August Update: Mentor Applications Available Now

Posted by Erin Jackson in Blog

Have you ever tried to start a lawnmower?  You prime the pump, pull the string and pull again and again… it seems like nothing at all is happening.  Then you pull one more time and BAM! the mower comes to life and you’re off and running, hardly able to keep up with the mower.

With schools closed and youth ministers busy with mission trips and more, this summer has felt a lot like getting an old mower started, but now that Fall is here we’re off and running!  At Just One Starfish, this is a very exciting time!

Here’s quick update on recent developments:

Website Revamp Project – The polls are now closed for the Dallas GiveCamp Charity Semifinals.  Thank you to all of the friends (and friends of friends thanks to social media) who supported us with a vote!  Our chances of getting selected look good, but we don’t get official word on whether or not we’re finalists until the beginning of September. Stay tuned!  If selected, we can have our website professionally overhauled at the end of October…this will be a HUGE boost in expanding the amazing mentoring work we can do!

Local Church Involvement – I’ve spoken to several local church youth pastors and youth directors about getting their high school sophomores and juniors involved in the local community as mentors to at-risk 5th graders.  The response has been overwhelmingly positive!  It’s so exciting to dream with youth workers and think about the amazing spiritual growth local youth ministries will experience as their students begin engaging in intentional, relational ministry right here in our community!

Local School Involvement – Now that our local elementary schools are back in session, we are partnering with elementary school counselors to identify at-risk 5th graders who will benefit from on campus, after school mentoring by a high school student.  At this point, we have more elementary candidates than high school mentors signed up, so it’s time for the most exciting update…

Drumroll, please…

Just One Starfish Mentor Applications are now available!  Thanks to an awesome team of high school aged consultants (you know who you are!), our application is ready to go.  If you are an Arlington/Mansfield area high school school sophomore or junior interested in transforming and positively impacting the life of a local at-risk fifth grader through mentoring, prayerfully consider clicking the link above and applying to be a Just One Starfish Mentor.  

This Fall, Just One Starfish mentors can be high school students involved in any church of any denomination in the Arlington/Mansfield area, so be sure to encourage your friends to join you on this adventure!

Applications are due back to me Wednesday, September 5th.

Other quick ways to get involved:

Local youth pastors, if you have youth in your student ministry who are candidates for becoming Just One Starfish mentors, and you’d like more information or for me to come speak to your student ministry, contact me.

Other friends of Just One Starfish, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your support and prayers.  Keep those prayers coming!  It’s exciting and humbling to envision the positive change that is possible in our communities if we engage students in relational ministry.  This is just the beginning – we’ll soon need lots of help with training, administration, leadership and more.  Let me know if you’d like to get involved now that we’re off and running!

Be blessed,

Erin

P.S. Even if you’re not the right age to become a Just One Starfish mentor, please help in another way – Spread the word about Just One Starfish!  Can you take a quick minute to share this post on your Facebook or forward it to a few friends? Thanks!