Commit Through Your Personal Faith

Susan Tigert
Calvary will have the privilege to join over 20,000 students in over 30 states to be a part of the Leadership Academy and their Impact through Action program. This Leadership Academy will be a yearlong program where students meet once a month to begin developing and honing their leadership capabilities. The main focus of this program is to teach students how to be leaders in their schools, communities, and the world. Each semester we will design and implement an outreach service project that will make a difference in our community.  

This year our school has selected the theme of Commit, and through this leadership program, students will have an opportunity to commit in several ways. One, students are asked to commit to the program, which lasts for the entire school year. Each month they are giving up personal time in order to better themselves through each training. We explain to the students that they were personally selected, and Chick-Fil-A is financially supporting this partnership, and that shouldn’t be taken lightly.  

But more importantly, this commitment to the leadership program will give each of these students opportunities to grow in their personal faith. 1 Peter 4:10 tells us that “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” This is a direct calling to put ourselves in places and situations to use our talents to serve others. Through the leadership program, students will design and implement a project that will impact a need in our community. I’m so excited to watch the process of selecting and defining what that need will be, and then seeing that need being met in May. Through our very first kick-off experience with this program, the students were able to serve others by packing meals and shipping that to a local food shelter. What a humbling experience to know that what they were packing was someone’s meal or maybe meals for several days. The experience is twofold--they have the opportunity to serve others as scriptures calls, and they have the opportunity to thank God for the many blessings in their own lives. Throughout the school year and the journey through this program, I pray that each one of these students continues to grow in his/her faith and commits to being an instrument of God’s ministry to others.
 
Photos by: Catherine Ramsey Stuart
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