The Leader Mill is a non-profit residence, work, training, and service program that equips young men for courageous and effective manhood. Here are the details:
Residence: All six TLM Cadets live together in one house – managing the bills, shopping, upkeep, cooking, cleaning, and renovations…just like real life.
- Work: All six Cadets have full-time, Monday through Friday jobs with a local trades company – just like real life.
- Training: Cadets will participate in a carefully designed mix of classroom and field instruction in Bible; personal and professional development; and a wide variety of useful life skills such as self-defense, money management, survival, auto mechanics home management, and much, much, more…to learn even more about real life.
- Service: We work with the local church to give Cadets a variety of congregational and community service experiences…to learn the purposes of real life.
- Courageous and effective manhood…see FAQ #2
We define a courageous and effective man as one who is so confident in in a wide range of skills and abilities that he faces each day with expectancy and excitement. He enters every situation with an awareness of his surroundings so he can be ready to lend a hand, create a solution, or prevent a disaster. But that’s only half of it because this kind of man also gets the job done. When he lends a hand, things are actually fixed; when he presents a solution, it actually works; and when he steps in where there’s danger, the danger is actually averted. A man like that is courageous and effective and Cadets will become such men.
The Leader Mill is designed for four groups of people:
- The six young men between the ages of 18 and 25 that will live in the house and go through the program itself (See FAQs #2–#5 to learn if you have what it takes to be accepted).
- Those of you who can teach and train these six young men as mentors, guides, and/or instructors. All that’s required is a desire to help young men succeed and subject matter expertise about…well, anything useful in today’s world (See FAQ #7 for more).
- The parents, siblings, future wife and kids, employers and customers, and the church and community members that will be positively impacted by each graduate of The Leader Mill – which is all of us.
- Those of you who choose to support TLM financially and materially through donations. As a 501(c)(3) your generous support is the lifeblood of our work.
If you’re sick of your current life, you’re willing to do something hard to have a better life, and everything about TLM makes sense for you, then TLM might be right for you. For instance, if you know you need the discipline of living with folks while being held accountable with stuff, chores, and money, TLM might be right for you. If you know you need more and better job skills to be able to earn a living and someday have a family then TLM might be right for you. And if you know you need to become more aware of and involved with the world in which you live, then TLM might be right for you. And if all of this and even more is true for you and your current life, we suggest you answer the questions here to see if you’ll qualify for The Leader Mill.
To be a TLM Cadet, you must be a single male between the ages of 18 and 25. You must be drug and addiction free (TLM is not a treatment program or halfway house) and be able to commit to a 9-month, intense, 24/7 program that includes living together with five other guys and successfully managing a household. You must commit to showing up for and working a 8-to-5, five-day-a-week job while attending weekly classes and mentoring events and completing homework and other work. And most importantly, you must commit to listening to, obeying, and utilizing all the training that will be poured into you by TLM instructors, mentors, and staff. If this sounds intense to you, that’s because it is.
We honestly wrestled with many names for participants but kept coming back to Cadet. Why? Because The Leader Mill has more in common with military training than programs of other types, even down to our recruitment. It’s not that we’re prepping for war (at least we hope not) but we are prepping for the hardest job on the planet – being a strong, confident, capable, and courageous man.
At the core of The Leader Mill program is a network of community members pouring into the lives of our Cadets – everyday people who want to share what they know with six young men. So if you have any sharable knowledge or skill (fixing things, building things, cooking things, refurbishing things, saving things – including lives, or any other things you may know) we have a role for you to play. Reach out to us on our contact page and we’ll find a place for you. And if that’s not a fit for you, as a 501(c)(3) Non-profit, we also welcome your financial or in-kind donations and connections as well.
Yes, there is a tuition for the 9-month program and also “rent” for the residence, but all of it is paid for by the earnings from each cadet’s jobs…just like real life. Additionally, the Cadets will be given budgeting assistance and a portion of each check will be deposited into savings which at all times belongs to the Cadet. These savings will be given to each cadet upon completion of the program. More information is available upon request.
Rehab centers, half-way-houses, military schools, and other similar programs deal mostly with helping people heal from the pain of addictions and brokenness to a baseline place of health. The Leader Mill is designed to move basically healthy young men from uncertainty to confidence and courage. Addictive and abusive behaviors will not be tolerated in any form.
Here’s an average week at The Leader Mill:
Sunday - Church attendance and opportunities for service within the Church. Protected times of rest and renewal.
Monday - Fasting while conducting a typical workday.
Tuesday - Another workday followed by training in domestic skills.
Wednesday - Work followed by free time to rest, study, or catch up on responsibilities.
Thursday - Work followed by Theological Studies in the evening.
Friday - Work followed by a variety of adventures including camping, recreation, and evangelical service.
Saturday - Intense training by qualified Mentors in various adventures, skills of utility, and recreation.
Everything we do at TLM comes from and is focused towards a Biblical Worldview. We believe God created the world and everything in the world – including all of us and you – with intent and purpose. Every human has the opportunity to believe God exists; that mankind has fallen through rebellion; that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save and redeem Creation and Mankind; and that we all have a role and responsibility to God and Mankind to be the best possible version of ourselves that we can be. TLM is simply a small part of helping to make that happen.
Reuniting the Head, Heart, and Hands of the Christian man, and empowering the local Church to cultivate inter generational strategies to pragmatically demonstrate the Gospel. In addition to graduating six confident and effective men, each 9-month Leader Mill training season will connect over 100 people in a shared, Kingdom building experience in their community. Friendships will be made, lives will be improved, and practical learning and work will have occurred…just like in real life.