C.J. Stewart – Page 79

My Top 3 Stupid Things That I Did Before Age 30 That Yielded 0 Return

April 20, 2014 by C.J. Stewart

stupid[ stoo-pid, styoo‐ ]

adjective [stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est.]

1. lacking ordinary quickness and keenness of mind; dull.

2. characterized by or proceeding from mental dullness; foolish; senseless: a stupid question.

3. tediously dull, especially due to lack of meaning or sense; inane; pointless: a stupid party.

Here are my top 3 stupid things that I did before age 30 that yielded 0 return.

1. Failure to Submit to Christ

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27 NLT)

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! (Galatians 5:22, 23 NLT)

In my pre-30 age, you couldn’t tell me nothing. I thought that I created mankind and it was and will always be a stupid mindset.

Life is easier for me now that I have submitted my life to Christ. My prayer method is A.C.T.S. Acknowledgement, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication (Asking) in that order. I got that from Elizabeth Baptist Church.

2. Failure to Maintain Healthy Relationships

We all know right from wrong. One of the toughest things that I had to deal with in my pre-30 age was being corrected. I cringed even with constructive criticism.

My mindset now as a follower of Christ is found in being humble.

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. (Proverbs 11:2 ESV)

Humility allows me to listen more than talk. I stopped a lot of amazing people from helping me because I didn’t want to be corrected. That’s stupid.

I’m not perfect now at age 38 by any means however I am wiser. Now that I know better, I do better.

Don’t waste quality time being stupid. Keep good folks that love you enough to correct you in your life.

3. Not being a good Steward of my Time, Talent and Treasure

If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? (Luke 16:11 ESV)

I wasted so much money buying stupid stuff pre-30 age. Stuff that yielded 0 return.

I should have been saving for a house, life insurance and a college education for my children. I didn’t though and that’s stupid. I was looking good though while being stupid.

I had great people tell me that I need to do this and do that. Teaching is more powerful than talking though.

By the grace of God, I have chosen to spend quality time with a lot of quality people that model success and are good stewards of their time, talent and treasure.

Hang around excellent folks if you want to be excellent. Hang around a lot of failures if you want to fail.

Pray for me and I will pray for you.

Top 5 successful ways to prevent youth from reaching their full potential

April 14, 2014 by C.J. Stewart

I am convinced that everyone on earth wants to be significant. I find my significance by submitting my life to Christ. It’s not easy though.

My personal mission in life is to be significant and to serve millions. This life mission began as early as I could remember.

I had a lot of doubters in my life as a youth but fortunately I had a relationship with God and more people that believed in me to trump the doubters.

Here is my top 5 list of successful ways to prevent youth from reaching their full potential.

Yapping

When teachers talk, you should listen. When educators teach, you can learn. You can achieve amazing goals with information gained by learning while listening keeps you ignorant. When you are ignorant, you can’t do much. Teaching requires development rather than equipment. Youth want to be developed. They crave it. Development requires commitment to the whole person.

Who is the biggest yapper that you know?

Hurting people hurt people. -Dr. Craig L. Oliver, Elizabeth Baptist Church

You have to be aware that you are hurting to prevent yourself from hurting others. We are all battling with some type of emotional baggage from the past. I get my emotional fix by filling my spiritual, physical and relational buckets.

Who or what do you turn to when you are hurting?

Wake Up!

Ever had an amazing sleep with an amazing dream only to be awaken in the middle of it? There are millions of adults that are living a life that they don’t want to live because they didn’t reach their full potential for one reason or another. Youth take their dreams to adults all the time for encouragement only to be discouraged with words like “you need a backup plan” or “that’s too hard”.

What is your long term goal (5-10 years)? State one goal please.

What can prevent you from achieving your goal?

Simplistic statements aren’t simple

Simplistic statements like “hard work pays off” and “believe in yourself” are temporarily encouraging at best. When you make these statements complex by questioning them you realize that they are only half true. There are millions of hard working people in this country that are struggling everyday. In order to help youth, you have to make things simple so that they can actually do something with the statement. For example, if you attend school everyday with good behavior, be engaged while in class and spend 2-3 hours per night on homework, you will be able to attend a top rated college and most likely for free. It’s that simple and youth can do it.

What’s a simplistic statement that you use often?

