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I joined Literacy Connexus . . .
. . . because it was an opportunity to use my gifts of planning and organizational development to help break the cycle of poverty through literacy education. But it did not start out that way. For several years I had been around others who were teaching ESL classes. I saw and felt the intense rapport among students and their teachers and celebrated with them life-changing victories made possible through learning English. I wanted to make that kind of difference, too, by becoming an ESL teacher. But it wasn't going to happen. After completing a 16-hour ESL teacher training course, I knew this wasn't for me. It was not as exciting as it had looked, and I was humbled by how difficult it was to teach this subject. The lesson I learned was to embrace my own gifts and be a good steward of them. Soon afterwards, I met Lester Meriwether and joined with him and others on an eight-year journey of envisioning how to help churches help persons with literacy needs within a Christian context. We have conducted research projects, supervised student interns, conducted workshops, written grants, and developed projects like Books for the Border to engage churches in promoting family literacy by providing books to children who need them. My work with Literacy Connexus has been challenging and rewarding ... and different than I expected! Rob Rogers Past president Literacy Connexus Board of Directors
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