Story of the Week
A letter from a staff member
Greetings!
My name is Michael Towson, and I am serving in the California School Project as our Biola Chapter Director. Today, it is my special privilege to share with you about the exciting outreach weeks that are happening at 23 high schools, culminating in almost 50 outreach events over the next two weeks in the Los Angeles area.
On behalf of our entire staff, I would like to invite you to pray earnestly for these schools every day, for we are confident that God is on the move and hundreds of high school students are about to have their lives changed forever by the Gospel.
In September, college students from Biola University and Azusa Pacific University began mentoring relationships with the Christian Club student leaders at local high schools. Since then, the high school students from these clubs have been trained by our Campus Mentors in how to share their faith, how to have follow-up conversations with new believers, how to be effective leaders within their clubs, and how to mobilize other students on their campuses to engage in the mission of proclaiming the Gospel. The culmination of this training for the fall semester is the planning and execution of the outreach weeks that we are about to see. Not only will these weeks feature potentially large-scale, on-campus presentations of the Gospel during the school day, but the outreach weeks provide a platform for students to be personally sharing their faith every day. Everything about these outreaches--from the selection of guest speakers to the design of posters--has been orchestrated by the high school students themselves.
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Bible Club President, Vanessa, from Bell Senor High School paints a huge poster that read "FREE" for her club's upcoming Gospel Rally next week.
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Amazing outreach stories are already coming in each day! Earlier this month, students from Pacifica high school were thrilled to be able to share the Gospel with a fellow student that one of their leaders had specifically been praying to reach for almost a whole year. They led not only him, but three other students into starting a relationship with Christ in just one afternoon of witnessing!
This week, Katella High School hosted three days of events during their lunch period in their school's theater. On Tuesday, the students put on a skit that portrayed Jesus' redemption of a girl from a life of slavery to sin. Guest speakers on Wednesday and Thursday challenged students with the truth that a life lived with God is qualitatively better than any other kind of life out there. CSP mentors were on site to cheer the students on as they ran their events and offer real-time training for making future outreach efforts even more successful!
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Two Bible club leaders pass out candy to the rally crowd on Thursday.
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Local youth pastor, Jake, speaking at the Katella High rally on Thursday.
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We want there to be no question that the secret behind the success of these outreaches is none other than God Himself. We do not trust in events, outreach strategies, or clever arguments to win people for Christ. Our confidence in the ability of high school students to proclaim the Gospel stems from our confidence in God's ability and desire to work miracles through them. Therefore, please pray with every ounce of your strength for God to move! Pray that the students have boldness to share their faith! Pray that guest speakers clearly articulate the Gospel! Pray that everyone who hears the Gospel is receptive to the message! Pray that God protects the students from sudden cancellations of their events! Pray that God is glorified on these campuses!
A schedule of the outreach events for the semester of our Biola and Azusa Pacific Chapter is listed below. And please keep an eye on your inbox! Next week, in light of the special events going on, we will be sending out periodic stories of the ways that God is moving with specific prayer requests for you to lift up to our Lord. Thank you for your partnership with us in the advancement of God's kingdom within public schools!
