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!

At Elgin High School, we saw God work so obviously. Throughout the week, there was a huge increase in sheer numbers. On day 1 at Elgin, attendance dipped as low as 6 people at one of the four rallies, but by Friday, each of the four rallies had a minimum of 100 students in attendance, totaling 543 on Friday alone! And already we are getting to see the fruits of the week. Thursday night, 3 students answered the invitation to a Bible study at the home of club president Carolyn, making the mile long trek in the dark and the snow. Students are responding to the gospel with hunger! Friday speaker, Roger, concluded his dynamic message by stating his goal for the week. He said “I am not here to change you. Lord knows I could never change you. All I can change is myself. My job is not to change you but rather to start an internal wrestling match between you and the Truth. And I hope you lose. Because if you lose, then you win. But if you at any point think you’re winning, you’re losing. I hope you lose.” Hundreds of students begun wrestling matches that day with the Truth and, thanks be to God, some of them have lost already.

At Palatine High School the club didn’t draw nearly as many people, but what it lacked in quantity it made up for in quality. Club president Heather put together elaborate, airtight rallies that were welcoming, truthful, varied, enjoyable, and interactive. Students won gift cards, won t-shirts, took free Bibles and gospels of John, and perhaps most importantly, engaged in conversation with club members, speakers, and Biola team members afterwards.

• Evan met and talked with a struggling Agnostic three times about the inerrancy of Scripture, the nature of truth, and life in general.
• Jack talked and prayed with a student struggling with the idea of freedom in Christ. He was touched deeply by the speaker’s line on Friday: “Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good. he came to bring the dead to life.” Earlier today, he was picked up to go to church with Heather.
• Another girl who was just passing by the rally was invited last minute, decided to check it out, and left with four books and a clear and expressed desire to get plugged into a church and learn more about Jesus. Heather prayed three years ago for this specific girl to hear the gospel, and it happened.
• Another girl re-committed her life to Christ during one of the rallies, after a past including legal emancipation from her parents, various promiscuity, and harsh judgment by her peers.

There were many more stories, you’ll just have to ask the Biola students whenever you next see them!

At Streamwood High School, we saw perhaps the most surprising genre of success. On the first of their two rallies, no one showed up. But rather than cave to perceived failure, the club united afterward and spent the evening in very intentional prayer. The result wasn’t a flood of students like we had hoped, but a very unified, confident, and resilient club, perfectly poised to set up a second week of rallies at some point this spring. Now that they have tasted the disappointment of poor attendance, there is little else that can discourage this club that is growing both in number and individual maturity.

Everybody seems to have had a unique takeaway, but it all falls under the truth that God loves us so much as to rescue us from our sin and give us life to the full in the middle of a fallen world.

Thank you all so much for your support this week, even if it’s just been taking a few minutes out of your busy day to read this blog post. You can continue to pray that God would open windows for his gospel to be heard in public high schools in Chicago, back in California, and anywhere else that His servants are working. You can keep in touch with us at either of these websites:

Our blog: http://blog.californiaschoolproject.com

Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/California-School-Project/47003427662

Our webpage: http://www.californiaschoolproject.com/

The team at Sear's Tower! Left to Right: Jack, Ahlia, Evan, Megan, Jose, Jess, Kolby, and Nick.

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:

• People are pouring in to hear God’s Word! Administrative relations are always tricky and instrumental to a good outreach week. At Elgin High School, the Lord has opened serious doors. Though an average rally reaches about 30 students, the auditorium was flooded today during fourth lunch with a total of 116 students who flocked to hear the testimony of Mike, an ex marijuana-addict. Not only has the club been able to host the rallies during school, but administration has been allowing Biola team members to make announcements to the whole cafeteria about the ongoing rallies! If you understand the public school system at all, you can rejoice with us in this huge victory!

The early shift at Elgin welcomes students into the auditorium.

• High school Christians are being mobilized! This past Monday night, a mixed group of parents, high school students, and college students met at Woodfield Mall to engage in gospel conversation with whoever we found hanging out. Biola team member Ahlia engaged in conversation with a Wiccan woman on a bench outside of an accessories store. The conversation was educational from both sides, Ahlia tastefully and lovingly shared the gospel, both finding common ground and emphasizing the fulfillment she found in Jesus. By the end of the trip, not only were 44 people witnessed to, but 15 high school students shared their faith with a stranger for the first time!

Ahlia has made huge contributions all week, but really shone on witnessing night. Not only did she engage in genuine conversation and share truth, but led by example with Caitlyn (Lake Zurich) and Libby (Westminster Christian) jumping in with examples God's love in their own lives.

