One might say that a typical Wednesday night for Ashley Willis is a little different than that of a normal college freshman. Instead of studying or hanging out with friends, you’d find her leading worship, playing games, and teaching scripture to children. There is clearly something different about this girl.
Ashley is a student at IMPACT 360, and she volunteers every Wednesday night for four hours at the AWANA program for kids kindergarten through fifth grade at Rosemont Baptist Church. This fits into what IMPACT calls “Service Opportunities.” These are ways in which the students can get plugged into the community and simultaneously learn hands on what it means to be, as the IMPACT 360 mission statement says, “Christ-centered servant leaders.”
“I have had an incredible opportunity at Rosemont to be a Christ-centered servant leader,” said Ashley. She talks about the kids with such familiarity that her personal relationships with each of them come through clearly. She tells about how she has been blessed with the opportunity to pray with a girl to receive Christ as well as to weekly walk with her in her young faith. It is thoroughly inspiring.
When asked how it is that this particular volunteer service equips her to fulfill the IMPACT 360 mission statement, Ashley responded, “through my ability to lead the kids by serving the adults, all the while ministering to both about the love of Jesus.”
Carol Anne Ausband
Class of 2011