Middle School Math

I’m not much of a numbers person. In high school, I was one of those people who had to take Algebra again during the summer, because the course over the regular school year just wasn’t fun enough. I’m inclined to agree with the person who said “and on the 8^th day satan put the alphabet into math”. That being said, I have also learned that looking at the numbers can be helpful when you need to objectively see all factors.

Every week, we evaluate our numbers so we can gain insight into how to manage our environment better. It’s more important math than I ever did in my high school algebra class. Because in this business, each number represents a life.

One statistic we constantly monitor is the number of volunteers in proportion to the number of kids. As we have tracked this data, we have noticed a growing trend. The number of “Student Impact” volunteers has exponentailly increased. We define a “Student Impact” volunteer as a student in middle school. Students Impacts serve alongside and assist adult volunteers. They have the same level of accountability and expectation as an adult volunteer, but they are not given the same responsibilities as an adult volunteer. As we continue to examine the numbers, we have noticed a demographic we did not expect. Of the growing number of students who serve, most of those are boys.

What?! Aren’t middle school boys supposed to be those “desperate to look cool” guys, who claim they exist exclusively to play video games? Isn’t this the age when boys are supposed to be more concerned with growing a beard than leading a group?

In my opinion, this growing trend communicates that more and more of our male middle school students want to be something that our culture and society has denied clear examples for them to follow. They want to be leaders. They want to be valued and they want to do something valuable. It is also worth noting that of the boys who serve faithful and consistently every week, half of them are parented by either a single mother or by another guardian.

So there’s the problem. God has called and qualified us to be part of the solution. In Transit, a male small group leader is mentoring these young men. We have an opportunity to carefully and collectively guide them to be the future leaders of our church, of our community AND of their future families. Right now their leadership skills are raw and require oversight. But if we, as adults, would be willling to invest in this leadership model, the potential is unlimited.

Though the evidence is empirical, the numbers don’t lie. We have more children to lead and more students who want to become leaders. God hasn’t added a problem; He’s multiplied the probability of His influence.