As leaders I believe we own the responsibility to consider those who will follow us and take the leadership role we now hold. In recent years I have seen several Teen Challenge leadership changes where there was no succession plan in place and no one was mentored to take the leader's place should they retire or something tragic happen.
 
Peter Drucker, one of the great consultants and writers on leadership asked a major corporation a fabulous question; he calls it a "Mega Question."

 

              

  "Are we building a legacy or living off a legacy?"

 
Drucker says, to ensure long-term viability and significance, every organization must answer its own "Mega Questions."  Here are some of those questions:
 
What are our roots?
What are our core values?
Are we living these values out?
Is our leadership capable of taking us to the next level?
Does our staff have the training and tools they need?
Are our students getting all they need to face the world?
What are we currently doing that we are very good at?
What are we missing? 
How could we improve?
 
It is important to take some time and consider these questions. It's important that you, the staff and students know the roots of this ministry.  Some staff and students have no clue regarding the history of Teen Challenge.  They just think this place has always existed, and have no idea that the Teen Challenge organization is a world-wide ministry with 1,170 centers in 82 countries of the world.
 
Let me give you a little history of Teen Challenge that you may not know.
 
Do you know who Michael Farmer is?  He was a young boy that had polio which left him permanently handicapped.  He was a slow runner.  He and a buddy slipped under a fence at the park pool to have an early evening swim.  As they were coming out, a gang of boys met them and began beating them up and stabbing them.  Michael's friend who was faster got away with cuts and bruises, but Michael was killed in cold blood.  Murdered.
 
Well, that doesn't seem out of the ordinary in a city of 9 million people.  What's the point?  Michael Farmer didn't die in vain.  The boys who stabbed him were on trial for murder when David Wilkerson read the story and God touched his heart and told him, "Go to New York and help those boys."
 
David went to NYC and God gave him favor with the gangs and drug addicts.  In time David opened the first Teen Challenge. They focused on evangelism, street meetings, soul winning, chapels where the power of God falls, altars where men, women, boys and girls can find Christ, the Change Agent. 
 
Evangelism - That's the heart of our ministry and what blesses God. We can't get away from winning souls.  We must never get away from the heart of God-souls.
 
Our critics are correct when they say, the program of Teen Challenge is "Faith Saturated, Conversion Oriented, Bible focused." Yes, guilty on each account and that is why after 51 years TC is the largest ministry of its kind in the world.
 
Let's not forget the roots, but as leaders let's prepare for transition. Let's develop a succession plan and work to make our organization one of the best models in the world. We want every boy, girl, man and woman who enters the doors of our centers to find life transformation through the power of Jesus Christ.
 
Ask yourself the hard questions, keep the mission of Teen Challenge in focus and never forget our roots.
 
Jerry Nance
President
Global Teen Challenge

 

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How can you take your ministry to the next level of excellence? For the past 20 years I have worked with churches, Teen Challenge ministries, and other missions organizations to assist them in strategic planning. We have seen that these strategic planning sessions have been so successful that ministries have been revitalized and energized.

 

So what can strategic planning do for your ministry? Our goal is to take you through a process of assessing your current ministry and coming to a clearer understanding of how you can fulfill the vision that God has given you. We will help your leadership team conduct a detailed Needs Analysis. Once that is complete we will work with groups to develop Action Plans. These become the keys to more effective change for your ministry.

 

We will also assist you with on-going coaching designed to strengthen you and your leadership team.

 

If you would like to schedule a Strategic Planning session for your ministry, please contact me at  rlsouza@softcom.net 

Phone :  1-209-339-9751 office            1-209-993-7597 cell

 

Click here to view the brochure "Strategic Planning in the 21st Century" which gives more information on how we can assist you and your ministry.

 

 

The Global Internships Department is planning seven mission trips for 2010.  Our goal is to take Teen Challenge and college students from the United States and other countries on these trips and get them involved with what Teen Challenge is doing around the world.

 These trips will not only be a great service to the centers where we will be going, but also the students going will have a life changing experience. We want to provide a way for students that are interested in doing mission work to get that chance. We also want to share with them about the internship program and how they can get involved doing internships with Teen Challenge centers worldwide.

Here is a list of the places we are planning missions trips for 2010.
1. Czech Republic
2. Romania
3. Jamaica
4. Swaziland
5. Winnipeg, Canada
6. South Africa
7. Boston, Mass, USA

 

In January we will send out an email to the leaders of all the Teen Challenge USA centers explaining how their center can get involved in any one of these trips.  We know that God is going to do great things in Teen Challenge around the world in the upcoming year and we look forward to being a vital part of that.  

 

If you are interested in more information on these missions trips, please contact: Michael Woods at mwoods@globaltc.org or call 1-706-596-8731.