hope within reach.
• 10:04
  And just Brown County is where Green Bay, Wisconsin is located.
• 10:08
  And it says, Brown County declares fentanyl a community health crisis.
• 10:15
  In 2022.
• 10:16
  In 2022, yes.
• 10:17
  That was one of the local news stations in Green Bay.
• 10:19
  So we don't realize it could get a lot worse, but there are many more reasons we need ATC, Adult and Teen Challenge.
• 10:29
  You want to talk about a couple of the things you guys are doing that are new.
• 10:33
  One of them is detailing.
• 10:34
  Yeah.
• 10:35
  I saw that on your website.
• 10:37
  Was that on the homepage of your website?
• 10:38
  Yeah.
• 10:39
  Yeah, yeah.
• 10:39
  Talk about that.
• 10:40
  Well, man, that's exciting.
• 10:42
  This has been a journey that we've been on for about 14 months now.
• 10:47
  Most of our programs around the nation, they typically find some type of what's called a micro business to kind of help bring revenue in, but help teach our men and women some work ethic.
• 10:57
  And so usually there's a thrift store or there's car washes or there are detail shops.
• 11:08
  not really useful for anything other than what we're using it for now.
• 11:13
  And so the idea was planted a little earlier last year, 2025, that possibly we can turn this into a micro business workforce program for adult detailing and,
• 11:25
  And man, we renovated the facility.
• 11:27
  A lot of our residents played a huge hand in helping get it off the ground.
• 11:30
  And we just launched literally last week.
• 11:33
  The business is up and going.
• 11:34
  The link is live.
• 11:36
  So man, if you need your car detail, our guys can take care of it.
• 11:39
  So you, where is it you're located again?
• 11:41
  You're in Green Bay?
• 11:42
  We're in Green Bay in Howard, Wisconsin, right outside of Green Bay, 999 North Military Avenue.
• 11:48
  And there's a link right on there that says, Visit All Things Clean Auto Spa.
• 11:52
  Yeah.
• 11:53
  And I like that.
• 11:54
  The double, the clean from drugs, but clean car, clean vehicle.
• 11:58
  Absolutely.
• 11:59
  All right.
• 11:59
  Well, I don't want to run out of time.
• 12:01
  We'll get to your, well, you know what?
• 12:02
  Let's talk about Sponsor Abed.
• 12:04
  That's brand new.
• 12:05
  And I've got a little brochure here with a picture of a bunk bed.
• 12:08
  What is this about?
• 12:09
  That's for someone that wants to go in the program.
• 12:12
  Yeah, yeah.
• 12:12
  And that's more if you want to connect with us on that.
• 12:16
  Sponsor bed program is really just our program is geared towards helping people who don't have the ability to build a fort.
• 12:24
  treatment.
• 12:25
  It's taboo these days for you to even get a one-year residential treatment program, right, that doesn't even exist, most likely outside of an adult teen challenge.
• 12:33
  But with that comes that we are a Christ-centered program.
• 12:36
  There's not a lot of resources that are given to us.
• 12:38
  There's a thing called church and state.
• 12:41
  We don't compromise the gospel.
• 12:42
  We're not shy about us being a Christian program.
• 12:45
  But with that, it limits us from...
• 12:47
  Be able to get certain funding.
• 12:48
  And so really, we are sustained and we survive off the churches, off our foundations, and off of private donors.
• 12:57
  And so the sponsor bet is a way for you to be able to sponsor a guy to go through our program and give him a scholarship.
• 13:02
  I want to emphasize something that Vashon just shared, that if they were to get federal money, they probably wouldn't be able to speak so bluntly about the gospel, make disciples and talk about the Christian faith and do what they're doing.
• 13:15
  So I and I know our viewing audience, our listeners, appreciate your commitment to that because, you know, you've got to draw a line.
• 13:22
  Absolutely.
• 13:23
  Once you have that red tape, yes, you're getting federal assistance, but now you can't say this or that.
• 13:29
  Let's quickly jump into Scott's story, and then we'll talk about more of what you guys do, but you both have big smiles on your face.
• 13:36
  I know you're proud of Scott just made it through the program.
• 13:40
  He's also on the website, I think right on the homepage.
• 13:42
  Guys, if you scroll down on the bottom of the homepage, it talks about the stories, and you can read Scott's story.
• 13:50
  So,
• 13:51
  Let's just start from the beginning.
• 13:53
  A little bit of your past, what you were involved with, what happened, and then what brought you to ATC.
• 13:59
  Sure.
