"Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and give His life a ransom for many." 

Matthew 20:28 is the foundation and driving force for Servant's Heart Leadership Academy. Mellissa Mendoza and her husband were already serving in many capacities, but God drove them to so much more! 

"We had already committed to pour out the love of Jesus to the young people around us, specifically the ones no one seemed to see or celebrate." -Mellissa Mendoza 

Servant's Heart Leadership Academy officially began June 2022. However, God began working in Mellissa and her husband long before the ministry was even formed. Servant’s Heart Leadership Academy came from a series of steps in obedience and one leap of faith at a time. 

So, in October 2021, Mellissa and her husband both walked away from successful careers and started Servant’s Heart Plumbing with the intentions of serving the community. While serving the community, they began to put some of the profits away to fund a youth recreational facility/resource center in the VERY distant future. But God...

After just 6 months of running the plumbing company, customer after customer began expressing their burden for the youth. They also began asking how they could help directly.  They started praying and asking the Lord if maybe this “future dream” was something He wanted them to start trusting Him in RIGHT NOW.

A collision of events happened right before their eyes! The after-effects of Covid-19 were starting to show up in public schools, and the community of believers around them were expressing their concerns about things Mellissa had been seeing first-hand for years. People in their community wanted to homeschool their children with a biblical curriculum, but didn’t know where to start or even how it would be possible with full-time jobs. This is where everything sort of collided for Mellissa and her husband. After much confirmation from the Lord and brothers and sisters in Christ, they dove head-first into creating a nonprofit that would house a microschool. It would also house a youth volunteer program. The Lord's provisions began to flow in ways they never imagined!

Servant's Heart Leadership Academy was born because the Lord was already moving in the hearts of the people around them. The support and encouragement for what they started was overwhelming. They were in no way prepared or knowledgable in starting a nonprofit, but suddenly found themselves surrounded by people who did. They built the most incredible board of directors, and the whole process came together beautifully, even though they were completely out of their comfort zones.

Even though the Mendoza's were out of their comfort zone, they knew God would never leave them nor forsake them during their service! At the beginning, Mellissa would often ask herself if they were doing the right thing, but then she would see the fruit of the ministry in the lives of their students and their families. God walked with them through their fear and doubts at the beginning, and she knows that God will continue to walk with them in their service.

Mellissa’s prayer for the ministry, Servant's Heart Leadership Academy, is that God will use the school to raise up confident students in God's word that will make an impact for the Kingdom in their future endeavors. They also pray that they may be a beacon of light to youth looking for a safe place in their community where they can be seen and encouraged. They pray that they will respond to the gospel, and that they may build relationships to disciple the youth while working beside them in community service projects.