John 8:32 says “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” If I could give my own personal reflection on this week, talking about both my own experience and what I’ve observed in my team and in the high schools, this would be the theme verse.

At the 16th and final Elgin rally, I took a break and just sat and listened to Roger’s message. The topic of the day was truth. He opened with the classic question: “What is truth?” Biola team member and philosophy major Kolby got excited, starting to think about the different twists and turns this message could take based on different definitions of truth. But Roger cut to the point: “Truth is a man” (see John 14:6).

Well it’s true, isn’t it? That really was the focus of our mission, both for the students who came to the rallies and for our team.

For those students who heard the gospel for the first time, they were brought face-to-face with some extreme claims:

• God loves them infinitely. Truth.
• Their sin is completely and utterly devastating. Truth.
• Jesus’ took their punishment on His shoulders, died, and rose again. Truth.
• They turn from their sin and accept the life that He gives, or else they leave His sacrifice alone and it doesn’t benefit them at all. Truth.

Many have accepted alternate truths, twisted truths, and settled for a false image of the true God. Now confronted with the truth of Jesus, the rest of their lives will be characterized by their struggle against the truth that offers to free them. If they concede to the Living Truth, they will find Freedom. If they insist on struggling against it, they will never find it. But after this week, the Truth has entered the ring.

But I’ve also seen this idea being super instrumental in the lives of the Body of Christ. Even in the midst of doubt, it became obvious that my belief doesn’t determine truth, it only complies with or deviates from it. Here are a few honest examples from my week:

• At one point in the trip, I felt like prayer was useless and that my voice would have no bearing on God’s will. But nothing I’ve read in the Bible supports that claim, so I conceded to the truth and spent a lot of my trip in prayer – and my prayers were answered.
• At another point in the trip, I felt utter useless as a speaker after my lifelong struggle with a speech impediment came back to bite me during devotionals. I became physically unable to speak the words I had written to say and Jose had to finish the devotional for me. For a while, I’ve told everybody that I want to be a pastor. But pastors can teach the Bible without seizing up and stuttering. That devastated me. But I conceded to the truth that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). I don’t know what this means for my career, but whatever it is I’ll be okay!
• And at one last point, there was a potential conflict between some team members due to insufficient communication. But after the truth was spoken, all parties were at peace and it’s all good now! Speaking the truth led to freedom.

I have a concluding takeaway that I’ll give after I set it up real quick. Although I’ve been saved and am going to Heaven, I often fail to understand who Jesus is. Even though he catches me when I fall, I have to know it to enjoy peace. When I watch movies and when I see high school students who don’t know Jesus, when things fall apart, they think they have nothing. No hope. But when I lose everything I have or place my trust in, I have nothing but Jesus. Nothing plus Jesus is everything. I have been saved for eternity and I have Christ with me now. And this is precisely what we came to Chicago to tell all these students.

Thanks from me (Jack Franicevich) and the rest of the Biola team!

The team has been very busy these last two days! On Wednesday, the team split up, one half heading to Shorecrest’s rallies, and the other going to speak at Seattle Lutheran High School.

At Seattle Lutheran, team member Kaitlyn’s Alma Mater, the team first spoke in a senior Bible class where they were first struck with the spiritual depravity that plagues the school. The team used their time in the class to try to bring students back to the root of their faith in the message of Jesus Christ and to ignite a passion for faith that would become more popular on campus.

Alanna, Ryan S., Melissa, Kaitlyn, and Ryan T. led a group discussion in the class that they taught in. Although many of the students at this Lutheran school expressed complete disbelief in God, the team was not defeated. As they led chapel, they focused on sharing the love of God the Father, the consequences of separation from God through sin, Christ’s sacrifice of his life, and the decision people have to make as to whether they follow or reject Christ’s gift. At the end of the service, the team left the high school students at Seattle Lutheran with a question: “Who will take a stand on this campus to make faith and God the popular thing?” Though some remained seated, many stood in commitment to changing the campus culture.

The team also got the opportunity to spend some time with Tony, a student at Seattle Lutheran who took an unwavering stand for God in the class that the team taught in. He did not care if his was not the popular belief or opinion, or that he was far outnumbered amongst his peers. The team was blessed to hear his testimony and marvel at how great our God really is!

At Shorecrest on Wednesday, the Bible Study Club hosted a pastor who gave a presentation of the sacrifice that Christ made and gave out free pizza. The team counted 84 students who came to the rally that day. Jon, Taylor, Cassie, Charis and Grace joined members from the club in going witnessing after school. Many students left campus immediately after school and went into the surrounding neighborhoods, where CSP members and Shorecrest students discussed God’s love with them. Despite the fact that our time was shortened, we were able to share the Gospel with 17 people in half an hour. Two people even rededicated their lives to faith in Christ!

Yesterday, the team again went to Shorecrest and supported the club during their rally in which two Christian rappers performed and a pastor presented the message of Christ’s life.