• 14:01
  Well, I had my first drink at the age of 17.
• 14:07
  What was supposed to be like a normal, you know, teen experience ended up turning into something that would grab hold of my thoughts.
• 14:16
  And at that point in time in life, I just started chasing the wrong things, getting involved in the wrong people.
• 14:26
  I grew up in a Christian household, but I didn't know
• 14:31
  you know, attending church on a Sunday, um,
• 14:34
  I really didn't understand a lot.
• 14:36
  So it was hard to really resonate with.
• 14:41
  But throughout the course of my late teenage years and early 20s, I got into drugs and alcohol pretty bad.
• 14:49
  Alcohol and then cocaine.
• 14:51
  Wow.
• 14:53
  At the age of 25, I lost my first love to suicide.
• 14:58
  And that was definitely a turning point in my life where –
• 15:03
  I didn't know what to do.
• 15:04
  I didn't know how to feel.
• 15:06
  I just wanted to suppress and numb feelings and emotions.
• 15:12
  So I turned to alcohol at that point in time.
• 15:17
  I ended up getting some OWIs throughout the course of my life, my 20s and my 30s.
• 15:23
  And I was married.
• 15:26
  I had kids.
• 15:27
  I have two kids, 12 and 13.
• 15:30
  And there would be moments in my life of sobriety.
• 15:34
  But I.
• 15:36
  They would always fall, come with a downward fall.
• 15:41
  Because I didn't know, I didn't have my faith in any one thing.
• 15:44
  I was just living life in self-propulsion.
• 15:49
  I had a career that really took me away from my family.
• 15:55
  Being a chef and a chef manager, I got a career.
• 15:59
  Going to church on the Sundays wasn't really a possibility.
• 16:05
  So at the age of 38, I ended up getting a divorce.
• 16:10
  And after that divorce, I was sober for a period of time.
• 16:16
  And I relapsed and I got an OWI-5.
• 16:21
  I was in jail for the first time, just completely broken, lost, confused.
• 16:30
  How could I put my family through this again?
• 16:32
  And I attended two other treatment programs early on in life, and I knew that a shorter program wasn't going to work.
• 16:46
  No treatment courts would accept me to get help.
• 16:50
  Um, but I was talking to my mom one day from jail and she's like, Scott, I think we found, I think we found a way.
• 16:57
  I heard from a person in church about adult teen challenge.
• 17:01
  Okay.
• 17:02
  Which just opened up in January.
• 17:05
  Um, and this was like March that I found out.
• 17:08
  Was this 2020?
• 17:09
  2020?
• 17:10
  2024.
• 17:10
  2024.
• 17:11
  2024.
• 17:11
  Okay.
• 17:12
  Yeah.
• 17:14
  So, I told my mom, I was like, let's get a hold of them.
• 17:20
  And we called, we emailed, we tried to get a hold of Adult Teen Challenge as much as we possibly can.
• 17:27
  And by the grace of God, I got into the program.
• 17:31
  I was able to bail out on a situation that I was in jail for.
• 17:38
  I got to admit right away, and it was amazing.
• 17:43
  Now, I knew that it was gonna be hard.
• 17:48
  One year's a long time, and I had to be willing.
• 17:52
  I really had to be willing to change.
• 17:56
  Because I can either make an excuse or make a change, as one of our leaders said when I was in the program, and that really stuck to me.
• 18:05
  And,
• 18:08
  There was good days, bad days, but pressing into the Lord and having a whole year to learn more about yourself and your relationship with Jesus Christ.
• 18:20
  He broke the chains of addiction.
• 18:21
  I was baptized.
• 18:23
  I have a brotherhood of amazing men.
• 18:25
  I had wonderful mentors.
• 18:28
  I have an amazing community of church people in my life that support my growth, encourage me.
• 18:36
  Um, where other places just don't have that.
• 18:41
  And they, they, um, allowed me to really learn and explore my faith, but also guide me in the right directions.
• 18:51
  Um, yeah.
• 18:52
  Adult Teen Challenge is something that I am most proud of to be a part of.
• 18:58
  Now as staff, as a programming coordinator, I almost have three years of sobriety.
• 19:05
  November 9th will be three years.
• 19:07
  Praise God.
• 19:08
  Yeah.
• 19:10
  I can't tell you where my life would be without the program, without God, because God literally broke the chains of addiction.
• 19:21
  Where I used to go, I couldn't even go a day without thinking about alcohol.
• 19:27
  And now I can wake up every single morning with a clear mind, a clear conscience, and not think about drugs and alcohol.
