“Jose and I were paired up for a while, and we were primarily positioned around a circle area with concrete benches all around it with a big green ball in the middle,” said Jack. “We had a lot of conversations with people sitting on those benches. We were just coming off a conversation and I was beginning to feel that twinge of discouragement. We sat down and prayed.”

As they were praying, Jose felt God’s presence and had a vision.

“As we were praying and Jack said the words, ‘God, let your kingdom come,’ I swear I saw God descending and establishing his Kingdom, sitting on His throne, right on top of the green ball,” said Jose, laughing at the strangeness of it. “Then His angels descended with Him and touched people in the circle around us, like ministering to people and preparing the hearts of people. I was just blown away.” When they opened their eyes Jose told Jack about what he had seen. He felt very encouraged and felt God nudging him to go talk to a couple.

“So I went and approached the couple and started sharing the Gospel with them. I just felt like it was the Holy Spirit taking control of the situation.”

In this couple, the girlfriend had recently accepted Christ and shared that she had been praying that her boyfriend would come to Christ also.

“I was holding back tears just because of how much I felt God loved him and how genuinely I felt God’s love for him,” said Jose. “He was very receptive and throughout the whole conversation, his girlfriend was just nodding her head.”

Jose felt he needed to advise this young man to set himself apart from the crowd he was hanging out with. The man’s girlfriend excitedly said she has been trying to convince her boyfriend of that herself.

The man ended up praying to receive Christ, answering the prayers of his girlfriend.

“That was really good for her to see God work in her life through such a divine appointment,” said Jose.

The students, the team, and community members came together at Calaveras High School in support of the Faith Club rallies

One very unique aspect of the trip was the community involvement. 6 churches came together during the week in order to support the high school students as well as to partner with the greater cause of giving people in the community the chance to hear about Christ. The team had a chance to meet with the youth pastors from each of the churches to talk to them about campus ministry as well as to brainstorm with them about how they can continue to help the students. I am very excited to see what happens in the Calaveras community going forward.

One theme of the trip that the team got to see was the incredible growth in the students. We got to see and be a part of the growth in boldness and passion in the students as they continued through the week. It was amazing to see the students step into their leadership roles more and more as the week went on. Their boldness is such that two of the leaders went to the mall last week in their bright pink “I agree” shirts to intentionally share about the love of Christ!

Although the trip is over, God’s movement in Calaveras is not. Please continue to pray for the students as they close out their year, that they would develop leaders to step into leadership roles next year, that they would continue to demonstrate Christ’s love on their campus, and that the community would find more and more ways to come alongside the students in support.

Thank you for all of your prayers!

–The Calaveras Team

Darwin speaks to a crowd of 70 students about the importance of purity

Friday marked the last day of the “I Agree” outreach week at Calaveras High School. 25 community members came to watch and to pray for the students at the school. The Faith Club students were markedly more bold in inviting their friends and were excited to invite their speaker, Darwin, to speak about purity. He began by talking about the love of Christ and how we need Jesus Christ to have a relationship with Christ. He then talked about purity. He addressed both genders in the crowd of about 70 students about the dangers of pre-marital sex, both physically and emotionally. He also stressed the worth of each individual in the crowd. “If I gave you $5,000, would you give it to your boyfriend?” he asked. “What about $50? Then why are you giving him your body like you aren’t worth anything?”

Darwin spoke urgently in his message, weary of the prom that would happen Saturday night. He urged the crowd to abstain from parties and sex. For those who had already crossed sexual boundaries before, Darwin explained the forgiveness and restoration offered by Christ. Before the bell rang, he asked the crowd to raise their hands if they wanted to commit their lives to Christ. Over 20 hands in the crowd shot up to make that decision. There were so many that the team had a difficult time counting them. Darwin then asked if anyone wanted to commit to a restoration of purity. Even more people raised their hands.

The community gathers for a potluck celebration event to praise God for His work in their community

Later that night, the high school students, parents, youth pastors, and other community members gathered for a potluck celebration service to honor God for all He had done in their school. Many of the students shared stories of how God had worked in their life: about friends who came to the rallies, siblings changed, and boldness received. Youth pastor Bryan from Glorybound Church gave an exhortation to the students to develop their purity and to continue to reach out to their community. The students left feeling encouraged by the week, strengthened by the community, and excited for the future.

Please pray for those who dedicated their lives to Christ this week and for those who came to the rallies. Pray also that the Faith Club would continue to experience boldness in talking about their faith and that the community would know how to support them.

