As vice president of student life at the University of Valley Forge in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, Jennifer Gale’s focus is on developing leaders all around her.

Jennifer Gale has a front-row seat to what God is doing in students’ lives. She gets to be personally involved in their big decisions and help guide them in God’s call — a call to a great future. Though Gale has been at Valley Forge University for six years, she started forming her perspective on the leaders of tomorrow many years ago.

“I remember being a new Christian, sitting in chapel at Northwest University and hearing a representative from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary say that he had a scholarship for someone in the room,” Gale recalls. “I never thought that would be me. But God told me to apply, so I did.”

Gale did receive that scholarship, and while at AGTS, she became a credentialed minister and spent the next 10 years on staff at Evangel Temple Assembly of God in Springfield, Missouri.

That time in traditional church ministry prepared Gale for her current role at Valley Forge.

“As a minister, I was helping all age groups, walking through life with them,” Gale says.

Now, her window is narrowed to college students, but it’s still the same approach.

“I’m still walking with these young people through their journey in life,” Gale says. “And that includes inside as well as outside of the classroom, in chapel, orientation, athletics and clubs. Basically, where they’re doing life, we’re there to walk with them.”

“We’re looking for young people who have a sense of God’s call on their life, whether it’s in ministry or not.”      — Jennifer Gale

The stated mission of the University of Valley Forge is “to prepare individuals for a life of service and leadership in the church and in the world.”

The faculty and staff do that by developing disciples of Christ, spiritual leaders for the future.

“That filters through everything we do here,” Gale says. “Everybody has different gifts and talents. I’m really amazed at how eager they are to get involved.”

Valley Forge does not assume a one-size-fits-all approach to involvement. The school has developed different levels for enlisting and empowering Christian leaders, guiding them in their specific calling, in the church and beyond.

“We’re looking for young people who have a sense of God’s call on their life, whether it’s in ministry or not,” says Gale, whose ministry experience helps her in a unique way when leading college students.

“In ministry, we encounter a lot of things with people,” Gale says. “I didn’t realize how broken people are and what kind of challenges they face. But I believe God brings up the brokenness and issues in our lives so that they can be taken care of.”

Leadership development is a direct outcome of relationships, and especially our relationship with God.

As Gale puts it, “Spiritual leadership flows from a person’s personal relationship with Jesus Christ. So, we need to make sure our students understand the importance of that relationship.”

That same lesson applies to multipliers in all situations.

This article originally appeared in the October/November/December 2017 edition of Influence magazine.