By Sandra Archer Young
It was damp and overcast outside, but inside the large block building annexed to Grace Church in Columbia, South Carolina, one could hear children racing through the hallways, laughing and giggling as staff members prepared a group activity. Later the same children expressed the same excitement as they engaged in a conversation about different styles of music.
This is what mentoring children looks like at one of the Columbia area campuses of Ezekiel Ministries. Ezekiel Ministries offers children in Columbia, Lexington, and White Knoll, group mentoring through afterschool programs located at area churches. The same children are provided with one-on-one mentoring by believers who meet with a child once each week. Overseeing this mentoring ministry is CIU alumnus Christian Markle who became the executive director in June of 2025.
“We see these kids from 2:30-5:30 p.m. each day and we’re working on faith, identity, relationships, and life skills in really practical ways,” Markle explains. “But then we also have one-to-one mentors focused on building trust and walking with kids for the long haul.”
Working on identity means helping children recognize who they are, what their gifts are, and helping them build an identity in Christ on a solid foundation. Group and one on-one mentoring aim to equip kids to know how to build healthy peer relationships and relationships with caring adults.
Mentors come from 44 churches in the South Carolina Midlands. Seventeen of these churches officially partner with Ezekiel, promoting the ministry, supporting recruitment, and giving financially. Among these churches are Radius Church, Riverside Community Church, First Presbyterian Church, First Baptist Church, Newspring Church, Mt. Horeb Church and Columbia Presbyterian Church.
In his role at Ezekiel Ministries, Markle organizes partnerships not just with area churches, but also with public schools. Principals and social workers refer children to the ministry based on three criteria.
“Across all of our sites, we intentionally serve children who are navigating significant barriers to stability, whether that’s economic hardship, limited adult support at home, or difficult life circumstances,” says Markle. “What we offer is relationship. And we consistently see that children growing up in financially vulnerable environments are the least likely to have access to enough long-term, dependable relationships with caring adults. That’s where mentoring can be truly transformational.”
Markle, now 34, is uniquely gifted to carry out the role of executive director for an organization founded to meet the needs of impoverished children. Since his graduation from CIU in 2013 with degrees in Communication and Bible, he has served in development positions with Oliver Gospel Mission, United Way, and Healthy Learners, a children’s health ministry sponsored by the Catholic Church.
The history of Ezekiel Ministries began in 2009 when Columbia resident Josh Whitlock conducted Bible Clubs in Columbia’s Gates Community. His commitment to this geographical area eventually shifted from Bible Clubs into a ministry of group and one-to-one mentoring in additional communities. The ministry evolved into a nonprofit organization in 2014. That’s when Markle got involved.
“I loved the work it was doing as it tied into my God-given passions to disciple children from hard and vulnerable places through the gifting of the local church,” says Markle. He stayed connected to the ministry and to Whitlock over the years. When Whitlock felt led to pursue a different outreach opportunity, Ezekiel Ministries’ Board of Trustees extended an offer to Markle to lead the organization.
According to Markle, what moves churches to send members to participate in this unique ministry are societal injustice, compassion for children, and the desire to share the gospel. These same factors have also drawn over 450 businesses, foundations, and individuals to support Ezekiel Ministries each year, among them Southeastern Freight Lines, House of Raeford, Rogers-Slater Foundation, Coca-Cola Consolidated, McCrory Construction, and Loewen Commercial & Industrial Pressure Washing.
Mentoring isn’t new to Markle who has benefited from numerous mentors in his adult life.
“I can point to dozens of people in my life who stepped in and were used by God to show me His love and show me what my identity in God looked like. Or to call things out in me both good and bad and say you believe a lie here, but this is what God says is true,” says Markle. “A youth pastor here, a college minister there, a professor, or a friend in church — God has brought the right people into my life, time and time again.”
At Ezekiel Ministries, mentoring can translate into the simplest of tasks: helping a child learn how to ride a bike, improve reading and writing skills, learn to drive a car or mow the lawn and more importantly, plan for the future.
Markle hopes to grow the ministry to reach more children, and offer additional ministry sites, and mentors.
“Everyone has a passion for some category of changing the world for good. And what I love is being able to ignite those passions and give that passion a gateway to run,” says Markle. “We all have resources — time, talent and treasure. I love helping people use them.”
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