| Matthew 28 Project “Dedicated to having an impact on the lives of young people worldwide” 130 Birkshire Way, Fletcher, NC, 28732 Ph – 704-253-2006 What it is? The Matthew 28 Project is a program started at Statesville Christian School in 2003, then was improved upon at Veritas Christian Academy in 2006. The program entered a new era on July 15th of this year when it's founder and architect, John Jordan resigned his position at Veritas Christian Academy ,in part to concentrate on growing and expanding this exciting ministry. The program has already expanded to serve more than a dozen schools throughout the country. The Matthew 28 Project attempts to identify potential students from foreign nations and impoverished backgrounds in an effort to help them attend high school in the United States. This allows them to have the opportunity for an American education. It also allows the school the chance to expose them to their faith in the hope they will take this concept back to their own people. While athletics is not the sole criteria for being a part of the project it has roots in athletics because that is where our contacts and main interest from foreign students in this program has come from. We have had students in several different sports including; Boy’s and Girl’s basketball, Boy’s and Girl’s soccer, Girl’s volleyball and tennis. Athletics is also the most direct avenue for a foreign student to earn a scholarship to an American college. The Matthew 28 student is required to possess a skill that will allow them a good chance to earn a future full scholarship to an American college or university. Foreign students do not qualify for American government need based financial aid, so the skill has to be one that has the potential to lead to full funding from a University. We feel this is an important component because just to offer to allow them to attend high school in the United States would not offer much of a long term benefit. By giving them the opportunity to earn a college scholarship in America, we are equipping them to have a bright future that can enable them to have a direct impact on the lives of their family and fellow countrymen once they complete their college education. The student also has to have an acceptable level of English proficiency both in the writing and speaking of the language. The Matthew 28 candidates are mainly of the Christian faith yet the program is interdenominational. For the past two years, Coach Jordan has placed an Israeli student at the American Hebrew School in Greensboro, NC and is hoping to expand the program to include schools with no religious affiliation as well. History The concept was one that Michael Everhart, the school administrator and John Jordan, the school’s basketball coach and athletic director, had started six years ago at Statesville Christian School in Statesville, NC. Coach Jordan had felt a calling to this area of missions because it was a basketball coach who had helped him attend a Christian high school when he was growing up in Raleigh, NC. Coach Jordan credits that gentleman for saving him from going down a path of destruction. It was through that interaction that Coach Jordan became a Christian. After leaving professional basketball to come back to the high school level six years ago, several of Coach Jordan’s foreign contacts had asked him if he would consider taking a foreign student for his high school team. These individuals explained to Coach Jordan that many of these kids were from war torn or impoverished areas. Because of their basketball skill, the local professional teams would try to sign them to a professional contract that bound them to that team for 7 years. Most of the time the contract was only for a couple of hundred dollars per month, but to a young person whose total family income was less than $500 per month, this was an enticing offer. Once the young person signed the contract, they were immediately ineligible to ever play college basketball in the United States. In many cases these pro teams would insist that they quit school all together to concentrate on their pro career. If the player did not develop or suffered an injury, not only was the contract void but now the athlete had no education or skill to fall back on. It was at that point that Coach Jordan began to see the missions impact such an effort could have. He approached Michael Everhart who also shared his vision and between the two the concept of the program was born. For Jordan’s three years at Statesville Christian, ten students came in under the Matthew 28 Project. Jordan and Everhart had yet to name the project but they knew it was working. In the summer of 2006 John Jordan joined Michael Everhart at Veritas Christian Academy in Asheville, NC, and the two wanted to continue what they had started together in Statesville. The Veritas Board of Trustees and Head of School, Kay Belknap were very receptive but insisted on a clear vision and plan for implementing the program. It was with the aid of Kay Belknap that the name Matthew 28 was chosen, she pointed out what we were trying to accomplish definitely fell under Christ’s directive in the Great Commission. Coach Jordan resigned his position with Veritas Christian Academy on July 15th of this year in part to try and grow this ministry and help more kids in need of help. During Coach Jordan’s three years at the school, 12 student-athletes in four different sports came to Veritas from 7 different countries as part of the Matthew 28 Project. All of the graduates of the program are now on athletic scholarships at American colleges. Benefits The benefits to the foreign students are easily identifiable; they get the opportunity for an American high school education and then quite possibly an American college education. The reward to the host school and students is just as immense. Because of the athletic gifts these students possess, it allows the local students a better chance to be recruited in their respective sport. In many instances it opens up playing and promotion opportunities for these athletes and the school that they would otherwise never be exposed to. The result we have witnessed in our sports program is that the interest level both from our own students, and students from other local schools has seen a significant increase. At both Veritas Christian and Statesville Christian the program served as a catalyst in getting the mission of the school spread throughout the community. This in turn brought in more traffic to the admissions office from full paying local students. We feel the added excitement and diversity created with the addition of the Matthew 28 students has also played a role in increasing student retention rates. The program also projects a snapshot to another part of the world for the existing student body through their interactions with the Matthew 28 students. A practical example of this is with the Greek class at Veritas Christian. This year one of the Matthew 28 students who came to Veritas is from Greece. It has been a real benefit to those studying that language to actually have a student in class