“The Kaleo Academy has served an important role within the evangelical Friends church family. I have witnessed numerous students enter the academy (including two of my sons) and come out with a notable increase in confidence and perspective for Christian life, leadership and service within the Friends Church. Students have also developed a new love for the Friends Church which includes both a deeper and broader relationship base with peers and mentors. The fruit has lasted as students have clearly ‘stepped up’ in their ongoing engagement with the church and the church’s disciple-making work. As I mobilize leadership at Evangelical Friends Mission, I hold Kaleo Academy at high value because of it’s invaluable role in partnering with the local Friends Church’s mentors in leadership development. As a former youth pastor of 20 years, I consider it the great missing void in our previous Friends Church youth programs!”
– Matt Macy, Director of Mobilization, Evangelical Friends Mission
“As a Friends pastor I’ve been supportive of Kaleo since it was first launched, but this past summer (2024) I had an eye opening experience with Kaleo. I was invited to teach for one day, on the topic of leadership, at Kaleo Academy on the Barclay College campus. My wife, Margie, joined me and we had a delightful day. Recognizing that there would be a wide range of leadership styles and gifts in the room, we team taught. Looking back over the years of communicating with Katy Moran and Jacob Newton about Kaleo, to our sending a student to the week-long event, to participating as a presenter, the following stands out to me as to why Friends will be wise to invest in Kaleo, whatever form it takes in the future. First, it is a clear commitment to our equipping the believers for ministry. This is not just true for youth. It also help equip adults to work with and support youth in their walk with the Lord. Second, Kaleo can serve Friends as an intentional commitment to sustainable leadership development. Besides knowledge and skills, it communicates work and value to our youth. We are telling them that they are valuable to us and worth investing in. Third, Kaleo can serve as one more place, like summer youth camps and our Friends college campuses, where our youth can develop a network of friendships and working relationships that will serve them, and Friends well, as they mature into the next generation of leaders for Friends.”
– Alan Weinacht, Associate Superintendent, Northwest Yearly Meeting
