I am a mom who homeschools, yet a recent Thursday morning found me not instructing my own children, but walking the halls of a local public high school. As a youth ministry leader, my husband recently began volunteering with Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). This organization utilizes middle school and high school sports as a means of evangelism. Athletic coaches at high schools who volunteer with FCA partner with other volunteers to disciple students and teach them how to make disciples. When my husband debriefed me after his first meeting with other volunteers and students, it sounded way too good to be true.
It shocked me that in 2025, these volunteers were not only permitted entry on a high school campus but were also able to share the gospel and distribute Bibles to students who wanted one. Even stranger to me was the fact that no one was bothered by it. By the description of the meeting, it seemed like a largely male-dominated gathering. I learned that there are a few females who attend, but no female volunteers to disciple and encourage them. I wondered, “Who will disciple the girls?” And then thought, “Maybe I can.”
Not having consistent childcare made it feel like my desire to attend and participate in the FCA meetings would remain just that. My husband asked one of our dear friends if she had availability to stay with our kids during the meeting. She did and was happy to spend time with them. I couldn’t believe that obstacle was so quickly overcome.
The meeting I attended was also my husband’s first opportunity to speak, and he was also permitted to invite students to our church’s youth group. This all baffled me. We could walk on a public school campus (with a visitor’s badge, of course), share the gospel with students at the meeting, freely hand out Bibles, AND invite them to our youth group?! Public schools often receive a bad rap in Christian circles, but God was so clearly doing something on this public school campus, and I just HAD to witness it.
It was absolutely thrilling to be in an academic environment. The school library was impressive (I had self-control and did not enter, although I really wanted to!). It was refreshing to see Greek letters on the wall that weren’t sigma (if you work with teens or have one, you know why). For all the things I enjoyed about our visit, some aspects of it were completely heartbreaking. As we headed to the classroom where the meeting would occur, we passed a Narcan distribution box on the wall, not too far from a bleeding control kit to be used in the event of a school shooting. This is the reality that thousands of kids in my community and beyond experience daily. Seeing these things was quite sobering.
While the online world rages about the best political moves for preventing gun violence in schools and eradicating drug use, it is my conviction that the most faithful political move I can make is ensuring my orthodoxy culminates in orthopraxy. I’m certainly capable of checking a box on a ballot, but if my action as a Christian stops there, woe to me. Observing these kits in the school hallway induced fear, but rather than it repelling me from this opportunity, the love of Christ compelled me forward.
Fear often feels safe because it involves the familiar and comfortable, but it’s actually imprisoning (ask me how I know). Love sees an opportunity and, realizing the risks of vulnerability required, takes them anyway. Its confidence is Christ and the knowledge that nothing can separate us from God’s love (Romans 8:38-39), nothing can snatch us out of His hand (John 10:28), and nothing can stop the good work He has started in us (Philippians 1:6).
Entering the classroom and being in the presence of my younger spiritual siblings blessed me, and my excitement grew over the possibility of new ones. Seeing the sobering reality of a campus designed with safety in mind burdened me and lit a fire in my soul. These students, like me, need Jesus. While fear may make me want to distance myself from broken sinners, I can quickly and easily forget that I am one too. Sin has consequences of various degrees, yet the ground is level at the cross as we are all equally and desperately in need of a Savior (Psalm 53:3, Romans 3:23). Rather than resisting these students, being the foremost of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15) has caused me to consider how Christ is redeeming them.
It’s this compulsion that led me to design and print invitations to our youth group gatherings with all the info they’d need to attend. Printing them at home proved frustrating due to poor print quality. I stepped away from the printer and went to rest, but couldn’t. Knowing that God gave us such an incredibly smooth, seemingly impossible opportunity made me feel we’d be fools not to maximize it. To me, it wasn’t enough to verbally invite the students before the school day even started and hope that somehow at the end of the day, they’d remember. I HAD to have invites, but how?
There were a few businesses that could print within the hour, but they only offered photo printing. I wanted 40 invitations, and when I saw that the price would be under $10 for some 4×6 photo prints, I went for it. The online printing preview was low resolution, so it was hard to know how they’d turn out. After I placed my order, I received an email stating it had been delayed, so I immediately began praying that it would be ready on time. We headed to serve at our church’s youth group. Right after I told the girls in my small group that we needed to pray about the invitations being printed on time, I received a text stating that they were ready.
If that’s not a display of God’s power, I don’t know what is.
I felt awkward handing out the invites to students since I hadn’t met them yet, but I noticed another volunteer handed one out to each student at the meeting’s conclusion. I brought 40 invitations with me and left with 17! That means 23 potential visitors to our youth group, and I don’t know how many potential visitors to our church or how many souls potentially hearing the good news of the gospel through these avenues, but I’m excited regardless. Jesus is where the joy is. Not only has He removed my record of sin and restored my relationship with God, He’s robed me in His righteousness (Isaiah 61:10, 2 Corinthians 5:21). He’s sealed me with His Holy Spirit, who helps me love and obey Him and who prays for me (Ephesians 4:30, Romans 8:26).
As if that weren’t enough, He gives me abundant benefits in Himself (Psalm 103:2-5) and gives me precious opportunities to see His redemptive work in the world. I share this not to say, “Look at what we did,” but “Look at what God’s doing!” My husband and I don’t make sense for this opportunity. He participated in many sports in high school, but was kicked off teams due to poor grades and foolish choices. I’ve never played a sport in my life. We’re faithful fools (1 Corinthians 1:27) that God is using to plant and water, and we’re incredibly hopeful as we anticipate the growth He’ll give (1 Corinthians 3:6-7). My visit to a public school revealed the stark realities of life in a broken world. But more than that, it reminded me that there is hope eternal and a light whose brightness outshines this present darkness (John 1:5).
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