Young People Rising Up

I wanted to brag on our kids a little bit, and more importantly brag on our Papa God, and share about what God is doing in Hawaii!! Never before in the 6 1/2 years I've been in youth ministry (including all my years as a youth...many moons ago :D) have I EVER seen this many young people rise up, not as future leaders, but as our LEADERS of TODAY!

During the Thanksgiving week, Hawaii had our statewide Prayer Initiative called E Pule Kakou ("Let us pray" in Hawaiian) and 4 of our high schools kicked off their Adopt-a-School movements, or as we say in Hawaii "Hanai-a-School". Each school has a School Captain who sectioned out their high school campuses and placed Area Captains to adopt, pray for, and bless (by planning blessing projects) each area for the rest of the school year. This is more than a Christian club or event on campus, but it has become a part of who they are!*

Here are some of their testimonies that we put in our bulletin last week. Feel free to STEAL (or "SHARE" ;D) and tweak these ideas to apply to and bless your schools, sports teams, bands, communities, nations!

This past Wednesday, at Aiea High School we gave away lollipops to random people then had a time of prayer over the whole school at the end of the school day. We had a great outreach as we blessed people with candy, especially to those who needed it the most! One of the girls in the group, Gabby, came back to share with all of us that she had given candy to this one girl who told her that it made her day. That girl shared with Gabby that she was thankful because she had a really tough morning that day and had been crying. During our prayer time after school, I feel that God has started to open Himself up to those in our school and has begun to fill the Aiea High campus with His love, peace, and blessings. We just need to be good vessels of God and act out in His love and blessings over Aiea. This year’s E Pule Kakou was a great experience!
David Lam (Sophomore)
Aiea High School
School Captain

It sucks to be Satan because God’s hand is moving in Kamehameha!
From the first meeting when Charis told us about school adoption, God had a clear plan for his will to be done in Kamehameha. As I planned for the adoption with our Keiki Kahu, Puanani Jelf-Albert, we realized that God had prepared our school perfectly for just this thing at just this time. Members of the Kamehameha Deputation Team - a student group of spiritual leaders “deputized” to spread the Word through sermons at chapel, assemblies, and local Hawaiian churches - were enthusiastic and willing to serve, and were spread not only throughout Kamehameha’s many Christian clubs, but also as leaders and officers in secular clubs. With faithful volunteers that include a co-president of Treehuggers, Kamehameha’s largest club, and a president of our high-profile Surfer’s Give Back club, Kamehameha seems perfectly prepared for declaration of a spiritual ecclesia, an ancient Greek means of political takeover via gradual, secretive, and strategic rise of individuals into positions of power in a targeted city or country.

What struck me most, however, was the faith of two teachers from the largely anti-Christian population of intellectuals who stepped up to serve as leaders. Our AP Physics teacher, a Ph.D. in the God-defying world of Physics, prayed in front of the whole school at our Thanksgiving assembly last Wednesday, and will lead our teachers in the school adoption along with my very own AP Calculus teacher! Beyond the excellent leadership these servants offer, they inspire me and my classmates to continue a pursuit of education in math and science without a fear of losing our faith. Since inviting all our high school members to join the school adoption at our Thanksgiving assembly, I’ve maintained faith that through us, God will take over at Kamehameha. Pray for us!
Kyle Nakatsuka (Senior)
Kamehameha School - Kapalama Campus (This is a prestigious private school where you need to be Native Hawaiian to attend)
School Captain

This past week was E Pule Kakou, and we decided to do a three-day event. On our first day we started off by passing out lollipops with Romans 8:28 written on them. The following day was our EPK prayer gathering, which we held after school. Then we ended with CityLove sign-waving blessing campaign on Wednesday.
Nikki Garingan said that when she passed out lollipops, people would smile, but once they read the verse, their faces lit up! Larry and I met with Principal Galera prior to these events. Before walking in, Larry ended up praying, which was something that we have never done before our meeting with Mr. Galera. It was an amazing experience, and something had definitely shifted from previous meetings! Instead of generic answers, we received the genuine needs of the school, and he really shared from his heart. The needs filled up two pages! The time passed too quickly and he invited us back whenever we needed to. I did not feel anything shift, or any supernatural power sweeping over the school, but I know something happened. God has heard our prayers and He is doing works in each person that steps onto campus. Prayer really does work.
Jessica Gilbert (Sophomore)
Moanalua High School
School Captain

God is moving in great ways at Castle High School! This week our FCA gave free hugs, passed out cards of blessing and spoke words of life into our fellow classmates with CityLove. As we approached everyone with a joyful spirit and a loving heart, they were shocked with remarks like, "This made my day!" and "Aww this is exactly what I needed!" Slowly but surely we are seeing our Castle family being transformed by simple acts of love and showing them that we care. We have adopted our school in prayer and can't wait to see what else God has in store for us! This is just the beginning of the Revival of Castle. We would LOVE to see our sisters and brothers find the undying love and hope our Father has for all of us. It has blessed us so much to have these opportunities to reach out and pray! Nothing is impossible with God! Forreal! You're awesome!
Christin Tesoro (Junior)
Castle High School
School Captain

*If you're interested in seeing the strategy we are using, please give me your email and I'd be happy to share it with you!