Falcons arose to the challenge yesterday and will play in the NFC Championship game against the 49ers. The media isn’t giving us Falcons fans a chance in the world to win the game. The respect that we will get after we win the Super Bowl will be earned for sure.

Our personnel is awesome led by Matt Ryan. We have a great head coach in Mike Smith and a dedicated owner in Arthur Blank.

When the clock counts down to 0:00 and the Falcons are crowned champions, it will be because of great coaching. We added Mike Nolan as our defensive coordinator and Dirk Koetter as our offensive coordinator to an already talented defense led by Sean Witherspoon and look at what happened.

An Ambassador is an authorized representative or messenger.  A L.E.A.D. Ambassador is the highest level of accomplishment within the L.E.A.D. organization.  L.E.A.D. provides at-risk inner city youth males with access to higher education and civic engagement through baseball.  Our Ambassadors are high school males that attend Atlanta Public Schools (APS).  APS currently graduates 42% of it’s African-American males.  82,000 of APS students live at or below the poverty level while the youth from zip codes 30310, 30315 and 30318 grow up to represent 80% of the Georgia State Prison population.

The L.E.A.D. Ambassadors were guests of GA Tech Athletic Director Paul Griffin at a recent GA Tech basketball game.

The L.E.A.D. Ambassadors after receiving their Miller Brothers custom blazers on Dec. 2, 2012 at our  3rd Annual Dinner With Champions

2013 isn’t promised to be a year of prosperity or doom. My prayer is that my family continues to abide in The Lord and do His will in 2013.

If I had the opportunity to write the script of 2013, scene number 1 of over 100 scenes would start with the L.E.A.D. Ambassadors sharing their baseball knowledge with 50 guests at D-BAT Atlanta (2345 Adams Drive, NW, Atlanta 30318) on Saturday, January 12th for our annual Meet The Ambassadors event and you are invited! Please contact Kelli.Stewart@LEAD2Legacy.org to RSVP. To teach is to learn twice.

Scene 2 allows you to see our Ambassadors in service mode. The Ambassadors will once again serve as Grand Marshall’s for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day March on Monday, January 21st. Dr. King’s legacy continues through L.E.A.D. Service is so important to us that we measure it annually.

Scene 3 includes over 200 of our middle school LEADers receiving a baseball clinic experience on the campus of The Lovett School on Sunday, February 10th. The L.E.A.D. Ambassadors and The Lovett varsity baseball team under the leadership of head coach Lance Oubs will provide a baseball experience that will prime our LEADers for another amazing spring season. Great things happen when great partners collaborate.

In scene 4, you can march with the LEADers in our 3rd Annual L.E.A.D. Inner City Youth Baseball March. Baseball isn’t dead in the inner city of Atlanta because L.E.A.D. is here.

I challenge you to serve others in 2013 with your time, talents and treasures. Come check out L.E.A.D. in 2013 as we write this script of change and legacy building in Atlanta!

Elizabeth Baptist Church is where I worshiped as a child. The church on the hill at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in SW Atlanta. It is where I was baptized by Rev. Hightower. It is where I reached Webelos Boy Scout level under the leadership of Deacon Parker and Deacon Smith. It was the extended family of my awesome mom and dad. It is where I learned that serving others is an essential of life.

I remember one day as a teenager, a young man by the name of Craig L. Oliver, Sr. joined Rev. Hightower in the pulpit and spoke to our congregation. I was too young to appreciate anything that he said but I remember all of the adults commenting on how good he was.

As life began to get busy for me, I stopped going to church as often. Many years later at the age of 21, I got married and moved into an apartment complex on Cascade Road that was located less than 200 yards from the new location of Elizabeth Baptist Church that was now under the leadership of Pastor Craig L. Oliver, Sr.. Seemed like every time that we passed the church I would remind Kelli that I was baptized at Elizabeth.

I’m 36 years of age and still trying to figure out this thing that we call life. I have an amazing wife and two beautiful daughters and as of 6 months ago, my family and I are now active members at Elizabeth Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Craig L. Oliver. Our good friend Lisa Baker led us back here. I couldn’t be happier to have a church home where we are spiritually fed as a family and empowered to serve others.

On yesterday, the L.E.A.D. Ambassadors joined us for a day of worship. The Ambassadors have been busy raising money in our Annual Dollar Drive and a check was presented to Lisa Baker (EBC member/L.E.A.D. Community Board) on behalf of Adina Parsons who is also an EBC member and was shot by her husband last year. She is recovering by the grace of God. This service project gave our Ambassadors the opportunity to learn about domestic violence and philanthropy. L.E.A.D.’s mission to provide at-risk inner city Atlanta youth males with access to higher education and civic engagement through baseball.

The L.E.A.D. Ambassadors with Minister Tim Sims at Elizabeth Baptist Church on December 16, 2012

Inner city youth baseball in Atlanta took a big step forward today!

Casey Cavell, owner of D-BAT Atlanta finalized a partnership with L.E.A.D. that will all eight of our partner middle schools to have access to his 22,000 square foot “state of the art” indoor baseball training facility through the spring.  This is a big deal because now hundreds of undeserved middle school males in the Atlanta Public School system will have access to elite training provided by Diamond Directors at an elite training facility.

Click here to learn more about Diamond Directors and D-BAT Atlanta.

In previous years, our middle school teams wouldn’t train in the winter due to a lack of facilities while our competitors trained in preparation for spring and summer baseball.

Some readers may say “good for L.E.A.D.”  Ironically, this is good for Atlanta because the success of L.E.A.D. means that more young men are graduating from high school and college.  L.E.A.D.’s mission is to provide inner city at-risk youth males with access to higher education and civic engagement through baseball.

Did you know that…

• Atlanta Public Schools serve 52,000 students while 80% of those students live at or below the poverty level?
• Atlanta Public Schools graduates 34% of African-American males from high school?
• Students from zip codes 30310, 30315 and 30318 grow up to represent 80% of the Georgia State Prison population?
• Zip code 30314 is the 5th most dangerous community in America?