July/August 2026
My friends,
Like so many of you, I was deeply moved on June 21st by the testimony, witness, and music of the Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge Community Choir. Many of us have had our lives touched in some capacity by addictions – by the harmful grip of alcohol, nicotine, or other drugs, addictions to gambling, or even the new phenomenon of addictions to screens and social media. Within my own family there have been struggles with alcohol abuse across generations, so it is a struggle I know all too well. For people who have seen the harm that addiction can cause, the stories of our guests provide hope by showing success stories, by sharing testimony that recovery is possible. We can get better. We can change.
Yet the stories that were shared with us go deeper than just the problem with substance abuse and other forms of addiction. Even if we are fortunate enough to have not been affected by substance abuse – whether our own or that of people in our lives – we all know the devastating effects of sin: the rupture in our relationship with God that has devastating consequences on all our other relationships, including with ourselves. The experience of substance abuse shows us a clear analogy to our own relationship with sin, by showing us how people can choose and continue to choose actions that are self-destructive and that alienate us from everyone around us. We know it’s bad, we see the effects, yet we keep on choosing it.
Just as the testimony of past abuse helps us understand our own relationship with sin, the stories of recovery provide us with a reminder of the incredible power of grace to transform us and make us whole again. Even in the midst of our own voluntary slavery to sin’s power, God is not done with us. God is working for us and within us to bring us back into light from the darkness. Even in our lowest moments, in our rock-bottom moments, God meets us with love. God greets us like the father of the prodigal son, embracing us with open arms, and crying out “my [child] was dead and is alive again; [they were] lost, and [are] found.” (Luke 15:24) The people of Minnesota Teen and Adult Challenge are not only there to show that their treatment plans for substance abuse work, but to testify to the power of God to transform people and bring them from death back to life. After all, we worship a God who loves a good resurrection story.
I’m proud to financially support the work that Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge does, and I’m thrilled at the generosity that this congregation displayed in raising funds for them. You always rise to the occasion when it comes to the mission of the church, putting your values of Christian hospitality and generosity into meaningful action. It is an inspiration.
Grace and Peace,
– Pastor Jeff