A Little About Doulos

What is Doulos?

The purpose of Doulos Ministries is to disciple, train, and place Christian servant-leaders to disciple youth and families. Doulos offers a unique atmosphere for spending time together. We work, study, eat, play, laugh, and hurt together. Jesus said that He chose the disciples to be “with Him”. The need for other people to be involved in your growth encourages the process of discipleship.

Doulos has three different ministries that fall under its umbrella: LeadTime, Shelterwood, and The Sky’s the Limit. I will educate you a little more about LeadTime and Shelterwood as these two ministries are two different ministries that work together to help troubled teens.

What is LeadTime?

Leadtime is a one-year discipleship program for men and women, ages 21-30, with interests in being trained in the basics of Christian living and ministry skills. The program occurs in an intense atmosphere of personal relationships.

LeadTime students are known as “Bigs”.

What is Shelterwood?

Shelterwood is a residential care program for troubled teens. The teens (littles) attend a school on campus (Doulos Property) called Shelterwood. This is an actual accredited school where the kids are taking classes and earning credits.

 Shelterwood students are known as “Littles”.

How do LeadTime and Shelterwood work together?

LeadTime ("Bigs") and Shelterwood ("Littles") have many parts of their programs that overlap. One of them is that we all live together. There is a girls house and a boys house. I am a LeadTime student and am “Big Sister” to the students at Shelterwood. And that is how you get "Bigs" and "Littles". It is much easier to just say Bigs/Littles as opposed to Big Sister/Little sister and Big Brother/Little Brother. I think you got it! Each Big shares a room with two to three littles. So I will be sharing a room with a couple of teens.

The House has a purpose statement that I would like to share with you. “Our purpose is to provide a structured and safe environment through which to build relationships, encourage, and support teenagers during their time at Shelterwood with the goal of restoring them to their families and ultimately to God.”

What is the age group of the kids I will be working with?

Teens in Shelterwood can be anywhere from 13-18, although most teens are around 15 and 16.

What kind of background do these kids come from?

These teens are mostly from middle to upper middle class families.  Their parents are either Christians or open to Christianity, since they're choosing to put them in a Christian residential program.  Some have pretty functional families, others have pretty dysfunctional families.  Overall, most parents are invested and involved in the program with the teen.  They come with a variety of issues: rebellion, lack of motivation, poor grades, some drug use (not severely addicted), maybe promiscuity, depression, etc.

A fact that I find interesting. 2% of the USA population is made up of adopted children. 40% of our kids have been adopted.

Can I survive my year in LeadTime without a car?

LeadTime is very do-able without a car.  As long as your record is good, you'll be able to use ministry vehicles to transport the teens places (there might be some insurance requirements.  I can check into it).  You can't use ministry vehicles for personal use, but many LeadTime students have cars, and in general are generous with allowing other students to use them.  Your days off will be staggered, so chances are you can use someone's car who isn't off on the same day you are.  

I will admit that I think this will be a little hard for me. It is weird for me to have to borrow a car to go anywhere. It will be a great growing experience and I think I will appreciate the freedom a car brings that much more by the end of this year!

What is the housing situation? Will I have my own room? Will I share a room?

You will share a room with 1-3 others.  You will share a room with two to three Shelterwood students.  

Do we all go to the same church?

There are 3-5 churches in the community that our LeadTime students go to. They're solid, Bible believing churches.  You'll take Shelterwood teens with you to church on Sundays.  Church attendance is required for all Shelterwood teens, however, they do get to choose where they want to go of the approved churches. Where I attend will be dependent upon where my Littles wish to attend.

Will I have any time off?

Each week we have one “day” off from 12 noon to 12 midnight.

Our year is split into trimesters. Each trimester we will get three weekends off. Weekends off begin Friday at 12 noon and end Sunday at 8 pm.

Vacations correspond with the Shelterwood School Schedule for breaks at Thanksgiving (November 22-Dec 1), Christmas (December 23-January 4), Spring Break (March 13-22), and Beginning of Summer (May 22-31).

It is my goal to spend Christmas with my family. I also hope to visit my sister Alicia in California for one of my breaks. And my cousin gets married during my Beginning of Summer Break and of course I will go home for that!