Timm's Story

At Prison Prevention Ministries, our prevention speakers are invaluable. One of these speakers is a man named Timm Szostek.

Timm came from a family with influence and resources – though he had the tools to succeed, he still made decisions that led him to being in federal prison. He began exploring cigarettes and drugs as early as middle school.

“I surrounded myself with the wrong people,” he shared. “By the time high school came I was already an addict, addicted to cigarettes and cocaine.”

As his addiction worsened, his life continued to fall apart. He turned down a scholarship for a college that would put him on course for the career he wanted, choosing to follow his friends to a different school instead. Those same friends were nowhere to be found in the following years as he suffered prison sentences and took bullets for friends that didn’t stick around.

“Addicts will find a reason to use. It’s what we’re best at,” he said. "I was addicted to the power I thought it gave me and the money I thought I had made.”

But in reality, none of the drugs gave him the power he wanted and any money he made didn’t last. He continued doing the same thing – selling, buying, using – and expecting different results. He shared that to do that was the definition of insanity.

Timm shares with every student the only reason he was able to get clean was by the grace of God. Despite everything he had been through, done, or seen, he found restoration when he encountered the God who created him.

When asked why he believed it mattered that he shared his story with students, he responded, "Because I’ve been in their position. And I see God moving and impacting them through my story.”

PPM continues to give platforms to men and women across the community that want to share what the Lord has done in their lives. What a reminder that God can take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it around for good!

At Prison Prevention Ministries, the prevention program serves over 80 local schools in order to connect with students; participating youth have the opportunity to hear real life experiences from those who have made poor decisions and suffered their consequences. The presentations illustrate the significance of choices even at an early age. Every student is exposed to a raw story radically changed by Jesus Christ.