JT Norcross considers helping students develop as Christian leaders an important part of his role as director of Baptist Student Ministry at Navarro College in Corsicana, but he knows the clock is ticking.
He recognizes leadership development takes time and experience, and serving at a two-year community college inherently limits how much he can accomplish.
So, when he met Preston Cave at Conclave NextGen last October and learned about LeaderTreks, he saw the opportunity for a partnership enabling student leaders to “accelerate their growth.”
As Cave and Norcross talked, they discovered a shared passion to develop the next generation of Christian leaders for service in God’s kingdom now and in the years ahead.
Intensive hands-on summer experience
LeaderTreks offers a variety of resources, curriculum and training opportunities to help students discover their leadership potential and grow as leaders. Norcross particularly became interested in its Leadership Residency Program, an immersive summer experience.
“It’s an opportunity for students to flex their spiritual muscles and work out some of the kinks in a hands-on leadership laboratory,” said Cave, who served as missions and discipleship coordinator for high school and college students at Texas Baptist Men, now Texans on Mission, before joining the LeaderTreks staff.
“It offers a safe place to fail, while setting them up for success in the future.”
Students who are accepted for the program begin at a base camp, where they undergo a series of leadership assessments, attend workshops and participate in mentoring sessions.
After completing training, they are assigned to one of 14 ministry sites around the country. They spend most of the summer working as leaders with a series of visiting short-term church mission teams, planning and facilitating those mission experiences.
“They leave with a personalized leadership profile unique to them, identifying their strengths and areas for growth, leaving them better equipped for a life of ministry,” Cave said.
Norcross acknowledged the LeadersTreks approach and the summer program is “not for everybody.”
Even so, he looks forward to seeing the impact it has on a select group of students he plans to recommend for the Leadership Residency Program—students he already recognizes as leaders among their peers.
“In the short season I have with them, I want to do as much as I can with them,” he said.
Norcross views the summer program as offering students opportunities to gain leadership experiences beyond what they could get at the BSM or through short-term mission trips.
“It’s more than just going somewhere and serving. They will be setting up an experience for others to serve—planning, organizing and doing the dirty detail work of administration,” he said.
BSM fertile ground for leadership development
Norcross considers BSM fertile ground for developing leaders. During his years in church youth ministry, he observed many students participated because they were compelled to do it—by peer pressure, parental insistence or the prodding of a boyfriend or girlfriend.
“BSM is vastly different. Students genuinely don’t have to be here,” he said. “It brings out students who are naturally leaders and willing to make a commitment.”
Norcross purposefully identifies students with leadership potential and gives them opportunities to lead in the BSM’s ongoing programs.
“These are students who want to grow,” he said. “They already are stepping up and being leaders.”
Norcross sees the LeaderTreks summer program as an opportunity for them to “accelerate their growth” through intensive, hands-on experience.
“I like the practical ministry component,” he said. “In that kind of setting, they’ll learn a little about the pain and stress of being a leader in ministry. In the process, it offers an opportunity for them to learn to rely on the Lord.”
Cave and Norcross believe the partnership between Navarro College BSM and LeaderTreks not only will make a long-lasting impact on students at the Corsicana campus, but also at other schools.
Participants in the residency program become part of a supportive community and network of young Christian leaders dedicated to making a difference in the world, Cave noted.
Norcross anticipates the students who participate in the residency program inspiring other students to seek out opportunities to grow as leaders.
He considers the potential impact even greater at four-year universities, where underclassmen can be led by trained and experienced student leaders over an extended time.
“It gives them something to aspire to,” he said.
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