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Leadership Link
Connecting Teen Challenge Leaders around the world |
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April 2014
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Featured Department
Global Internships
 | Jeremy & Christina,
New Global Internship's Leaders
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Upcoming Training Events & Conferences
All Africa Training
Nairobi, Kenya
April 28-May 2
Central Asia Training Conference
Kazakhstan
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Great things are happening all over the world with Teen Challenge. Recently we passed the 100 mark, with centers now in 102 countries.
This month we feature the Global Internships Program as we welcome Jeremy & Christina to lead this exciting ministry.
God Bless you,
Global Teen Challenge
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Opposition is Part of the Process
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Jerry Nance
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By Jerry Nance PhD, President, Global Teen Challenge
It's been my privilege the last few months to visit several of our TC programs around the world for ministry and training. All of us face have or will face opposition as we work to fulfill the dream God has laid on our hearts.
As an encouragement for you, I want to share an excerpt from my book,
From Dream to Reality.
Opposition is a part of the building process for any nonprofit. Challenges will come in all shapes and forms, and adversity will strike from the least expected sources. Dead ends, refusals, and setbacks will happen. I have only three words of advice for you when it does: "Deal with it." Anyone who has ever tried to build a ministry has had to face opposition, but remember the cliché, "Anything that is worth having is worth fighting for." And fighting is exactly what you must do to see the dream God has given you become a reality. I never dreamed how difficult it would be, and I never anticipated the numerous problems we'd face with staff and students. I couldn't imagine that God would seem to allow so many challenges to one organization's vision.
I remember when we first started back in 1992, and we were finalizing the negotiations for the purchase of a property to house our Teen Challenge men's and women's homes. We had spent months and hundreds of hours working on funding, planning, and developing the property into a possible center. We had spent thousands of dollars securing our variances for handicap codes and our zoning approval; and we had saved every dollar we could find in order to propose our bid on the property. The manager of the property had assured us that we were close to the number the owners wanted for the property.
When the day came for negotiating the purchase price, my Board of Directors and I had stretched our faith and offered our best bid, which we felt was a fair offer. Our offer was rejected, and we learned later that a couple of the board members of the sellers felt that they could hold out for more. They refused our offer. They said, "No". I was astounded! I was crushed! We had prayed fervently; we had worked diligently. We had given our best offer and it wasn't good enough. "No!" That was one of the hardest "no's" I've ever had to accept. I was desperate to find a home for Teen Challenge; our lease was up, and the owner of the property where we currently housed Teen Challenge wanted us out. There seemed to be pressures on every side.
What followed was a series of "Why, Lord, why's": Why, after hundreds of hours in prayer and planning? Why, after scraping together all the money? What is Your purpose in this? "Why, Lord, why?" All of which led me to another one-on-one conversation with God Himself, and another trip to the book of Nehemiah, where God had taken me to call me to Teen Challenge. And what I found encouraged me.
Within the course of ridicule and insult, threat and frustration, the Israelites, led by Nehemiah, worked with all their hearts, closed the gaps, prayed to God, and shouted, "Our God will fight for us!" I stepped back, planted my feet, breathed in deeply, and bravely accepted the loss, "Okay, Lord, I'll let You do it Your way."
The search for new property was on...
