It has been so wonderful watching our teens grow and mature as young people, as they volunteer with the elementary students at Bible Club. There is just something about serving the younger kids that melts the hearts of our teens, and through that special leadership opportunity their confidence to shine for Christ grows.
Last night at Bible Club, Mercedez, one of our teen volunteers, had to walk a misbehaving student out of class and up to our reroute room. Let me give you some back ground on this unique situation. Two years ago when I started at City Impact, Mercedez was struggling with following directions, listening to adults, and showing kindness and sacrificial love while at City Impact. Mercedez has always had a great outgoing personality, but she was still learning when it was and wasn’t appropriate to “woo” her peers. She ended up in reroute often last year, so she could learn positive ways to express herself. Most of the time she would get very bent out of shape going there too! Let me just say it was never a smooth transition getting her from class to reroute; negative comments were made & eyes were rolled! However, Mercedez will now proclaim that the time she spent in reroute really paid off. One year later, and she has decided to give her life to Christ and is a strong leader at both Bible Club and the Impact Leadership Academy.
So you can imagine what it must have felt like for Mercedez to be on the other end last night, actually walking a student to reroute! It was so sweet watching her walk the angry and crying 2nd grader up to reroute. Mercedez was saying things like, “I know just how you feel, but don’t worry it’s only reroute!” and “it will be really good for you, and you’ll only have to be in there for a little bit” and “I’ve been there lots of times, and its not so bad!”
After Mercedez dropped off the student and was heading back to class she said, “Gosh, Miss Ashley, taking students to reroute is hard! How do you do that?!” And I just looked at her and replied, “It gets so much easier when I see the work God does in someone like you.”
Last night at Bible Club, Mercedez, one of our teen volunteers, had to walk a misbehaving student out of class and up to our reroute room. Let me give you some back ground on this unique situation. Two years ago when I started at City Impact, Mercedez was struggling with following directions, listening to adults, and showing kindness and sacrificial love while at City Impact. Mercedez has always had a great outgoing personality, but she was still learning when it was and wasn’t appropriate to “woo” her peers. She ended up in reroute often last year, so she could learn positive ways to express herself. Most of the time she would get very bent out of shape going there too! Let me just say it was never a smooth transition getting her from class to reroute; negative comments were made & eyes were rolled! However, Mercedez will now proclaim that the time she spent in reroute really paid off. One year later, and she has decided to give her life to Christ and is a strong leader at both Bible Club and the Impact Leadership Academy.
So you can imagine what it must have felt like for Mercedez to be on the other end last night, actually walking a student to reroute! It was so sweet watching her walk the angry and crying 2nd grader up to reroute. Mercedez was saying things like, “I know just how you feel, but don’t worry it’s only reroute!” and “it will be really good for you, and you’ll only have to be in there for a little bit” and “I’ve been there lots of times, and its not so bad!”
After Mercedez dropped off the student and was heading back to class she said, “Gosh, Miss Ashley, taking students to reroute is hard! How do you do that?!” And I just looked at her and replied, “It gets so much easier when I see the work God does in someone like you.”
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