By Jessy Baugh, MBC Bethesda Future Leader

Taking leaps of faith can be one of the scariest and hardest things to do when following Christ. Being a believer for most of my life I’ve always said that I’ll go where God calls me to go, no matter where and no matter how far…well it’s easy to say but much harder to do when it comes down to it.

I’m from Southern California and if you have ever been there you know that it’s a little piece of heaven here on earth, so imagine thinking of moving from Southern California to Washington DC…let’s just say it wasn’t easy to do but when God clearly calls you somewhere I have learned that you go no matter how far or how different that place can be.

I was terrified to do the Future Leader Program but I can honestly say that deciding to move from CA to DC was one of the best decisions of my life. I was so scared of leaving my home, family, and friends to do a one year leadership program but the Lord has provided everything that I need through this program and through the amazing people that I work with. Being a part of the Future Leader Program is like being a part of a new BIG family. I went to a Christian college but I never experienced the type of Christ-centered community that I have been experiencing here in this program. I spend most of my free time with the Future Leaders, we care about each other, support each other, and have a blast spending time with each other… like I said we have become a big family and it’s been one of the most amazing experiences to be a part of.

From what I’ve described it sounds like it’s fun and easy being a Future Leader…just hanging out with each other and building community…ha I wish. The Future Leader Program will stretch and grow you in ways that you didn’t think were possible. You’ll be asked to memorize the core values of the church, entire chapters of the Bible, to journal, teach bible studies, and on top of all that work full time in your ministry area. It’s some of the hardest work I’ve done but also the most rewarding and enjoyable work I’ve done in a long time. You will hear from the leaders of this program Rich and Rachel that this year will be one of the holiest years of your life and that statement is very true. Being challenged to memorize Scripture, work full time in ministry, go on a mission trip, being held accountable to having a personal devotion time every day, to pray for each other, and then to build community with one another while at work but also on your free time does in fact lead you to having one of the holiest years of your life, and I’m quickly discovering that I wouldn’t trade this year for anything and I’m only 1.5 months into the program and so excited to see what the months left will bring.

Like I said it can be scary taking leaps of faith for God…but I have come to learn that I never regret taking those steps of faith.