Volunteer Profiles
Name: Graham Ross
Role in Teen Challenge: Executive Director
Why are you involved with Teen Challenge?
I want to know that should ever my son or daughter, grandson or granddaughter ever get caught up in the scourge of drug or alcohol addiction, that there be a Christian alternative where I know they can get help.
Name: Rangi Rule
Role in Teen Challenge: Director of Living Free Adelaide Centre
Why are you involved with Teen Challenge?
When I was younger I used to wonder why I was born and what I was here for. Now I know my purpose is to serve God in whatever way He desires. This is God's calling for me, I've found my niche. In the Bible it says, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound."
Name: Barb Carthew
Role in Teen Challenge: Living Free Volunteer Worker
Why are you involved with Teen Challenge?
Previous work with underprivileged gave me a heart to see hope and change, so God led me to Teen Challenge.
Joan's Story - A Volunteer's Journey
My journey with Teen Challenge began when I heard an ad on the Life FM radio station that Teen Challenge needed volunteers. I had an interview with Graham Ross the CEO of Teen Challenge offering my help in the admin area, but he just smiled and suggested that I pray further to see where God wanted to put me and to consider Teen Challenge's telphone support and crisis line (as I am not a qualified counsellor and really had no desire to follow that path, I thought that his insight was a bit ridiculous).
Anyway a few months later I attended a training day, thinking that it was just an info session about Teen Challenge as a whole. Really, I wanted to use the time to catch up with my old friend Karen, who was the co-ordinator at that time. Well all morning I was really fighting with God about the relevance of me being there, on the edge of my seat wanting to walk out all the time (thinking I didn’t want to learn all this counselling stuff, it was too hard and certainly not the avenue I saw myself in).
We stopped for lunch and I got to talking with a few people about the session in general and found them to be normal, not know-it-alls with high degrees, they just wanted to help people. So my burning desire to leave waned and I decided to allow God to show me what HE wanted me to hear instead of fighting against everything I heard because I thought it would take too much effort to learn all this psych stuff.
Anyway, by the end of the day I couldn’t get off my seat soon enough to put my name down as a volunteer on the Care Line. My burning desire to leave was changed by God to a burning desire to see how I could help in this way. After joining, I had the most wonderful help through another counsellor who partnered with me each week and encouraged/taught me heaps. She is such a good friend.
That was a few years ago now and I am still so in awe of God. I consider that he has given ME Teen Challenge, not the other way around, and I couldn’t volunteer each Saturday without his grace. He has given me friendships that I cherish and pray that you will all prayerfully allow God to work in your lives to show you, that with His Grace and Mercy, you can do anything too.
