Category Archives: Uncategorized

Photos above from Good Tidings Gospel Chapel Big Sisters Mentoring Ministry Our three goals for mentoring — let me rephrase that — our three mandates for mentoring are that the ministry should be safe — for everyone involved, effective — the work accomplishes the goals and objectives of the program, and sustainable — it hasContinue reading “Commitment, knowledge, & tools = sustainability”

I was shocked the morning he held out his tiny hand towards me inviting me to walk to the reading room to join the other preschoolers reading with their parents. The school asked me to be his reading buddy months prior, only to be rejected by him weekly for the greater part of the semester.Continue reading “The Art of Being Faithful“

In light of the many stories we hear about youth who are abandoning the church, CAYM is helping the Church of God in South Carolina develop their Mentor1 program where teenagers desiring to become Christian leaders will be mentored by pastors and other church leaders. Research indicates that youth stay connected to Christ if they haveContinue reading “Mentoring young faith leaders”

The question is: What are we going to do with it? Here is the challenge: If we mentors sense the stress, we can be confident that our mentees also feel it as they navigate new schools, friendships, and trials this school year. A recent article by Drs. Saray Myruski and Kristin Buss, from Pennsylvania StateContinue reading “Society is anxious. We all sense it.”

Brett’s dad left years ago and had little contact with him. That didn’t dull the pain when his father died a few years later as a result of alcoholism. Brett’s life turned dark in his thoughts, activities and attire. He contemplated ending his life as he withdrew to his basement to self-medicate through excessively playingContinue reading “From Dark to Radiant”

“Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.”[1] If you lead a mentoring program, then you are a zealot. What else could motivate you to give up your life for young people who view life quite differently than you do? I was a zealotContinue reading “The Importance of Humility in Leadership”

We tend to see Jesus through our own lenses — even when looking at his words and actions through the scripture. One young woman’s description of our Savior took our small group by surprise. Did she really just say that? The words came out innocently with exhilaration. Our Zoom Bible study doesn’t give us many opportunitiesContinue reading “Jesus Was a What?!”

When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. (Mark 16:9 NIV) We have an old saying that “things sometimes take a turn for the worst” … but sometimes things, even bad things, can take a turn for theContinue reading “When Things Take a Turn for the Best”

If you lead a mentoring program for any period of time, you will have some difficult conversations. No one likes conflict, but if we are going to work with people on behalf of people, we will need to have difficult conversations from time to time. While it may be tempting to avoid these conversations, healthyContinue reading “Difficult Conversations”

Please enjoy this success story from one ministry CAYM helped train. A four-year-old boy was about to get kicked out of preschool. Without parents in his life, Chris was out of control. The school was running out of options. Then a teacher suggested mentoring through the Appalachia Mentoring Project. For four straight weeks, Ken showedContinue reading “Too Young to be Without Hope”