Once again, we were priveleged to witness God moving in students’ hearts yesterday.  Pastor Eddie Perez was excited to speak to the 33 students in attendance at the first session.  He shared the story of how he came to faith in Jesus Christ and explained how God adopts us as His children.  ”Understanding your identity in Christ is the absolute essential in living a victorious Christian life,” he said.  His brother, Christian rapper Victor Duprey, also came and performed for the students.  Heather played a video of the Lifehouse “Everything” skit, and explained the story behind it – how different things in the world like money and self-image pull us away from God until we realize they cannot help us and He comes to our rescue.

Victor Duprey rapping

Because the group from yesterday’s second session were so interested in hearing more, but were unable to attend today’s first session due to after-school activities, Heather added a second session today as well.  She played a Coffey Anderson remix of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” featuring his own lyrics.  Mina, one of the Uprising members, shared her testimony on video also, sharing her struggles with self-abusive behavior and explaining how “it is by His [Jesus'] wounds, His cuts, that I am healed.”  Students were then given an opportunity to write down questions they had, which were answered by Michael T. and Ariel from the CSP team, with help from Heather and Cassie.

At the first session, 33 attended, 4 recommitted their lives to Christ, and 3 accepted Him for the first time.  At the second session, 10 attended, 5 recommitted their lives to Christ, and 2 accepted Him for the first time.  That’s 14 decisions made for Christ!

Here are a couple stories about them: During Mina’s testimony at the second session, one girl began to cry.  Afterwards, she took several books and magazines from the free table, and as Ariel was leaving the school, she saw her reading the gospel of John.  Heather discovered that she was one of the two who accepted Christ for the first time at the second session, and has made plans with her to get coffee and discuss her decision.  On Wednesday, Heather was excited to see that one young man she knows had indicated that he made a decision for Christ.  The following day he stayed for both sessions and afterwards to help with tear-down, a total of five hours, eagerly helping with anything Heather needed and clearly demonstrating a willingness to serve as well as an interest in the speakers.  On Wednesday he submitted the question “Why do some people suffer their whole lives?” Yesterday at the Q&A, another person asked the same question, so Ariel explained that God created the world good, but because man rejected God’s intention for good, suffering entered the world.  This young man raised his hand, saying he’d been thinking about the topic and the Titanic came to mind.  Obviously it was a tragedy, but as a result, we have learned to make better ships, he said.  It was encouraging to see a student asking questions and pursuing answers as a result of the rally.  Students are already being transformed by the power of the truth!

Thank you for your prayers for our team members at Fremd.  Cassie, Lainey, Kolby, and Michael T. are all feeling much better, though still a little sore.  Lainey talked to the mechanic who has her car today, and the mechanic told her that from the damage the car sustained, they should have been much more injured, especially since the impact caused all the seats to come off their tracks.  Had Lainey had her tires angled left, the way she was turning, the crash would have pushed the car into oncoming traffic and could have been fatal.  We are so grateful that God kept them safe.

Please pray:

- 125 students would come to the Fremd rally on this final day

- the room at Palatine would be full of students

- that everyone who comes would either accept Christ for the first time, or learn more about Him if they already know Him

- that the Uprising leaders would come away from this week feeling encouraged in what God has accomplished

Jessica