Job program bases training on biblical principles
March 30, 2002 - By Patricia Rice - Post-Dispatch Religion Writer

The 11-week course matches its participants with a supportive church, helpful mentors and committed employers.

Meschelle Davis didn't watch a lot of television, go to nightclubs or even make many phone calls this Holy Week.

On Easter Sunday, Davis will give thanks to God for creating a "new creature in me" she said.

After 11 weeks in a Bible-based job training program, she's focused on reading the Scripture daily and finding a job to support her daughter and her young nephew, whom she is raising.

Davis is serious about making a fresh start. This week, she graduated from the church-sponsored Job Alliance St. Louis program at Mount Herald Church, near Grand and Page boulevards. Fourteen churches in the city and county sponsor the program and provide its volunteer teachers and mentors.

"Where I'm going is not where I'm stopping," Davis, a member of Union Tabernacle Church, said Monday. "No more clubs. No more endless TV. No more long, meaningless phone calls."

Davis wants a job with fair wages, benefits and satisfaction, probably at a nonprofit agency or in a customer service job in a for-profit organization, she said. She polished her job resume on a computer at the alliance's classrooms in the World Impact Church, 3108 North Grand Boulevard.

She is encouraged by the graduates who came before her. About 97 percent of the people who have graduated from Job Alliance's 4-year-old program here are now employed, said Donna Bradley, the program's executive director.

Many of the graduates never held long-term jobs before. Some came from families who had lived on welfare for three generations, Bradley said.

At the 2 1/2-hour graduation ceremony Monday, Davis and four other graduates promised that they would "walk with God" and follow biblical principles of honesty, integrity, faithfulness and justice as they enter the job market.

The local organization is one of 24 affiliates of the church-sponsored Jobs Partnership of Raleigh, N.C. Most of the affiliates use the same Bible-based workbooks that link Bible virtues to work responsibilities and skills.

"We get lots of encouragement from the national office," said director Bradley.

Since the program began in St. Louis in 1998, more than 80 unemployed or underemployed men and women have enrolled and 40 have graduated. Sometimes, problems with alcohol, drugs or transportation cause them to leave. Over the years, several students who dropped out of one 11-week session repeated the course and eventually graduated, Bradley said.

"We always encourage students to try again," she said.

Some of the graduates said it was hard staying the course for 11 weeks.

"The devil tried to get me to stay away," said Shauntrice Clayton, a member of Bridge of Hope Church in north St. Louis who graduated on schedule Monday.

Her son, Keith Bagsby, 14, energetically applauded his mother when she got her graduation certificate.

New graduate Harold Moore said the program "delivered" him from drugs and alcohol.

The class met for two hours a night, twice weekly. The Bible, a dictionary and the workbook are the students' main tools. Pastors offer counsel to the students they sponsor. During the graduation, a dozen pastors sat near the altar. Several of them preached at the ceremony.

Many believe the key to the program is a mentor for each student.

The volunteer mentors belong to the same church as the participant. Even after the course, mentors stay in touch. In the critical early months of employment, mentors help the graduates overcome initial work challenges and dips in self-confidence. Many mentors have helped students with basics, such as figuring out transportation, getting to work on time and resolving on-the-job relationship problems.

Mae Wiler, who graduated from the jobs program in October and now works as a certified medical technician, continues to hear from her mentor, Fran Norville, a computer analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"Fran calls me all the time and always helps me," Wiler said.

Students who want to enroll in the course and do not have a church are assigned to one of the sponsoring churches.

"Some of the most unlikely people have walked in the door and been transformed," said Kurt Wessling, Job Alliance St. Louis program board chairman and a member of one of the sponsoring churches, First Evangelical Free Church in Manchester.

The retired banker also has taught the program's classes on the biblical implications of work.

In the early weeks of the course, the students examine who they are and work on their self-esteem using biblical readings about how they are children of God. One night each week is devoted to Bible values and a second class to practical job instruction.

Employers participate by committing to offer jobs

The program's employers are key to its success.

Over the years, a group of employers have committed to offer jobs with reasonable salaries. The companies range from restaurants to bus companies to retail stores to banks. The companies promise fair wages, benefits and the possibility for continuing education and advancement.

Each employer in the program promises to provide an on-the-job coach to help the employee with work skills and to listen to the employee's problems in adjusting to work.

Employers are not supposed to be easy on the graduates.

At the graduation, the Rev. Nathaniel Jordan, the main speaker and an assistant minister at Holy Ghost Temple in St. Louis, told the graduates to be real about their job expectations.

"Don't look to the employers to be nice," Jordan said.

When things get really bad on the job, he said, they should remember that they are "just passing through, just passing through, just passing" on their way to a better place. God watches out for them, he said.

"When God cleans you up, he does not forget you," he said.

But, they should not forget God, several of the graduates said.

"Christians should set an example for their employers," said Al Palmer, an instructor.

The person seated next to the new employee, their supervisor and even the company's chief executive can be transformed by the Christian holiness of a good employee, he said.

"God wants excellence in all things."

Reporter Patricia Rice:\ E-mail: price@post-dispatch.com\ Phone: 314-340-8221

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