Volunteer Care

Mr. Ty pictured in black shirt in front.


Goal: Volunteer Care
-Volunteers will be well trained and committed to the City Impact Mission.
-Volunteers will feel like a valued member of the CI Ministry Team.


I had gone around to pick up devotions for the evening and noticed that Mr. Ty ( High School boys leader) was absent from the High School boys room, which I found to be a bit odd as he usually never misses program on Sunday evenings.

After making myself comfortable in the 6-8th grade girls’ room I leaned over to ask Mrs. Bert (6-8th grade girls’ small group leader) if her husband Mr. Ty (High School boys classroom small group leader) was gone tonight. She said that he would be here shortly, but he would be late because last minute he went to get Patty (High School girls’ student).

Now you see maybe to someone else this would not seem like any big deal, but for me, my mind started to spin. I just could not stop thinking about Mr. Ty and his efforts to get Patty to ILA. Ty went outside of himself to ensure Patty made it to program on Sunday. It was more important for him to go get Patty than to worry about being late that night. My heart was just touched by Mr. Ty’s outward expression of commitment to get the students to the Impact Leadership Academy. It showed me that he values the program and feels that it is of top importance and priority to see to it that the students make it every Sunday.

Impact Journal from Dylan (6th grade ILA student)

Dylan pictured in Red.

What is one thing God helped me do lately, that I didn’t have to do, which showed kindness or sacrificial love to others?



“I helped my mom and dad with my baby brother like making bottles, cleaning bottles, getting diapers for my mom, getting wipes, getting my brother his pajamas for him.”


“I helped a person named Pete who doesn’t have any friends and I am helping him to be nice to others so he can have friends like the rest of us.”


“Today at School I was helping my friend Michael with math homework, when I wanted to finish my homework, but instead I helped him with his homework.”

At the feet of Jesus

At the end of the lesson time on Sunday in the High School girls’ room Mrs. Anna (Youth Development Director and High School girls’ leader) shared with the girls that after their discussion the previous week she had really been listening to the hearts of the girls and heard some of their thoughts on body image. Mrs. Anna proceeded to hand out an article she had printed; this article was about body image. Mrs. Anna also gave the girls two bible verses Proverbs 31:30 and Genesis 1:27. Mrs. Anna’s goal in doing this was to encourage the girls to seek what God thinks of them. Following this short discussion was a time of prayer. Prayers shared were of praise, thankfulness, forgiveness, and requests. The reason I share this is because one of the girls praised God for thinking she was beautiful and helping her to think well of her body image. She also asked that He would forgive her for the bad thoughts she has about the way she looks. It was so awesome to see her take what Mrs. Anna was saying and bring it right to God’s feet, asking Him for help just as He wants us to do. With the craziness of the classrooms I know it is sometimes hard for the leaders to think the students are listening, but when something like this happens I know they are.

Personal Responsibility

I have been excited to notice more and more that something is stirring in the minds of the ILA students. I am starting to see the reaping of the seeds which have been sewn.

On Sunday evening, while waiting for program to start, Jonha was busy decorating a card for his dad whose Birthday was that very day. I was just walking around observing his actions, as he was hard at work. But his hard work had turned the floor below him into quite the mess. I thought to myself, “Oh boy, another kid making another mess!” I was just thinking that I was going to be left cleaning up the mess once he went to class for the evening. I continued walking around and then sat down to speak with a few other students. All of a sudden, I saw Jonha dart out of the room only to return a few minutes later with the vacuum in hand. He plugged that vacuum in and got right to work! I could do nothing but smile all over and then felt bad that I had underestimated Jonha’s ability to show personal responsibility.

Wisdom Talk

If God came to you and said I will give you whatever you want, what would you want? This was a question that was asked by Mr. Todd to the 6-8^th grade boys on Sunday. With excitement Mr. Todd asked the boys to tell him what they would ask God for.

Zach- “New shoes.”

Jonha- “Eternal life in Heaven, and wisdom.”

Cameron- “Good health.”

Kenneth- “Mustang.”

Dylan- “Super powers.”

Mr. Todd went on to ask the boys if they knew that this really happened, and proceeded to lead them all to the story of Solomon in 1 Kings 3:4.

After taking turns around the class reading the story, Mr. Todd asked the boys to recall what Solomon asked God for. Dylan answered, “A discerning heart.” What did God think of that request? Jonha answered, “Thank you for not choosing long life, riches, and death to your enemies.” Mr. Todd then shared with the boys that when we follow God and obey God, He sometimes gives you more than what you had asked for in the first place. He wants us to pray to Him and ask for wisdom in our own lives. When we choose to do what He wants us to do, obey Him and follow His will, He will bless us. He wants us to obey Him. Even though I was only in the class for a short amount of time I was able to gather a little lesson for myself and realize that sometimes it does not take a lengthy lesson and lecture to get a point across. I enjoyed sitting in on the 6-8^th grade boys’ lesson time and look forward to the next time.

Meet Mrs. Michaela

My name is Michaela Mueller and I graduated from UNL with a degree in teaching. I am from Lincoln, NE and I grew up in a great Christian family, there are 6 of us, my mom, dad, 1 older sister and 2 little brothers. My favorite color is purple and I love donuts! In my free time I like to run, read, spend time with friends and family, and try new restaurants. My dad was telling me about City Impact and I love working with teens, so I visited one night and couldn’t wait to get started. A few past experiences like baby-sitting when I was younger, and going to college to be a teacher lead me to work at a place like City Impact. One of my favorite memories at City Impact is watching our teen girls mature and really take their faith seriously, and I love our prayer times together. I have been with City Impact for about 2 years and I am currently a small group leader in the 6-8th grade girls’ classroom.

A special time with Jazmine

On Valentines Day I had the opportunity to lead the Writing Team. Mr. Nate (writing team leader) was going to be gone and they needed someone to fill in. I have filled in once before and was looking forward to doing it again. Numbers were a bit lower than normal at ILA and I was a bit bummed when I found out that I only had one student for the Writing Team. Oh but doesn’t God always have different plans for us then what we are expecting for ourselves?

Jazmine gathered our things and headed up to the Writing Team room and decided to get started on the project for the night. Now the Writing Team is still working on getting things together for what it is they will be doing for the year, and currently they are working on writing poems. In the previous week Mr. Nate had shared a poem which he had written about his grandfather, and in the following week the students would be writing a poem about someone special to them. Well it just so happened to be that Sunday was Valentines Day. Mr. Nate had instructed that the Writing Team write a Valentine’s Poem to someone special to them. Jazmine decided she would write a poem about her mother and then later give it to her as a Valentine’s Day present.

Jazmine began to work on her poem and only asked for help with the very first bit, maybe even just one line. She did such a great job and I was so impressed with her participation and willingness to write. She was given 45 minutes to write the poem and then at the end she shared it with me. I was so touched to hear what she had written to her mom and wanted to share it with all of you.

“Today is the day of Valentine’s day, I wish you my love each and every day.

This is my gift to you to show you I love you so I hope you enjoy it today.

You are my mom and I wanted to let you know, that I care about you.

I hope you love my poem because I cherish you.

I just want to say that everything you do for me everyday is something I can never
forget about you.

It takes me back in the old days that you were there for me to say, I love you.

So that’s why I want to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did. Jazmine did such a wonderful job and I could tell that every part of this poem was from her heart.

Instant Replay

“The more assets you have the more resilient you will be,” Mrs. Anna (Youth Development Director)


One of my favorite things about starting a new year is what that new year will bring. In the case of City Impact’s Impact Leadership Academy, this new year is bringing forth the opportunity for students to get familiar and get connected with the assets in their lives. In the first week back from break, the students were introduced to the assets by taking a detailed survey, to see what and how many assets each one had.


There are two different groups of assets; there are external assets: (Support, Empowerment, Boundaries and Expectations, and Constructive Use of Time) and internal assets: (Commitment to Learning, Positive Values, Social Competencies, and Positive Identity.) The Impact Leadership Academy students are taking a break from the Impact Journals and have been given an asset journal, which will build into the students’ opportunity to gather and learn about their individual assets. Each asset journal is compiled of three sections: the first an asset goal section, the second their asset journaling page, the third an express it section. All of these sections will help the students better utilize their individual assets.


Mrs. Anna (Youth Development Director) has taken this project on full force, and from what I can see, she has done a wonderful job. Mrs. Anna has put together a lesson, which includes an activity to be done at worship time when all the students gather together. So far the lessons at worship have been so fun to watch and I know the students are learning! When Mrs. Anna asked what they had learned from the previous weeks asset lesson multiple students answered with naming exact assets. For example, Zach answered by naming the “Hope for your future” asset.

All of the staff and volunteers are hard at work trying to push the importance of learning and gaining assets and it is wonderful to see everyone working together. I cant wait to update you all with more!