Leslie Blake, Outstanding Grant Writer

Leslie Blake, Outstanding Grant Writer

"Yes we learn the skills, but it's more about fostering the person. It's only when the person is whole that the profession can be whole."

By Vicki Marsh Kabat

Not long into the first year of her masters of social work program Leslie Blake went to Dean Diana Garland and told her she wanted to leave.

"She said to me, ‘Stick with me,' and you'll make it," Leslie said. "Not ‘stick with the program,' but stick ‘with me.' Relationship. It's all about relationships here."

It's a lesson Leslie (MSW 2009/MDiv 2010) has learned repeatedly and in different contexts in the last two years. She likens the program to having a mirror held in front of you. "It puts right in front of you who you are, and for the first time, you may see the negatives in yourself. But they walk you through that and you deal with it. Then it's no longer something holding you back but a tool you can use. That's when social work comes alive."

Leslie says that is the heart and soul of the School's faculty and staff. "Yes we learn the skills, but it's more about fostering the person. It's only when the person is whole that the profession can be whole," she says.

This spring, Leslie moved into a completely different world from what she had known. She interned with Together for Hope in Arkansas, a poverty initiative utilizing mentoring and microenterprise programs sponsored by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in West Helena, Arkansas. Leslie worked with a group of nine African-American girls, ages 9 to 18, and their adult female mentors, volunteers from different churches in the community.

This group, called the Delta Jewels, was part of a business cooperative in which they made jewelry to sell. Leslie met with the group two hours on Wednesdays and three hours on Saturdays.

"They don't want relief work, they want a sustainable way of living," Leslie says. "The program is trying to find a microenterprise model for the guys in the community now. It has huge potential."

The girls did not warm up to her readily. It took almost two months of just being with them before she began to see a change. She noted that "anger is huge" in this poverty-stricken area, and often a result of low self-esteem and a need to self-protect.

"I just had to do something about it," says Leslie, who wrote and received a grant requesting $10,000 from CBF to develop a puppet ministry to teach conflict resolution in K-sixth grades in the public school system.

She remembers one girl who would never look her in the eye, but one day, out of the blue, she asked Leslie, ‘Do I have to go to church to be a Christian?'" It just took one person letting her guard down and the others followed with their own questions.

"At that moment, I had a vested interest in these girls. That's when I knew in my heart, I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. Plus, I no longer felt like a complete dud!" she laughs.

Leslie is glad she stuck it out in social work, saying she has grown and changed so much. "I'm leaving the School of Social Work as a better person. I'm confident in who I am and that's when God can shine through your life."

A babe sent with the spirit of God to be our Savior and King

The past several months have been one of tribulation and blessing. The greatest that I have yet to experienced. Such has given to intraspection and seeking the Lord's will. This has become greater as the Thanksgiving and Christmas season has approached and arrived. I have been blessed by Calvary BC greatly through this season.

Today, I came to a personal revelation new to me and feel I must share. It isn't new in itself, but maybe can be expressed in a new way that will touch your heart, as it has mine.

The Savior and King of Kings came as a babe. The One at the creation of the universe, the birds and beast, and man came as an infant. God placed His warrior spirit in a babe along with His compassionate spirit. In order to save your soul and mine, God manifested himself in the form of a helpless baby.

The King was entrusted to two young individuals with no riches and had a manger for a bed among the beasts which He created. The Savior's arrival was trumpetted by angels and celebrated only by shepherds and kings from afar.

All of that to say, the greatest miracle to ever bless mankind came in the most insignificant way. The Creator of all manifested Himself in the same way He manifested each of us. Our Messiah lived through the same trials and tribulations as we do. A helpless babe was born to demonstrate the power and magesty and love and mercy of God that is within us all.

The same spirit in Jesus is in those who believe in Him. With the Holy Spirit, we each can live through the ups and downs of life just as Jesus did. We only need to believe in Jesus, listen to the Holy Spirit, and trust in God.

This babe came to walk in our shoes in order to save us from our sins and reunite us with our Father.

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Merry Christmas! Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Bang a Drum

This should be an anthem for every Christian, in fact for every American....listen carefully to the lyrics...



Why do we want to give up our individual voices to the government? We each have the power to act, and each of us are capable of causing changes in the world as we know it. We do not need the government to eliminate poverty for us, provide education government to our children, save the economy from collapse, etc. We as individuals together have the power. Our Creator has empowered us to do these things. We only need to reach our individual potential.

Government is ineffective and inefficient to meet these needs. Government is corrupt and incapable. Government is wasteful.

While government does have its place and responsibilities, it is time for us as individuals and communities to take matters into our own hands.

We do not need to look to politicians and bureaucrats; we only need to look within ourselves and at ourselves for the answers....with God's help.

Seven Years Later

On September 11, 2001, my father was in South Carolina on a business trip. I was driving to campus at Tarleton State as the towers were being hit. I think I heard the news of the second hit as I arrived on campus. My world hist prof was cynical about the American response (I imagine he is still today).

All I remember is being alone. I did not have television reception, so I could not get a visual of what actually happened. I called Mom at the high school (which I never did) to check on Dad. I didn't know if this was going to be an attack on the eastern seaboard or what was happening. I couldn't stand it. I skipped the rest of my classes for the day and drove home. Normally I would have gone directly to pick up my baby sister at the sitter's just a couple of driveways down. But I had to see what happened. I had only heard people describe it, but I could not imagine it for myself.

Seven years later, I still can't imagine it. I know it happened. I watch reruns of Friends and see footage of the Twin Towers and make a mental observation that they are no longer there. But I can't still imagine it.

How does the skyline of the most major city in the world get completely changed like that? How does the Pentagon, the greatest architectural demonstration of American strength, get hit by an airplane? How does a randomly place group of people ban together for the good of others to keep a fourth plane from destroying another American building and killing additional American lives?

