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Afterburn

How do you keep a fire burning long after the torch has been lit?

By Laura B. Raphael
Photos by Jennifer Joy Carter, Class of 2005, and Jared Buswell, Class of 200

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Click Photo to Enlarge This semester, Ignite mentoring groups allowed students to talk seriously about why, as Christians, they should take on leadership roles--as well as what they can do to become leaders. Here [L to R], Ann Clas, group leader Jaclyn Wilson, and Amanda Beth Chesser discuss Dr. Tim Elmore's study guide, Intentional Influence: investing your life through mentoring.

Click Photo to Enlarge Just ask Jesus... the best leaders are also deeply humble. In addition to discussion and prayer, group members practiced humility through activities such as washing each other's feet. Here, Jaclyn Wilson washes the feet of Rachael Crook.

Click Photo to Enlarge Dr. Tim Elmore, president and founder of Growing Leaders, speaks at the Ignite conference. Most mentoring groups began their sessions by reading and discussing one of his books on leadership.

Click Photo to Enlarge Students were energized by praise and worship led by the GUTS Church worship team.

Click Photo to Enlarge Micah Davis (foreground) agreed with his co-director, Stephanie Farina, that Ignite should be more than just a two-day event. They developed and implemented a plan for small, student-led mentoring groups after the conference was over.

On Feb. 9, 2004, you might have expected students Micah Davis and Stephanie Farina to begin their cruise through the rest of the school year, appointment books blessedly free of extracurricular activities.

After all, as co-directors of the second annual Ignite student leadership conference, they had just pulled off a monumental feat: coordinating the thousand demanding details to make the event run smoothly. Seven inspiring speakers, two days, and about 350 student participants later, Ignite could officially be considered another ORU success, all because of them.

But instead of taking a well-deserved nap until May, Davis and Farina pitched headfirst into the next phase of Ignite. Indeed, both say that their real work began the moment the conference ended.

"The mission [of the conference itself] was to spark something inside students so they could tap into the undiscovered passions and powers God placed inside them and to use those powers and passions to change the world," Davis, a junior majoring in finance, said. "But we knew that a two-day conference had very little chance of changing lives permanently. Change comes through process, and the process takes place over time."

Farina, a senior broadcasting major, agreed. "We wanted to look beyond what we could do for students in just a weekend. We wanted Ignite to be a catalyst for change in their entire lives."

But how to do that? Like most ORU students, they turned to Jesus Christ for inspiration. The answer can be summed up in two words: mentoring groups.

"Mentoring groups seemed like the ideal way to keep the lessons of Ignite fresh in the minds and hearts of the students who came to the conference," Farina explained. "The best part is that it's all in the Bible. Students are mentoring each other, just as Jesus mentored His disciples. We strive to be like Jesus in all things; why not in this way, too?"

The industrious Davis and Farina, with help from student Jaclyn Wilson, also a leadership trainer with Dr. Tim Elmore's Growing Leaders organization, divided interested students into about 12 groups that met weekly this spring to discuss leadership concepts and share how they were implementing what they have learned in their own lives.

"It was more than just an accountability group, though it was that," Davis said. "It was a way for us to give students something tangible to help them grow and maximize the talents and skills God has given them."

The groups were also a way for particular students to practice their burgeoning leadership skills. Each group was student-led, though ORU faculty and staff were recruited to speak and offer guidance and advice. Most groups began their mentoring journeys together by reading and discussing one of Elmore's books on leadership. (As a bonus, the first 200 students who signed up for the Ignite conference received a free copy of the book.)

The mentoring groups made a difference, according to Davis--including in his own life. "It's just amazing what went on in these groups, how God worked through them, and how I got to be a part of it all. It's so rewarding to help other people reach their potential and to develop my own skills at the same time."