Jump directly to the Content

High-Capacity Halftimers

How one church finds and deploys an untapped wealth of talent.

The saddest thing about a certain high-poverty community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is that everyone wants to leave. Anyone with an economic upturn quickly moves away to a better place. As a result, the neighborhood, especially the Eugene Field Elementary School in the heart of it, is caught in a perpetual cycle of need.

Enter Don and Emily Renberg from First United Methodist Church in Tulsa. They're well-known in the neighborhood because they go to the school so often, sometimes for the entire day. They coordinate an extensive mentoring program for students.

The Renbergs aren't paid to do this. They're volunteers. But with their business savvy and entrepreneurial smarts, they've figured out both how to genuinely help the Eugene Field community and how to recruit peers at church to lend hand and heart at the school. They chose to move "from success to significance" by serving this community in partnership with their church. First Methodist embraced the idea of discovering and deploying high-capacity ...

May/June
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

Related
Lifestyle Evangelism for the Pastor
Lifestyle Evangelism for the Pastor
Given a pastor’s lifestyle, is lifestyle evangelism even possible? One pastor’s refreshing discovery.
From the Magazine
Yes, Charisma Has a Place in the Pulpit
Yes, Charisma Has a Place in the Pulpit
But let’s not mistake it for calling.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close