Success Stories

I AM THANKFUL FOR….

Seeing my life change; I can see the future; I can see the blessings that are there for me…

Sparing my life many, many times. He had mercy on my life twice after I was beaten and robbed. He made a way for me to get my life in order after being locked up in prison and for delivering me from drug and alcohol abuse…

The Adult and Teen Challenge program that restores lives, like this one, and all the brothers that are here with me going through the same thing…

God’s grace. His grace has delivered me from an unstable lifestyle…the chance to change my life and for the restored relationship with my family…

Helping me find a faith-based ministry and that the Lord is a forgiving God that has given me a second chance…

Helping me understand that my problem was not with alcohol and drugs but that I did not have a relationship with Christ. Today I have been given a fresh new start and the comfort of knowing my sins have been forgiven and I am a new child in Christ…

My life…I am no longer trying to commit suicide by using and abusing drugs on a daily basis. I am thankful for the air I breathe and the blood that flows through my veins.

Kevin Belcher, youngest of four children (whose dad disappeared before Kevin’s birth) was raised by his mother in a Dallas housing project. “I learned survival mode coming up in the hood – I knew a lot of the wrong people.”

After high school graduation, Belcher spent seven years in the Army. He then became the security director for an oil company which eventually launched into a seven-year binge of daily drug use. While he managed to personally quit cocaine cold turkey, the lucrative selling of drugs became his career. One day police kicked in the door of his house and busted him. Belcher believes his mother’s prayers kept the officers from shooting him as he greeted them, armed with his AK-47 assault rifle.

As he sat in a jail cell, facing 99 years – a chaplain, who his mother had asked to pray with Kevin, prayed with him and gave him literature about salvation through Jesus Christ. Kevin’s mindset soon changed from resigned defeat to hope. Kevin says: “From an early age mom taught me to put faith, hope and trust in God no matter what the circumstances. I attended church as a boy but hadn’t been told I needed to invite Jesus into my heart. I had never heard a clear presentation of the gospel.”

As Kevin prayed, he bargained and negotiated with God. Many people have uttered some version of “If you get me out of this situation, I’ll serve You faithfully the rest of my life. As he read the Book of Romans, he was inspired to write a letter admitting all his wrong-doings to sentencing Judge Keith Dean. He urged State District Judge Dean to send him where he could learn about Jesus. Dean honored his request and sentenced the then 33 year old offender to 18 months at Adult & Teen Challenge Dallas (ATCD). “I didn’t deserve another chance but the judge granted me mercy.”

The judge said: “I believe life is full of little windows of opportunity. Sending Belcher to a penitentiary wouldn’t have benefited him or society. Kevin needed this chance to be successful. I warned him if he appeared in my court again, I would impose the maximum penalty.” The ATC program experience changed Belcher’s life forever. Kevin kept up his part of the bargain. “Kevin has affected countless lives because of what he did with a second chance,” Dean says.

Kevin spent 12 years in full-time ministry with ADTC. He invited a neighbor, City of Dallas Director of Human Resources, to an ATCD banquet. Impressed with Belcher’s testimony, he offered him a human resources hiring manager position. Belcher’s character and determination, as well as the work ethics instilled through ATCD’s community service component have enabled Belcher’s hiring of others who have gone through the program.