Madyck Klinglesmith is a current Manna U student studying Christian Leadership and working as the Manna Kids Administrative Assistant at Manna Church in Fayetteville, NC. He shared that his role there has allowed him to serve families that are part of the local church. Manna Kids is Manna Church’s children’s ministry and is committed to demonstrating the love of Jesus to the children in their care and helping them to form foundations of faith and character.
While Madyck has served at Manna Church for a long time and received great mentoring and coaching as he has learned to lead and serve, he also shared that he felt formal education would help better equip him for both the work he does now and the work he feels called to do in the future. He already knew about Manna University, having attended church with students and alumni and being around the Fayetteville Campus when attending Manna Church Cliffdale Site. People around him had even expected him to be a student, as Madyck shared with us that, “…multiple people had asked me why I hadn’t gone. A lot of it was me just being scared or just not wanting to do school.” But to hear Madyck tell it, he realized that letting fear stop him was a mistake, so he decided to do what he knew he needed to do.
Madyck took the step to become a student in late 2025, when he applied, was accepted, and enrolled in classes for the spring of 2026. Since starting, Madyck feels his leadership capacity has grown, saying, “Manna has helped me in leading people and understanding how to lead them.” He has also shared that his professors have shown him grace, but that they also believed more for him than he believed for himself at times, calling him to rise to a higher standard than he had set for himself. “One thing I have really learned about Manna University is that they care more about you than the task they’ve given you. They give a lot of grace, but they also want you to succeed and when they know you can do better, they will give you a grade that represents that,” Madyck shared.
Madyck finished by telling us about how classes have been helpful to him as a professional and as a SERVE team member, but [also] how he feels that gaining a foundation in Bible and theology is not something reserved for people who work in vocational ministry full time. Madyck shared that if he had to pick one thing Manna U can provide that would benefit anyone attending church, it would be the fact that when questions arise about the Bible, a moral issue, or the content of a sermon, that with training, “…there’s a practical way you can find those answers.”
Daniel McBride, Student Life Director