who speaks Greek as his native language. Coach Jordan began the “Adopt an Alien Program” for the elementary grades at Veritas two years ago, wherein each elementary grade adopts one of the Matthew 28 students for the school year. The chosen student then goes to the elementary class once every two weeks to read to that class and tell them stories about the customs and traditions of their home country. The Matthew 28 student also eats lunch with the elementary class at least once a month. This has proven to be a very popular program and has served as a great tool in introducing another part of the world to the younger students at Veritas. Most importantly, the Matthew 28 Project allows a school a chance, in their own way to impact the world for their faith. It is the hope that the young people we bring in through this program will then take the spiritual aspects they are exposed to at their schools and with their host families back to their own cultures and help influence even more lives for their faith. The program has been so successful that it brought the praise of the Visiting Team during the ACSI (American Christian Schools International) Accreditation visit to Veritas in March of 2007. Several other schools around the nation have already adopted the program and with your help we hope to grow the program to serve even more schools and help even more kids. How To Get Involved As An Individual – Fund a Scholarship – Consider donating a scholarship for the Matthew 28 Project in the name of your business or an individual. You can designate whether you want to see the scholarship go to a local or foreign student. Host a Student – Consider opening your home to a deserving Matthew 28 foreign student. This involves taking on the responsibility of food and shelter for one academic school year for that student. Student Health Insurance Sponsorship – Consider sponsoring the cost of a Matthew 28 Project student’s health insurance for an academic year. This usually just runs a few hundred dollars per year, however in many cases the student’s parents do not earn enough income to even be able to help in that regard. Uniform Sponsorship – Consider sponsoring a school uniform cost for a student for an academic year. Donation - The Matthew 28 Project is a non-profit independently operated ministry. We accept donations and that money is then used to help meet the needs of the actual Matthew 28 students themselves. Steps to getting involved as a school with the Matthew 28 Project. 1. - Establishing if your school is eligible and what your school can afford to do or not to do. In order to be eligible to take Matthew 28 students, your school has to be registered as a SEVIS school with the Department of Homeland Security and be able to issue I-20 student visas. To check to see if your school is registered click here. We have two levels of involvement for schools. You can take totally need based foreign students who come solely from impoverished backgrounds. These students usually come from families who earn less than $500 per month as a household. They of course cannot afford any tuition money. They do take care of their own airfare, (or we try to help them through our need based fund) , student health insurance (Through Compass) and spending money . The other type of student we try to help is the student whose parents do have some level of income that allows them to pay some tuition or to offer some financial assistance to a host family. Usually these families can afford somewhere between $2000 - $4000 per year. 2. - The school is responsible for providing a host family for the Matthew 28 student. The host family agrees to house and feed the student for the school year. Usually families will want to do this without expecting any type of funding from the school or the student's family. This has been a great source of inspiration for the families at our school. Many have developed close friendships that continue to last even as the student goes on to college. We have several that come "home" to their host parents when they have time off at college. 3. - Student selection. We usually like to ask the coach of the sport that the athlete is going to be participating in what their need is on their team. The reason for this is not just to get them the best player possible, it is to insure that the Matthew 28 student who is coming in is not taking a playing spot that is already solid away from a local student or that the Matthew 28 student does not end up not playing because the school already has someone better at that position. I then provide a specific student or a listing of several students along with transcripts. If the school has an application or testing process they would like for the student to follow, I then forward that over to them and they fill that information in and forward it to the school via email. In some cases if the school would like we can arrange a phone interview with the student and a school official. 4. - The school is responsible for issuing an I-20 form to the student which has to be mailed to the student in his or her home country. The student then is able to take that to the American embassy in their country to obtain a student- visa. This usually takes 3 to 5 days from time they receive the I-20 from the school. 5. - Once the selection is made and the student is notified, they will then make their flight arrangements. The school is responsible for either meeting them at the airport or having the host family meet them there. If possible we feel it is a good idea once the selection is made to put the student in contact with the host family. This allows both parties to ask questions of each other, eases the minds of the student's parents and insures a smoother transition for both the host family and student. 6. - We are a ministry and we do ask those schools who join our program to make a donation to the John Jordan Sports Ministry. The money goes into a fund that is designed to help students in need with things such as airplane tickets, student health insurance, clothing if needed and any other needs which might arise. The suggested donation is $500 per student per academic year. We also require a one time enrollment fee of $1000 for new schools joining the program. This helps us to counter the expenses of maintaining the program. For more information or to get involved, contact John Jordan at 704-253-2006 or email him matthew28info@boyshoopscout.com |
| 7'1" Catalin Baciu is a native of Romania and came to Veritas under the Matt 28 Project. Now he is attending Clemson University |
| Pascal Mensah, a native of Ghana was offered a full soccer scholarship to Liberty University this year after spending two years as a Matthew 28 student |
| Lithuanian native, Egle Bauzaite was a Matthew 28 student for two years at Statesville Christian School before signing a basketball scholarship at Anderson University. She will be entering her senior year. She followed in the footsteps of her brother, Karl who gradauted from Belmont Abbey College last year and was the first Matthew 28 college graduate/ Karl is now in medical school. |