CompassionMinistries – Christian Job Corps

CWJC Helps Women Find Who They Are In Christ

Published: September 15, 2022

One student — that’s all Christian Women’s Job Corps of Carlsbad, New Mexico, had on their class roster when they were getting close to starting their first semester in early 2021.

And even though it was just one, Margaret Bemis felt like it was just the right time to get started. It had not been an easy road to get there, and she felt like God was opening the doors.

Bemis said she and Cherish Lexvold, her co-director at the time, had just been getting things started to open the CWJC site in early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

But even though the situation made getting set up more complicated, Bemis felt like the community needed CWJC’s services more than ever. CWJC, a ministry of Woman’s Missionary Union, offers women the opportunity to reach their full potential and improve their situation through job and life skills training.

So Bemis and Lexvold continued to push through, make plans and enlist mentors. They got the support of local churches — Church Street Church of the Nazarene, which provides the building and an operational budget, as well as First Baptist Church and First Presbyterian Church.

And when only one person signed up for their first semester, they kept going.

That first participant “was so eager to take the course,” Bemis said.

About two days before class started, a second woman signed up.

“I really do believe it was God saying, ‘The door is open; do it,’” Bemis said. “We probably had the best volunteer-student ratio that semester we’ve ever had. There were those two ladies, and they thrived and are still thriving and have grown since then.”

Both women had come from difficult backgrounds, and one had bounced around from place to place and didn’t know where to settle in, Bemis said. “She was just kind of blowing in the wind, and she was hoping she would get skills to get a better job.”

Now that woman is a spokesperson and a cheerleader for CWJC, Bemis said. “What she always ends up saying to the other ladies in our program is ‘you think you’re here so you can get a better job, and what you are going to find out is who you are in Christ.’”

The other student in that first class was struggling with addiction and now has a different story, Bemis said. “The strength of her testimony has been that, yes, she can get the job she wants now because she has much better skills — she really took hold of all the job skills that were offered to her. But she also said I know that I had strongholds that were keeping me from moving forward. I don’t have a struggle with alcohol anymore because it doesn’t offer me what I need.”

Since that original class, CWJC of Carlsbad has seen 12 more women graduate, including a 72-year-old widow whom they helped start a seamstress business after her husband passed away.

“She is thriving spiritually, and so is her business — she’s having to turn business away,” Bemis said.

A recent site development grant from the WMU Foundation’s Sybil Bentley Dove Endowment is helping CWJC of Carlsbad prepare to equip even more women. The endowment supports CWJC by providing scholarships to participants and a grant for Dove Award recipients in addition to site development grants.

Bemis said the funds they received for their site are going to purchase licenses for business software such as Canva Pro, Slack Pro, Adobe programs and QuickBooks. The grant also helped them purchase a new computer curriculum they will begin using in the fall.

“It’s been amazing to see what God has done,” Bemis said.

by Grace Thornton, writer for The Baptist Paper

Cross Walk to Life Staff Member Says God Put Pieces in Place for Ministry

Published: September 1, 2022

After Ana L. Uribe got married, the couple’s path took them all over the place — from Houston, Texas, to Las Cruces, New Mexico, to Germany and then to Alabama.

But in 2020, the couple couldn’t shake the feeling that God wanted them to retrace their steps.

“We felt God keep moving our hearts to move back to Las Cruces, but there were no jobs for my husband,” Uribe said. “So we said, ‘If God wants us to go back, He will open doors.’ And He sure did.”

Uribe’s husband was offered a good job at the place he used to work, and they rejoined the church they had been a part of there — Iglesia Bautista Buenas Nuevas (Good News Baptist Church). But not long after they moved back, a tragedy happened — the pastor and his wife both died of COVID-19.

Uribe said her husband knew instantly that the call to pastoral ministry that he had been running from for a while had finally caught up to him.

“That was the feeling God had placed in our hearts to come back to Las Cruces,” she said.

He became the church’s pastor, and Uribe led the women’s ministry.

She revived Mujer Virtuosa (Virtuous Woman), a ministry that she had started when they lived there 12 years before, hosting a monthly breakfast and inviting women from all walks of life to hear the gospel, find community and talk through any life issues they might be facing.

Uribe’s heart was in this kind of ministry. And it wasn’t long before an opportunity came along to do more of it — as administrative assistant for Cross Walk to Life, a Christian Women’s Job Corps site that offers women the opportunity to reach their full potential and improve their situation through job and life skills training.

“I got hired and started working there part time,” Uribe said, noting that she appreciated that one purpose of the ministry was to serve the large Hispanic community there.

