I teach a LaunchPad class at Clubview with Katie Miller and Matt Peirce, and graduation is already fast approaching. I honestly cannot believe how soon we’ll have to say goodbye to our new friends, but I’ve been encouraged over this past term about how much we’ve impacted our students.

The spiritual depth of the learners has increased beyond what I’d ever thought was possible. Nowadays, we have students approach us with questions that go far beyond surface level, and I get excited when I get to clue them in to what the Scripture that they’ve always heard but never really understood means. Sometimes it’s hard to look back and see precisely where you’ve impacted people and made a difference, but in this case, it’s clear. I see it on the faces of every student that walks in, and I can safely say that my words have directly impacted these kids’ lives. That’s all I can ask for.

Jace, one of our Twenty4Seven interns, loves teaching LaunchPad. She recently shared a testimony about the openness she’s been experiencing with her students.

“When I am teaching, I feel like I can let my students know how safe they are to honestly share their hearts when they’re at class.The lesson we were teaching a few weeks ago was about how God should be their primary relationship and that God comes first. I was teaching that in order to have that relationship with God we must first have a clean life and ask Him to wash away all the dirty things (our sin) through salvation.

“I asked the students to think about what it was that they are struggling with and to feel free to come talk with us after class if they wanted further prayer or counseling. After class I didn’t really think that anybody was going to come to talk to me. But praise God - I had 4 students come talk to me about what they were going through and how they can they get through it.

“One boy in particular stood out to me the most. He came up to me and said, ‘Jace, I have a serious problem with smoking. It just makes me look cool, and I crave it all the time.’ I respected him so much for being honest and telling me this. I told him to bring his cigarettes to class the next week so that we could help keep him accountable to quitting. Also, his best friend comes to class with him and can be there for him as well.

“I just really poured my heart out to him and shared with him how important it is to get all the dirty things out of his life. The next class he didn’t bring his cigarettes but he said that he didn’t smoke anymore, and that it is a thing of the past that is now out of his life! I was so happy that I almost cried because he was able to get rid of that problem so quickly.

“It’s amazing to see how these kids come to our classes and feel safe to talk to us not only about questions about Christianity but also problems that they are having personally. LaunchPad is a safe environment where they can be open and as much as I share my heart with them, they share their hearts with me. Praise God, dude!“

At our first-term LaunchPad graduation, we had a time for students to share testimonies about what God has done in their hearts and lives in the past few months through the classes. Jody’s class is usually very quiet and slow to respond to any invitation to speak or to share their thoughts, so she wasn’t expecting anyone to be excited about talking in front of the whole class.

But to her surprise, Isaac, an elderly gentleman in the class, quickly raised his hand. He walked down the aisle to the front of the class, visibly eager to share something. They were astounded by what he said. “Because of this class, I now go to the hospital and pray for people, and I go to the prisons and talk to the men there. When I go to my friends’ houses, I bring my LaunchPad material and Bible, and I tell them what we are learning. So I want to praise God, but I especially want to praise God for this class.”

It is so exciting to hear how our students are putting their faith into action!

After graduation, Jody was talking to one of her most consistently involved and dedicated students, Pat. When she asked him what he was going to do now that class was over for the term, he simply said with a huge smile on his face, “Preach!” Jody was floored as she listened to Pat describe how he had joined a “preaching team.” He’s really taking his faith to the next level!

All of our staff and interns who teach LaunchPad classes are making a huge impact on so many lives and communities!

Our interns are involved in many different things during the course of their year with us. In addition to their classes, they teach LaunchPad, train coaches, run pastors’ conferences, and work behind the scenes in various departments of the ministry. Jody works for Kelly in the LaunchPad department, and recently got to do something she’d never done before.

For my Behind-The-Scenes job, I work in the LaunchPad Department. A few months ago as we prepared for the second semester of LaunchPad, I had the opportunity to help write a short curriculum for small group leader training! I appreciated the chance to pour out everything I have been learning into the curriculum. I learned a lot myself as I dove into the idea of leading a small group and what the Bible says about it. I completely enjoyed the entire process of creating a curriculum—from researching, to writing, to collating and binding it. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of training leaders in Qwa Qwa that will bring change to their nation!

At a recent staff meeting, Katie shared about Nhlopo, one of her LaunchPad students, and the incredible ways he’s been reaching out to others. He spoke at an assembly at his school and talked to all his fellow students about what he’s been learning at LaunchPad and encouraged others to attend with him.

We asked Nhlopo to share with us what he told his schoolmates:

“Every single day of your life, you need to spend time with Jesus. Many people think that to get close to God they have to withdraw from everyday activities. But I learned that the apostle Paul taught that it’s in our everyday lives that we learn to become close to God.

“My advice was to remember that in everything you do, you can ask God to help you and be there with you. To do positive things, you need to remember that everywhere you are, God  is there with you.”

It was incredible to hear about this unsolicited LaunchPad “promo”. God is indeed working in our students’ lives!

Jace teaches the Love, Sex and Relationships LaunchPad curriculum in Boitsebelo. Here’s one of her favorite testimonies from what has already happened in the 5 weeks we’ve been in class.

