Our Founder/President

THE CALL TO MINISTRY by Rev John Franich

I would have to say the call came to me in two parts.  The first part was the preparatory stage.  I had been serving in my local church in support of my pastor.  I felt that my role was to be a supportive one rather than being in the forefront of ministry.  After being told that I had to give up my chosen profession due to health problems, I decided to return to school and complete my education.  With no goal in mind, I started on a counseling tract.   My original intention was to help the local pastor and learn how to counsel. Pastors, in their desire to minister to the flock, generally take on more responsibility than they could handle and some take on tasks they are simply not qualified to do.  I have personally heard many stories of individuals that have looked to Pastors for help.  It appeared to me that some of those counselee’s were helped, but many were not.  I needed to learn so I could help.

About seventy five percent of the way towards my BS, a group from a Teen Challenge Center in Philadelphia visited our local church in Harrisonburg, VA. Hearing the testimony of one of the students in the program about how the Lord delivered him from addiction to drugs, touched me.  I then realized that I was being trained for a little more than I expected.  Six months later, I was volunteering at a Teen Challenge Center in South Carolina.  While serving at that crisis center, God showed me a map of the United States.  A pin was inserted on the map where a Teen Challenge Center was located.  I noticed a void in the area I lived.  Just before leaving home for my assignment in South Carolina, the media did a story on drug addictions and how my hometown was the Meth capital of the east coast. It was at that moment I felt that God was telling me that I should start a center in my hometown.

The seed was definitely planted but I procrastinated (or ran) for the next three years.   Then one Sunday, a visiting evangelist had a Word of exhortation that there was someone in the congregation that God had called to ministry but has not responded to that call.   I felt he was talking about me.  Next came the tingle from the Holy Spirit. The rest they say was history.  God gave me a vision for the Shenandoah Valley.  Now, over ten years later, Shenandoah Valley Teen Challenge is covering the entire valley preaching a message of freedom from the bondage of drugs which only comes from a relationship with Christ.