Jacqueline A. Strothoff, Founder
Teen Challenge Rhode Island
In the Winter of 1974, after spending twelve years of my life addicted to drugs, enduring several commitments to psychiatric hospitals, engaging in a variety of criminal activities (with several arrests leading to incarceration), and participating in every type of rehabilitation effort that was presented to me, I had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.
After graduating the program I received ministerial training at David Wilkerson’s Leadership Academy in Lindale, Texas. It was there I met my husband, Bob. We spent the next several years working in Teen Challenge centers settling in Springfield, Missouri, to attend college. I earned my academic degree in Social Work from Southwest Missouri University.
On November 11, 1977, while interning at Southern California Teen Challenge, God shared a vision with me. I saw a large, three story home that was described to me as a spiritual hospital where broken women would find healing and restoration.
That vision became a reality in Providence, Rhode Island. A three story Victorian home was found that perfectly suited our need. The only obstacle was the $225,000 asking price. After 6 months of negotiations and much prayer, the owner agreed to accept our offer of $150,000. The Lord worked several miracles in order for us to have the money to make the purchase.
The first lady entered the program on Thanksgiving Day of 1994. The Teen Challenge Women’s Home has been operating for 23 years and there have literally been more than a thousand women who have encountered Jesus Christ there and had their lives changed by Him.
It has been 42 years since He changed my life. Over the decades, God has poured an abundance of blessings into my life. He has healed my body and mind, enabled me to graduate college and become an ordained minister of the gospel, restored relationship with my family, gave me a wonderful husband (who is now with Jesus) and two amazing children, along with two of the most adorable grandsons. The Lord allowed me to serve in my ‘dream job’ for decades. Yet all of these blessings combined could never compare to the most precious gift of all…to be called His daughter and given the privilege of spending eternity with Him.