Teen Challenge in Selma held its annual banquet Thursday night to show the community what they are about and to show the men in the program how the community supports them.

“This is our biggest fundraiser of the year, and it’s really a good time for the students to see the community support that we have here,” said Ken Schroeder, pastoral counselor and intake coordinator for the program.

“We talk often to the students, especially the new students when they come in about the love and the support that they are going to receive here from the community and the churches and business and how much they love Teen Challenge. It’s a good time for the guys to see that love in action because a lot of people have contributed to make this event happen.”

Teen Challenge is a 12-month Christian discipleship program that helps men 18 years and older learn how overcome to addiction.

Nathan Bullard spent a year in the program working through his drug and alcohol addiction, and he graduated in front of his family, Teen Challenge brothers and the community.

“You come here as a drug addict. You feel at the bottom of the barrel and when you come here and these people are waving at you and love you and welcome you in. There’s no words that can describe it,” Bullard said. “I really don’t even know how to describe the appreciation that I have for Selma and how much they have supported us and how they much loved us.”

Bullard gave his testimony at the event and told how much the program had changed his life, so much so that he decided to stay in Selma and intern at Teen Challenge for a year.

“I have actually gotten the opportunity to teach second phase advanced courses for the guys that have been there for four months and over,” Bullard said. “I know for a fact that this is where I need to be, and I can’t wait to show Jesus’s love to these guys and give them hope.”

Bullard said the program gave him a purpose, and that God showed him how important he was and how much he meant to the community.

“It means more to me than I could even put into words [that] throughout my entire life and everything I was going through, that God would love me so much that he would put me here and have a purpose for me,” Bullard said. “I have received hope in my life. I have learned who I am, and I love who I am.”