Jerry Nance
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Global Internships transitions to new Leadership
 | | Jeremy & Christina Kupsch |
Jeremy and Christina Kupsch are now the new leaders of the Global Internship program. We want to thank Daryel and Rachel Erickson for their excellent leadership for the past three years. (See note from the Ericksons in next article). Jeremy writes: Christina and I are excited to be given this great opportunity to work with Global Teen Challenge and with Global Internships. Global Internships was started by a group of Teen Challenge missionaries who developed an internship program for Teen Challenge graduates and college students. We will be helping train and send interns to Teen Challenge centers around the world. Some of the things we wish to accomplish through Global Internships: Meet the needs of International Teen Challenge programs by giving the student experience and leadership training, as well as encourage a cohesiveness and communication within these programs worldwide. Christina and I know that this is what God has been calling and preparing us to do these past 4 years. Jeremy's Story: I didn't want to live another day. Fifteen years of my life revolved around drugs and alcohol, leading to more than a dozen overdoses. I was constantly in and out of jails, emergency rooms and drug treatment programs. I went from being a kid who wouldn't even steal a pack of gum, to a thief breaking into houses in order to support my habit. After facing serious prison time for four felony burglaries,on August 13, 2009, I finally found the doors of Milwaukee Teen Challenge.  | | Jeremy in Dominican Republic |
After only two weeks in the program, God took hold of my heart and I truly accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. That was the moment everything changed for me. I began to walk out my new faith. Over the course of a year, all four felonies were dropped, my family was restored, and I felt true peace for the first time in my life. While in Teen Challenge, I heard GTC missionary Gregg Fischer preach and I immediately knew God was calling me to Global Teen Challenge. After I completed the yearlong discipleship program, God opened the doors to Southwest Florida Teen Challenge. And upon finishing a 9-month internship, I was hired on as vocational and mission coordinator. I had the opportunity to see, first hand, the impact they had on the men and women involved. These people were once broken and in addiction, but were now being used by God to spread the hope and love of Jesus to hurting nations. Every single person who went on these trips to the Dominican Republic returned changed. I have seen the importance of missions in the Teen Challenge Program firsthand. Christina's Story: I am a living testimony of God's grace and mercy! I am proof that God can take a bad situation and turn it around into something amazing. It was August 10, 2009, when I walked through the doors of Teen Challenge. I was addicted to drugs, broken, and had nowhere else to turn. After taking that step of faith, God made a miraculous transformation in my life, and I have never been the same. I graduated from Teen Challenge of South Florida, August 7, 2010. Through this process God called me into full time ministry. After graduating TC I went to the Emerging Leaders College, and recently graduated with my AA in Bible and Theology.  | | Christina on missions trip |
Like my husband, in the program God placed a huge burden on my heart for missions. My desire and heart's cry is to see God transform lives around the world. There are so many broken, and hurting people out there that have never heard about a Savior who loves them! God has placed a passion inside of me to see these people saved and to show them that there is hope. I personally know that if God can change someone like me, then there is hope for them. Top of Page |
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New Global Internships Contact Information
Jeremy & Christina Kupsch
236 Leadership Lane
Jesup GA 31545
Phone 912-586-0005 ext 108
Fax 912-586-0044
email: gi@globaltc.org
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A Note from Daryel and Rachel
 | | Daryel & Rachel Erickson |
Dear Global Teen Challenge Colleagues and friends,
Daryel and I have counted it a tremendous privilege to serve in the capacity of Facilitators for Global Teen Challenge Internship (GI) for the past three years. We have experienced such a rich opportunity to serve young men and women who have felt a call to minister in an overseas Teen Challenge center, and help them engage in the one-on-one ministry to individuals who are going through the same struggles from which God has taken them.
Thank you, Regional Directors, for opening up the doors to send interns your way. TC Directors, we thank you for being the support we need to assist in sending them out as well as leading them while overseas. You are a blessing in so many ways. Please pray for Jeremy and Christina Kupsch as they begin to lead this great ministry of Global Internships.
With Appreciation,
Daryel and Rachel Erickson
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Women and Children's ministry at Global Teen Challenge
 | | Diane Swanson |
We want to take this opportunity to welcome Diane Swanson to the staff of the GTC Training Department. She recently completed raising her support and moved to the Columbus area. She is focusing on women and children issues as well as the development of Women and Children's TC centers. Diane is a registered nurse and an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God. She comes to us from Teen Challenge of Arizona where she was the founding director of TC Home of Hope Women and Children's center for ten years. We are excited about the addition of Diane. She is presently on a five week trip ministering in Africa and Australia to assist in planning for the first Women and Children's center there.
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PSNC Teacher Certification  Training Intensive
May 19-22
Lakeside Conference Center (TC Conference Center) Seale, Alabama
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About Global Teen Challenge
The mission of Global Teen Challenge is to assist in the development and implementation of Teen Challenge programs around the world. Today there are more than 1100 Teen Challenge programs in 102 countries. It is our desire to provide the best and latest tools available in helping individuals with life-controlling addictions. According to the United Nations, more than 200 million people worldwide struggle with drug abuse. Drug users are getting younger and their use is becoming more frequent. Alcohol and drug addictions are plaguing our nations and our cities, and invading our homes. We are committed to doing everything we can to put hope within reach of every addict. For more information on Global Teen Challenge, visit our website at www.GlobalTC.org |
| Contact Information:
Global Teen Challenge
P.O. Box 511
Columbus, Georgia 31902-0511 USA
706-576-6555
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