Rolf Geyling

Rolf Geyling, President, Santa Barbara Rescue Mission, Growing Edge Leaders

Growing up in an upper-middle-class community in New Jersey, Rolf Geyling had what he describes as a privileged childhood. It wasn’t until he left for Stanford that he began seriously questioning what he wanted to do with the education and opportunities he had been given.

Studying urban studies exposed him to conversations about poverty, inequality and the forces that shape communities. At the same time, his Christian faith was becoming a more important part of his life. Together, those experiences inspired Rolf to honestly consider how he was going to live differently, to take a different path focused on bringing hope and help to people.

“There was a sense of, am I going to put my money where my mouth is?” Rolf recalled.

After college, that question led him to South Central Los Angeles, where he spent 10 years in ministry working with children, families and gang members. He went in, he says, with the kind of idealism that makes you think you are going to change the world.

The reality proved far more complicated. Living and working in a community very different from the one in which he had grown up gave him a deeper appreciation for the interconnected forces of poverty, housing, education, race and opportunity.

“I went in with the highest aspirations,” he said. “But there are so many complex forces at play.”

Eventually, Rolf stepped away from the work and pursued a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary, spending much time considering what should come next. What became clear was that he still wanted his work to matter. 

“I realized it’s part of me,” he said. “I want my work to have meaning and impact lives. I don’t think I could work in another space.”

He found that opportunity at the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission, becoming president in 2007. 

What drew him was the organization’s approach to addiction. Rather than treating it as a simple problem with a simple solution, the Rescue Mission operated a yearlong residential treatment program that incorporated behavioral health, mental health and addiction science alongside faith.

By 2025, Rolf had led the organization for nearly two decades, and the work had begun to feel automatic. “There was a routine that had settled in,” he said. “The work was too important to be treating it as routine.”

That same year, his board chair encouraged him to join Leading From Within’s Growing Edge Leaders program, or GEL. Rolf agreed, despite initial skepticism and concern about the time commitment.

The time surprised him.

“The first thing it offered me was space for rest and renewal,” he said. “There was something profound in the time away.”

Just as meaningful was the cohort itself, experienced leaders facing many of the same questions. After years in a role where everyone looked to him for answers, Rolf valued peers who could share uncertainty and perspective. “The biggest takeaway was the community of other leaders going through similar things,” he said. “The exchange was validating and life-giving.” “It’s very organic growth,” he said. “I found myself looking forward to spending the day with my cohort. Slowing down is a discipline, and it’s an important one.”

GEL also renewed Rolf’s connection to work he has now devoted much of his life to. Mission-driven leadership, he believes, requires genuine passion, and sustaining that passion takes attention.

“You can’t fabricate passion,” he said. “GEL gave me space to reflect and rekindle that a little bit.”

For Rolf, that renewal has affirmed a path he first imagined decades ago. The scale of impact may look different from what his 24-year-old-self pictured, but the meaning has only deepened. “Few people get to see individual change in their work,” he said. “That is really gratifying.”