A Student Gives Back! Wait, no...3 students!

Over the past 6 years my social enterprise based ministry has talked about the idea of students never really graduating from our program. Our hope is that previous students would find their mentoring relationships so compelling that they might stay in contact with their faith based mentors. We have considered this idea to be an important metric in our system. I donʻt love metrics in ministry, but I also think you need at least a couple to figure out whether you are accomplishing your mission!

As we have discussed that sort of value of having students stay in relationship, we have talked over the years about the idea that perhaps one day a student might even feel compelled to give back to the program. Wouldnʻt that be wonderful we thought if they came back as a mentor or as a donor!? I have never put much hope in that. For starters, the last two generations of students are hammered in terms of debt. What do they have left to give?! Likewise, their sense of obligation to institutions is not very strong. I donʻt think this is a moral/ethical problem as some people define it with my generation and the one after me. Itʻs just the result of their situation in life and how they view the world. In the end, I thought it would be more likely that we would hear back from them at say…year 10. This month three of them made me realize I donʻt know everything.

One student who had never been a part of the Forge but had learned about the importance of giving at our local church gave a $500 dollar donation to the Forge! They are fresh out of college! The only career advice or input I had ever given them was a reference letter and some input on internships while they were in college. We HAD once taken them to Mexico to build houses and that experience seemed to impact their sense of living out the love of Christ.

A second student, who we have worked with for several years wanted their mom to start working out at the weight program (Utmost Athletics) that is a part of the Forge. We registered their mom for the program which operates on a sliding scale pay system. You pay what you can afford at Utmost. This student was already paying for their sister. What showed up the next week? A $20 check for Mom. They are paying for their Mom to work out. This young adult is amazing. Blows my mind once a month, but I was nearly brought to tears by this one.

A third student, who had played baseball at the local junior college has ended their athletic career. They are now working toward being an electrician. Their faith is still forming, but God is at work. Last week they called to let us know that they would like to volunteer with our weight program as a volunteer strength coach. They had worked out with us while at the junior college. We had envisioned this sort of thing happening through the gym, but not during the same year our coaching development system was implemented! And not during the pandemic.

I donʻt know if I will ever have my act together enough as an executive director to the degree that we will have fabulous metrics in place as a ministry. What I do know is fruit of quality Kingdom work when I see it.