–The Calaveras Team

Mr. Lambert, the Faith Club advisor

The team had an opportunity to talk to Mr. Lambert, the Faith Club advisor, about the week’s outreaches. Mr. Lambert became a Christian when he was in high school. He told us that as a student, he became interested in a girl who would meet with her Bible club outside during lunch. He would come up to talk to her and end up having conversations about God with one of the boys in the club. Over the course of a week, he had many great conversations with that boy and, at a free Christian concert that Friday, he made a commitment to follow God.

Today is the Faith Club’s last rally, and the theme is Purity. Please pray for the students on campus to be receptive to the message, for the speaker as he speaks to impact the students, and that students would come and hear the message. Thank you for praying!

–The Calaveras Team

Oxnard Hometown Trip

God put that passage spoken at the end of the video very strongly on the hearts of our team today as we were praying for the rallies. He encouraged us with the knowledge that He has the power to breathe life into even the dry bones of one already dead. Though it may seem like there is no hope for some of the students on these campuses, God assured us that this was not the case. You can read it in Ezekiel 37:1-14.

Please continue to praise God with us and to pray for these campuses: we know that this week is only the beginning of outreach for them and that they will do even greater things in the future, likely without us even there to help them. It has been and continues to be such a blessing to see high school students with a heart of obedience and a fire and a passion for the Gospel.

CJ, a Northern California youth pastor and Christian rapper, gave an invitation to the crowd toward the end of the rally asking people to come and hear his rapping and his testimony at the Unite service last night. During the Unite service, Dean again came up to speak in front and invited students who wanted to begin a relationship with Jesus to the front to pray. Four people rushed to the front, overjoyed to accept the gift that is found in the relationship with God.

Lacy and her brother, excited about what God has done in their lives

After the Unite service, the team found out that one of the people who had gone up to the front was the brother of Lacy, one of Calaveras’s Faith club leaders. She met us with tears in her eyes, overjoyed and rejoicing about what God had done in her brother’s heart. During the Monday service, Lacy had asked for prayer for her family, as none of them are believers in Christ. She explained her heart for her brother, and Kellee was able to pray with her for him. What an answer to prayer, to see her brother changed within the course of a few days!

Calaveras is hosting another rally at lunch today to talk about Truth. Please continue to be in prayer for the Faith club today, that they would have boldness and would clearly proclaim God’s truth to their friends today. Please also pray that their peers would be receptive to the message and that the speaker today would speak God’s word well. Thank you for partnering with our team in prayer!

–The Calaveras Team

A band plays for the rally audience during Tuesday's Hope rally

Yesterday was an amazing day. After prayer in the morning, the Calaveras Faith Club hosted their second lunch rally in their gym to talk about Hope. A live band from a local church came to play music to attract a crowd, and during the last few minutes, two Faith Club students stepped out in faith to share about their theme. In front of over 100 students who came to the rally, Lora introduced the topic of Hope to the students in the gym, explaining how the loss of hope can be painful and leave anyone in despair. Cody then came forward to explain how people tend to put their hope in a lot of different areas like relationships and school, but putting Hope in God will not leave you disappointed. He asked his peers to accept the free gift of Jesus as a way to experience God’s love.

The Calaveras students praise God in song together at the Unite service Tuesday at Burson church

A very unique and exciting aspect about the Calaveras community is the opportunity that the Christians have to know each other and build each other up. Calaveras County is a small community where the youth pastors interact often and the students have all grown up together. Because of the nature of the community, the churches have partnered together during this week to host unite services each night. A different church is opening their doors to the community every night to encourage and embolden the Christian youth as well as to invite those who attended the rallies to come to church. Yesterday’s unite service was held at Burson Church and was a night full of worship to God for what he’s doing in the community and a message from the youth pastor exhorting the students to follow God whole-heartedly. There will be two more unite services this week as well as a Celebration Night to celebrate all that God is doing in the Calaveras community.

Today, the Faith Club rally will be about Love. Please pray for the speaker and the Christian students to have boldness to proclaim the Gospel. Pray for the students who come to the rallies to learn open-mindedly about God. Also, praise God with us for the rain here today! Not only is it good for the earth, it will also likely bring more people into the gym for the rally! Thank you for your prayers!