So far in LaunchPad I have loved connecting with my students and have been enjoying teaching them as well. One girl in particular has stuck out to me: Maditaba. Maditaba has come to every class so far, and after the second class she came up to me and told me about a situation going on with her and her boyfriend. She explained that as a Christian, she wanted to save herself for marriage, but always felt like if she said no to her boyfriend, that he and everyone else in her village would look at her differently. We kept talking, and she told me that she hasn’t given into him yet, but that she doesn’t want their relationship to end because she loves him very much.

I encouraged her to talk to him about her feelings, being open in telling him why it’s so important to her to wait. I also told her that I would love to meet him and talk to the two of them together, and that I wanted him to hear what we were teaching in class as well. At the beginning of the fourth class she came running up to me hand in hand with a boy she introduced as her boyfriend. I shook his hand and we talked for a few minutes, leaving with the promise of more conversations to come.

She thanked me several times that day, and I realized just how much this class will affect both of their lives. I smiled as the impact of the lives that will change finally settled in my heart. It makes me want to become better in teaching as well as put forth more passion and grow stronger in the things I’m teaching. God’s working through every person in every class, whether it’s obvious or not, and I’m so thankful for that.

It’s only the second week of LaunchPad discipleship classes, and yet our growth already has been astonishing. Last term we started with 75 students in 7 locations, but this term, in 6 locations, we started with an incredible 201 students. In the class that I teach at Clubview along with two other interns, we had 30 new students our second week. Thirty new faces! As much as the numbers are exciting, it’s even more exciting to see those new faces every week—oftentimes more than we expect, but we welcome all of them with open arms.

I’m thrilled at the amount of students that are coming to learn, and even more overjoyed that I have the opportunity to play a small part in their learning.

A few weeks ago we went to several schools in Qwa Qwa to train up Small Group Leaders for our LaunchPad classes. The principals gave us the names of students in their schools whom they feel have the most leadership potential.

Kelly, our LaunchPad Director, and Alfred, one of our coaches, taught the group of over 60 students. As they were collecting the leftover curriculums and pens, several students asked questions about being a Small Group Leader. When Lepota walked up to them, they expected him to ask a similar question. But instead of asking how old he had to be to participate or what time classes would end, he simply stated, “God has answered my prayers.”

That caught their attention. Alfred prompted Lepota to tell us his story and here’s what he said…

“Last year I attended school at Sephokong and was part of the Leadership Summit program. I loved going to class and never missed a day. I learned so much about who God is and what He wants for me. But then it was time for me to enter grade 10 which meant I needed to change schools and begin attending here at Mampoi.  I knew that Leadership Summit is only for students in grades 7-9 and that I would no longer be able to attend that class. Not only that, but there was no program by Thrive Africa at Mampoi. I was so saddened; I didn’t know what to do so I just started to pray. I prayed that God would bring Thrive Africa to my new school and that I could keep learning about the Word of God.

“Well, last week my teacher told me and several other students that we could be part of a leadership class if we stayed after school today. When I showed up earlier I had no idea it was LaunchPad — another program of Thrive Africa! I couldn’t believe it, I walked in and there was Alfred, the coach who taught me at Leadership Summit! And now, not only can I keep learning the Word of God but I can be a Small Group Leader and help other students know God too! God has answered my prayers!”

In the months that lie before the beginning of a LaunchPad term there are always lots of ideas floating around the LaunchPad office and this month was no exception. During our pursuit of excellence and as we strive to better fulfill the Great Commission, we are always looking for new and creative ways to serve God better. We’re very excited as this month comes to a close and some of those new ideas are about to bear fruit. This term we’ve restructured LaunchPad so that every curriculum includes a time for small group discussion. A novel idea, you might think, but boy is there a lot of logistics that go with a new idea!

After much prayer and seeking (of both the Lord and people) we’ve found a pool of local Basotho students whom are know to be leaders in their schools. This week Kelly, our LaunchPad Director, gets to train them to become Small Group Leaders. As LaunchPad kicks off in a few weeks, they will become known as part of our class leadership and we know God will use them and stretch them mightily!

We’re definitely looking forward to all that God has in store for this second term of the year! So many changes are taking place and I know that God is up to something good!

Matt P., one of our interns, really enjoys connecting with his students at LaunchPad.

There is a guy in my class named Sylvester; he’s a fairly laid back guy and seems pretty quiet. What I like about him though is the questions he asks me when there is time after class. After the first class he attended, he came up to me afterwards and asked what the proper day to do the Sabbath on was. Pretty intense question, but I loved it. Here’s a kid who is really thinking about his faith and wants to understand it.

I think what I like most about Sylvester’s questions is that they are exactly like the ones I asked when I was in high school. I had my dad to give me answers back then and those answers solidified my faith during that time and helped me to keep it through today. I don’t know Sylvester’s parents—I do not even know if he has his parents around—but it is incredibly humbling to be playing, in some small way, the same role my dad did and in so doing, helping a young man from Qwa Qwa grow in his faith.