Her fluency in both languages made her a perfect fit, along with her technology skills and heart for the ministry, said Carol Gilliland, director of Cross Walk to Life.

“We need someone who is good with technology and has good office skills so she can take care of the necessary things to make the ministry run smoothly,” Gilliland said. “She’s a whiz-bang at it.”

In the time Uribe has been there, she’s helped draw more women to Cross Walk to Life by networking in Spanish on Facebook. She’s also taught classes in English and Spanish in addition to organizing the ministry’s schedule and newsletters and taking care of other logistics. Starting in September, she will teach a new class on money management that the women have been asking for.

“She’s a blessing from God,” Gilliland said. “She’s very gifted, and she’s helped us reach people. She’s the glue that holds us together.”

The funding for Uribe’s role comes from a site grant from the WMU Foundation’s CWJC/CMJC Endowment, something Gilliland says she’s grateful for.

“I love what God has done at Cross Walk to Life through her help,” Gilliland said.

Uribe said she’s thankful for the way God has moved everything around to get her and her husband — along with their two sons, who are now teenagers — in the right place and provide what they needed to get there.

“It’s been a great experience,” she said.

Many of the women now go to her church also, and one of Cross Walk to Life’s participants who had no previous experience with computers became the church secretary after graduating from the program. Uribe is grateful to see those kinds of stories.

“It’s been a blessing all around to be a part of this community and the women that we’re serving,” she said.

by Grace Thornton, writer for The Baptist Paper

Entrepreneurship Program for Women in Texas Gets Boost from Grant

Published: August 15, 2022

Sometimes things start with one person who is really passionate, and then they take off from there.

That’s Lydia Tate’s opinion at least.

She’s seeing it happen at Christian Women’s Job Corps of McLennan County, Texas, where an already-thriving ministry has moved to the next level thanks to a college student volunteer and a program development grant from WMU Foundation.

Tate, director of the CWJC site, said the idea for their new entrepreneurship program started in early 2020 when she spoke to a business class at Baylor University. One student — Jacob Lackey — was particularly interested in the mission and vision of the CWJC site and wanted to see how he might help.

Seeing, responding to a need

“Afterward he came up to me to talk about entrepreneurship and the vision he has for bringing those skills to the community,” Tate said. “He offered to volunteer and bring his knowledge in entrepreneurship to the program. He offered to bring a curriculum to us to teach this concept to our women.”

Lackey had started his first successful business at 14 and gave a TEDx Talk about it at 16.

“I see this need, I want to meet it and I’m passionate about it,” he said.

He said he wanted to be able to share with the women at CWJC of McLennan County that it’s OK to have challenges and barriers against starting a business — he experienced that uphill battle as a teenager.

But it’s doable if someone is passionate, Lackey said.

“Only 30 percent or so of entrepreneurs have a high school diploma,” he said. “It’s not a field dominated by people with doctorates.”

So in spring 2020, Lackey led a three-day workshop via Zoom for students at the CWJC site to teach them about entrepreneurship, evaluate their own ideas and see if they had the expertise and passion to get started in their own business. He also gave them resources to plan their next steps.

“I loved seeing how engaged the women were and the ideas they already had,” said Lackey, who is now a Baylor graduate and member of the CWJC of McLennan County board of directors.

‘Wildly successful’

Tate said the workshop was “wildly successful — everybody loved it.”

The grant will be seed money to start wrapping some structure around the idea, she said.

“Essentially what we would like to do was to start a program where a student will come in and take a host of classes given by volunteers in the community. They will learn about marketing strategies, digital spaces, brick-and-mortar spaces and how those happen,” Tate said. “They will learn about everything from what does it look like to have a business all the way to launching a business.”

CWJC would also have student interns who would have hands-on learning opportunities through running an online shop modeled after Woman’s Missionary Union’s WorldCrafts space, she said.

“Those interns would complete a year with us from September to May, then apply for a micro loan to start their own business,” Tate said.

“Our goal is to fund those micro loans and those opportunities so that a woman can start with us not knowing anything about a business to starting and funding a business. That’s the hope, and WMU Foundation has created a space for us to start dreaming about that.”

The entrepreneurship program is part of the site’s GLOW (Growth Learning Opportunities for Women) program, which offers free job skills and career building workshops and classes.

Tate said they hope through the entrepreneurship program to “really and truly empower women to start their own businesses and have some ownership over their income.”

by Grace Thornton, writer for The Baptist Paper

Ministry Helps Those Seeking Employment

Kim McDermott serves as administrative coordinator for Pivot ministry, a role supported by a recent site grant from the WMU Foundation. (Photo courtesy of Pivot)

Published: August 1, 2022

Kim McDermott had been unemployed for six months, steadily interviewing for jobs with no success, when a friend told her about the classes offered at Pivot.