How can anyone hate another so much that they hijack 4 planes intending to kill thousands of people? How does this happen?

More important, how have we been able to respond to this with such calm and compassion and care? Look at the coverage of the anniversary and see the compassion of everyone involved. We are Americans. We were attacked. I didn't know anyone affected, and I live in Texas. Who's going to attack Clifton or Waco?

Americans come together. Not for any gain. Only to support those that lost a loved one. Only to show our resolve.

Yes, two wars have come of this. But we have only gone after the horrid rulers that hate and wanted to destroy America. We have and continue to help rebuild their countries to leave them better than before we intruded.

Seven years later I am finally writing down my thoughts of September 11th. I now understand the importance of recognizing each year what happened in 2001. No hatred like this should ever be allowed to happen again. By recognizing the events and the loss each year, maybe we can remember why we are Americans!

May God bless America.

America DOES NOT Need to Change

I am tired of hearing from the Democratic party that American needs change and Obama is going to be the one to do it.

America DOES NOT need to change. America is the freeist and greatest nation in the world. Americans are the most ambitious resourceful people. More opportunities (even those afforded to Obama) are available to the average citizen in America than any other place in the world. There is no greater place on earth than the United States of America!

America DOES NOT need to change. America's GOVERNMENT needs to return to its true form and proper role. See my previous posting. The federal government needs to get its controlling fingers out of our day to day lives and out of free enterprise. The federal government needs to allow the citizens (the rulers) to keep their hard earned income so they can pursue their American dream, instead of taking money and providing services at diminished value. STOP penalizing those who have been successful, allow those with money to put that money back into the economy. Give the people back the power to make decision for themselves!

Government NEEDS to change. The Democratic party won't allow any of this to happen. The Democratic party will continue to cause lower economic class to fight with the upper economic class. The Democratic party will continue to bride the middle economic class. The Democratic party will continue to increase social (socialist) services at a diminished value! The Democratic party will cause us to pay more to get less. The Democratic party will take away the right of the individual to make the best decisions for themselves.

The Democratic party wants to make the American people the subjects instead of the rulers! I will not become a slave to the demands of the government!

Give me liberty or give me death!

Again I refer you to my post "Where Responsibility Lies".

Where Responsibility Lies

As you can tell the two previous posts, my main argument is where responsibility lies. This is the issue that is being avoided. Democrats do not like the argument, and Republicans are too distracted or unknowledgeable to make this key issue the center of the discussion.

Responsibility in the United States does not ultimately lie in the hands of the government.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
--United States of America's Declaration of Independence (www.ushistory.org)

Responsibility and power ultimately lies in the hands of the citizens of the United States. Ultimately, we each as individuals have the responsibility for ourselves and for the country.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
--Constitution of the United State of America (www.ushistory.org)

Conservativism holds and believes that it is the responsibility of the federal government as the collective body of the United States to provide these services specifically identify to it in the Constitution (along with the amendments). Beyond these responsibilities enumerated in the Constitution, it is the individual's responsibility and duty to take care of individual, familiar, and community needs.

Individuals are first responsible for themselves, providing for their own needs and desires. They are then responsible to meet the needs of their family and dependents. If an individual is not able to meet these responsibilities it is next the responsibility of that individual's family to aide them. In the same situation, the neighbor should have a responsibility in the absence of family. The capable individual is responsible to help along with their neighbors for the need of their community.

This chain of responsibility must not and need not to include the federal government. They should be meet by local means, which may even include local and state government. This is the purpose of the federal-state governing system. Local public and private means are crucial.

But we have lost this concept. If there is a problem, people look straight to the federal government. If a parent does not properly raise their child, the solution is sought within the federal government instead of within the family or community. If unemployment rises and the economy is in decline, the solution is sought through federal government and macro regulation instead of local and micro intervention.

The best place to seek solutions is at the most local level. A solution in Texas may not be the best solution in Vermont. A solution in Los Angeles probably will not fix a problem in El Dorado, Arkansas. An issue of concern might not need the same fix for someone in the affluent part of town as the poorer part of town.

There is a place for the federal government, just as there is a place for state and local governments. But government is not by default the solution source. We should look within our own means as individuals and neighbors to find solutions. Examples of this can be found in churches and other religious institutions, non-profit organizations, corporate sponsorship, private enterprise, and entrepreneurship.

We as individuals are free to accomplish anything we choose for ourselves. Together we are the rulers and not the ones being ruled. Why would we want to give up this that the founding Fathers and original patriots fought? The federal government should defend our nation from foreign enemies, protect our individual rights and freedoms from domestic enemies, and to guarantee these unalienable rights and freedoms for the generations to come.

It is a weakness and a fault to rely on the federal government for anything else. It is a voluntary degradation of our society to forfeit our own individual authority provided by our Creator to a lower authority that is the federal government. The authority, rights, and freedoms are ours to be used for our own and our neighbors' best interest. If we return to this fundamental principle, our societal problems will diminish, individuals will be empowered, families will strengthen, and the condition of our communities become whole and united again.

Future of Energy

My friend included discussion of children the future of energy use and future availability, and here is my specific response to this issue:

On the particular issue of energy, everyone wants to provide energy that is inexpensive and not damaging the earth. We are approaching the ability to attain efficient and effective use of renewable, non-polluting energy, but we ARE NOT there yet. The debate is how do we get there. In my opinion, we are still in need of a transition from carbon-based to renewable energy. And just as important, we need to become self-sufficient. While we transition, we must become self-sufficient and remain self-sufficient.

And again, it is not the responsibility of the government to make these changes but the responsibility of the American people and free enterprise. As consumers demand more renewable energy use, the producers will develop and provide those products and services.