• Relationships are being formed. Two great stories here. If you didn’t read our last post, check back briefly and read about Andrew from Elgin, who gave his life to Christ a day before after seeing a need for God’s love in his home. Jack was able to reconnect with him today and check on his home situation. He told us that “It was crazy last night. My parents started another argument, and then it just (like) stopped.” Andrew is already acknowledging God’s handiwork and is coming back for the final two rallies this week! Also, a lot of non-Christians have been frequenting the Palatine rallies and engaging in conversation with our Biola students – asking good questions and receiving prayer.

Evan carrying pizza - one of our biggest evangelical tools! Evan has been instrumental at the Palatine rallies, engaging in real life conversation, tackling big questions with Agnostics who are seeking truth. Pray for Evan as he keeps up relationships with these high school guys.

Truth is, people are seeking and God’s people are coming through. We’re only halfway done with our outreach week, but there are insane amounts of growth going on. Miracles every day.

Continue to pray:

• For our team’s focus and stamina.
• That the speakers would deliver the unadulterated truth of the gospel to those genuinely seeking.
• That God would continue to stir up the hearts of the people He loves.
• For Streamwood High School as they put on their first ever rally tomorrow night!

A speaker from University of Illinois offers a variety of evidences for God's existence at Palatine's rally. Palatine hasn't seen astronomical numbers in attendance, but people are sticking around and talking. Personal ministry is happening!

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

• We need to believe in God. Of course we all believe that there is a God and so do a lot of other people. But the truth is that God exists and is alive and has certain attributes. If we believe the wrong things about God, we are not going to be spiritually healthy as we take on this week. Jose shared an incredible devotion this morning on Hebrews 3-4 which concluded with 4:13, which says that “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” And that brought us to the next mission.
• We need to hold fast to God’s Word. We learn about God’s character in the book that He wrote about Himself. If we all really knew God’s Word, we wouldn’t ever doubt, be afraid, sin, or be idle. But the truth is that we need it to “pierce” and to form us. And we need to bring the same thing to our ministry. After church on Sunday, we had the privilege of meeting the most interesting man in the world. J.B. grew up waterskiing every Saturday, fighting professionally in Vegas, joining the military, being shot in the back, professional kayaking, enduring the more poison in his body than any other human has ever experienced and lived; well, he was actually pronounced dead, and at that point had a vision of the man of fire as introduced in Ezekiel 8:2. Now he works as a servant of God at Willow Creek Community Church, leading a Bible study for high school boys. Oh, and he works also as a truck driver for a nuclear materials company. We only had the opportunity to talk to him once, but the one piece of advice he gave was this: Know God’s Word. If you want to live in His will and do His work, then familiarize yourself with what He has to say to you (paraphrased).

Left to right: Kolby, Jack, J.B. (The Most Interesting Man in the World), and Evan.

Continue to pray for the high schools, but for our team:

• Pray that God honors our efforts to come to know Him through His Word – that he would meet us halfway. Pray that our team would be strengthened in the knowledge of who our God is.

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

The California School Project’s Seattle Hometown team is currently busy making preparations for a wonderful and exciting trip to Bothell, Washington. There are Christian High School students at Shorecrest, Inglemoor and Redmond High Schools who have been working hard since the summer, planning ways to impact their campus with the good news of the saving grace of Jesus Christ! The students are planning various activities from inviting speakers to come share their testimonies of how God has changed their lives to passing out Bibles to their friends. As the students are busy making rally plans, please pray for them and ask God to show His love through them, and to give them increased faith and courage.

The CSP Hometown team is thrilled at the opportunity to go North to support these students in January. The Seattle Hometown team (10 people) will be traveling to Bothell, Washington this January (7-15th) to work with Inglemoor and Shorecrest high schools.The purpose of the mission trip is to support and encourage the high school students as they put on their outreach week and to unite the community around them. The team will speak in churches and youth groups fto mobilize church members to support the students in various ways such as prayer or going witnessing with them after school, etc… The team will also be working to mobilize students from local Christian Schools to join their peers as they boldly share their faith after school. Through opportunities like this, the CSP team will not only get to support the high school students who are putting on rallies, but will get to teach Christian students why Jesus calls everyone to be bold to share the good news of Jesus Christ and train the students how to share the good news clearly.

Please visit this blog again between January 7th through January 13th to watch as the missions trip unfolds!

Thank you and God Bless!

The Seattle Hometown team.

P.S. If you are interested in learning more or donating to support the students in Seattle or the hometown team, please go to http://csp.givezooks.com/wish_lists/seattle-hometown-trip. Thank you!

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!

Could I have done that when I was in high school? I doubt it.

Last month I had the opportunity to join with some Christian club students at Carson high school. They were going to talk to their peers about Jesus and we “old folks” were just tagging along. That day “Andrew,” a high schooler, and I talked with around 10 students, some he knew, about God. Afterwards, I asked him why he did this.

He said, “It’s all about us, others and God. The more I get to know God, the more I want to share Him with others.”

Amen, brother. May I learn from you.

Carson Bible club students with their campus mentor Anne