Empowering Youth on School Campuses

In 2013, we successfully launched THRIVE trainings in Atlanta, Los Angeles and  Oakland. Our goal is to equip leaders with the skills and tools needed to reach youth in their local school campuses. Jared Dawson from Campus Crusade for Christ/ Blueprint Church in Atlanta GA shares his Thrive experience below:

“My senior year in college was the first time that I realized that God had a different plan for my life and that He had called me to teach. I joined the teaching corp, “Teach for America”, and got placed in Atlanta to teach high school Math. In my two years of teaching, I developed a burden for lost students as I began to see how beautiful yet broken they were. I currently work in campus ministry where I’m seeking to start a “Cru High School movement” (connecting teenagers to Jesus Christ) in the city. When I began to pursue schools to launch our ministry, I was told several times, “we don’t want a faith based program here.”

It was really difficult for us to find a school that would allow us to work with them, even with my past teaching experience. Most of these schools wanted something that added to the academic performance of the students. UYWI’s THRIVE program was a viable option that these public schools were open to. Because of THRIVE’s proven track record, I was granted access to a middle school this semester to teach a character block class during the school day. I have also been invited to use THRIVE as a tool at a local high school where we have a presence, which is projected to launch in January, 2014. After the training I received from THRIVE, I’ve been able to become an “insider” at these schools which has been invaluable for building relationships and gaining the needed trust to start a campus ministry.”

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