Daniel and Amy perform Christian rap for the Shorecrest rally

The students at Shorecrest and Redmond high schools also participated in witnessing on their campus after school and the team met with people in the surrounding neighborhoods of the schools. It was an encouraging time for we Christians to profess our faith and proclaim God’s love for us. At Redmond, one student said, “It was so relieving to be able to come right out and say that I am a Christian and this is who I am.”

Today, Shorecrest will be holding their last rally and going witnessing one more time. The Shorecrest Bible club will put out dozens of Bibles for their peers to take for free, and a local pastor will come and give a message. The CSP team was also asked to speak in a class at Heritage Christian School. Then, tonight, we will have a celebration in which we will praise God for all the things that He has accomplished through the students and our time this week!

Prayer Requests for Today:

After the first full day of outreach rallies at Elgin and Palatine High Schools, Christian students reached a total of 167 of their peers with the truth of the gospel. Numerous students rededicated their lives to Christ when they saw their friends taking a stand for the gospel and 5 people indicated a first time decision to give their lives to Jesus.

Numbering among those who made the decision to give his life to Jesus was a senior at Elgin High School. Jose was among the Biola team inviting students to eat their lunch in the auditorium for both a change of scene and a chance to hear about God’s love when he called out Andrew (name changed for confidentiality). Andrew responded hesitantly, but mustered up the courage to come in. After a presentation of the gospel by speaker Dale Jaacks, Andrew again responded hesitantly when Jaacks invited students to raise their hand to pray with a Biola team member. Jose approached Andrew after the rally and asked him “Why is it that you want to receive Christ?” Andrew replied “My parents fight a lot and it’s so hard. I need God’s love.” Jose walked Andrew through the sinners’ prayer, which Andrew repeated with teary eyes. Afterward, he said “I feel much better now.” Carolyn, president of the Elgin club got his contact information and has him plugged in with their club, is working on finding him a church, and has invited him to hear the other three speakers who will be presenting the gospel again in the next three days.

As this group of clubs is on the front lines, sharing the gospel with boldness, new clubs are popping up, including United Christians of Lake Zurich at Lake Zurich High School. President Caitlyn and her team are just a trio of girls who are super fun, outgoing, and pumped up about sharing the gospel.

Continue to pray and ponder these words of Paul:

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.” Colossians 4:2-4

Also, be encouraged to respond to the Holy Spirit’s little nudges. Jose personally called Andrew out and invited him to the rally where he got the opportunity to hear the words of life. See what little steps you can take to partner with us and God’s people all over the world!

Despite a full day of rallies, clubs still met together as early as 6:50am! Jack leading worship here at Streamwood High School

Hello Everyone!

After a six hour team-bonding drive to Northern California and a sweet reunion with the Araujo family (involving delicious spaghetti), our Concord Hometown Trip Team is rested and ready for an exciting week!

Tonight is the first California School Project (CSP) kick-off in Concord’s history! The CSP kick-off is an event focused around generating enthusiasm and unity in prayer for the upcoming week as Concord High, Northgate High, and Ygnacio Valley High get ready for their gospel rallies and witnessing trips on each campus. The last days before an outreach are usually filled with equal amounts of stress and nervousness, so we are helping execute this Kick-off Night to help remind the students of God’s Good News and His hand in their lives. Over 80 high school students have RSVP’d for the event!

After tonight, we are all looking forward to seeing God work in the lives of highschoolers all throughout the Concord area. Our team’s goals for this upcoming week include the following: 1) Keeping students and outreach events in prayer, 2) Guiding students though the use of scripture, 3) Facilitating connections between high schools and churches, and 4) Training and equipping Christian high school students to share their faith and desire God more.

We ask for prayer that the students will get excited and continue to remember why they are sharing God’s Word with their fellow classmates. For the staff and team, we ask that you pray that we constantly and intentionally recall God’s love in our own lives before we communicate this Love with others. Please continue to pray that God will plant seeds in the hearts of those in the community, both in the church and in the schools. Finally, please pray for an increase in witnessing materials to share with the High School students; at the moment, we have a very limited number of tracks and Bibles to share.

Thank you so much for your prayer and support! We will keep you updated on the progress of God’s work in Concord!

The Concord Hometown HIT Team

By now, all the Biola CSP students have headed home for the summer. To finish off the year blog-wise, I want to share with you some of what they learned over the school year:

Campus mentors praying

“I have learned so much about sharing my faith. There is so much work to be done and it has been really cool to be a part of that.”

“The gospel has become a greater part of my life in which I not only know it but live it and share it with others.”

“I thought that I loved the gospel before, but after going out and speaking out and learning how to share and seeing the gospel change lives, the power of the gospel has overwhelmed me.”

“The gospel has never been as simple and alive as I found it through sharing the gospel with others. Sharing my faith was a huge growing experience for me.”

“Before CSP I did not feel the urgent need to share the gospel, but now God has opened my eyes and my heart and I no longer hesitate sharing the gospel.”

Thank you for your prayers for the campus mentors over the year!