Jaeden’s Story

This time last year, Jaeden was depressed, not sleeping, lost confidence, and disengaged. He dropped out of a local ministry's new leader training and community. Today, he is an Army Airborne Paratrooper!

With Rising Leaders, he felt the safety to process his disappointments and anxieties. He grew stronger in his faith that God had a plan for him, and found a community that supported his dreams.

He wants to be a cop, but the racial tensions and cynicism of law enforcement by his race and BLM made him feel alone in those desires. “Why am I different? I feel alone” After he failed to go to the military twice, he fell into a state of depression, wasn’t sleeping, and became disengaged. From a faith perspective, he expressed feeling on the outside looking in, since he met Jesus in a white context.

We kept pursuing him because we believed he would be used by God to be a leader of change. He attended our “empowering voices” winter retreat and saw others being vulnerable with their stories. In his family, one is considered weak if one struggles with mental health. It was a pressure release to be vulnerable in sharing his anxieties.

After the Winter Retreat, the RL Bible study went through LeCrae’s “I am Restored” and allowed him to see the bigger picture of being in the family of God.

With RL coaching, he found the courage to follow through on his plans to pursue law enforcement locally or through the military.

Within 4 months, God had cleared the way for him to go to the Army. Though Army training was long and difficult, he excelled, graduating in the top 20% of his class. Just two weeks ago, he got his Airborne Wings. Jaeden credits God and the community for having the courage to believe in his dreams. His favorite verse is Colossians 3:2 “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” He hopes to return to the Queen City and become its first Afro-Latino Police Chief.

Listen to his words in this video about the vision he has to transform his community: