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By GREG JORDAN Bluefield Daily Telegraph PRINCETON — When a young man told Jim Nickels that he had helped save his life, Nickels knew he had found the task God wanted him to take on. Today Jim Nickels is the executive director of Appalachian Teen Challenge in Princeton. Most people think the campus is located in Athens, and while it is near that town, it is actually in Princeton, he said. Nickels, now 62, sat in his office and described Appalachian Teen Challenge and the path that led him to running it more than 20 years ago. ‘Teen Challenge was founded back in 1958,” he said. “A man by the name of David Wilkerson, he’s the author of the book ‘The Cross and the Switchblade,’ which many people remem ber when they were younger. He went into the streets of New York City and began reaching out to gang mem bers, and offering them a solution to their drug prob lems, and the solution he offered was a Christ-cen tered solution.” — “At first, these kids rebelled against David Wilkerson, but he was persistent and he was finally able to win their trust,” Nickels said. “Since its founding, Teen Challenge has grown to be one of the largest and most successful programs for helping youth to overcome life-controlling problems.” The local organization, Appalachian Teen Challenge, was founded in 1982 when several women realized there was a serious drug problem in Mercer County and the neighboring coun ties. They searched for treat ment programs that were working, Nickels said. “They heard of Teen Challenge and it was the most successful program going, so they traveled to New York City and learned about Teen Challenge. They came back here to Mercer County and began to spread the word that there’s a pre- 200 That is the day when God initiated me into what I am doing today. That day, God’s love for human beings touched me for the first time. Since that day, God healed me of my prejudice.’ Jim Nickels Executive director of Appalachian Teen Challenge gram that really does work,” Nickels said. A board of directors was formed, but they just could not get it off the ground, they just did not know how to get a program going.” A search was started to find a director ready to get the program moving. “That’s where I came into the picture shortly after that in 1985. They were to the point of giving up on the idea of getting a program in this community because they just didn’t have the right leader in place,” Nickels recalled. “I was contacted, so I moved here from Abingdon, Va.” Nickels and his family left a lot behind in order to estab lish themselves in Mercer County. “I had my own career down there, so my wife and I, we sold our home, gave up our careers and moved up here. We took the program for what it was at that time and developed it and oversaw it. Thirty years later, here I am over the 30 years, we devel oped the men’s program here, the women’s’ program here, and developed an ado lescent girls program in Fincastle, Va.,” he said. “We have opened a crisis center in Roanoke, Va.. We have built a new crisis center in Bridgeport, W.Va., and recently purchased land and we're going to be building a large facility up there. And we're looking at Charleston. We're establishing satellite programs around the train ing center.” The program, which is rig orous, works to help partici pants get their lives back in order. “At Teen Challenge, we use a Christ-centered tough love approach. An individual comes to us by way of refer rals from judges, police offi cers, and medical profession als. A person submits to us an application asking for help. Then they are inter viewed, and we determine if they are what we call ‘sick and tired of being sick and tired’. When we determine this person is ready to really deal with their problems, they can get in,” Nickels explained. “They're here for one year. This is a very intense pro gram. They receive intense vocational skills training, intense social skills training and spiritual guidance. We have the GED program on campus.” This approach combining spiritual guidance with regi mentation has been com pared to military lifestyles. “It’s been described as being in the Marine Corps at grandma's house,” Nickels said with a smile, “It’s tough love. Students get up at 7 o'clock in the morning and they have one minute to get out of bed. If you’re not out of bed in one minute, you meet with a discipline com mittee. We believe that structure and regimentation is very important in an indi vidual’s life.” People battling drug and alcohol abuse are shown how to get their lives back in order. “Our goal is to help restructure that life. We believe that God changes a man on the inside, and he gives us the responsibility to restructure that outer man, teaching him how to show up for work on time, how to accept supervision, actually how to get out of bed in the morning, because of a lot of them have lost all concept of what it means to get out of bed in the morning,” Nickels said. A native of Abingdon, Nickels had a good job with excellent prospects when he decided that he needed to do something more with his life. “I was working in Bristol, Tenn., when I came here. I was married, still married, of course, and we had two little children, ages 7 and 3 at that time. I had a career going. I was a designer, and electri cal mechanical designer, for a defense company.” “I was about 32 at the time. My career was going fine, we had just moved into a new home, everything was fine, but there was something missing in my life. There was a missing link. I could not for my life figure it out, but there was something missing in my life. I think I prayed, ‘God, is there some thing you want me to do with my life?’” Nickels moved to Princeton despite the possibility of being promoted to a lucra tive position in his company. The Nickels family sold their home and moved. Nickels soon learned that his new employer had no money in the bank and a $2,000 debt. But he had another problem to deal with, too — his inner turmoil. If I may get real personal here, I had a problem in my life. I had two problems in my life. One, I was preju diced. Two, I did not like alcoholics because my father was an alcoholic, and I was abused, and my father was in and out of prison. Unfortunately, I was part of that prejudiced generation back then in the early 50s and 60s, and my family, unfortunately, they were prejudiced,” he recalled. He went to Teen Challenge’s small office on Mercer Street and decided to start getting to know the community. Walking down Mercer Street, he went down an alley. “I got my first real taste of what I was to expect,” he said. He encountered four black individuals, and they were intoxicated. He introduced himself and said he wanted them to know that he want ed to help them “And I said, ‘I just want to let you guys know I care about you,’ but I was lying, unintentionally, but I was prejudiced,” Nickels said. “One of them got up, and he stumbled over to me, and he put his head on my shoulder on my shoulder was a black alcoholic, two things I had an issue with.” And with the touch of a person in need came a reve lation. “That is the day when God initiated me into what I am today. That day, God’s love for human beings touched me for the first time. Since that day, God healed me of my prejudice.” Staff photo by Greg Jordan Counseling... Nickels frequently talks one-on-one with Teen Challenge participants like Lauren. Social skills lessons and a routine are part of the Christ-based program.
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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Bluefield, West Virginia, US
Sat, Aug 09, 2014
Page 9
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USA 10 Sep 2026
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