–The Calaveras Team

Our team went witnessing for the first time this afternoon at both Pacifica High School and Oxnard High School. We had three high school students with us at Pacifica High and four high school students with us at Oxnard. It was the first time witnessing for all seven of them! And God rewarded their faithfulness, because 13 students came to Christ! God has already answered so many prayers and encouraged the high school students so much. Another round of witnessing tomorrow afternoon and we could not be more excited. Our very own Ciara bore witness to six students giving their lives to Christ at Pacifica High, and she’s got quite a story to tell:

Yesterday I witnessed at Pacifica High School with a high school student named Zyra. Two girls sitting at a table caught my eye and told us how they pray to God to protect their families from jail and dangers. The Holy Spirit began to speak through me about how they see that God is good, like a beautiful gift; but that they need to open the gift of Jesus and invite God in because He wants to be close to them in an amazing way! They said “Yes!” and we were able to lead them in the sinner’s prayer as they gave their lives to Jesus. Next we went to a table with four students from different walks of life. One boy was a homosexual and had problems with how the church views homosexuality, and another girl had an issue with the idea of God condemning her to hell. We told them both that God wants their hearts and doesn’t count one sin above another. They were moved by Jesus’ death and feeling significant in His eyes. They all ended up seeing how God wanted them RIGHT NOW! They all said the prayer of Salvation, and we rejoiced with hugs and encouragement.

Our prayer and our war cry for this week has been: “Spring break! Do something crazy!” It is spring break, and the world does get one thing right about this time: it is a time to do crazy things. Where the world goes wrong is that they fail to realize that it is not a time for us to do something crazy, but it is a time for God to do something crazy, for the name of Jesus Christ to be declared around this time of the celebration of his death and resurrection! God has already answered that prayer, and we have faith that he will continue to answer it. We praise God for his faithfulness and the miracles that he has wrought already in these two high schools. But, as the song goes, “Greater things are yet to come; greater things are still to be done in this city!” Praise God with us for the things he has already done. Be praying also that as witnessing continues on Tuesday, God continues to work on the hearts of those who need Him. And continue praying for the rallies, which begin on Wednesday. 

Students gathered to hear Faith Club president Kellen talk about faith

Yesterday was Calaveras High School’s first rally. Before school, the student leaders got together to pray in front of the school for the week. During this time, the students asked God to be present at their school and for opportunities to share the story of Christ with people for the first time. Yesterday, the rally took place in the school’s gym and reflected on Faith. 66 students piled into the gym to find out what the students in the bright colored t-shirts saying “I Agree” agree with.

The community members gather for the week's first Unite service

The rally started off with a group game in order to make people feel more comfortable and then Faith Club President Kellen spoke to the students about who Jesus is. He explained that students often think that they have a hard life to live, but Jesus had much more pressure on Him. Kellen shared about how Jesus died for the sins of the world and made it clear the Jesus’s love and grace renews people who have faith in Him. He then transitioned into speaking how we need faith and how faith has played a part in his own life. He ended the rally by telling the students what Christ has to offer if they chose to accept him. After the rally, tracts and Bibles were passed out as students left. Later that night students from Faith Club attended Calvary Chapel Valley Springs unite service, where youth pastor Nick Collins expanded on the topic of faith.

Faith Club students are praying for Christians at Calaveras High School who are not yet stepping out in boldness. Please join in prayer as we pray for students to step out in boldness for their faith. Today the rally is going to be on Hope. Please pray that the band and speakers share the message of Hope well and that the ears and hearts of students will be open to hearing the Hope that they can find in Christ. Thank you for your prayers!

–Tiffany of the Calaveras Team

Youth leader Kristyn spoke with us about her excitement in working with the Calaveras High School students.

Kristyn is a passionate youth leader from Valley Christian Center church in Calaveras County. She has been involved in planning with the high school students at Calaveras High School from the very beginning. The Calaveras team had the opportunity to sit down with her and talk to her about her involvement.

During the weeks leading up to the outreach, Kristyn met with the students on weeknights to plan and even helped the students understand the different roles that needed to be filled in order to cover the various aspects of outreach. In the team’s absence, she really helped mentor and equip the high school students.

Kristyn told us that the youth pastors at Valley Christian Center were her youth pastors when she was in high school and they really influenced her life. “They really became like my spiritual parents,” she told us, adding that they helped develop in her a heart for youth ministry. “Without youth ministry, [the students] are going to do everything that the world has to offer and so I want to make sure they know everything that God has to offer.”

Excitement was bubbling over in Kristyn when we talked to her. She told us that she was encouraged and inspired by the students’ hearts for outreach. The students don’t just want to reach their peers, but people that they don’t even know, and especially their teachers. Kristyn is a Calaveras High School alumnus and told us about the growth that has happened in the Christians on the campus since she graduated in 2006. During the week, Kristyn plans on praying with the students every morning, coming to the rallies, helping in the continuation of planning, and being at each unite service that the churches host. We really appreciate her heart and her partnership in ministry.

Today marks the first day of outreach at Calaveras High School this year. Please be praying for the students to have boldness, for hearts to be open to hearing about Jesus, and for the speaker as he talks about Faith. Thank you!

–The Calaveras Team