Do I really believe that the students in my chapter are going to be Communicators for Christ?
As the RI HOPE Chapter Sponsor, I am challenged to mentor others so that they are equipped to serve God with their “God Given” talents and gifts. The RI HOPE Chapter is the perfect place for this to take place week in and week out.
But…. last year after mentoring and equipping teens and their parents for more than four years, I could hardly get 7 students to sign up for the fifth year. I still didn’t have any students who had finished all three phases of the Young Speakers Guild. I got discouraged and wondered if all my volunteering was all in vain.
Then in July 2017, I traveled to iCON with six students and three parents from Rhode Island. The experience transformed my student leadership team. They came home with vision and new purpose. Right away, Olivia asked if she could help run the chapter meetings so I gave her the job of RI HOPE Chapter Ambassador.
Besides transformed teens, God has given me side guides who are walking this road with me. One mom, Evelina wrote a note to encourage me:
“Thanks again for this semester of hard work and investing in the next generation. Together we are stronger! You don't always see the fruit immediately but we keep on walking and trusting Him for everlasting fruit.”
God gives me good friends to walk this road. I am seeing fruit. And so I find myself believing that the students in my chapter are being empowered to influence today’s culture by being the example.