When Scott Ward, associate pastor of the Lodi-English Oaks church, moved to Lodi in 2003, one of the girls in his youth group asked him to start a Bible study on her public high school campus, Tokay High. Neither knew that these Bible studies would eventually turn into a major public high school outreach.
Over the years, Ward continued to visit Tokay High, and many other students became interested in what was going on. “As I spent more time on campus, I kept meeting more kids with an Adventist background — either they had attended church when they were younger, or maybe their parents had when they were young,” said Ward.
At the start of the 2007-2008 school year, Ward became the new sponsor of the high school’s Christian club. The club, which had been dormant for a year, had previously focused on having group Bible studies during lunch. But, due to the waning interest, it became apparent that students weren’t interested in having another form of homework during their down time. For this reason, Ward turned the club’s focus from study to fellowship and creating community. “The goal was really to create an atmosphere where kids could meet other Christians on campus and develop positive friendships,” said Ward. “If they can’t find good alternatives at school, where they spend most of their time, they can very easily get headed down a wrong path.”
Tokay’s Christian club creates community through two ways. First, the club meets every Tuesday to “check in,” which is a time where the students can share what is going on in their lives, tell how their week is going, and make prayer requests. This time is vitally important, because it allows those who attend to get to know each other and feel connected.
The second way the club builds community is by reaching out to their campus through a website, peace4youth.org, they developed as a tool to share God’s message with their peers. The club members witness by going around campus handing out colorful silicon wristbands that have the website address on them, and they tell their friends and classmates that they can go to this website to “find peace in a mad world.” The site is geared right to the youth with resources on basic spirituality, devotional stories and poetry written by youth, mission trip reports, videos and a link to the group’s online social network at myspace.com/peace4youth. After a student has had a chance to check out the website and develop a stronger spiritual interest, they can then find information regarding club meeting times and other off campus social and spiritual events. “The club here on campus is really exciting,” said Brittney Aguilar, Christian club president. “It's an event for teens to get together and reach out to everyone else.”
In addition to the weekly meetings and the website ministry, the Tokay Christian club also has a monthly “pizza and prayer evangelism” event. Ward brings 10 pizzas for each of the school’s two lunch periods and students go in teams of two, one with pizza and the other with pen and paper, around the campus offering to give slices of pizza and receive prayer requests. Each pizza and prayer event generates dozens of requests for prayer on serious topics that range from drug addiction to cancer. “The pizza and prayer outreach really gives other teens a way to be comfortable about spirituality while we give them food,” said Joshua Tenborg, Christian club treasurer.
Ward discovered that through creating community among the public high school students, they had a new identity that made it easier to bring them into events that can be predominately attended by academy students. “The public school students no longer felt like the ‘odd man out’ because they were no longer alone—they were a group,” said Ward.
Earlier this year, Tokay High students joined in a weekend outreach event with students from Lodi Adventist Academy. A group of six students from the Christian club went with a group of academy students to do homeless ministry in San Francisco at the Youth With A Mission base in the inner city. “YWAM was an amazing experience that truly touched me and made me realize how blessed I am to be who I am and live how I do,” said Christian Club Vice President Jordan King, who is a non-Adventist.
The Tokay Christian club members will soon be spreading the word about more than their web ministry. This fall, there are plans to hold a citywide evangelistic youth rally, which will be heavily promoted to youth in the Lodi area by advertisements in the newspaper and personal invitations. The event will be an entire day featuring music, student speakers, and guest speakers that will draw both Adventist and community youth together where they can get to know each other and reach out to the unchurched teens around them.
Adventist leaders are noting the success of Ward’s public school ministry. “Like those attending public colleges, high school students are often ignored and forgotten,” said Ron Pickell, North American Division coordinator for Adventist Ministries on Public College Campuses. “Ministries like Peace4Youth are helping to bridge that gap, as well as open the Adventist Church door to thousands of public high school students who may never hear the good news of Christ without such contact. What Scott Ward is doing for kids of his local high school is an inspiration and model for all Adventist youth pastors in the North American Division.”
For more information, visit peace4youth.org.
