Thrive Africa Founder and President, Alece Ronzino, was featured as a blogger at Catalyst yesterday. Check out the post here and be sure to leave a comment!

Catalyst was started in 1999 by an impressive list of church and ministry leaders, including Andy Stanley and John Maxwell. The ministry focuses on developing Next Generation leaders, specifically those under 40, and offers a wide array of resources for these young leaders.

Alece will be blogging at Catalyst multiple times through 2010, we’ll make sure we keep you in the loop!

We serve a creative God. A God who demonstrates through His word and the world around us, that He is passionate about making all things new.  My prayer as we start a new year of ministry is that we will allow God to make us new- as individuals, as a community of believers, and as a ministry.

Part of being made new is also a call to to forget “the former things” (Isaiah 43:18).  The decision to let go of our expectations based on what has been familiar can be really tough.  But when we do, we give God permission to knock our socks off. We let go of our self-imposed limitations. We dream bigger and reach higher.

That’s what we’re doing this year at Thrive Africa.  Will you join us?

In Anticipation,
Amy Riep

Job at Thrive: LaunchPad Relations Specialist and Leadership Summit Coach Development Manager Assistant

Hometown: Severn, Maryland

What’s your favorite part of living in Africa? Africa is all about community and that’s what I love about living here. I love building relationships with all the different types of people that are around me because they are so desperate for love. When I build different relationships with the people they last for years.

Tell us the best part about your job. The best part of my job is that I know I am doing what I am called to do and what my heart has told me to do for years. I am working with people that are full of potential, full of passion and people that are changing Africa.

If you have a few hours free on a Saturday, what will we find you doing? I love sleeping so definitely catching up on some sleep. Hanging out with friends or just having a good time in general. I’m flexible and down for doing random things; I mean it is the weekend.

What’s your favorite African animal? I love Ostriches because they are so much like raptors it’s insane.

Share one of the most impactful moments you’ve had in South Africa. When I was teaching LaunchPad last year I had the chance to get close to a lot of my students not only through teaching but by building a close relationship. Just seeing personally how much we impact their lives and how our programs are changing so many lives in South Africa.

What do you miss most from home? I definitely miss my family and friends.  I am so close to all of them. I wish they could all move out here.

What’s playing on your iPod these days? Music is a big part of my life and I can’t say that I have one particular group. I listen to everything; except COUNTRY.

What’s a movie you can watch over and over? The movie Brown Sugar, it’s my favorite movie.

Share something unique about yourself. I love watching people dance and usually try to watch every type of dance show/movie. People would never guess that about me.

Recently the interns and many of our staff members had the opportunity to attend a traditional festival in Qwa Qwa, that was put together just for us! We spent a Saturday morning amazed by traditional dancing and music. A couple dozen people had practiced daily for about two weeks-just to be able to share more of their culture with us.

We know the more we can learn about Basotho culture, the more effective we’ll be as a ministry. It’s safe to say we all walked away from this experience not only with more knowledge, but also feeling incredibly honored and blessed to be entrusted with participation in these cultural practices.

Name: Skosana “Victoria” Ntsekiseng

How long have you been working with Thrive Africa?
Four months

What do you like most about it?
We get to learn things from it, like getting to know the Bible deeply and it builds up self-esteem

What do you like to do in your free time?
I like listening to music, writing and reading poems, and listening to Mr. T.D. Jakes

Share one of the most impactful moments you’ve had working with Thrive Africa.
Sharing the Word of God and listening to other people when they met Christ. Telling others our stories and how we know Christ.

What kind of music do you listen to?
I like listening to Gospel music

What’s a movie you can watch over and over?
Widow (Nigerian Stories)

Share something unique about yourself
I’m a hard worker, intelligent and in everything I do and want, I strive for excellence and I have a good mindset. I’m always happy and smiling, I like sharing with people and I’m a good listener.

As a staff team, we’re being diligent to stay mindful of our theme for this year of ministry- that GOD IS BIG! He exceeds our expectations of what He wants to do in us and through us- and we want to celebrate that.  At a recent staff meeting we compiled a list of how God has been showing up big in our midst- and here are just a few of the highlights:

• Our staff team is currently the largest it has ever been; totaling 12 full-time missionary staff, 2-full time Basotho ministry staff, and 23 part-time national staff
• This term over 3000 Leadership Summit students are going through “Break the Silence”- a curriculum that covers topics from a godly perspective that most schools and churches aren’t addressing
• We’re teaching LaunchPad discipleship classes in six schools this term. There are over 150 people coming regularly to the classes
• We have 8 year-long Twenty4Seven interns this year. They have been actively teaching LaunchPad classes, they served together in Swaziland for two weeks this spring, and they are busy with classes, behind-the-scenes ministry work and relationship evangelism each week
• Our summer interns arrive in early June to participate in Next Step; two months of immersion into full-time missions. This will be our biggest group of summer interns ever; 25 young people coming from 15 different states and Canada to experience missions first-hand
• So far we have had 10 mission teams serve along side of us this year and we have 8 teams scheduled to join us over the next few months

Name: Mile Jacob Thulo

How long have you been working with Thrive Africa?

Four months

What do you like most about it?

It’s a program which shows people about the love of the living God. It’s a program which shows people about the right way to go and how much God has forgiven their sins.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I like reading the Bible and sharing the Word of God with friends, family and people around.

Share one of the most impacting moments you’ve had working with Thrive Africa.

Sharing the Word of God with other people.

What kind of music do you listen to?

I listen to Gospel

What’s a movie you can watch over and over?

Passion of Christ

Share something unique about yourself

I’m someone who loves people around whether young or old, and listening to their view about God. I’m someone who likes telling people about the will of God. I’m someone who likes helping other people when they need help with something.

I had the privilege of taking some ministry volunteers to Limakatso, a center for disabled children in Intabazwe. They had prepared the day’s activities with Palm Sunday in mind. The craft was to make palm leaves out of construction paper and then we re-enacted this Bible story. I had so much fun as I helped one of the kids, Teboho, make his palm leaves. Teboho has cerebral palsy and doesn’t have very much range of motion with his hands, but he loves interacting and I found out today that he definitely likes to color! I can’t express how much I enjoyed working with him; seeing him laugh and watching his eyes light up as he saw what he created. After we finished making the Palm leaves we lined up and Teboho played the part of Jesus (and his wheel chair the Donkey) as we waved the Palm leaves and sang “Hosanna”. I can’t think of a better way to prepare for Palm Sunday than to be with God’s beloved children.  - Charlene Garrett, Human Resources Director and Administrative Assistant

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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