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!

Tuesday morning, Jose preached at the Streamwood club meeting about snow-balling, momentum, and unity in Christ. The schools, the kids’ parents, our team, and people back home have been coming together in prayer; the unity has been out of this world! And with the unity has come some serious growth and momentum. We’d love to share three very different stories about God’s increasing presence in this outreach week:

• 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!

After the rowdy and exciting Friday night kick-off, the Biola team set aside the weekend to take an opportunity to prepare for the huge week ahead. In our prayer, conversations, and devotional time, a few main themes have resonated with the group:

• 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.

Downtown Chicago

This Friday, a team of nine Biola students will come together in Chicago to help students at five public high schools in the suburbs kick off a week focused on sharing their faith with their peers and developing Christian leaders.  These students are part of Christian clubs (Uprising) that are in various stages of development, from those that have done outreach before to one that just became a club a few weeks ago.  It has been exciting to see the students help each other plan and share resources to make the events next week possible.  From January 9-13, Uprising students at Palatine, Elgin, Jacobs, Streamwood, and Lake Zurich High Schools will be going witnessing, hosting speakers who will present the gospel to the school, meeting to pray, and developing plans for future growth.  The kick-off event on Friday will bring all these students together, along with their parents and pastors, to pray and worship together as our team challenges them to share their faith with boldness.

The nine of us are looking forward to the work that God will do in students’ hearts and in the schools they attend!  Please join us in praying that everything that happens on this trip will be for His glory.