PathLight has had an amazing year. There really is no other way to say it. Amazing. And I wanted to share a few highlights.
Another seventeen PathLight students have graduated from high school. All seventeen have applied to college – an amazing accomplishment for these young men and women!
The young ladies who graduated from high school through the PathLight program.
The school year went well with after-school tutoring and weekly discipleship classes for the students. The students attended several special events, such as a weekend workshop led by Brenda Salter-McNeil, the YC Belize youth conference, and a fantastic grad party for the graduating seniors!
There are 60 students in the program plus we added another 20 in June. Each year we seem to learn a bit more about how to bring out the best in the students, and each year we can see the results of those improvements.
The teacher programs continue to expand beyond our expectations. The Teacher Training Conference was a big hit again. The Teacher-to-Teacher program was launched in January, and we’re seeing great benefit from the program.
Our staff in Belize has never been stronger. Louis Wade continues to provide weekly discipleship courses, and Dion Rodriguez provides ongoing oversight. Antonio Bol has provided great leadership at Jaguar Creek. In addition, we now have Marti Ross working full-time in Belize, which will add that much more to the teacher programs.
The guys who graduated this year.
Hundreds of people stayed at Jaguar Creek. We will set records for occupancy and activity. Several colleges are sending students for short-term academic programs, including Gordon College, University of Georgia, Denver University, and Seattle Pacific. We continue to host a lot of short-term service teams and we are seeing an increasing number of Belizean groups using Jaguar Creek.
Mark and Adrienne Parcher provide great leadership to all of these programs. People think I run PathLight, but they are mistaken. Mark and Adie do (by far) most of the work. I’m thankful for them as friends and partners! I should add that my long time friend and assistant, Anne Stoneberger, provides incredible support to us all. It’s great having such a talented team around me.
Perhaps the most valuable person in that team, at least for me, is D’Aun. Since day one she has been a faithful supporter of this crazy adventure. I cannot express how important her encouragement and patience has been for me.
All of us gathered together in late May for a mini-retreat. We discussed the Ted Talk by Simon Sinek. It was a great conversation starter as we contemplated the “why” of PathLight and how that shapes our work.
Looking ahead, we’re contemplating a new program that would have a direct impact on the primary schools. We are also hoping and praying that a significant grant comes through for our work with teachers. A major international youth program is talking to us about a partnership. And we are close to hiring a new leader who will provide energy and vision for Jaguar Creek.
So you can see, it has been a busy year!
As I think about where we have come in the last five years, I’m reminded of our original vision to provide hope through faith and learning. God calls us to live by faith, but we are also called to take every thought captive for Christ. We sincerely believe that every child has tremendous potential and that instilling hope can bring out that potential. It is possible through faith and learning … and we are seeing it actually happen!
That’s exciting, and I’m really thankful for the faith so many have shown in this work. If you want to help, let me know or click here for a way to give. Thanks!