Teen Volunteer-- Mercedez's favorite memory

My favorite memory from this past year of volunteering at City Impact is learning how to send kids to reroute (where kids go to work out behavior issues and take personal responsibility for their actions). I know it sounds mean, but I do it because I love her, and by her I mean Katherine. I don’t want to pick favorites, cuz I love them all the same, but Katherine is my fav. I love her so much.

One day I had to give her 2 warnings because she wasn’t following directions and she kept on not listening. So I had to send her out of class to reroute. It was very hard for me for me because I used to be just like her. About 2 years ago when Mrs. Ashley first started at CI she sent me to reroute all the time. Oh my gosh, I hated it! But now I see why she did it, because she loves me and now I have a great relationship with her. I shared that with Katherine and she loved my story and then she willingly went to reroute for me with no problems.

Praying for Others

Sunday evening at ILA, Erica (6-8th grade Classroom Leader) decided to mix up the normal routine schedule. Instead of beginning the night with stamps, goals, and journals, Erica asked the girls to look at a map of the world and pick a number. One of the students chose a number and Erica turned to the map to see that the number picked was located on Asia. Erica explained the importance of praying for people around the country even though we don’t know or see them. So, the 6-8th grade girls classroom spent time praying for the country of Asia and the people who reside there. They prayed that God would come into their lives, protect them and strengthen their faith. Erica used an excellent example to teach the junior high girls how to pray for others rather than only your personal wants and needs.

Addison's Story

Seven years ago, City Impact welcomed Addison into the Bible Club program. Addison enrolled in Bible Club when she was in first grade and she has enjoyed her years spent with City Impact as she continues to grow in her faith and evolve into an exceptional young lady .
Some of Addison’s favorite Bible Club and ILA memories consist of game time and summer activities. She stills remembers a valuable lesson she learned at Bible Club back in 1st grade. The lesson was about the story of Adam and Eve. For game time, the 1st graders were asked to just look, but not eat, out of the giant bowl of yummy candy that lingered within close reach. Just as Adam and Eve were instructed by God not to eat any of the fruit of the tree in the Garden of Eden, Addison and her peers were told not to eat the candy. That night at Bible Club the students learned a valuable lesson. God wants His people to obey His word and resist temptations from Satan. Addison still reflects on this lesson seven years later. In addition, Addison also shared that City Impact has helped her understand how praying is like a personal conversation with God and it really does work.
Not only have the lessons and prayer impacted Addison’s life, so have many of her classroom leaders. During an interview with Addison, she expressed her love for the classroom leaders she has been blessed with while involved at City Impact. The following have ministered to Addison during her walk with Christ at City Impact: Wanda, Ashley, Miriam, and Erica.
Recently, Addison has been blessed with the opportunity to spend extra devotional time outside of club with one of her role models. Erica, the 6-8th grade girls leader, has a vibrant compassion to share the Lord’s unconditional love with her students. Addison and Erica meet outside of ILA nearly once a week to spend time in the scriptures together. Addison shared how grateful she was that Erica has helped her grow in her relationship with God. They discuss how God sent Jesus to die for their sins and community reach out opportunities. In addition, City Impact is blessed to have Erica take extra time outside of club to build a one-on-one relationship with Addison. This has been an amazing opportunity for Addison to grow in her faith and have a positive role model to look up to.
One way Addison has used her faith to reach out is through her peers. Addison and one of her close friends call each other and share prayer request two to three times a week. It is such a blessing to watch Addison grow and strengthen her faith with the Lord. We pray that Addison stays strong and continues to share her faith with the people around her.

"Gifts from God" Youth Store

One unique aspect of City Impact’s Bible Club & Impact Leadership Academy is our youth store. The youth store is a way for CI students to be rewarded for positive decisions they make. This year the store was revamped slightly to reflect our passion for authentic youth leadership and youth voice!

