Benson draws from life struggles to lead Young Life

Mark and Robin Benson embrace the saying "A true testimony always begins with a 'test,' and a message often begins with a 'mess.'" Mark stepped into his new position this fall as the director of Sisters Young Life with the understanding that, in order to speak into the lives of area teens, he and his wife would need to draw from their most agonizing life experiences.

Growing up in southern California and lacking positive guidance, Mark made some reckless choices, he says. At the age of 18, he fathered a son, Tylor. For several years Mark struggled to raise his child, before Tylor was adopted by his grandparents.

Says Mark, "If I would have had someone interested in my life, who I could trust, my life would have drastically changed. I would have loved for someone to have come alongside me and say 'Are you sure you want to do that?'"

Robin met Mark a few days before she left to join the Marines. She had gone home to southern California to say goodbye to her parents and happened to meet him at church. The two kept up a correspondence, marrying a few years later.

Robin had enlisted at 18 as a reservist, but the Marines quickly discovered her elite physical capabilities and asked her to participate in a swim qualification; she was the first woman invited to do so. That led Robin into active duty during Desert Storm. After three years she was honorably discharged for health reasons.

"I was fainting all the time, with no cause and no cure," she says.

Together, Robin and Mark appear to have weathered more than their fair share of pain and loss. In 2002, as the couple was preparing for the likelihood that their first child, Ashlyne, would be delivered a few weeks early, Robin underwent a routine amniocentesis. In the first recorded medical case of its kind, the doctor's needle penetrated one of the baby's blood vessels and Ashlyne bled in the womb. Although doctors were able to resuscitate her, Ashlyne died seven weeks later.

In the emotional aftermath, Mark stepped down from his high-profile sales career.

"It made us reevaluate what was important to us," recalls Robin.

Mark returned to college in Eugene, to pursue a career in education. The couple went on to have two sons, Ben and Ryan. Ryan was born with a heart defect, undergoing emergency open-heart surgery and receiving the first re-created heart. At 18 months he had a second open-heart surgery, to install a stent.

As Ryan grows and scar tissue builds up, doctors expect him to require a third surgery; Mark and Robin make annual treks to Doernbecher Hospital in Portland so doctors can assess him.

"He's not out of the woods," says Robin.

They recently received the happy news that he is cleared for at least another year without surgery.

When Robin got pregnant again in 2007, she and Mark felt the need for an emotional re-start and moved to Sisters. A third son, Luke, was born healthy. At first, Mark worked locally in the construction industry but was laid off due to the down economy. Until he was hired by Young Life this fall, he put most of his energy into volunteering with area teenagers.

In the rearview mirror, Mark says he can now see purpose in the pain: "I went through those experiences and had things happen to me for a reason."

Leading Young Life offers a satisfying sense of coming full circle. "I'm a relationship-based person, and I've always wanted to be teaching in some form."

In Sisters, Mark sees a wide spectrum of kids who need relational support for different reasons: some are deeply hurting, while others are so busy with activities that they don't know what is important to them. "They're asking, 'What is my life? What is this world about?'"

He says that teens in the area are "very individualistic, and there's a lack of mentoring going on."

Through club meetings and activities, Young Life's intent is to present a model for living based on the life of Jesus.

"We go to them, invest in their lives, work to earn their trust and the right to be heard," says Mark.

Open to any high schoolers, weekly club is held on Monday nights and special events happen periodically. This week the group is going ice skating. According to Mark, a typical event draws around forty kids. Middle schoolers are invited to monthly Wyld Life events and encouraged to bring their friends.

Robin works by Mark's side as the main volunteer leader. A local volunteer committee supports the club through prayer and fundraising efforts.

The couple feels strongly that the emotional challenges they've faced have prepared them for their current roles.

"It tested our faith," says Robin. "Living day-to-day is a huge reality for us. That's important for them [youth] to see.

"Kids who sometimes feel like giving up need to hear that, yeah, life's hard. I'm not going to lie... sometimes it sucks. But we're still sitting here, doing life."

The community of Sisters, and their new roles with Young Life, have provided the Bensons with hope and healing.

"It's exactly where we want to be. It's exactly where we want to raise our kids," says Robin.

For more information about Young Life activities, call Mark Benson at 541-543-9960.