What are 3 simple ways that you can convert your personal potential to productivity?

Expect nothing. Give compassion. Deny consequences.

I have found that youth work hard when there are high expectations and consequences for not meeting the expectations. They become boxed in between the two realizing that excellence is the fulfillment of expectations. If they trust you, they will allow you to coach them to victory. Adults often forget to establish expectations though and are deathly afraid to discuss consequences until something has been done wrong. That reminds me of another trite simplistic statement “we will cross that bridge when we get there”. I believe that criminal activity is birthed when there is a whole lot of compassion without consequences.

What high expectation do you have for yourself? State one please.

If you fail to fulfill that expectation, is there a self inflicted consequence?

L.E.A.D. Ambassadors with Major General Ronald Johnson, Taz Anderson and I at the 2013 SCOGA

My birthday request 2014

April 2, 2014 by C.J. Stewart

Did you know that it cost the state of Georgia $100,000 per year ($273 per day) to incarcerate one juvenile? Did you also know that youth from the 30310, 30315 and 30318 zip codes grow up to represent 80% of the prison population? With 60% of African-American males from the Atlanta Public School System not graduating or not graduating on time, it is time to invest in organizations that are delivering change.

Since 2007, L.E.A.D. has graduated 100% of our Ambassadors from high school with 100% of them enrolling into college. 90% of the Ambassadors have enrolled with a baseball scholarship.

The problem is obvious and through L.E.A.D. the solution is even more obvious.

On Thursday, April 10th, I will turn 38 years of age. For my birthday, I would like for 273 people to march with L.E.A.D. for our 4th Annual Inner City Youth Baseball March on Saturday, April 19th. For $273 per day, you can incarcerate a juvenile. On April 19th, you can encourage over 273 Atlanta Public School African-American males to graduate from high school, enroll into college and live a life of significance.

“Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you.” ~ Aldous Huxley

Baseball has giving me purpose throughout my life and I have committed my life to serving youth through baseball. Without purpose and hope, you have nothing and graduating from high school becomes less important.

March under the representation of your family banner or march with your youth baseball team. March to empower L.E.A.D. to empower an at risk generation to lead and transform their city.

Email Kelli.Stewart@Lead2Legacy.org to register your family and/or team today.

L.E.A.D. is a 501c3 tax exempt non-profit organization.

I hope I can shake your hand on April 19th. Click here to learn more about L.E.A.D.

Holding Atlanta’s Future Leaders Accountable Today

Live Big, Dream Big

March 11, 2014 by C.J. Stewart

In two days God willing, I will be on a plane headed to Orlando with my family, L.E.A.D. Coach Kevin Young (Grove Park Elementary School, Atlanta Public Schools), videographer David Seeney (Fresh Behavior), L.E.A.D. Tyrelle Wilson (Booker T. Washington High School, Atlanta Public Schools) and LEADer Montavious Lightner (Harper-Archer Middle School, Atlanta Public Schools).

This trip will serve as a vacation for my family as well as an exposure opportunity for our coach and Ambassadors. They will truly serve as Ambassadors for Atlanta Public Schools (APS). There is lots to learn from the business of baseball. We will video document the entire trip which will allow us to share our experience in an effort to empower other students within APS.

There are three things that I want to happen on this trip.

I am so looking forward to recharging my emotional batteries with my wife and two daughters. We go hard all year long and miss opportunities to spend quality with one another. We will have fun at Disney, swim, stay up late watching movies, eat good and watch some Braves baseball. I can see the ladies of my life smile in the comforts of the Florida sun.

Kevin Young has served as our Middle School Character Development League director for 6 months. He is also a coach for our Ambassador team. He does a great job but has limited knowledge and experience with regards to how Atlanta Braves Minor League Director Ronnie Richardson runs Spring Training for the Braves. Kevin will be shadowing Ronnie for hours while we are in Orlando. Talk about empowerment. With new information, I want Kevin to take the development experience of our high school Ambassadors and middle school LEADers to new levels. I’m excited for Kevin. This will launch so many others dreams and aspirations for him.

