Ashoka
Spain ??
I am a change-maker, NEVER finding it easy to follow the status quo. I was always attracted to student government roles as early as I can remember. As a high school sophomore, I had a personal spiritual encounter that changed my life. All of the restlessness I had felt to right all the wrongs I saw and make life better suddenly made sense through a personal relationship with Jesus. I had to tell others!
In my senior year, I negotiated for a special assembly where all 2000 students heard a youth evangelist give a compelling talk about “being true to yourself”. More than half of the student body responded to an invitation to learn more about Jesus in meetings every night the following week. Over 500 made a public commitment to surrender their lives to serve Jesus and others. The high school was temporarily transformed…classes were opened for teams of students to speak about their religious “awakening” during school hours. God became more than a curse word on campus!
As student body vice president, I was elected to figure out how to help all these “new believers” process their experience into new and permanent habit patterns. I had no idea, being fairly new myself to this whole scene, and the group quickly dwindled to a faithful 5. I learned a very painful leadership lesson: change doesn’t happen just because you wish for it. I needed training and a team!
During my university years, I joined various social and evangelistic ventures. Everywhere I went, I told people about this Jesus who forgave and provided a new perspective and purpose for life. Many responded, and I continued to learn the importance of small groups for follow-up and persistence in helping others achieve permanent change.
I later became a youth leader back in my hometown, dedicated to guiding young people into a transformed lifestyle such as I had experienced. People were attracted and groups continued to grow.
Fast forward 25 years and I found myself married, with 4 children still working with teenagers, and now in a foreign country (Spain), still talking about CHANGE. I became the national leader of Kings Kids International in this nation, training and launching 3500 youth on summer service projects in at-risk areas around the world with a message of hope in their hearts. Over 300 of those teenagers are involved and leading other ministry and non-profit initiatives, responding to our challenge to be protagonists for change, not just passive observers.
Desiring to multiply what I had learned and to spearhead a wider influence, I received training in Transformational Life Coaching. I began to “coach” pastors and Christian leaders in the Spanish-speaking world. Soon, unable to keep up with the demand, I created Lanzadera Coaching, a platform to train and release leaders in vital communication and people skills so that their message is not only heard but better received and applied to real-world situations.
Change-makers always find another mountain needing conquering. They will find a way to bring change wherever they go. And when the change starts with the heart, it becomes a transformation. One at a time, changing lives and passing it on.