• 19:37
  because it's the last thing that I want to even think about or put in my way as I continue to seek God.
• 19:45
  And not just God, but the center also teaches you how to be a man of God.
• 19:52
  It's not just about sobriety.
• 19:54
  Sobriety is a byproduct of the program.
• 19:58
  It's about walking with integrity.
• 20:00
  And I definitely learned some lessons along the way on that one.
• 20:06
  But it's my interactions with my children, my parents, the community, a person of interest, and...
• 20:15
  It is literally walking as a man of God and doing the right thing when other people aren't watching.
• 20:22
  And that to me is something that for the first time in life, I don't have to chase lies.
• 20:30
  I don't have to think that I did something wrong.
• 20:35
  And if I did, I'm able to apologize in the now.
• 20:40
  I didn't have those things in life prior.
• 20:43
  I didn't at all.
• 20:45
  And by giving it all up and fully surrendering to God and also to the program,
• 20:53
  I was able to graduate the program March 26, 2025 with honors.
• 20:59
  Wow.
• 21:00
  And now you're on staff.
• 21:01
  And now I'm on staff.
• 21:02
  Wow.
• 21:03
  You're beaming over there, Scott.
• 21:04
  Brother, I'd love to see that.
• 21:06
  Thank you.
• 21:07
  A true success story.
• 21:09
  Thank you.
• 21:09
  I pray it continues.
• 21:10
  And I just see the picture of you with your kids.
• 21:12
  Yeah.
• 21:13
  And what a difference.
• 21:15
  I wasn't going to ask this, but I'm sure your kids have noticed a change in you.
• 21:19
  Can you give us an idea of what that's been like for them to see the change in you?
• 21:25
  Can you give us an idea of that?
• 21:27
  Have they said anything?
• 21:30
  What's your take like that?
• 21:31
  Yes.
• 21:32
  Try not to cry here.
• 21:33
  It's okay.
• 21:35
  My children have seen a difference in their dad.
• 21:38
  A dad that is present, that is there for them.
• 21:42
  Yeah.
• 21:43
  that takes time for them, that doesn't say, hey, we're going to do something, and it cancels plans.
• 21:51
  They see action and follow through.
• 21:54
  They see me talking on the phone with other people in sobriety and other people in our community to encourage others.
• 22:03
  I'm also in school to become a substance abuse counselor, and they get to see that.
• 22:07
  Wow.
• 22:08
  They get to be a part of this.
• 22:09
  And...
• 22:11
  Now, also, as a parent, in today's world and society, I can give them real-life lessons of encouragement of what to avoid, what to look for.
• 22:24
  Yeah.
• 22:25
  Because not everybody understands sobriety.
• 22:27
  Yeah.
• 22:28
  And my children do.
• 22:30
  And I don't sugarcoat things with them.
• 22:34
  They know the truth.
• 22:36
  And their lives, to see my kids smile every single morning...
• 22:42
  is an amazing, wonderful thing in life.
• 22:44
  Awesome.
• 22:45
  Well, I can tell, you know, Vashon's over here, you know, smiling like a proud papa almost, but, you know, to see a graduate come through and now he's just blooming, right?
• 22:55
  And God is using Scott.
• 22:57
  Yeah.
• 22:58
  That must give you so much, I don't want to say pride, but just, you're just thankful.
• 23:02
  But yeah, you are proud of him and the work that God's doing in these men that come through the program.
• 23:07
  You want to share a little bit about that?
• 23:08
  Yeah, man.
• 23:09
  It's a joy.
• 23:10
  Yeah.
• 23:10
  No, it is this absolute joy to see men like Scott get it.
• 23:13
  And he's one of our 11 graduates that we've been able to graduate from our program.
• 23:19
  One of the things I just got to say about Scott is that he is a true man of God.
• 23:23
  He is a man of faith.
• 23:25
  He's a man of genuineness and seriousness.
• 23:27
  He takes his relationship with God very serious.
• 23:30
  We see him blossom when he came in, who was, you know, like he said, he had a strained relationship with his kids.
• 23:38
  To see him, because as a part of our program is we have family visitations every week so that they can rebuild these bridges with their children and family.
• 23:46
  As they're going through the recovery process and Amanda see him as a dad.
• 23:50
  And the program to see him as a father now, right?
• 23:54
  Fathering his children, being present, as he says.
• 23:57
  There's nothing like that feeling, man.
• 23:58
  That's just the reason why we do what we do.
• 24:00
  That's why we exist, right?
