Cultivate Updates - Summer 2025
- Ken and Elise Kilgore
- Sep 1
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 3
"Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything..." James 1:4
We hope you have enjoyed a wonderful summer with family and friends! At Cultivate, we have been working through several challenges and opportunities we have not faced before. With each dilemma, God has given us grace to stay the course. He is SO good!
Early this summer, "J" asked Elise, "Hey! Can I be an intern?" This started a long, slow journey of getting permissions, getting counsel from teachers and social workers, creating a plan and working through issues only to then have the proposal get shut down... BUT, then we saw God provide support from an advocacy group, and finally the contract was signed. WHEW!
We crafted this artistic educational internship in which "J" will learn work life skills, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship, while he explores artistic careers through job shadowing and meeting various artists and professionals in our community. He will also be trained in photography and videography.
We are beyond grateful for this opportunity to have wonderful people invest in his life. Please pray for "J" and for us as we take this journey together. Please pray for him to get a vision for how God can use his life and talents for the good of others.
“We get by with a little help from our friends…”
Special thanks to these awesome women who helped us prepare hygiene packs for the under-resourced students at West Georgia Tech.
We are grateful for the opportunity to serve West Georgia Tech's Special Populations department for a second consecutive year. The Special Populations department provides resources and support for the college’s struggling students.
Since Cultivate is now working toward a transitional living program, I (Elise) asked the Special Populations Director at WGT how many of their students experience insecure or lack of housing. Her reply was shocking - "around 25%".
WGT has five campuses all around us including: Newnan, Carrollton, Douglasville, LaGrange, and Waco GA. The school had over 6400 students enrolled during the Spring Semester, which means some 1600 students experienced housing insecurities this year. This is simply unbelievable! Even young adults who are actively working toward their futures have a huge need for housing support... right here in our surrounding communities.
On August 20th, we met with multiple real estate professionals to get their wisdom and discernment as we pursue both short term and long term ways to go about providing transitional housing for young adults who are moving toward their future.
We learned so much from them about who we need to talk to, as well as things we need to know about zoning, etc.
We appreciate your prayers as we continue to work toward this effort.
I love how God can immediately break down walls to create camaraderie for helping someone. I (Elise) recently started meeting with another foster mentor and her mentee of ten plus years. Although this young man is working very hard now with two jobs, he is struggling to find a career that will adequately provide financially.
At our first meeting, the foster mentor asked me to tell this young man about what we do at Cultivate. For some reason, I started with SYMBIS (premarital mentoring). As I started talking, I was thinking to myself, "Now why are you talking about THAT?! He needs to find a career,” but the young man lit up like a light! "You do premarital mentoring?! My fiancé and I have been looking EVERYWHERE for someone to meet with us!” Well, I certainly didn’t see that coming.
As our conversation continued, it became apparent that this young man has an immediate practical need in his life right now. He is working those two jobs I mentioned without a vehicle. This means he spends about 4 hrs a day on bus rides getting back and forth from work. I happened to wonder if any of you or someone you know might have an extra vehicle you would be willing to donate or sell at a reduced cost??
Please pray for guidance for us as we continue working with this young man using COMPASS (vocational mentoring) and begin SYMBIS (pre-marital mentoring) for him and his fiancé. Also, please pray for the Lord to provide a vehicle to meet this immediate practical need. If you would like to donate or sell a vehicle for this purpose, please contact elise@cultivatenext.org
CULTIVATE ANNUAL EVENT COMING OCT 28...
Our annual event for 2025 is just around the corner. This is the one event each year set aside to gather together with all those who support Cultivate in some way, or who may be interested in learning more about what we do. Mark your calendars for Tuesday Oct 28 at 6:30 p.m. We will be meeting at the Newnan Utilities Pavilion with a catered dinner. More info coming soon!
THANK YOU!
Cultivate is committed to provide most of its services free of charge. This means our ability to continue to do what we do is wholly dependent on God raising up supporters who believe in this ministry and generously support this work financially.
So many of you already support Cultivate through your prayers and financial support. We cherish your continued support and cannot tell you how thankful we are for your partnership. If you aren't yet a Cultivate partner, we ask that you consider joining our support team.
The easiest way to give is to use our online platform, provided by PushPay. Click here or text the word "Cultivate" to 833-245-6481 from your mobile phone. You can also contact elise@cultivatenext.org for more information.