On December 20, 2004, Ted Koppel from ABC's Nightline came to Kensington, Philadelphia to visit NH4W.
On February 3rd & 4th, a two part show was aired on ABC about Seville & Seville, entitled "The Doctor & The Reverend."
If you'd like to purchase a copy of the video manuscript, ABC offers them at www.absnewsstore.com
How He Got Here
In 1995, Nightline aired a powerful two-part documentary on the "Badlands" of Philadelphia. Seville Jackson, (AKA "The Doctor"), was one of the characters featured in this piece. We recently learned that his piece was nominated for an emmy.
From 1996-98, JoAnn went down into the Badlands (at 10th & Indiana) and ministered to the drug addicts and prostitutes right where they were at - in the crackhouses and on the dangerous streets.
It was during this time that JoAnn met and befriended Seville Jackson. Over the next couple of years, JoAnn & Seville developed a life-changing relationship that was all about Jesus.
Through a series of uncontrollable events, JoAnn & Seville lost contact. Last January, Seville found JoAnn & made contact. He is now well, sober and no longer living on the streets. He is now looking for ways to live for Jesus.
Since that time, he has been an active part of our NH4W family in many ways. Everyone has fallen in love with his colorful character and unique sense of humor...even our family members! His powerful testimony has moved us, inspired us and taught us!
ABC's Nightline has been looking for Seville to follow up with him. They were unable to find him. After we contacted them, the Producer, Artis Waters and their camera man, Fletcher Johnson, have been to Philadelphia several times filming Seville here and at his home. They have filmed him speaking to one of our mission teams this past summer.
Ted Koppel had a personal interest in Seville and how he got from where he was to where he is now. He came up on December 20th. He interviewed Seville and then he interviewed JoAnn. After a tour of our facility, they got back on the road to Washington, D.C.
All of our staff here agree that the entire experience has been nothing but pleasant. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Artis & Fletcher on their numerous trips up here. They are highly professional and it was a pleasure working with them. After meeting Mr. Koppel, we all can pretty much sum it up by saying he is a very nice man.
