May 2018 Thank You Letter

We never got into this to help kids’ make good grades.

As a former educator, I am all about education. I think education opens doors for a successful future. I believe the Lord has given each of us a unique mind and skill set and it is our responsibility to steward that to the best of our ability. But in regards to our Forerunner kids, I am much more concerned with their heart. We have this saying “I’d rather our Forerunners be garbage men who love Jesus than a doctor who doesn’t.” And that’s true. I believe, while God cares about the stewardship of our minds, he cares more about our hearts.

But how awesome is it to be able to look at a kid and see him fulfill his God-given potential in both heart and mind. How cool would it be if our kids become doctors who actually do love Jesus?

During our afterschool program, we focus a little bit on school. We keep track of their grades, keep them organized, communicate with their teachers and help them with their homework, but our overall goal is not to focus on school. Our number one priority is to focus on Jesus Christ. But a strange thing happens when you start loving these kids with the love of Christ. Something changes inside of them when you begin to focus on the positive while speaking truth into their lives.

Someone once said to encourage is to open up a child’s chest and to insert courage. I think that’s exactly what we are doing here at Forerunner. We are giving kids the courage to risk doing their best. We are giving kids the courage to fail because they know we love them for who they are not what they do. We are giving kids the courage to be, maybe for the first time in their lives, who God created them to be.

And look at what happens. Some kids realize they are actually smart. Some kids realize they can do the thing they thought they’d never be able to do. That’s what happened with our friend Ebrima. He just got inducted into National Honor Society at Lake Highlands Junior High. That is something that we never envisioned for him when he started in our program during his 4th grade year. We didn’t shoot for this goal; it just happened as we did our best every day and pumped Ebrima full of encouragement. When the people of Christ start acting like the people of Christ, kid’s lives get changed. They begin to see themselves as Christ sees them. They begin to get a vision for what they could become as they think of themselves as valuable and full of worth.

Thank you for helping us give these kids the opportunity to see themselves that way. Thank you for supporting a program that encourages kids on a daily basis by seeing them the way that Christ sees them. Thank you.

More of Him. Less of us!

-ZRG