Be A Light In Your Schools

This weekend, the team at Youth Alive got ready for another Winter Retreat with the students of PennDel! We were so excited to welcome high school and middle school students to the Youth Alive workshop, where we talked about the importance of building a habit of reading the Bible, as well as discussed struggles and ideas with campus missionaries.  

During one of the services at Winter Retreat, Youth Alive Missionary Aleysha Ayala Santiago brought two campus missionaries on stage to talk about the ways that they are reaching their schools. The two students, Macy McNatt of Eastern York High School and Gideon Roth of York Suburban High School, both lead Bible Clubs at their public high schools. Bible Clubs are places where students can gather on their high school campuses to read and study the Bible, pray, and fellowship.  

Macy McNatt shared about outreaches that Eastern York’s Bible Club has hosted this past year. During football season, they held a 5th Quarter, hosted by local churches after a football game to give high school students a free, fun event to attend after the game. They had games, pizza, and s’mores to celebrate the game and got to share the Gospel with all the students that showed up.  

Macy shared that her biggest piece of advice to other campus missionaries was this: using the opportunities that are around your school. She explained that her school was holding a fundraiser where they sold ceiling tiles that students could design and then put back up on the ceiling to decorate the school. The Bible Club was able to buy a ceiling tile, design, and paint a scripture verse on it. Now everyone in their school gets to read part of the Bible when they walk past that tile.  

Gideon Roth, a campus missionary and high school student at York Suburban High School, was inspired to start a Bible Club with his friend, Merna. He realized after hearing about campus missionaries at church and events that his school did not have a place for Christian students to gather and to reach their classmates. He had begun inviting friends from school to youth group with him but wanted to do more for his school. He says that one of the best things that you can do if you are interested in becoming a campus missionary is just to, “gather with someone and make it happen,” and when faced with fear or hesitation, “just do it.” 

 - Morgan McNatt, Youth Alive Intern