Our Mentoring Program
The mentoring program of the Ascending Lights Leadership Network is the single most important component of our agency’s work. The mentoring program has two primary objectives:
- To ensure that each student succeeds in his or her college studies, earning the highest grades possible. This assignment is performed by the Academic Mentor.
- To ensure that each student grows in the practical application of Christian principles to the challenges facing a leader in urban ministry. This assignment is performed by the Spiritual Mentor.
ACADEMIC MENTORING
Each Ascending Lights student meets with an Academic Mentor once a week. During the meeting the mentor reviews the student’s performance in each class. Tests, papers, quizzes and class assignments are tracked and carefully monitored. If the students reports any difficulty, the Academic Mentor’s job to see to it that appropriate tutoring or other assistance is quickly arranged. The academic mentor completes a Student Progress Report after each session and sends it by fax or email to the Ascending Lights Program Vice President. This highly refined process, designed by our students themselves, has consistently resulted in significant numbers of our students earning honor roll status. The academic mentor can be a volunteer provided by the student’s church or a volunteer or paid staff person from the community.
Comments from Academic Mentors
SPIRITUAL MENTORING
When a student is accepted for an Ascending Lights scholarship, his or her church selects a Spiritual Mentor to accompany the student on their journey in our program. The Spiritual Mentor meets once a month with the student and leads a discussion on the assigned topic for the month. The mentor is provided with a written Exercise for Spiritual Enrichment to accomplish this task. The mentor also accompanies the student to the quarterly Christian Leadership seminars conducted by the agency on four Saturdays during the year. The Exercises for Spiritual Enrichment examine the Word of God as it relates to the difficult issues that challenge our faith. The Christian leadership training seminars are all day sessions where students and mentors learn to develop or enhance specific skills that relate to operating Christian outreach ministries.
In some cases the Academic and Spiritual mentors are the same
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