For my leadership application project, I chose to invest 10 hours into a program at Highland Baptist Church called Awanas. Awanas is a children’s ministry program, “whose goal is to reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and train them to serve him.” I grew up attending Awanas clubs and practicing scripture memorization in my home church. I’ve seen the impact it has had on my life being able to easily recall scripture and apply it to my life. As a christian, I believe that I have a call on my life to respond to Christ and be trained in righteousness. This program is one way that helped me to fulfill that calling as a child, so I feel a major draw to assist it in changing the lives of children now. One general call in my life is to be a spiritual leader. It is easy to ignore that and continue in my own personal growth, but I am called to help others experience growth as well. I find it easy to get discouraged about my own lack of knowledge and use that as an excuse to not step out and serve in spiritual leadership roles.

My role in Awana leadership is working every Wednesday night from 6:45-8:00 with the Truth and Training (T&T)  level. T&T is the level of the program for third to fifth graders. I have four girls in my small group that I am responsible for meeting with, practicing their memory verses with, and keeping track of their progress through the book. I love working with these girls and being available to help them practice scripture and answer questions they have about spiritual matters.

I have not yet discerned a clear vocational calling for my life, but I am taking steps to actively pursue the general and specific callings I have received. Many times in my life, I have considered teaching or some position in the education field as a vocation. Both of my parents are teachers, seven of my aunts and uncles have worked in education, and my grandfather was an administrator, coach, and teacher. Needless to say, I have a strong familial pull to the education field, but I have not felt expressly called to a vocation in that field yet. I love working with children and helping them learn. Awanas has been a great method for me to use this interest and consider even more a profession in the education field.

This project was an opportunity that encouraged me to pursue my interests and passions for training children and the Awana Program, and I plan to become even more involved with different age groups in the program in order to explore the areas of spiritual leadership I am called to and grow the program at Highland Baptist Church. I am also still considering working in education as a vocation at some time in my future, and spending time working with these children has helped me to think through that decision more.