“I heard about this and thought, ‘What’s it going to hurt? I’ll give it a try,’” McDermott said.

What is Pivot?

Pivot, a ministry that uses the Christian Women’s Job Corps classroom model with one-on-one mentors, has served women in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, area since 2018.

Carol Polk, Pivot’s executive director, said it opened after two years of research, during which time they found that women with no dependents were often turned away by agencies.

“So that’s what we focused on,” she said. “We just had our fifth graduation.”

So far, Pivot has had a graduation rate of 75 percent — more than double what was predicted, Polk said. The women who come through the program learn life skills and job readiness, take part in regular Bible studies and have a personal Christian mentor.

“It’s an incredible ministry,” she said.

McDermott agrees. She said her experience as a participant at Pivot in 2019 was “amazing.”

‘Helped me get my confidence back’

“I thoroughly enjoyed every session,” she said. “I was beginning to think I was unemployable. Pivot helped me get my confidence back.”

And a few months back, McDermott became a part of Pivot in a new way — she’s serving in a part-time role as administrative coordinator.

“I’m loving what I do here,” she said.

Her role is supported by a site grant from the CWJC/CMJC Endowment that the Woman’s Missionary Union(WMU) Foundation recently awarded to Pivot, a gift Polk said they were “blown away” to receive.

Pivot Plus

The grant is also supporting Pivot’s new alumnae association, Pivot Plus, which offers graduates a chance to stay connected and participate in Bible study and further professional development. Two volunteers have taken ownership of that new effort and run with it, Polk said.

She hopes it will help Pivot continue to come alongside women like McDermott over the long haul and offer support and community.

McDermott’s story has highlighted God’s faithfulness, and she has been a great fit for the Pivot team too, Polk said. She said McDermott’s computer skills are strong, she’s a great researcher and support person and has a cheerful demeanor and positive approach.

“She turned her life back around and now has two part time jobs and is faithful and dedicated and a joy to work with,” Polk said.

by Grace Thornton, writer for The Baptist Paper

WMU Foundation Scholarship Helps 2 Texas Women Take Next Step in Life

Published: July 13, 2022

Brianna Watts was stuck in a cycle. After growing up in foster homes then being adopted by an aunt as a teenager, she became pregnant at 17.

“I thought I knew what I was doing, and I didn’t,” she said. “I started partying and soon turned to drugs.”

Over the next seven years, she dealt with abuse “of every kind.” She became homeless, and she had more children who were taken from her.

“I wanted to get out, but I just didn’t have the resources and was extremely scared,” Watts said. “One night I wanted to quit partying and my fiancé didn’t. We got into a bad altercation, and he left me beat up in a hotel room with no money, no food and nowhere to go once again. I felt alone and helpless again.”

She cried out to God, and she felt Him prompt her to talk with someone who connected her with a rehab facility and drove her there.

“That next week I found out I was pregnant once again,” Watts said.

Getting clean

But this time, she had help. The rehab program — called Gateway of Hope — helped her get clean, and she took classes and graduated from Transformation Pathway Christian Women’s Job Corps of Dublin, Texas. She has custody of two of her children, joint custody of another two and is able to periodically see a son who was adopted by a family.

“I am doing so much better in life, and now I want to pursue college while I have two more years left at Gateway of Hope, so that way when I graduate there, I will have a career laid out for me and be able to provide for my family and finally gain some independence in life with a great support team for whenever I need them,” Watts said.

One way she’s able to do that is through the Faye Dove Scholarship recently awarded to her by the WMU Foundation.

Juanita Brawley, executive director of Transformation Pathway, called Watts a “dedicated, bright and pleasant young lady” and a “strong leader.”

“She came to class eager to learn and grow,” Brawley said. “Brianna always has a smile and is willing to help her classmates. I have witnessed her spiritual growth this semester as she has become dependent on God’s will for her future.”

Catalina’s story

Catalina Cormack, another Transformation Pathway graduate, also received the Faye Dove Scholarship.

Cormack migrated to the U.S. from Mexico at age 21 and raised her son, who is now a Marine. She’s still raising her two youngest children.

Her mother, who passed away in May 2021, saw the signs for Transformation Pathway and suggested she take classes.

“This fall I graduated from CWJC, and I know my mother would be proud of me,” Cormack said.

Now she is preparing to attend Ranger College.

