Ted - can you talk a little bit about the changes you saw in specific kids? I  mean, I'm thinking about, Well, I think about Isaiah as one. What happened to  him? How did he, how does he transition through this process? 

Johnell - Isaiah was was your was your kid that would walk into the club setting  and he was sitting the back of the room. Now he would not be a distraction, but  he would not engage whatsoever. He was sitting the back of the room, and he  would tell you, frankly, leave me alone. I just want to be here. And I just want to  be I think three months into the club process, he stopped coming, and I was  what's going on with Isaiah, and then I began to engage him in a one on one  setting. And because I knew there was something about him that that was that  was unique. But I also knew something was pressing him that actually kept him  from from this space. And it was actually a sense of belonging he was kind of  like the black ball in his peer group, and any other groups that he actually tried  to be a part of. And so it was natural for people not to pay attention to him. And  so I think once he started to see that I was paying attention to him, and I was  noticing certain things. And then when we started meeting in one on one, and  when I told him about the emerging leaders experience, his response was, I'll  give it a try. Okay, okay. And he didn't even believe that he was a leader, and  when I told him that you can absolutely lead, he said, Whatever, I'm giving it a  go to see him go from I'm a give it a go to confidence that I'm doing it and I'm  doing it well was amazing. And so I think the part where he began to gain  confidence is when he knew that he can implement a a classroom that was  surrounded by his strength, which was art. Each one of the emerging leaders  had an opportunity to lead a club with elementary age student students, and he  led a club regarding creation, and he focused on Genesis. And so I remember  us walking through the Genesis 1 in Genesis 1-2, where God was actually  creating the world and creating humans and creating animals and creating all  these things. And because he was an artist, I had to relate God's creativity to his artistic expression, which was, hey, look, God was an artist, because look what  he created, yeah, yeah. Look at the beauty and what he created. Look at the  beauty that he created in human beings. And I said, God created you, and  looking the beauty in creating you. And because He created you, you can be  creative. And he ran with that idea throughout the entire Emerging Leader  experience, and then he presented that in the club setting. And it was one of the  most amazing clubs that we actually had with elementary school students,  because he had kids drawing pictures, and he had kids creating different art. I  think he had them create a necklace and a picture, and then he talked about  how God was the creator, and because God created them, they can also to be  creative through the through through arts and drawing and many different types  of arts. He also did music too. Once he began to discover that part of himself he  led out of that confidence in Jesus.

Ted - I really love Isaiah's story. It's a wonderful story of someone who, at one  point was indifferent about life, to being confident in leading. It's a wonderful  transformation to witness. But I want to point out just a couple of things, just  you're aware of it. The turning point was when he developed a class he was  teaching elementary kids, he developed a class around his strengths. His  strengths happened to be art, and so he began, what? When? When Johnell  figured that out. He pointed him to God and connected God to him through his  artistic expression. Okay, so. He related God's creativity to that artistic  expression. He said God is an artist because look at what he's created. Look at  the beauty of what he's created. He's created people, he's created the world.  He's created you, and because He created you. You can be creative. That was  the spark. When he discovered that about himself. It turned everything. Turned  everything around. He began to lead out of that confidence. And I point that out  because it's so important that we learn how to tap into the internal motivations of young people. Of these emerging leaders, tapping into their internal motivation  is a skill that a leader must have. And Johnell, it was brilliant. Of what what  happened, how Janell figured it out, of how to motivate him. There was another  situation, as we were preparing for the summer day camp, as they were  preparing for a summer day camp, I came in to help them a little bit, and another young man in the group just could not figure out what to teach. He just said,  Yeah, I don't know what to teach. I don't know what to do. So people were  throwing suggestions to him. He said, Nah, I don't know what to do. And then  finally, I asked him, if you were a kid, what would you want to learn about? And  that seemed to do. That seemed to do it. All of a sudden he he his face just lit  up, and he said, Oh, if I were a kid, I would want this and this and this. And we  all looked at him and says, Well, there's your answer. Do that. So all of a sudden he was now motivated, because he thought, if I can give to a kid what I would  have wanted when I was their age, I'm I'm in for that. I'm down for that. It's  tapping into internal motivations that can make such an incredible difference in  the life of a young person. These are the changes that can This is the  opportunity that you have as a leader to spark, to unleash leadership potential  by tapping into internal motivations, which is tied to the Divine imprint being  created in the image of God. 



Last modified: Monday, April 13, 2026, 9:10 AM