Leaders In Training, what is it? Why does it exist? What is its history? I’ve been having some of our newer volunteers asking similar questions about our Leaders In Training (LIT) program. In the next couple of posts I will attempt to answer these questions.

The LIT program is targeted towards young adults 12 - 17 years old who live in the neighborhoods where our Power House sites are. Some of our LITs are our volunteer’s children. The purpose of the LIT program is two fold. We want to train and mentor these young adults in such a way that by the time they enter adulthood, they are making quality decisions for their lives, and they have the ability to run their own Power House site.

The LIT program originated from Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I lived in Tulsa for about 5 years. I was involved with their sidewalk Sunday school and bus ministry for most of those years. The LIT program was created while I was there. The LIT program was started within the bus ministry. We found kids who were older and showed leadership abilities. They would help us on our bus. Their main jobs were the following:

1. Before bus ministry they would help hand out flyers.
2. On the bus they would help hand out our giveaways and other prizes.
3. They would would help get the 3-5 year olds that rode our bus to class.
4. The LITs would go to their own class or they would participate in a drama that was for the 6-12 year old class.
5. Eventually, the LITs started helping out with various projects at our sidewalk Sunday school sites.

Some of these kids were able to go on mission trips to other countries like Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras. Most of these teens never left their own city, yet through the LIT program they were traveling the world. Through serving and mentorship their lives were changed. One of the teens has graduated high school and is now going to Oral Roberts University to be a youth pastor. You can watch a promo video from Victory Christian Center about the LIT program here.

This is the history of the LIT program. I moved here about 3 1/2 years ago to be the Power House director. We have been developing our own LIT program ever since. Come back for next week’s post Leaders In Training - The Present. Learn what the LIT program is doing here in the Grand Rapids area.