L.E.A.D. Ambassador Tyrelle Wilson and LEADer Montavious Lightner will be treated like celebrities the entire time. They will have dinner with Jason Heyward. They will have lunch with professional agent Mike Moye. They will shadow Braves farm director Ronnie Richardson as well as 680 The Fan radio hosts. They will go to Disney for the first time. This will be Mr. Lightner’s first time on a plane and the second time for Tyrelle. I want these young men to ask questions and gain an understanding of how they can be change agents in their schools and community because it can be done.

March is a month that we learn about excellence within L.E.A.D. I teach excellence by first establishing what is expected of you followed by the need of energy (spiritual, mental, emotional and physical) and more encouragers in your life than discouragers.

This Live Big Dream Big exposure opportunity is made possible by Georgia’s Own Credit Union, Atlanta Braves and 680 The Fan. These Live Big Dream Big moments will allow every to fulfill L.E.A.D.’s mission to empower an at risk generation to lead and transform their city of Atlanta.

Baseball Is a Game Changer In Atlanta

March 3, 2014 by C.J. Stewart

2013-2014 Haper-Archer Jaguars Baseball Team

This week we witnessed over 160 student athletes sign L.E.A.D. Baseball Scholarships in 8 APS Middle Schools (@apsupdate). To narrow down to the top 160+, Coaches had to cut over 100 student-athletes. In addition to earning the privilege to represent their schools this spring, these young men, who we call Leaders, will have to continue to show improvement across three areas of student achievement: attendance, grades and behavior. At the end of the spring, the school that performs the best on the diamond will earn a championship trophy. The school that performs the best in the classroom will earn the 1st Annual L.E.A.D. Cup Trophy.

There are some who say that African American boys don’t play baseball and that this is somehow one of our nation’s biggest problems. Allow me to set the record straight regarding what the most pressing issues are concerning young black males:

African American males have a better chance of being a victim or perpetrator of a violent crime than they do of matriculating on time, graduating from high school or going to college.

Suspension as a primary discipline tool hurts African American males most as they are suspended at a higher rate than their white or hispanic peers.

In Atlanta, about 60% of African American males are either not graduating on time or not graduating at all, according to the Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males.

So how is baseball a game changer in Atlanta?

Years ago, we relied on baseball to do what many deemed impossible: integrate whites and blacks in America’s game. At the time, the nation may not have known that it was relying on baseball to accomplish this awesome feat, but the nation was watching nonetheless. All who were dissatisfied with the state of our country cheered on Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson, some secretly and some openly; hoping that through this gesture of boldness and courage that they could invite this notion into the consciousness of our citizens: If blacks and whites could play America’s game together, surely we could all drink from the same fountains, go to the same schools and have equal rights. (Lives of King, Robinson forever intertwined)

In 2014 in Atlanta, my organization L.E.A.D. (www.lead2legacy.org), is calling upon baseball to right yet another social injustice in our society: the achievement gap between black and white students. And before we totally blame the school system, let’s be clear that there is enough blame to go around; from the crooked and unfair policies and politics of a hundred plus years ago, to the deterioration of our families and communities. And let’s not forget the group that I fell into prior to 2007; the “what’s wrong with these children” group. Sitting on the sidelines, complaining and sitting on my “do-nothing” as my pastor, Dr. Oliver, would say. In 2007, we, my husband C.J. Stewart who serves as Co-founder|CEO, decided to get off our do-nothings and do something and that something has been instrumental in providing tangible hope to hundreds of inner-city males in Atlanta.

As I close, allow me to dispel two myths:

1. Inner-city black boys DO play baseball, but I can only speak for the A (i.e. Atlanta).

2. Black boys DO want to be successful in life and they CAN.

I live it everyday, I see it with my own eyes. In 2040, one of the 500+ young men we serve will be the Mayor of this City. In Atlanta, we will not be defined by the old statistics, instead, we’re creating new ones.

Click Here to see photos from our Annual Middle School Baseball Signing Week.

Thank you to Atlanta Public Schools, our Leaders and Ambassadors in our programs and the families of Atlanta for allowing us to serve you!

Thank you to the Atlanta Braves, Georgia’s Own Credit Union, Mizuno, 680 The Fan & Elizabeth Baptist Church for continuing to support and believe in L.E.A.D.!

– Guest blogger ~ Kelli Stewart, Co-founder|Executive Director of L.E.A.D., Inc.

L.E.A.D., Inc. | L.E.A.D. Center For Youth