To start this renovation project, we had to figure out what our students wanted to call the store. Therefore, we had a program wide brainstorming process, where all students from 1st-12th grade submitted their ideas for a store name. Then, our Teen Directional Team narrowed all the ideas to their top 5, and made ballots for CI Students to vote! The Votes came in and overwhelming the CI Students decided to name their store, The GFG (Gifts from God.)

After deciding on a name, we had to find the right management team! Again, we thought, “Who better to run this store, than the young people themselves?!” We didn’t have to look far to find two teen girls, who have the perfect set of skills to run The GFG! GFG Managers Radious & Patty got to work right away; familiarizing themselves with the set up, clean-up, & cashier procedures for the store. They are even in charge of doing a brief orientation with each Bible Club class that shops; explaining the rules and expectations of the store and helping the younger kids pick out items they can afford.

It has been a big time highlight watching these two ILA girls take pride in their manager positions and seeing them run our awesome GFG Youth Store. Radious has really enjoyed taking over the casher and check-out routine during Bible Club and Patty does an excellent job assisting the kids with their shopping and making sure they follow the rules! Our GFG Managers have special strengths that really complement each other and make them a great fit for this project! Our Bible Club kids have loved the benefits of shopping too and seem to look up to their store managers. I’ve witness our BC kids take the GFG rules seriously when they see how important Patty and Radious take them!

The GFG Vision Statement:

To provide, a positive and rewarding incentive program, where City Impact youth will be affirmed for attendance, personal bible study, and additional impact journals. The youth store will be managed by a group of ILA teens to promote ownership and an authentic leadership opportunity.

T.T.- Youth Leader

Here at City Impact, we encourage our ILA students to volunteer at the Bible Club program. Not only are these special teen volunteers coming to ILA on Sunday nights, but these teens also dedicate their Tuesday nights as small group leaders for grades 1 through 5. This provides our teens with extended fellowship, a great leadership opportunity, and a positive & supportive environment.

The following is an example of God’s amazing love working through a teen volunteer (written by the classroom leader):

“T.T., our junior high helper, is doing great! Tonight, she volunteered to read a book to the kids and she smiled the whole time. She also stopped to tell the kids how she knew God loved her. It was so fun to watch.” – Jami, 1st Grade Classroom Leader

ILA Mission
Teens using their God-given strengths to make a difference in the world!

Speaking Team Update

The last couple weeks the speaking team has been watching “The Great Debaters.” They learned of the preparation and research it takes to prepare an effective argument as well as the skill it takes to present that argument in a persuasive way. At the conclusion of the movie, we asked the team members to stand and give an impromptu speech about what they had done in the last week. That way it was not something they had to memorize, but it was interesting and engaging. It was a joy to watch because at different times during each young person’s talk there was a moment when they relaxed to the point of real communication. Usually, that happened when it was apparent that they had engaged their audience. It is so exciting to see the vast potential that God has gifted these young people with and I can not wait to see how He will use their gifts for His glory!
--Ty Westover, Speaking Team Assistant

Social Justice Team Update

We just began studying a new social justice issue- AIDS. One night we played a game to reveal all of the staggering statistics associated with AIDS in Africa. At the end we spent a significant amount of time discussing these heartbreaking statistics and how they made us feel. Most of the youth were saying how sad they felt or confused that such pain and suffering existed.

Each time we introduce a new social issue to the group it visibly impacts our team’s hearts. You can just see it on their faces. On the social justice team, our students get look outside themselves and their personal circumstances and they reflect on injustices happening around the world. It is really cool seeing their compassion for others intensify every week as their awareness grows.

One young woman raised her hand during our AIDS lesson and said, “Miss Miriam, I feel like I’m in school because I’m learning so much, but they don’t teach us things like this in school. You real! You make it interesting. You make me want to learn more!” I was shocked. There are times when I wonder if the issues we study really are reaching these youth. For this young woman, I know they do.
--Miriam Heider, Social Justice Coordinator