Skip to main content

Heartlight Ministries: A Refuge for Hurting Teens

Share This article

HALLSVILLE, Texas -- Heartlight Ministries is a haven for troubled teens.

The ministry began in 1988 as a dream of Mark Gregston and his wife Jan when they were in college.

"Somebody came to me and said, 'do you want to lead a 'Young Life' group?' This is when I was in Tulsa, Oklahoma going to Tulsa University and I was just 19 years old. And I said, 'well, sure,' and so started leading the Young Life group, young man comes up to me and says he's struggling," Gregston told CBN News.

Since then, Gregston's passion to help hurting kids has grown. While building the ministry, Mark and Jan often took troubled kids into their own home. 

"God has just placed these kids in our life and we've said OK, let's start taking care of kids. And so that's what we've done," said Gregston.

A Haven for Hurting Teens

Heartlight, located on 150 beautiful acres in Hallsville, Texas, provides intensive counseling, mentoring and group therapy to kids from across the country.  The center helps kids overcome sexual abuse, drug addiction,  gender identity confusion, and a host of other issues.

"Back home I was kind of in a spot where I didn't think I really wanted to be alive anymore," said one 16-year-old at the Christian facility.

18-year-old Meredith Murff explained, "A week before I came here, I tried to commit suicide but I just had lots of problems, like my parents passing away and like drug and alcohol abuse, and sex and stuff like that."

The ministry is recognized as one of the country's finest residential counseling centers and Gregston pointed out that religion is not forced on the kids. 

Helping Kids Who Feel Abandoned by God

"They feel like God's abandoned them," he commented.

"Because they've grown up in Christian homes and when something's gone terribly wrong, they go, 'God didn't take care of me."

Gregston also stressed that actions speak louder than words, and these disillusioned teens need to see the character of God modeled through relationships with people at the center.

Heartlight has been home to nearly 3,000 teens over the past 28 years. The ministry also hosts a retreat for parents which helps to create lasting change for entire families, and boasts 90 percent success rate.

Heartlight Helps Parents, Too

Gregston's success with the ministry has also transferred to a national radio program for parents called "Parenting Today's Teens."

"The biggest challenge that we have is the parents," he explained.

"I look at parents all the time and I go, really the problem isn't your kids -- it's you.  And it's teaching them about the culture. It's showing them that it's changed completely, the way that people engage. It's showing them that some antiquated ways of parenting are no longer effective."

The message of Heartlight is to equip teens and their families with the tools they need to rebuild their lives. 

Meredith shared how her life has been transformed by the ministry. 

"It's helped me a lot just to like get through my grief and feel my emotions and learn how to be myself 'cause I didn't really know how to do that before and because you have so many people supporting you here and helping you through your changes," she said.

"And it's isolated like a little bubble so that you can work on the problems that you need to work on. So I'm doing good," she added.

Gregston said that's what he set out to accomplish nearly thirty years ago.

"I want them to be so loved while they're here that when they leave and go someplace else, they know, they compare it to the quality of life that they've experienced here," he said.

"They go, 'life may be tough but I remember I was loved when I was at Heartlight.'"

Share This article

About The Author

Charlene Aaron
Charlene
Aaron

Charlene Aaron serves as a general assignment reporter, news anchor, co-host of The 700 Club, co-host of 700 Club Interactive, and co-host of The Prayerlink on the CBN News Channel. She covers various social issues, such as abortion, gender identity, race relations, and more. Before joining CBN News in 2003, she was a personal letter writer for Dr. Pat Robertson. Charlene attended Old Dominion University and Elizabeth City State University. She is an ordained minister and pastor’s wife. She lives in Smithfield, VA, with her husband.