Yesterday, the team taught all of the Bible classes at Cedar Park Christian School, 17 in all, to audiences between grades 7-12. We helped the students summarize the good news of Jesus Christ and tried to motivate the students to share their faith with others. We then invited the students to come witnessing with us at a nearby mall after school. We can praise the Lord that one student stepped out in faith and came witnessing!

At Shorecrest, what started off as a stressful day for the Bible Study Club turned out to be evidence of God’s glory. The club discovered that there was a mix-up with the original speaker that they had scheduled and they needed to find another, fast. By God’s grace, they were able to find a speaker to come to their rally and share about the parable of the Prodigal Son and how it applies to everyone’s life–that everyone is in need of God’s mercy. At the end of the rally, he explained that the role of Christians are to welcome their brothers and sisters home with a loving and joyful heart. A boy near team member Alanna then turned to his friend and said, “That is me to you.”

During witnessing after school, the Shorecrest club members shared the message of Christ with 11 people. Several of the members expressed surprise at the openness of the people that they approached while witnessing. Club president Sydney said that she was encouraged that people are thinking about God and are willingly open to talk about God when asked if they had a few minutes to talk about Him.

Later last night, a few members of the team were able to make an announcement at a local youth group about the things that Shorecrest’s club is doing. Ryan T. and Ryan S. encouraged the youth group to join Shorecrest in witnessing for the rest of the week. We pray that these young believers would be emboldened to share their faith this week.

Today, Shorecrest will be hosting another exciting rally in which they will offer free pizza and welcome a pastor to speak and share about Jesus. They will be going out witnessing again. Joining Shorecrest’s efforts, the students at Redmond high school will also be hosting a speaker to share with their school about Christ. They will also be going witnessing after school.

Half of our team will also be teaching a class today at Seattle Lutheran High School and leading a full chapel service to again try to inspire boldness in young Christians to share their faith.

Prayer Requests for Today:

After lots of planning, praying, and prepping, the students have done it, with God’s help, of course. Eight rallies over six days took place in the Bakersfield area and over 30 people accepted Christ for the first time. The students at the schools are still very excited about what God has done on their campuses and are beginning to plan for more outreach and more follow-up.

Bakersfield High School: AJ and Troy, the club presidents, are planning on welcoming new people into their club this week.  During their two days of outreach, they gave away over 200 Bibles.  They want to continue to do follow-up by calling those who turned in comment cards and preparing to answer questions at club meetings.  They’re also excited about bringing new leaders into leadership and helping them plan for next year.

Liberty High School: Leaders Jayse and Katie are starting to bring up new leaders as well and are expecting to answer questions in their club meetings.  They are excited to welcome Anthony into their club as a result of the rallies and will be planning with their leaders and club for more outreach.  One student who came to the rallies told Katie that he had fallen away from the church and going to the rallies made him realize how much he missed going to church and how much he really needed it.  During their outreach, many students got a free Bible, tract, Gospel of John, or apologetic DVD.  Even a janitor came by and picked up a Gospel of John.

Shafter High School: Club president Kaley said that in the beginning, she didn’t expect such fruit to come from the rallies but she’s so happy it did.  She and her club will be contacting those who filled out response cards and preparing for more outreach.  She will be involved in the club as a senior next year and has even started getting in contact with Wasco High School’s Christian club to share how to put on these events.

On behalf of all of the students and campus mentors, thank you for your prayers.  We appreciate all of what God has been doing and much of that has to do with constant prayer and communication with God.  Please continue to pray for Bakersfield.

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for the students who have accepted Christ for the first time.  Pray that they would get involved in a church and would not be afraid to come to the Christian club for support.
• Pray that this week would not end the outreach in the clubs but that they would have a heart for telling their student body about Christ from here on out.
• Pray for the campuses; that more people would become curious about what the Christian club is and would come to a saving faith.

Once again, thank you for your prayers.  May God bless you!

–Cassie, Charis, Justin, and Taylor

The students at both Bakersfield High School and Liberty High School excitedly welcomed people into their rallies today.  They used food and prizes to attract the attention of many of the students on campus and both gave out a lot of Christian literature.

