Today’s interview is with Rena Troy in her hometown of Northome, Minnesota. She hosted Teen Rescue in her home many times over the years providing food and a place to sleep.
Rena explained that she first met Rick at the Northome fair grounds. She heard that this rock band was playing Christian music and it was a group of young people who were speaking about Jesus. Rena was a new Christian and confused because she thought religion and Christianity was for the old people in the church. It was new to her that there were people with long hair playing rock music about Jesus. She was very curious and sat in the bleachers and listened to the message that Teen Rescue was bringing and she was blown away. She thought that being a Christian is not going to be boring after all.
She started following where the band was playing around the area and wanted to be a part because she felt so alive. Up to that point she felt dead after giving her life to Christ. She believes God was showing her that there is life in Christ and you can actually be a little goofy too like that long-haired leader of the band.
Rena saw Teen Rescue as troublemakers. There were people in the community that didn’t care for Rick Moe because he was causing trouble. Rena says Teen Rescue made the comfortable Christian uncomfortable. They had to face things they ignored before like what was hurting the children in our community, the fact that they weren’t sharing Christ with their family and friends, or were living in a way that was giving a bad message to others about being a Christian. So they didn’t want to have anything to do with Teen Rescue because they were too radical. But Rena would load up her kids and friends and go to Teen Rescue retreats and music festivals.
Rena started going through training and retreats through Teen Rescue and started to grow. Then she started to become more involved with Teen Rescue. Even though she spoke a few times, she enjoyed working in the background. Rena became Cindy’s go to person and they did a lot of other things together.
During small groups, it was Rena’s job to watch the kids. She remembers one girl asking to go to the bathroom and she took off down the hall. Rena sensed there was something wrong because Cindy had been talking about some really tough issues. Rena found her sitting on the floor crying. Rena shared the gospel and love with her. The girl shared openly with Rena the tough times she was going through.
One of the rules in Teen Rescue was during lunch time, the team didn’t sit together but was to sit spread out amongst the kids. Rena remembers sitting with a group of girls and she was so nervous that she felt she was speaking incoherently. After lunch they shared names and later, she received a letter from one of the girls. She said thank you so much because I was really contemplating suicide that night. She was at the school telling her friends good-bye but Rena’s sitting with her and sharing her concern and love for them made her feel that there was much more to life. Rena stayed in touch with her and she went on to Oak Hills bible college and went on to the ministry. The important message from Rena about being involved with Teen Rescue is that you never know who you are going to impact for the Lord.
Rena became the Teen Rescue Director around the time Rick moved to Walker, MN and was a much needed person to help organize so many aspects of the ministry. One of Rena’s favorite trips was A Week on Rescue and they organized was a Christian “Woodstock, with your clothes on” which included several other Christian bands, a mud pit, grape contest, and other fun things for the kids. Rena was very involved in making events happen.
On behalf of Teen Rescue, thank you Rena for all your work and efforts over the years. She even saved many pictures and memorabilia to keep the memories of all that God did through Teen Rescue alive.
