We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Steven Wagner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Steven below.

Steven, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

I’d love to talk about the students enrolled, both past and present, in the program I lead. They are the reason why we do what we do and I hope that they can be showcased in this interview.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

The Awaken Project sponsors a gap year program for young adult students who seek to explore a career in ministry. We incorporate communal Biblical education, practical ministry opportunities, residential community, and daily invitations to serve each other into a program that allows for young adults to discover their purpose and grow into their callings.

This gap year program is the only “service” that we offer. We believe that this program is unique because of its combination of accessibility, price, level of education, and programming offered. We see that this work is valuable because of the pace that it allows for students to live at and the position students find themselves in to honestly assess themselves through a lens completely outside of themselves.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

We haven’t seen super quick growth, but the growth that we have seen has lasted. The way our program is set up doesn’t offer itself much to quick growth, but I’ve come to see that the work we do, when done right, offers a track for growth that lasts for anyone who comes through our program. What I mean is, we are patient with our relationship building, vulnerable with our interactions, and collectively submissive to one another (both students and staff). I think that our model is the unpopular model in terms of quick, flashy, easy-to-sell results, but I believe that our results last, which is ultimately what a lot of us are striving for.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

The funds that we receive to run this program come through means of provision that we cannot forecast really well. Our belief is that we receive funding according to our needs, and no more. There have been a number of times where it seems like we are flat out going to run out of money/a gift won’t come through, and then all of a sudden a gift/funding comes through and we continue to operate. It teaches us that we aren’t the ones in control of what we steward, we simply take care of the things and people under our watch, and we are thankful for however much time we have to steward those things and people.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theawakenprojectmn.com
• Instagram: @theawakenprojectmn
• Facebook: The Awaken Project

Image Credits
Courtney Corrente, Joe Griffin