Greetings Family and Friends, in the Strong Name of Jesus!
Recently, a couple stopped by my office. Stuck in a world of drugs, unemployment, mental illness, volatile relationships, and uncertain housing, my heart broke to hear him say, “I keep wantin’ to just change something. So I’m trying to get a job. Maybe if I can just change something…” It is what we all hope. “Maybe if we can just help them change something…one thing…it will begin to change everything.”
When we empower urban leaders to reach their cities for the Kingdom, we give them the tools to be agents of change. They need all of the friendship, resources, and training we can provide, and they generously share with those around them. I’ve seen this in our Saturday morning TUMI class, where students bring other pastors and leaders to train with us. It was present in our first Urban Church Association (UCA) meeting where three new servant pastors met for mutual encouragement. And as we prepare for Siafu women’s retreat at Morning Star Ranch, we see the generosity of women inviting other women to come along and share the weekend so they can return strengthened and ready to “change something.”
We passed another milestone in February with our 3rd TUMI Topeka Commencement, bringing our total number of graduates in all locations and both TUMI satellites in Topeka to 19. In April, we will send six of our Alumni to the TUMI conference, Forging Identity, in California. Some are going; some are sending. Thank you for being senders and prayer partners! I also had the privilege of being part of commissioning another new pastor in the Christ the Victor Church movement.
A recurring theme for this season in Topeka is, “Healthy Leaders Reproduce Healthy Leaders.” As a community, we’ve been challenged to respond to community health statistics by affecting socio-economic factors. We believe that by training healthy leaders who will train other healthy leaders and build healthy churches, we can empower urban leaders to “change something” in the area of community health. To that end, we hosted a Trauma Healing Training, led by Lisa Entz, in March.
We currently have 15 students training to empower others in the community, 60 in the Topeka Correctional Facility (State women’s prison), and 3 in our county jail. If we can help them train strong, they can strengthen their leadership abilities. They can “change something.”
Thank you for your prayers and support. May we be found faithful!
~ Mary