“I know that my Creator has a plan for me,” she said. “I know education will prepare me.”

Barbara Yoder, an instructor at Transformation Pathway, said Cormack is a “hard worker” and a “team player.”

“Her verbal communication and testimony inspired us all,” Yoder said. “Everyone marvels at her work ethic and the amount of work she accomplishes.”

by Grace Thornton, writer for The Baptist Paper

Two TN women pursue life-changing education with help from WMU Foundation scholarships

Published: July 11, 2022

When Laurien Assis moved from Brazil to Tennessee to become an au pair, she brought something with her — a heart full of lessons from her parents.

“My parents have always been simple people who never had the opportunity or finances to pursue higher education,” she said. “Nevertheless, they sacrificed greatly to excel in their trades and provide a better life for their children. From a young age, we were taught the importance of faith, integrity and a strong work ethic.”

Assis said she knew when she arrived in Tennessee with little English and no knowledge of the culture, she was going to have to lean into those things if she wanted to make it.

“In a time of such anxiety and sacrifice, I learned just how important my God, family and values were to me,” she said. “Looking back, I am proud of the courage I had to overcome these obstacles and how determined I was to improve myself.”

That continued as she practiced her English, cared for her host family’s seven children and pursued a high school diploma. Her Tennessee family’s care for her was “the biggest proof of God’s love for me,” Assis said.

The second biggest was Begin Anew, a Christian Women’s Job Corps site that provides education, mentoring and resources for individuals who need help to overcome the obstacles caused by poverty.

“When I decided to get my high school diploma in the USA, Begin Anew was the program that appealed to me the most,” Assis said. “I was excited to study in a place that shared the same values and religious foundation that I was raised with. While studying at Begin Anew, I was able to improve my English tremendously and make lasting friendships.”

Bridging the gap, providing resources

And now the Academic Scholarship given by the WMU Foundation, a Baptist missions foundation established by national Woman’s Missionary Union, is helping her pursue a college degree in business administration.

Tracey Gholson, former program director for Begin Anew, said Assis is “an excellent example of how CWJC can bridge the gap and provide the resources and encouragement that one might need to achieve their goals.”

“I am amazed by this young woman from Brazil who has a strong desire to learn, a determination to succeed and a deep faith in God and God’s plan for her life,” said Gholson, who served as one of Assis’ tutors.

Julie Russell, another former Begin Anew program director, said she’s also proud of a second Begin Anew graduate — Margareth Caballero, who is this year’s Faye Dove Scholarship recipient.

“She was a joy to work with, and she was determined,” Russell said.

Caballero said Begin Anew has impacted her life in many ways, but the biggest was giving her the opportunity to earn a high school diploma online.

“It was a blessing to be able to do all my classes online, as I was able to work full-time and take care of my daughter,” she said.

‘Big dreams’

Russell said Caballero is dedicated, as she earned her high school diploma in less than a year and completely virtually.

“She has big dreams and the dedication to go along with them,” Russell said, noting that every Monday, Caballero attended Bible study via Zoom with her daughter in her lap, and that was a step along her journey of figuring out what God wanted her to do with her life.

Caballero’s desire is to use the funds from the scholarship to help with cosmetology school, which will help her have a more flexible schedule as she works and cares for her two children.

She said she’s so glad she found Begin Anew.

“To this day they keep providing me with support and resources to make my life easier,” Caballero said. “I have always believed in God and that He has a purpose for me, but Begin Anew made me believe in people again. I had lost faith in people, and it was hard for me to trust that there were still good people out there.”

Russell and the others at Begin Anew “gave me hope again,” Caballero said.

by Grace Thornton, writer for The Baptist Paper

Waco Women Finds Hope Through Christ And New Calling Through CWJC

Published: June 27, 2022

Sara Aguirre’s early years in Houston, Texas, were full of trauma, abuse and exploitation, about as bad as it could get. And that didn’t change as she grew up.

She was placed in a girls’ home at 14, then moved in with her older sister in Waco at 15.

“During my time in Waco I continued to use substances to cope with the trauma and almost died from alcohol poisoning,” Aguirre said. “I only remember waking up in the hospital room with tubes pumping out all the toxins my body consumed. I attempted suicide to end the emotional pain I was enduring. I felt hopeless.”

But not too long after, she heard the gospel for the first time. Even though she felt out of God’s reach, she felt drawn to Him and became friends with some students at Baylor University who took her to church with them.

And after about a month, Aguirre gave her life to Jesus.

“I remember a peace that I have never experienced before. The joy of the Lord broke the feelings of hopelessness…I would spend hours at the church prayer room soaking in the presence of God,” she said.

