Rodney Horton is one of the ‘oaks of righteousness’ mentioned in Isaiah 61 who traces his roots to Teen Haven in Philadelphia. A recent graduate of Penn State, he has worked in the social service world with drug and alcohol addicted youth and is currently serving as a Borough Councilman in Middletown, PA, the town he moved to while attending college.
Rodney’s journey with Teen Haven started at the age of 13, when his mother was looking for a positive environment where she could send her “troublemaking” son. Rodney’s two older cousins had experienced Teen Haven Camp and suggested that Rodney give it a try. The real impact came two years later when he heard a chapel message about “the wide road that leads to destruction.” Realizing that he no longer wanted to travel that wide road, Rodney received the gift of salvation from Christ on September 2nd, 1998.
That fall, Rodney joined our Bible study group in Philadelphia and began growing in knowledge and grace. He was soon volunteering as a junior counselor on younger boys’ weekends at Teen Haven Camp. Bible study and Camp provided both a refuge and a place of refreshment. “It enabled me to better fight the temptations and spiritual warfare that I constantly faced during high school,” Rodney explained.
The care and example of the Teen Haven staff inspired him to be more like Christ. Rodney said he also learned from other teen leaders’ examples, like Tyrone who “had this great, quiet strength,” and Chris who “had patience like no one I had ever seen before.”
Rodney continued to serve as a leader at camp throughout high school and college as a counselor or in the kitchen. He points to Teen Haven as the source of some of his best leadership lessons relating to his work ethic, time management, respect for authority, team work and mutual accountability. “Teen Haven helped lay the foundation for who I am,” Rodney said.
Now Rodney finds joy in seeing his former campers serving as leaders at camp and passing along the power of the Gospel and the lessons of leadership that Rodney had shared with them. “It’s like throwing a stone in a pond and watching the ripples spread out and affect others,” he said.