Jim Boyts: Why he sponsors students to attend MEDA conventions
By Susan Miller Balzer
Although just coming through a tough time physically,* Jim Boyts’ eyes light up and his salesman voice becomes animated as he talks about why he and his wife, Belle, will continue sponsoring students who attend the annual MEDA convention.
Jim recalls the testimony of one of the first college students he and Belle sponsored in 2005. The young international student had this to say after attending her first MEDA convention:
“(MEDA members) are doing it right. They are lending – not giving a hand out – and saving people’s integrity. They are affirming the gifts that each person has. They are working with women. It works!”
Boyts, a charter MEDA member, says he and Belle would love to go along to conventions with the Hesston (Kansas) College students they help sponsor, but as retirees they would rather give money so that more students can go.
Generally, business instructors Bill Mason and Vickie Andres accompany about 10 sophomore “solid business students” to convention. Attendance at the convention “makes their world bigger,” Mason said.
Seeing businesspeople in action – addressing huge problems by each doing what they can – helps students want to get involved themselves. “A number of students wind up doing a term of service partly because of what they see MEDA doing,” Boyts said.
Meeting MEDA people who put their Christian faith into action makes an impact on business students that exceeds what they learn from reading classroom assignments or listening to sermons, Boyts believes. He is convinced that MEDA will benefit by becoming more active in getting college-aged young adults involved in regional and international meetings and activities.
“I don’t know of anything that has more impact in such a short time,” he says.
* Jim’s leukemia is now in remission after a summer of interventions with an experimental chemotherapy.
Interested in supporting this exciting program? Contact Carol at ceby-good@meda.org today!
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