@powertochange:

One Voice Empowering Many

Written by Eric Reynolds

December 2, 2011

“How many staff do you manage in how many languages on how many sites?” asked a seemingly bewildered Drew Marshall last week in an interview with director of TruthMedia, Karen Schenk.

“We have 20 full-time staff, 30 part-time staff, 740 mentors, and 100 volunteers that help in various capacities. There are about 18 different sites offering mentoring in most languages used in North America.”

“Let’s talk about the word mentor,” pressed Drew. “It gets thrown around a lot in the Jesus scene and I know a lot of people don’t know what it means. Is it some old person telling a young person not to do stuff?”

Karen aptly explained. “We’ve put a lot of thought into the right words. Mentoring is coming alongside of people in their area of interest – their comfort level. We don’t want a top-down relationship. We use a term at Power to Change: ‘connecting current realities to God.’”

“How do you make sure things stay clean?” Drew was concerned about ‘creeps’ who may try to cross boundaries and abuse the Internet’s capabilities.

“Every mentor is accountable. We have a screening and equipping process, and we also check up on our mentors periodically.”

“Why do you do this?” Drew was curious.

“Because I get to take part in seeing thousands of people come to know Jesus and to see believers completely revolutionize their lives by realizing how God can use them.” It was a twofold answer that didn’t completely settle with Drew.

“Is there always a gospel slant to this?” He spoke on behalf of his non-Christian audience: “Some people don’t want to be sold Jesus you know.”

Having experienced this reality, Karen replied, “We have a whole group of atheists on our site and it’s interesting seeing what got them there. We don’t want to shove anything down anyone’s throat. We want to help everyone along on the next step of their spiritual journey.”

Karen went on to share some news from TruthMedia: compelling testimonies, as well as current strategies in mobile technology.

Not to be outdone, Drew bantered with some impeccable research of his own.

“I know enough about you to know about your eating disorder and abuse you’ve endured.”

Karen gracefully transitioned into explaining the reality of lies that we all face every day. “The same truth that set me free, I seek to share with others. That’s one of the reasons why I want incredible [mentors] to be able to help others on the next step of their journey.”

After sharing some more savvy statistics regarding Karen’s personal life, Drew threw in a bit of praise as well. “As Christians, we’re not supposed to say we’re awesome, so I’ll say it: you’re awesome.”

“Thanks. I’m enjoying the opportunity God is giving me.”

“What do you need? Money? Mentors?”

“All of those things. We want to help others to accelerate what is happening on the ground. We had a 2,000 person jump in people coming to our site last month. So we need mentors. And for only $4 a month you can train and equip a mentor.”

“I used to think we should get our noses out from behind our computers. But this is the way [our culture] is going, the way it is. You have identified the needs of our culture and attacked this thing a smart way. Well done.”

We agree. Thank you Karen and your team of mentors for changing lives.