Our partner churches and volunteer mentors, tutors, and encouragers make a significant difference in the lives of young people in our community. It’s graduation season, and we are happy to celebrate our STEP graduating seniors. Seniors like George.

George and his mentor, Greg, have been meeting together for 10 years now. He was also engaged in our one-on-one tutoring program as an elementary student. And, after a couple of years in the mentoring program, Mentor Greg says that George accepted Christ into his heart at STEP. George said in a recent interview, “I feel like STEP has brought me closer to Christ…and it’s teaching me more that I need to realize for myself, and that I need to believe in myself and in Jesus.”

This year the graduation at NLR High School was not at Simmons Bank Arena. Instead, it was at a much smaller location, and so graduates only got a very few tickets that they could give to family and friends.

Even so, you can bet that Greg was there for George to celebrate this special moment! I’ve attached a photo of them right after graduation – look at that huge smile on BOTH of their faces. As mentors are a blessing to their mentees, they too are blessed by the relationship and the knowledge that they are being used by God in someone else’s life to make a true difference. Their relationship will certainly continue on into adulthood.

Did you know that there is a 93% graduation rate among youth involved in STEP? Incredible! It is amazing how God uses the one-on-one Christian mentoring and tutoring of believers to help young people succeed!

Thank you to our partner churches, donors, volunteers, and STEP families for being an important part of transforming the heart of our city through the hope of the Gospel, one mentoring relationship at a time.

Learn more about mentoring through STEP at STEPMinistries.org – just click on “Mentoring”.