In Leadership Summit, the coaches are not only teaching their students valuable information, they are also building genuine relationships.  Throughout their classes, they are investing in their students and building a deep and compelling trust.

A student in Patricia’s class has opened up to her enough to share an untold hurt.  When the student tried to share this with her parents, she was met with cold shoulders and indifferent hearts.  Instead of being unreceptive, Patricia welcomed her with love and warmth, enabling her to find freedom in the arms of God.  Patricia helped her student embrace healing by putting her in contact with someone who could provide additional counseling and connect her with the right authorities.

“I’m free!” she exclaimed.  One of Tshidi’s Leadership Summit students had approached her with a heavy heart about being an orphan, but left school that day liberated.  “I told her she wasn’t an accident.  God made her for a purpose and wanted to use her,” said Tshidi.

Tshidi always has a testimony to share during our weekly coach meetings, but this week her faced glowed as she retold the story.  Another Leadership Summit Coach, Thapelo, practically interrupted Tshidi with a similar story.  In Thapelo’s words:

“After teaching the lesson on self-image, a boy from my class came up to me and said, ‘You really lifted me up.  The kids always make fun of me because I’m a little darker, but I’m made in the image of God and that is all that matters.’  It felt so good to be used by God to help him.”

Leadership Summit kicked off this week with the welcome addition of a new school, Dithotaneng. School headmaster, Leputla said that he is very excited for Leadership Summit to be coming to his school. He shared that Dithotaneng is a “tough” school which will benefit from the mentoring and counseling the coaches bring to both learners and Life Orientation Teachers. He has experienced the difference made in the past and is excited about the bright future with a partnership with Leadership Summit.

Our coaches are really looking forward to heading into this new school. Please pray with us that they would be able to connect with these kids and begin to speak Godly wisdom into their lives.

Beginning in February the interns will be teaching the class “Discover your Gifts” to the Leadership Summit coaches as part of their development. It was great timing when the interns “dropped in” on one of their coach training days as they toured Qwa Qwa.

The day provided a relaxed opportunity to share a little about themselves with the coaches as well as open time to visit one on one. The coaches were thrilled to meet their new “teachers” prior to the classes beginning.  It was evident in how well everyone got along that this was going to be an amazing God-inspired year!

Photos of interns and coaches meeting.

Many of our coaches go way above and beyond for the students they teach in our AIDS prevention program. Joseph started an after-class Bible study to help his students dive more into God’s Word. We were able to give each of them a Bible, and now the Word of God is really starting to come alive in their hearts.

One of the students shared:

“I want to thank Leadership Summit for giving me the Bible that will encourage me to live my life in God’s way. It will teach me to know God better than the way I know him now.”

Another said:

“I want to say thank you for giving me the Bible. This Bible will change my life because I will read it day and night. I will tell people about God and spread the words of God.”

We are so glad we have the opportunity to lead programs like this in public schools!

I never cease to be amazed by the power of teamwork.

We had a huge challenge before us: The need to collate and bind 5000 workbooks for our AIDS prevention program next year. The interns worked diligently to get the thousands upon thousands of pages collated. All that was left to do was punch holes in them and add the comb binding. But without enough time left in the internship year, we knew they wouldn’t be able to get all the work done in time. So we came up with a plan.

A sign-up sheet was made with ten days worth of time slots to bind the workbooks after hours. We signed up for three- or four-hour shifts on weekday evenings and over the weekends. In groups of six people at a time, we figured over the course of the next two weeks we’d surely get all 5000 books finished.

Everyone worked together, interns and staff. We played music, ate candy, and even watched movies while we labored together on the books that will go into the hands of students early next year. And we managed to finish the whole project in only 5 days!

Jenn, the Director of Leadership Summit, sent out an email today that said—

“Above and beyond, working hard, enduring sore muscles, arm cramps, and much more, we, as a team, have FINISHED the collating, binding, stacking, organizing, and putting together of all the Break the Silence books for Leadership Summit students to use next year!  Days before the schedule deadline you have finished what seemed like an overwhelming and daunting task – nothing is too difficult when we come together, join forces, and work for God and His Kingdom!”

