YOKE is looking for mature(ish), passionate, fun-loving young adults to serve at a local middle school for the 2019/2020 school year. These “YOKE Folk” commit to helping once a week at a local club, building personal relationships with middle school kids, and serving at camp one weekend a semester.
One of the best parts of being a YOKE Folk is getting to serve alongside a team of other passionate leaders. YOKE aims to have a team of at least 6-8 YOKE Folk at each school. While a team smaller than this may be able to do the bare minimum of what it takes to run a YOKE club, we value the students we serve enough that we want to do more than just the bare minimum. The real life-changing ministry of YOKE does not happen at club; it happens in the time that YOKE Folk spend with kids outside of regularly scheduled programming. This is why it is so important that YOKE teams are fully staffed—so that leaders have the capacity to run a successful YOKE club and take the next step of investing in the life of a middle school student.
Nathan Schrimsher served his first semester as a YOKE Folk at Alcoa Middle School in the spring of 2019. Prior to Nathan joining, the team at Alcoa had been struggling with a lack of leaders and needed help. With the addition of Nathan and a couple of other new recruits, the YOKE club at Alcoa began to flourish. Last spring, the team tripled the number of students they were able to bring to camp!
“Even though I joined YOKE halfway through the school year, I quickly began to build relationships with kids and other leaders,” said Nathan. “At my very first YOKE camp, I was able to watch one of the kids I’d spent so much time with decide to follow Jesus. That moment alone made everything worth it.”
Like Nathan, you too can have the opportunity to positively impact the life of a middle school kid. As we look to a new school year, YOKE is looking for college students, young professionals, and other compassionate adults to serve as mentors to middle school students.
If you’d like to be a part of a YOKE team at a local middle school, don’t wait until school starts back—apply now! Fill out our online application, or contact program director Eli Cockrum at eli@yokeyouth.com with any questions.