Minnesota Teen Challenge announced that Trinity Lutheran Church in Albert Lea will host the Minnesota Teen Challenge Choir in a free performance on Jan. 16, 2011. The choir will perform at their 9 a.m. service. The MnTC Choir is known statewide, having performed at more than 300 churches in 2009.

The choir’s contemporary Gospel and Praise songs will be accompanied by inspiring student stories of their deliverance from addiction by the power and forgiveness of God. Additionally, the students will be available following the service (approximately 10:30 a.m.) to answer questions about their personal experiences and how their lives have been changed through Minnesota Teen Challenge.

The event is open to the public and all are welcome. Audience members will be inspired by the message of hope brought by the MnTC Choir — bring a friend!

About Minnesota Teen Challenge

Minnesota Teen Challenge is a faith-based residential chemical dependency program for teens and adults with chronic alcohol, drug and other life-controlling problems. The mission of Teen Challenge is to provide rehabilitation for adults and teens whose problems are so serious they can no longer function in social, family, and work settings, and to help them become mentally sound, emotionally balanced, socially adjusted, physically well and spiritually alive.

Minnesota Teen Challenge is one the largest of more than 150 Teen Challenge centers in the United States and 250 centers worldwide.

Teen Challenge began in 1958 when the Rev. David Wilkerson set out for New York to minister to teenage gang members. It was the conversion of notorious gang leader Nicky Cruz that laid the foundation for the beginnings of Teen Challenge ministries. Cruz’s conversion is chronicled in the novel “The Cross and the Switchblade.”