Bakersfield High School: The students in the Fist Pump 4 Jesus club were hyped up today as they opened their gym to invite their peers in to hear the band Confessing Yesterday and hear Youth Pastor Mike speak about how God is bigger than life.  They gave out Christian literature at the rally and some of the club members took the initiative and went to those not at the rally to pass out literature.  To their surprise, many people took the material eagerly!  Overall, about 200 students heard the Gospel message.  After school, club members Kenny and Troy went witnessing with campus mentors Charis, Cassie, and Justin.  While witnessing, they were able to share the Gospel with three people!  One student expressed a lot of interest in finding out more about God and said that he would be going to the rally tomorrow!

Liberty High School: The rally at Liberty start ed to d ay with a ninja game competition!  The last three people standing received prizes and about 55 people heard the Gospel message! Youth Pastor JC spoke on how God is bigger than death and explained why he doesn’t have to fear death.  The students were encouraged by the turnout!

Thankfully, Cassie made it safely to Bakersfield today!  We’re excited that she got to see the Bakersfield High rallies and go witnessing with them today.

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for the rallies tomorrow: that all would be unable to avoid hearing the Gospel, that God would move, and that someone would come to a saving faith.
• Pray for the Christian students: that they would be bold and be given chances to proclaim the Truth and that they wouldn’t be caught up by business or anxiety.
• Pray that the speakers would be able to reach the students and show them the way to everlasting life.

Thank you for your prayer support!

–Cassie, Charis, Justin and Taylor

Today began with prayer at Liberty and Bakersfield High Schools.  Both schools expressed their excitement for the upcoming week and humbled themselves before the Lord, asking for the Holy Spirit to move over their campuses.

Bakersfield High School:  During prayer this morning, Bakersfield High School told us how excited they are to be able to reach out to their campus and provide Bibles, tracts, and Gospels of John to people on campus.  The adviser, Mr. Steubbe, said, “We’ve been praying for years and years that something like this could happen on our campus.”  While their outreach rallies won’t begin until Wednesday, many of the students in the club have committed to carrying different literature like Bibles and Gospels of John to be intentional about giving them out.

Liberty High School:  During the rally event at lunch, Liberty invited a local Christian rapper to entertain the students and attract a crowd.   When many of the Christian students came instead of non-Christians, Pastor Mark invited people to go out and pray with students on campus.  As the students were praying, two students found an opportunity to share the Gospel with about 30 students on campus.  Also, as Pastor Mark was praying for an Atheist student on the campus, he started telling the student things that the Spirit had prompted; things that applied directly to the student.  When Mark asked that the student be filled with the Holy Spirit, the student, surrounded by his friends, began to explain a light-headed and floating feeling like he couldn’t explain.  What a great witness!

Tomorrow will begin once again with prayer at both schools.

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray that the Spirit moves in many of the non-Christians on these campuses and that they are interested and motivated to attend the rallies.
• Pray that the students would not get discouraged by anything this week, but would be trusting completely in God to move in their schools.
• Pray for boldness and that the students would be empowered to profess the Gospel and wouldn’t be afraid of persecution.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers!

–Charis, Justin, and Taylor

Here we are!  Beautiful Bakersfield, California.  While knowing that it is referred to as the “armpit of California” and other names that are just as endearing, we are ready to begin our 10-day journey.

We will be working with two local high schools:  Bakersfield High School and Liberty High School and we’re excited to rock Bakersfield, especially after the outreach that occurred at Shafter High School in the area.

Last week, after one rally on Friday and an event at a local church, 25 students prayed to commit themselves to Jesus Christ! This is certainly an encouraging note to begin our time here!

Bakersfield High: Bakersfield will be putting on two rallies, doing literature distribution, praying before school, and doing personal witnessing.

Liberty High: Liberty will be putting on five rallies while also distributing Christian literature, praying, and doing witnessing.

Tomorrow, these schools will meet to make posters and do final preparation and witnessing training before they embark on their mission to rock their campuses.  They’ve been encouraged by each other as well as the eight schools that they have partnered with.

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for the students involved in the Christian clubs.  Pray that they are bold in their faith this week and ready and willing to answer questions and seek people out.
• Pray that one of the campus mentors, Cassie, has a safe trip to her grandparent’s house and is able to meet us safely on Wednesday.
• Pray for the non-Christian students on the public campuses.  Pray that their hearts are open and welcome to the Gospel message and that they are able to have an opportunity to have their questions answered.

Thank you!

–Charis, Justin, and Taylor