Alabama Adult & Teen Challenge-Men’s Center South

"My Son came back to us a Responsible, Christian Man. Able to stand on his own and pay his own bills for the first time in Many years. I Truly Know With All My Heart That AA&TC Saved My Son's Life! I will be eternally grateful for all the hard work they invested in my Son. I know he is in God's hands and I know he is a Christian. Everything about him changed for the better. Money could not buy the Blessings we have received or the life that was Saved! It was hard for us all to let go and let God, but that is exactly what had to happen to save my son's life. AA&TC knew exactly what he needed and what we needed as his family. If your son needs saving and you have realized that You can't save him. Call AA&TC because they can help him have a New Life! Promise. Thank You Bay Minette, AA&TC, and Pastor Kieth for the Miracle you gave us!"

"Idc if it is just Christian music. That is over stimulation! The shop on 9th Ave in Pensacola needs 5o tune down the music. It doesn't actually help keep customers looking longer. Other than that, was a nice clean store."

"I just want to say that God and this program saved my sons life. He was headed down a very dark path of addiction and depression. I have prayed for YEARS for him to be free of his addiction. But I wasn’t giving God enough credit, so that’s when He showed me how big and strong He is. Not only did He help my son break free from his addictions, He saved him. My son now has a personal relationship with God. Prior to this my son even told me he wasn’t sure there WAS a God. He has now completed his year there, and not only did he get saved and baptized (his choice...not a requirement or demand) he has chosen to stay and become an intern to help others with the same issues. He has done some public speaking, giving his testimony (which is amazing considering the things he did...also amazing he lived through it). I always told him that God had plans for him bigger than he could imagine. I’m here to tell you PRAYERS WORK! But I only prayed for his freedom from addictions. Not only did God do that, he went a step further and convicted him of listening to degrading rap music and gave him a voice to use to tell of His mercy that is freely given for all of us. He feels led to help others in similar situations. Praise and Glory to Him!! No, this is not “forced religion” as the previous review suggested. This is a program that tells you that God loves each and every one of us the same and wants us to come to the altar and ask for His help. He loves us so much that He gave His Only begotten son to save each and every one of us. I thank God for this wonderful program!! Instead of celebrating my sons graduation and promotion to internship, I could easily have been burying him had it not been for this program and Gods mercy."

"This review won't allow me to post without at least giving this center one star. I was placed in Teen Challenge in 2014 shortly after my graduation from high school. I had been smoking pot and taking Xanax. I was taken to the Bay Minette adult campus completely sober and in good hopes of turning things around. Shortly after being at the center I started to notice a cult vibe. From not being able to even look at a woman for five seconds without being punished to not even being allowed to wear a plain white shirt, things got crazier and crazier. Sleep deprivation was all too real in this center because of the constant work. The prayers that were required at night consisted of ex-cons with nothing but street knowledge yelling in tongues and trying to tell me what they think god wanted me to know. BULL. All but one of the leaders of this center were far from being exemplary Christians. A man named Joe was the only decent leader in the entire center. While being there, one of the instructors from the center was found making meth in a bottle upstairs. None of the councilors in the center are certified. The man in charge of the center was a living nightmare. He used the men in the center for free labor such as cleaning out a freezer that didn't work, filled with rancid food that had been in the hot Alabama sun for over three weeks. Maggots were everywhere. Who wouldn't want 30 plus men to do all of the dirty work for them? 30 plus men who do work for FREE to top it off. The men in the center were also forced to work for the city of Bay Minette doing odd end jobs while the center received money for the labor from a contract with the city. Things get even crazier. The man who made us clean out his freezer then moved his entire family, a wife and three children all under 10 into the center with nearly 30 men, most of whom were well over 35.. We ate moldy food donated by Winn Dixie. Trust me, I worked in the kitchen of the center. The amount of moldy food that was ingested was insane. The last month of me being at the center consisted of a counselor purchasing and providing alcohol and a synthetic lortab to some of the guys in the program. The guys then stole the Teen Challenge van, drove to a local bar in Bay Minette, and ended up in jail for breaking into a woman's car and stealing her purse. This program literally calls itself a christian boot camp. This "boot camp" is the main reason why I am not religious now. Not a single African- American man was at the center during my time, and boy did the racial slurs get thrown around constantly. Even the leaders of the center joined in. I saw men who were there to evade prison sentences leave and choose prison over the 12 month program. I quit the program after six months and picked my life up on my own, without religion. I am now a student at the University of Alabama and was diagnosed with PTSD through UA psychiatry because of what I went through at this center. I now have to live with the damage done to me for the rest of my life. The recurring nightmares of being trapped in this center still haunt me even after getting help. Replacing an addiction to drugs with an addiction to religion is not healthy. A person will change when he or she decides to change his or her own life. I will continue the spread the stories of the horrible things I experienced at this center. Most of the things I went through have been left out of this review because there are too many stories to tell. I do not recommend sending a loved one to this program. I promise it will do more damage than good. I have made a promise to myself to expose this program for everything that it truly is."