A note from Mike Cheney, AME Program Director
What a year this has been for AME!
God’s guiding hand on us has been truly amazing to witness.
Scarcely could I imagine when we began a few years ago that AME would grow from a one-hour workshop session in CHEC’s High School and Beyond Seminars to a full-scale project. I’m privileged to serve as the director of an organization with this mission:
To help families and individuals practically apply apprenticeship, mentorship, and entrepreneurship as they establish, integrate, and operate family economies to the glory of God.
Here are a few things folks have shared about their experience with AME:
- From an apprentice: “I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to participate in the internship …. Over the past 16 months I have learned an immense amount about [this] industry …. During that time the Lord has done great works in my personal life. I am truly blessed to have been able to take part in this opportunity.”
- From a mentor: “Thank you so much for your vision and continued work in creating the AME program. We have been blessed through [the AME Program], and are thankful for how the Lord is using it across the nation. It has been a blessing to be a part of such a great program.”
- From a mentor: “I want to thank you again for your help in identifying interns for [our] intern program. We’re wrapping up our current class term which has been fantastic, and will be starting our new intern class soon ….”
Year-End AME Report
Here’s how AME is continuing to support the vision of the family economy.
Database
More than 1000 households throughout the country are part of the AME Mentor/Apprentice database and eblast list, with 10-20 joining each month. According to industry experts, our enewsletter open and click-through rate is more than 5 times the industry average.
What’s next? The best way to reach new mentors and apprentices is through relationships. Know someone who would be a great mentor? Introduce them to AME. Know a student looking into post-high school plans? Share AME with them as an option for pursuing career training.
Website and Products
- AMEprogram.com has regular content published on the blog, with regular articles including how-tos, Q&A’s, and examples of family economies.
- The AME store offers audio and video products with instant delivery (download or streaming) and we’ve compiled bundles of related training audio and video into digital “toolboxes” for low cost.
- Our regular eblasts keep readers informed with blog articles, suggested products, upcoming events, and top apprenticeship opportunities.
What’s next? We’re working on a handy tool to simplify the search for specific mentor and apprentice opportunities within the database.
Conferences/Events
- Marketing Your Business in the Online Age: This seminar was hosted last year in Denver. It’s now available for purchase in our online store.
- Real Estate: A Biblical Approach to Stewarding Resources: Our newest two-day event, held last year in Denver this past fall in Kansas City, featured 14 hours of personal instruction from entrepreneurs engaged in various aspects of real estate. The events also offered panel discussions and Q&A from event attendees and those from the live stream audience (via social media from countries including United States, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Australia). We recorded the event and now it’s available for purchase.
- Family Fellowships: The Kansas City team has now hosted 2 of these events, featuring family potluck dinners and fellowship, roundtable discussions on mentoring/family business topics, and networking opportunities.
What’s next? Stay tuned to our eblasts and website for updates on our 2016 events — announcements coming soon!
New Midwest Headquarters
AME is now in Kansas City! The Bill Ward family is doing great work having already headed up the recent Kansas City Family Economics conference, Biblical Stewardship class and two Family Fellowship Dinner events. I am excited to see how the Lord will use this work!
Guidance and Management
AME is a part of Christian Home Educators of Colorado (CHEC) and, as director of AME, I serve under the authority of the CHEC Board of Directors.
AME Advisory Board and key staff members:
- Bill Ward, Director, Cord Blood Program, Saint Luke’s Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri
- Don Nelson, owner, Nelson Realty, Buena Vista, Colorado
- Ian Serff, President/Creative Director, Serff Creative Group, Denver, Colorado
- Josh Erber, Principal, Resounding Voice A/V, Castle Rock, Colorado
AME Management Team:
- Mike Cheney, Director
- Ian Serff (Serff Creative Group, Inc), Creative Director, Advisory Board Member
- Katie Ward, E-communications
- Lee Pettijohn (Witness Web Design), Webmaster
- Bill Ward, Midwest Coordinator, Advisory Board Member
- Josh Erber (Resounding Voice), Events A/V Presentation, Advisory Board Member
- Corey Cheney (Provident Media Group), Media Production
- Janet McDaniel (1st Click Consulting, Inc), SEO and Internet Presence
Financial Investment
Would you like to support the mission of helping families and individuals establish, integrate and operate the family economy to the glory of God? I invite you to consider making a financial investment in this work.
You can specify that your resources be directed to a specific project:
- Conferences/Classes: 2016 events are planned for Denver and Kansas City. We hope to bring AME events to the northwest in 2016.
- Website/Product Development: A function to make the database easily searchable so families can easily identify Apprenticeship/Mentorship opportunities based on type and/or location.
- Free Product Distribution: As a matter of practice we offer products free of charge to anyone who does not have the resources to pay for them as well as to families in locations where AME is new.
- Expansion to other countries: One way we are expanding the AME vision is by providing resources to families in Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
- Staffing: With the exception of a few small monthly stipends ($150-$500 per month), the management staff and advisory board members are unpaid. With more resources we will be able to expand the vision and the number of AME locations more rapidly.
By God’s grace, AME has operated “in the black” since its inception and we intend to continue operating “like a business” with respect to income and expenses. We will proceed with development of resources only to the extent that finances are available.
If you are led to invest money in this work you can do so by donating online or mailing a check.
I welcome your prayers, counsel and comments. Please feel free to call or write.
For our King,
Mike Cheney
AME Director
303-817-1155
ame@chec.org