She started serving in the church, went on several missions trips and had a passion to share the gospel with everyone she could so they too could be healed and restored.

But she would find soon she too still needed some healing.

“After years of walking closely with God and being involved in the church, my mother passed away,” Aguirre said. “Her passing brought up tons of past pain. I thought as a believer that stuff is not part of my life anymore, it was dusted under the rug.”

And when she realized she still had trauma to deal with, she became angry with God, and her heart drifted from Him.

“What God set me free from I quickly fell back into. I started using drugs, self-harming, sexual sin and battled with bulimia,” she said. “These addictions almost cost me my life. My body was shutting down from the eating disorder and drugs. My doctors were concerned and didn’t think I would make it if I didn’t get treatment.”

So in 2014, Aguirre entered a long-term recovery home called Grace House, where she began to deal with her past pain and the root of her addictions. While she was there, she found out about Christian Women’s Job Corps of McLennan County.

“I came to CWJC kicking and screaming. I had trust issues,” she said.

But she realized soon that God was bringing more healing to her life. She finished the Career Track program there, worked her way through financial literacy, computer and job skills and resume building. She reenrolled in college and started working toward a degree in social work.

“I’m glad I didn’t run away from the amazing opportunity,” Aguirre said. “I came to CWJC with no direction or self-esteem. During my time at CWJC, my confidence grew, and I began to dream again. After completing the program, I had confidence and built my character.”

She also took a position as administrative assistant/receptionist at CWJC, which grew into a position as programs director and site coordinator.

Lydia Tate, executive director of CWJC of McLennan County, said Aguirre’s “care for each woman who walks through the door is breathtaking and honoring to each woman’s journey—everyone loves Sara at CWJC.”

Tate said Aguirre’s own journey has served as a sign of hope for the women who come there.

“Sara holds a life-changing testimony of God’s grace and goodness working in one woman’s life through the care of CWJC to bring about a full change from drugs, alcohol and suicide to a fully licensed social worker who wants to specialize in recovery and poverty alleviation.”

Aguirre completed her master’s degree this spring and is now working on her licensing with help from a recent honor. In late April, she was presented with the Sybil Bentley Dove Award, which the WMU Foundation gives annually to a recipient who desires to improve herself through the acquisition of skills or academic pursuits that will lead to self-reliant living or to give assistance and nurture to the development of her children.

The award comes with an endowment that will help pay the costs of getting her licensing finished as she moves into a new role as director of early intervention for Unbound Austin, an organization that fights human trafficking. She’s also getting married in October.

“God has opened so many doors, Aguirre said, and help from CWJC has “literally brought me out of poverty.”

“It has really given me an opportunity to grow and taught me how to set up that nurturing environment for others so they’re able to grow and able to heal,” she said. “I have learned so many tools from CWJC.”

Laura Graves, a board member for CWJC of McLennan County, said Aguirre has “outstanding character, persistence and determination.”

“Knowing Sara for four years, I have personally observed her heart for Christ as she serves the women of Waco and surrounding areas,” Graves said. “Gracefully, Sara juggles work, family and school while pouring love and kindness into everyone she meets.”

Aguirre has hit many roadblocks in her life, but her faith keeps her going, Graves said. “She inspires me as she strives tirelessly to further her education in order to serve others and point them to Christ. Sara lives her life bringing hope and encouragement to those around her.”

by Grace Thorton, writer for The Baptist Paper

Funding for the Sybil Bentley Dove Award is made possible through the WMU Foundation.

Begin Anew

Published: May 1, 2022

Christian Women’s Job Corps/Christian Men’s Job Corps site Begin Anew of Middle Tennessee is a ministry that empowers individuals to overcome obstacles created by poverty by providing education, mentoring, and resources. Its core values focus on believing “everyone deserves a chance to begin anew and walk a journey to a brighter future.” This belief is based on 2 Corinthians 5:17, which says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

These basic tenets are epitomized by the success stories of people like Georgia Alexandra (“I would not be able to do any of this without God”) and Kina Jones (who received the Sybil Bentley Dove Award), both graduates of the program, and Julie Russell, a former program manager who loved to help students “discover their unrealized potential.”

In addition, Sharon Lunsford Tyler said, “I have been a volunteer several times in the past and now serve on the executive board of the organization as the WMU representative. I have seen firsthand how families have been touched by the ministry of Begin Anew!”

One of the main emphases of the program remains Bible study, where participants can feel safe on their journey of life.

To find out more about the people who have found a new chance in life and are pursuing dreams, go to this ministry’s website at beginanew.org.