Intentional Investment

The new nationwide initiative Our Schools Matter was launched at General Council 2015 in Orlando, Florida. Our Schools Matter is an intentional, evangelistic tool created for the local church. While congregations and churchgoing adults have few, if any legal rights on school campuses, they can mobilize, invest, and partner with the school.

By serving and impacting schools in their area, churches can influence the broader community as a whole. By participating in activities such as volunteering on a sports team, eating lunch with students on campus, and attending school events, lead pastors and youth leaders can connect and empower a vast network of students, parents, and families. A story from Hawaii is representative of reports from around the U.S. of how God has inexplicably connected local churches and schools.

Dan and Jan Preciado are senior pastors at Kailua Assembly of God on the island of Oahu. Arriving in November 2013, the couple immediately began praying that they would be able to reach the local high school, just a few doors down from their church, for God's glory.

"Within the first few weeks I remember standing in my living room and I fast-forwarded five years and thought to myself that my greatest fear was not reaching the school," says Dan.

In the first few months, Dan made an appointment with the principal for the sake of introducing himself and starting to build a relationship. He discovered the principal and her husband were both Christians willing to talk about their faith. Through that relationship, it wasn't long before the Preciados were asked to sit on one of the school's boards.

"Of course we said yes! " Dan recalls. "I wanted any and every opportunity to get exposure to that school!"

That next school year he invited the athletic director to his office to, once again, begin to build a relationship. By the end of the meeting, Preciado had been asked to be the chaplain of the football team. During the preseason of his second year of chaplaincy, the church provided a check to help pay for the team travel to another island for a preseason game.

The Preciados and others at Kailua AG felt lead to host an "Encouragement and Blessing Service" before the first football game. Going through the proper chain of command, the date was set for Aug. 12, 2015. The church was packed with more than 60 players, coaches, parents, and faculty in attendance. Football moms provided a meal for after the service. During the service there was an invitation to receive Jesus as Savior and 25 students responded! A couple of games later, the team dedicated the game to Preciado as an expression of gratitude for caring about, praying for, and giving his time to the team.

"The service of Aug. 12 was on the calendar before General Council," Preciado says. "Our first night at GC we heard about the Our Schools Matter initiative -- reaching the community through the local school. I wanted to shout out right then and there about what was and is going on at Kailua AG and through our local school. God is so good!"

It's never too late to reach out to the local school. Regardless of church size or income, every church can do something, big or small, to engage with the school.

Nii Abrahams

Nii Abrahams is a graduate of Missouri State University with an undergraduate degree in communication and an emphasis in ethical leadership. He is pursuing a master's degree in communication at Missouri State. He is a part of the Assemblies of God National Youth Ministries team as the communication and content strategist.