Weekly Sunburst: The power of a hug

Every Wednesday evening at 6 p.m., the students from Alabama Adult & Teen Challenge Selma Campus attend a weekly service at Blue Jean Church.

This midweek experience for students is a time of community worship and teaching filled with love and compassion for each person. Hope Hill and Amy McMiller have made a priority to be a sunburst of love from the moment every man steps through the doors. The students attending this program have committed to a year devoted to healing and discovering freedom of addiction and life controlling issues. 

 Luke 13: 6-9“There was a man who planted a fig tree in his orchard. But every time he came to gather fruit from his tree he found none, for it was barren. So he said to his gardener, ‘For the last three years I’ve come to gather figs from my tree but it remains fruitless. What a waste! Go ahead and cut it down!’ “But the gardener protested, ‘Sir, we should leave it one more year. Let me fertilize and cultivate it, then let’s see if it will produce fruit. If it doesn’t bear figs by next year, we’ll cut it down.’” TPT

These Adult and Teen Challenge men, much like the spoken fig tree, have given a year of their lives committed to experiencing freedom from a life controlled by addiction. They are receiving healing from hurt and scars deep within their past. Through love and teaching, like the example set by ‘Hugs for Teen Challenge,’ these students are being nurtured, fertilized and cultivated in preparation of the bountiful fruit that they are going to produce. These students are being prepared for unmerited success and favor they have only just begun to dream about. 

Through the power of a hug, these men experience the warmth, love and strength awarded them from Christ. This aids in their preparation of their time of fellowship and teaching. Amy McMiller and Hope Hill have set a standard and step onto their mission field every Wednesday to ensure every student of this group knows the feeling of a warm, welcoming home where they feel safe, wanted and loved. Isn’t that what we all need? Maybe reading this you are preparing to take this to the next level, how about Hugs for Dallas County?