San Angelo-area volunteers start pilot Christian Men’s Job Corps program_80904

Posted: 8/06/04

San Angelo-area volunteers start pilot
Christian Men's Job Corps program

By George Henson

Staff Writer

SAN ANGELO–Roger Juli-en knows a good thing when he sees it.

While touring the Christian Women's Job Corps program in San Angelo and hearing one woman testify about how the program had impacted her life, Julien began to wonder why there wasn't anything of the same sort for men.

He found Woman's Missionary Union had a blueprint and outline for a program for men, but it never had been implemented.

Thanks to Julien and a number of other men in Concho Valley Baptist Association, the Christian Men's Job Corps is now a reality.

While the San Angelo program is the pilot for a program to mentor men and give them additional skills to help secure a job or to better their employment, the women's program is flourishing in 80 locations across the country.

The program calls on participants to attend classes three nights a week for eight weeks. Each class includes Bible study as well as life skills such as personal finances, legal issues, basic computer training, communication skills, resumés, job opportunities and interview skills.

Julien recognized the potential in the approach, but he still initially was reluctant to develop the program for men.

“In February 2003, I got real passionate about it, but I didn't tell anybody for two weeks, hoping I could get out from under it. But nobody said anything, and God didn't say anything. He just wouldn't let me sleep,” Julien recalled.

Having been involved in prison ministry 14 years, he immediately recognized its application for men released from prison.

“I knew we needed to do something for the men coming out of prison because so many had no place to go. The number of repeat offenders was alarming to me,” he said.

Julien, a layman at Immanuel Baptist Church in San Angelo, said the program not only will benefit the men involved, but also will help their families as well.

“We feel like the Christian Men's Job Corps is going to be a benefit to the whole family by putting these men back into a position of leadership in the home,” he said.

The men came to the program from a variety of sources–through the recommendation of law enforcement authorities, from churches in the association and some just walked in off the street. The first class ranged in age from 18 to 54 years old.

While there are other programs that teach life skills, two facets of the program make it both unique and life-changing–Bible study and mentoring, Julien said.

Those aspects of the Christian Women's Job Corps program that were accentuated in the testimony of the woman lit the fire in Julien's heart.

She told him she had cut all ties with her family and had no food, clothing, self-esteem or hope before coming to the program. She added that had changed since being involved with the program and the women who had shown her the love of Christ. She also told Julien she had given her life to Christ that very morning.

“I was so impressed with her testimony. I thought, 'That's the answer to the problem we're having with the men right there,'” he said.

“I was sure I had too much on my plate to get it started, though, and God didn't argue with me–he just didn't let me sleep,” Julien said.

Jean Law of San Angelo wrote 24 Bible study lessons that chronicle how God has redeemed and used people throughout history despite their mistakes. Lenard Hartley, a retired minister, heads the mentoring aspect of the program. Working with a host of other men throughout the association, and even a few non-Baptists, the program has completed its first rotation, and Julien said the program has been successful.

“We started with six men, and we ended with six, and I think they have learned some good lessons like authority is a friend and not an enemy,” he said. “The classes also have given them the ability to gain better employment.

“They also have gained some self-esteem and learned that they are someone special and that God loves them. They were most interested in the Bible studies as they learned that God has used survivors throughout history,” he added.

One of the men made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ through the program, Julien said.

More than 100 people attended the graduation ceremonies for the men.

Already calls are coming in about the next session, scheduled to begin Sept. 13.

“The program showed us that not only did the students learn and grow, but also the mentors learned and grew, and the teachers grew in their perspectives on some things.”