High School Cafeterias and the Great Commission

Last weekend, we loaded up a 15 passenger van with 13 people and enough luggage to supply a small army, and embarked on our annual Servant Team fall retreat. The fall retreat is one of my favorite Servant Team traditions. It helps us to get to know new Servant Team members, sets the tone for the year, and really just gives us an opportunity to enjoy being with each other.

Our focus for this fall is The World* and we wanted our students to experience church through the perspective of a different culture. Because plane tickets to Africa were too expensive, we decided to visit an Ethiopian church in Kansas City instead. Despite months of planning, Chris (our student ministries pastor) and I really didn't know what this weekend would have in store for our team. Even trying to coordinate the retreat reminded Chris and I we were working with a different culture. Communication with the church was sporadic at best, and we arrived in Kansas City with only a vague idea of what the weekend might hold!

God was faithful, and he used our efforts to develop a wonderful weekend filled with Ethiopian food, music, and fellowship among the body of Christ. Our students were able to experience the beauty of a worship service, that while different from ours at home, still reflected hearts that had been transformed by the saving power of Jesus' blood. We were able to encourage and love on the members of the Ethiopian church while at the same time being blessed by their testimonies and friendship with us.

The big question I'm asking myself this year is, "How do I help foster a heart for the unsaved peoples of the world in high school students?" The Great Commission is clear - we are to make disciples of all nations, and we know that God will fulfill his purpose for the world and one day our great King will be worshiped by all the peoples of the earth. But how does that impact high school students living in America? Can they even really live this out while still living under their parents' roof?

I think it is possible for high school students to play a significant role in reaching people all over the world with the Gospel message - even while eating lunch in their high school cafeteria. Some things I will be challenging our Servant Team with this fall will be: developing an understanding of what missions is, why it exists, and how they fit in with God's purpose for the world. This may look like sponsoring a child living in India, faithfully praying for unreached people groups listed in "Operation World," or eating lunch with a foreign exchange student attending their high school. It is my dream that they will realized God can and will use a heart for the world wherever he has placed you. And while traveling out of the country may not always be an option, we all should be ready and willing to go when God calls.

We are living in exciting times, and thanks to technology, our world is smaller than ever before! The Gospel message is spreading, and people groups are being transformed by its message of hope. Our students can make a huge impact on the world with the Gospel - not just when they grow up, but right now, where they are at.



*Each year, our fall focus is based on Acts 1:7 - making disciples in Jerusalem (our sphere of influence), Judea & Samaria (our community), and the ends of the earth (our world).

Banging our heads against a wall: A model for student to student Leadership Developement

As we have gone along in Servant Leadership training at West E. Free, one of the biggest parts of servant leadership that is imperative is breeding a culture of leadership development and investment amongst students. What do I mean by this? This year, we have 6 seniors that will graduate from our servant leadership team hence leaving us with a perceived void. If all of these Seniors have done their "job" as High School students and servant leaders, they have invested in someone else that will step in and begin learning the ropes when it comes to servant leadership. How might this practically play out?

Our servant leadership team is in charge of planning some of the events that our student ministry has each year. During these events, we challenged our Servant Team to find one person that they might bring along with them, that they could invest in, love on, and really bring them into the understanding of leadership. In some cases it worked, and in other cases, we saw that we still need to cast the vision and continue to really breed a culture of leadership development.

Another practical application in this area is that we offer a "basic training" (leadership development for anyone that is interested) and this is a semester long comittment where students will learn about self leadership as well as comittment to the God of the universe. When we put this into place, there was a natural outlet for our servant team to invite other students to for leadership development. Because our servant team is "closed" we didn't invite people to be a part of servant team during the year, but rather invited students to be a part of basic training. And this worked. Again, in some cases and not others.

I guess I would encourage us to begin to cast vision by talking about investing in others and loving others as student to student. When we begin to do this, leadership development becomes less of banging our heads on the wall and more a flow of concentration that turns into great leaders for the kingdom of God. Let's face it...We can't do it on our own, we need other leaders, student leaders to be a part of this process!