Club Idea: Mentor Spotlight

Sarah Rozema, the YoungLives Coordinator in East Kentwood, Michigan, shares this great idea from her club for highlighting mentors and their individual stories:

An element we have included as part of our club flow this year is a Mentor Spotlight.  It simply is a way to 'spotlight' our mentors one at a time and give them a chance to share their story and allow their fellow team members and girls a chance to get to know them a bit better. 

I had the opportunity to do the first one and I used an idea that I had used back in my former professional life as a classroom teacher.  It was simply an activity to illustrate how many names one person can have.  So I sat down to make a list of all the different roles/hats/names I have.  I wrote each name on a name tag and selected a photograph to go with each one.

When I shared with the girls, I shared the name, a little story to go along with it and then the passed the pictures around the circle.  Starting with the very first name I was given, I used the names to tell my 'story'.  At the end, I shared that one of my names is also "Sinner" and shared with them a couple of sins that I have struggled with and do struggle with currently.  But lastly, and most importantly I shared with them that my most important name is "Child of God" and I stuck that name tag right over the "Sinner" name tag.  I talked about giving my life to Jesus and what that means for my sin and what that means for my every day life and what that means for my future. 

The Spotlight was very well received and allowed for a great, low key way to share my story with my mentors and my girls. 

Below is the list of names I used

Sarah

Daughter (shared about my parents)

Sister (shared about my siblings)

Student (shared about my education)

Friend (shared about some dear friendships)

Teacher (shared about my occupation)

Wife (shared about my husband)

Mommy (shared about my kids)

Sinner (shared about my sin)

Child of God (shared about my life in Christ)

Thanks, Sarah! "Mentor Spotlight" is a great tool for getting each of your mentors up in front of your teen moms at club, and this is a great (and adaptable) way to introduce it!