I love seeing what we can accomplish when we all work together.

During our Leadership Day conferences, a longing began to develop in one of the attending teachers to host a similar leadership conference with the youth in his community. He had seen the difference it was making in the lives of students and wanted that for the youth in his church and village as well.

He planned an event, and asked if we would send Abram to speak at it. Abram had prepared to speak with Christians about being Godly leaders, but soon found that the youth had no background in Christianity. He turned this into an opportunity to share about who Christ was, how to dream big, and how to become a Godly leader.

“The thing that I found out is that a lot of young people are perishing because of lack of knowledge,” commented Abram after returning from the conference.

Abram was able to impact 200 youth with the truth of God. It is exciting to see local leaders take a more proactive role in developing the youth of the community not only in leadership, but in Godliness as well.

Ask any little boy in America what he wants to be when he grows up and you might hear firefighter, doctor, or astronaut. Little girls will say they want to be teachers, nurses, lawyers. Though their answers differ, these children all have something in common: They can answer the question.

Ask a child in Africa what he or she wants to be when all grown up and you may be met with a blank stare. Shrugging shoulders. “I don’t know.” They can’t comprehend the question and they don’t know how to answer. They don’t know, because they don’t know how to dream.

I’ve seen the blank stares. I’ve watched the shoulders shrug. I’ve heard the “I don’t know”s. Once when I asked a young boy what he wants to be when he grows up, he answered with a statement that has never left me: “I want to be alive.”

Poverty kills dreams. It murders hope. It squashes every last ounce of ambition. Poverty impacts the old, but targets the young. It steals more than full bellies and healthy bodies; it suffocates the future and squanders potential.

What Africa needs—what anyone affected by poverty needs—is not a hand-out. Africa needs more than charity, more than money, more than employment opportunities. All of those are vitally important, but Africa needs something even greater. Africa needs to learn to dream again.

Next time you choose to make a donation, contribute your skills, or give of your time for someone or some organization, find a way to also instill hope, offer encouragement, shine a light at the end of their tunnel. As you spark dreams in people’s hearts, you’re doing the best thing you can do to eradicate poverty.

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Only halfway through the term, we’re already seeing the fruit of the coaches‘ goal to focus on student salvations. So far we’ve seen 199 salvations at the Leadership Summit classes! Not only are students receiving Christ, but they are becoming disciples as well. They are sharing their convictions with their peers and are standing firm for what they believe in. Students are deciding not only to allow Christ to rule their hearts, but their lives as well. Many are giving up smoking and drinking for a lifestyle that reflects God.

One of Lucas’ students shared with him that her boyfriend wanted to have sex, but instead of giving in to the pressures, she stood up for what she believed in and broke up with him. She said that she broke it off so that she could save herself for marriage. This is the kind of life that God desires for each of us and these students are getting it.

God doesn’t want us to have some type of Godly head knowledge, but for our lives to begin to mirror His.

Our coaches are an important part of our ministry team. They are passionate about reaching students in their communities with the Gospel message, and are incredibly hard workers. We love our coaches and always enjoy bragging about them!

During the first half of the year, the coaches reached a retention rate of 85% — meaning that 85% of the students who started the Leadership Summit program at the beginning of the term successfully completed it. The coaches are committed to increasing that percentage for the second half of the year. We’re halfway through the term and we currently have 95% of the students still attending. The coaches’ hard work is paying off!

These classes are doing much more than teaching students to abstain until marriage. In the last two weeks alone, we’ve seen 61 more students give their lives to Christ! We know that as young people commit their lives to following Jesus, they’ll experience long-lasting change in their behavior. Our coaches are doing a great job of presenting the Gospel message and being mentors in the schools.

Our 17 coaches teach over 3700 students every two weeks. Each coach directly impacts 220 students! How incredible is that!?

Thank you for serving alongside the coaches in the public schools. We couldn’t do this without your prayers and support!