• 24:01
  Yeah.
• 24:02
  And so, yeah.
• 24:04
  Every life matters.
• 24:05
  Yeah.
• 24:05
  Every single life.
• 24:06
  Because you never know the impact that he's going to have now.
• 24:09
  Absolutely.
• 24:09
  Absolutely.
• 24:10
  And that's the importance of discipleship.
• 24:12
  And we have gotten so far away from that, in my opinion, in the American church.
• 24:18
  But the time you spend pouring into either young people or new believers, it's going to matter long term.
• 24:25
  It's going to have effects that you can't see right now.
• 24:28
  But the work is so important.
• 24:30
  I want to give you the support link.
• 24:32
  Guys, you know, it's a program that they're doing it God's way.
• 24:36
  And they're not getting some federal money because of that, but they are getting donations from people like yourself.
• 24:41
  I just want to give the website again, atcnew.com slash support, if God has put it on your heart, if you've been touched by Vashon's story or Scott's story, or any of the others, you can go down and scroll down on the website and read more of the details of the work and the transformation that God has done through men of God.
• 25:00
  They're atcnew.com slash support.
• 25:05
  Okay.
• 25:06
  Scott, I just want to go back to you and remind us what is your role?
• 25:11
  You're a program coordinator.
• 25:12
  Is that what you're doing?
• 25:14
  Yes, I'm a program coordinator.
• 25:15
  So what does that look like?
• 25:17
  Well, I just started two weeks ago.
• 25:19
  Okay, so you're learning the roles.
• 25:21
  To really explain that role right now is a little bit challenging.
• 25:25
  But I'll be scheduling appointments for the men, overseeing the kitchen aspects of things, the detailing shop.
• 25:35
  I'll be handling components of that.
• 25:38
  That's going to be a fun part, I think.
• 25:40
  Yeah, yeah.
• 25:41
  The detailing shop.
• 25:42
  And then just really being of service to the men and then also the superior, you know, the leaders as well.
• 25:55
  You know...
• 25:56
  I love this saying, I don't work for man, I work for the Lord.
• 26:00
  So each and every day I go into work, I'm doing work for the Lord.
• 26:03
  I'm doing kingdom work.
• 26:05
  Amen.
• 26:05
  And that's what it's all about.
• 26:06
  Well, you are.
• 26:07
  I'll do anything that there is to do.
• 26:09
  And we all are, really.
• 26:10
  No matter what role we have as Bible-believing Christians, we're serving the Lord, not man.
• 26:15
  But we are also serving man and doing it God's way.
• 26:18
  We have like a minute and a half.
• 26:20
  Any closing thoughts, Vashon?
• 26:21
  Anything you want to share to us?
• 26:23
  Encourage our audience or anything about ATC?
• 26:25
  Yeah, man.
• 26:26
  I just want to encourage the listener who may be listening and may be struggling with addiction, feeling hopeless, feeling like the pit is so deep that you're not seen and that you're not heard.
• 26:38
  I just want to say to you that God sees you, God knows you, and God loves you, and that we ask and pray that those who are struggling with addiction under the sound of my voice—
• 26:52
  that you will reach for Jesus Christ, who is your savior, who there is no pit so deep that his love is not deeper still to pull you out of your addiction, to pull you out of your chains and that God is able.
• 27:05
  And so that is all I want to say to the listeners.
• 27:07
  And I'm so thankful for you, David.
• 27:10
  Thank you for giving us a platform to be able to share our mission with your listeners.
• 27:15
  As far as what we do, we cannot do this without the body of Christ.
• 27:18
  We cannot do this without other believers and partners like yourself.
• 27:21
  Glory to God, brother.
• 27:23
  I want to say, if you want to connect with Vashon...
• 27:25
  Christians have addictions too.
• 27:28
  We go through, you know, some people go through things where you're struggling.
• 27:31
  Well, there is help.
• 27:32
  There is hope.
• 27:33
  First turn to Christ.
• 27:34
  But they have a Facebook page, Adult and Teen Challenge Northeast Wisconsin.
• 27:39
  You can go to their Facebook, ATCNEW on Facebook.
• 27:43
  But look them up on their website.
• 27:44
  You can get a hold of Vashon that way or Scott if you'd like.
• 27:47
  ATCNEW.com.
• 27:49
  Friends, thank you so much for tuning in.
• 27:51
  Share this one, especially if you're in Wisconsin.
• 27:54
  God bless you.
• 27:55
  And as always, keep speaking the truth about things that matter.