Compassion's Leadership Development Program (LDP) educates, trains and disciples servant leaders to transform their communities and nations. Greg Muger, Compassion's Leadership Development Ministry Director, recently shared his passion for young adults and his vision for the Leadership Development Program.

1. What is the Leadership Development Program?

The Leadership Development Program launches promising young adults into their full, God-given potential. We do this by equipping these leaders with a university degree, a mentored Christian life and a passion to serve. It's about developing a multitude of Christian leaders to share Christ's light and free others from poverty's grip.

2. You mentioned "educating, training and discipling servant leaders." What does that look like?

In terms of "educating," LDP students enroll in a university in their home country, where they will earn a bachelor's degree, thanks to the support of their LDP sponsor. As far as "training" is concerned, each LDP student takes part in a robust and holistic leadership development curriculum. This curriculum is based on 24 Christian leadership topics and takes an average of four years to complete.

The "discipling" aspect of the program connects every LDP student with a local church, where he or she is actively involved in ministry. Discipleship also comes through mentoring. All LDP students have a Christian mentor who walks alongside them and guides them in their personal life as well as in their career path.

These students also have an LDP specialist, a kind of a leadership development counselor, who helps them develop their plans for the future.

3. What is the LDP sponsor's role in their sponsored student's life, beyond covering the cost for their education?

The sponsor is essential to the success of the program. Our students are linked to a sponsor, and our hope is to help each sponsor to not only be an encourager, but to also be a distant mentor or coach — for now and for the future. I can say without question that I know of no other program in the world like the Leadership Development Program.

Sponsors are touching the future by being a champion for these bright, talented student-leaders. These sponsors are, quite literally, changing the future through their sponsorship.

4. The Bible is full of verses about helping children, the orphaned and those who are alone. What do you think the Bible says about the young adults who are part of the Leadership Development Program?

One key passage for the Leadership Development Program is 1 Timothy 4:12 (NIV), a verse that declares the value of young adults from God's perspective. Paul, a mentor to Timothy, encourages him, saying, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." In other words, God is calling young adults to assume great roles of leadership. They should pursue this confidently.

The Leadership Development Program is one way the Church can be inspired to engage its youth to accomplish its mission.

5. Many developing countries offer very little support for women seeking an education — and some are, in fact, hostile toward these women. What is the Leadership Development Program doing to help women enrolled in the program?

We have conducted research on women and education in developing countries, and the more we learn, the more we realize we have to work hard to ensure that our female students have a safe learning environment. For example, we learned that young ladies enrolled in the Leadership Development Program in Nairobi were being harassed by young men in the computer lab. Even worse, some young ladies were failing university because they would not have an affair with their professors. We do everything we can to support these young women.

We are giving them a chance for an education, yes. But our support doesn't end there. We fight for them, against injustice. We give them a voice. We pray for their safety and health.

6. What are the goals of the Leadership Development Program for each student who graduates?

The Leadership Development Program is an outcome-driven ministry. Everything we do focuses on our goal of seeing students graduate as Christian leaders committed to transforming their communities and nations. A young person who graduates from Compassion's Leadership Development Program demonstrates:

• Personal commitment to the lordship of Christ
• Good health practices
• Personal and professional skills to be economically self-supporting
• Positive self-worth and ability to cultivate healthy relationships
• Servant leadership

7. Can you tell me about an LDP student who you believe embodies the goals and spirit of the Leadership Development Program?

I would like to share one incredible story that I know will bless you by just reading it. I had the chance to meet an incredible graduate in March 2009. Her name is Magda, and she was born into one of the most uninhabitable areas on earth. She grew up in a trash dump in Guatemala City, Guatemala. She told me that others would say to her, "Magda, you are never going to amount to anything. Once you become trash, you will always be trash." Her father was an alcoholic, and little Magda had no aspirations for her life other than being a trash collector, because trash collectors were the only role models that children growing up in the dump could see.

While Magda was still a child, a Compassion partner started a church on the actual dumpsite. This person saw the great potential in Magda and shared about God and His love for her. Magda caught that vision and ended up receiving Christ as well as receiving a scholarship to attend primary and secondary school. She then had a dream to raise up advocates for the poor in Guatemala. She gained entrance into the Leadership Development Program and graduated with a degree in social work.

Just three years after her graduation, she is already helping 12 churches release over 1,000 children in poverty as a Compassion staff member.

8. Tell me what the LDP graduates are doing now.

Since 1996, almost 900 students have graduated from the program. Based on our most recent contact with our graduates, we know that:

• More than 80 percent are employed.
• About 72 percent of graduates were employed within their field of study within six months after graduation.
• Approximately 99 percent are actively involved in a leadership role within their church. 
• Around 65 percent are currently mentors themselves.
• About 5 percent are Child Sponsorship Program sponsors, and more are sponsoring siblings to attend school.
• More than 10 are missionaries to other countries.

9. What is your vision for the Leadership Development Program?

Our vision is that our LDP students and graduates will work within the Church to accomplish what Isaiah prophesied over the people of Israel more than 2,000 years ago:

"They will be like trees that the LORD himself has planted. They will all do what is right, and God will be praised for what he has done. They will rebuild cities that have long been in ruins." — Isaiah 61:3b-4 (GNB)

Our LDP students and graduates are already starting to rebuild and transform communities and nations. The hope is that our LDP graduates will become key Christian leaders within their society and will raise up other servant leaders that will turn a society with unethical leaders and unequal distribution of basic needs into a country with ethical leadership that provides for needs.

Our hope is that Compassion Peru or Compassion Thailand would one day stop receiving funding from Compassion donors and would start to raise funding to send to other countries for people in need. That is the Leadership Development Program.

10. What is your favorite LDP memory?

My favorite LDP memory is when I actually met my sponsored student for the first time. Maria, a  first-year social work major from Guatemala City, walked through the door, took one look at me, and tears ran down her cheeks. The first words she spoke to me while trying to fight back more tears were, "You are real … you are here!" It was at that moment that I realized the power of the relationship between a sponsor and a student.

Maria was so grateful for my investment into her life. It's not about just her education … it's about investing into God's plan for her life. We spent the entire day with her family; we attended the family's church, enjoyed a meal together, and then ended the day with prayer and worship in their home.

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