Summit Celebration

This weekend we celebrated our 2010 Leadership Summit program, thanking our coaches and enjoying a fun day together. As the coaches each shared testimonies from the year, there was a common thread – how thankful they were to have grown in their own faith and leadership. As one of our coaches, Busisiwe, summed up “God changed each of us so that we can change others.” That’s definitely something to be celebrated!

Leadership Summit is our AIDs Prevention and Leadership Development program offered in the public schools. We employ and equip a team of nationals who in turn teach classes for grades 7-9 reaching thousands of students each week.

The class topics are tough ones, and ones that are otherwise not talked about - living a life of purpose, God’s design for saving sex for marriage, and open discussions about other sensitive areas such as drugs, alcohol and peer pressure.

Imagine talking about sex and marriage with a room full of teenagers!! Our coaches are awesome!!

This weekend it was such a blessing and privilege to spend more time with our wonderful Leadership Summit team, and to celebrate the countless ways God has worked in and through each of them.

Please pray with us as we plan for an exciting and impactful 2011.

Flashpoint

Have you ever experienced a “flashpoint”? A flashpoint is the lowest temperature that a combustible substance bursts into flames, but in a more general sense it’s also the point at which something or someone suddenly bursts into action.

Through Leadership Summit and our IMPACT youth leadership conferences, that’s exactly what we aim to do. Ignite a fire in our youngest leaders, bursting them into action in their schools and communities.

In February, we kicked off our 2010 Leadership Summit program with 95 classes and more than 4000 students. And on February 17th, we held our first IMPACT youth leadership conference called “Flashpoint”. IMPACT is where select leaders from the various schools come together for deeper learning, coaching and action planning.

Several coaches gave testimonies about their flashpoints – how Jesus changed their lives forever helping them through struggles such as teenage motherhood, drugs, alcohol, and abuse. It was clear that the students were gripped by the stories – by the candor and because they could relate.

The teaching afterward solidified the truth that Jesus loves us just as we are, but too much to leave us that way. Please pray with us for the students who attended IMPACT – that through Christ they experience flashpoints of their own.

Breaking the Silence

Living on Purpose

It’s pretty much been “all hands on deck” the past few weeks with everyone pitching in to help with curriculums for next year’s Leadership Summit program. We were so blessed by a gift of curriculums that were printed and shipped from the States, and now we’re on track to finish the remainder of them in time to begin training our LS coaches next week.

Each class presents relevant topics in a “teen-friendly” way and provides an open environment for candid discussions about peer pressures and Godly choices.

7^th graders will be studying Living on Purpose - who they are in Christ, how to discover God’s plan and purpose for their lives, and how to stand up to teenage pressures in order to fulfill their God-gifted purpose.

8^th graders will be studying Save Sex - God’s perfect plan for purity, marriage, sex and faithfulness, and the consequences of poor choices.

9^th graders will be studying Break the Silence and Speak Out - a series of relevant but difficult issues facing teens today such as sexuality, drugs and alcohol, and character, and what the Bible has to say about them.

As we printed, collated, punched, bound, and boxed each book I was actually pretty overwhelmed thinking that each one would end up in the hands of a young person who would be lovingly trained, mentored and encouraged to be all that the Lord created them to be. To make good decisions, to have hope and expectations for their futures, and to reach their God-gifted potential and purpose. Pretty amazing!