Reach Your School Guidebook

COVER

Reach Your School Guidebook
Copyright © 2024 Decision Point
Decision Point
P.O. Box 1118
Wheaton, IL 60187
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no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any
means without prior permission from the publisher.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV®
Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by
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All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the authors.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
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4 5
4

A Letter to Coaches
A Letter to Pastors, Parents, & Teachers
THE MISSION
Decision Point Pledge
The Heart of the Mission
The Gospel App by Decision Point
Getting a Coach
Reach Your School with the 5 Gospel Challenges
Reach Your School: Action Plan
What is the Gospel?
Sharing the Gospel with Your Testimony
Starting a Club
Legal Rights for Students
Advocating for Your Legal Rights
8
9
11
13
14
17
18
19
20
23
24
26
29
30
More Club Meetings
Testimony Sharing
Testimony Videos
See You At The Pole
Christmas Party
Holiday Parties
End of Year Party
PRAY5
The Pray5 Challenge
Mobilize People to Pray
Christian Students
Teacher Sponsor
Parents
The Church
45
45
46
46
47
47
47
49
51
54
56
57
58
59
TEACH GOD’S WORD
The Teach God’s Word Challenge
How to Prepare and Teach a Bible Lesson
Teach God’s Word Series Previews
Reach Every Student
Follow Jesus
What’s the Point?
Identity
The King and His Cross
The Gospel in Romans
33
35
38
40
40
41
41
42
42
43
GO WITNESS
The Go Witness Challenge
Witnessing Myths
Why Witness?
How to Witness
How to Lead a Witnessing Outing
The Bible Commands Us to Share the Gospel
God is Our Confidence
Sharing the Gospel with People You Know
Sharing the Gospel with People You Don’t Know
6 7
61
63
66
68
69
72
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77

DEAR Coaches,
Praise God for your faithfulness in discipling students to be gospel leaders!
Thank you for investing in the lives of Student Leaders who are reaching their
school and generation with the gospel, making an impact this year and the rest
of their lives. Whether you are a youth pastor, teacher, parent, college student
or adult volunteer - your role as a Decision Point Coach is vital!
DEAR Pastors,
PARENTS, AND TEACHERS
You get to train Student Leaders to take the gospel into their schools by
personally witnessing for Christ, praying for the lost, leading gospel-centered
clubs, giving out Bibles, hosting campus-wide outreach events, and following up
with all who are interested in more. Personally, they get to be a part of
discipling others and helping peers and new believers get plugged into the local
church. Students will grow in their love for God, love for others, and in making
disciples of Jesus.
None of this is easy. Don’t be surprised by the challenges and obstacles
students will face along the way. Students may get discouraged at times, feel
overwhelmed, and lose sight of why they are doing what they’re doing. Your
presence and role is so important. You will encourage them to keep going, take
the next step, trust God, stay fed by His Word, depend on the Holy Spirit, pray
God-sized prayers, and swing for the fences.
Let’s pray for God to bring a student-led, church-supported campus awakening
to the love of Christ at every public school. Together, we get to strengthen
a remnant of young leaders who are ready to live, stand, witness, and endure
hardship for Jesus, because He is worth it!
Together we have the privilege to support students who are proclaiming the
gospel to their generation. Praise God! This mission works best with Student
Leaders who have supportive involvement from their pastors, parents, teachers,
and a coach, who are all in it with them. Praise be to God for the role each of you
have in the mission of giving every student the opportunity to hear the gospel
before they graduate. We are here to serve you and together see a student-led,
church-supported campus awakening to the love of Christ at the public schools in
your area. To God be the glory!
With Deep Appreciation,
Your Decision Point Staff
Please check out the resource and connection pages below!
Check out page 14 to take a deeper look at
“The Heart of the Mission”, and page 55 for
ways to be praying with your student!
Shoulder to Shoulder,
Your Decision Point Staff
Wondering what to do 8, 4 and 2 weeks out from an Outreach
Week? Check out the “8 Weeks Before Outreach
Checklist” starting on page 99 for everything you need to
help students leading up an outreach.
COACHES
TEACHERS
PASTORS
PARENTS
Check out page 20 for the
“Reach Your School Action Plan.”
resources.decisionpoint.org/
coach-tools
decisionpoint.org/educators
decisionpoint.org/pastors
decisionpoint.org/parents
8 9

11

DECISION POINT PLEDGE
LIVE. STAND. WITNESS. ENDURE.
I pledge myself to the mission of proclaiming the gospel
to the next generation till every student has heard,
and will work to raise up others for this mission.
By God’s grace . . .
I will live for Christ focused on His purposes, not my own.
Knowing I can do nothing apart from Him, I will be a leader who is
daily fed by His Word, fueled by prayer, and filled by His Holy Spirit.
Because I belong to the Lord, I will live a life of faith, boldness,
and faithfulness with all the Lord has entrusted to me.
I will stand for Christ as one committed to the truth of
God’s Word. I will not be ashamed of His testimony
or bow down to the idols of today.
I will witness for Christ. Because the love of Christ compels me,
I will pray for the lost, give God’s Word to those around me,
and regularly share the good news of Jesus who alone
can save and set them free.
I will endure hardship for Christ. I will not quit or back down when
things are hard or painful, but will count it all joy when I meet trials
of various kinds. I will look to Jesus for strength who endured the cross
and its shame, trusting Him to use all things for my good and His glory.
I pledge all of this for Christ because He is worth it.
Signature:
Date:
THE MISSION 13

THE HEART OF
THE MISSION
A word from Decision Point President, Mark Hopson:
Hey students! I am so excited you’ve decided to be a Decision Point Leader.
A core part of Jesus’ discipleship plan was evangelism. How amazing would
it be if every Christian was unashamed and active in evangelism?
It‘s just what disciples do! And that’s why
together we’re proclaiming the gospel
to the next generation till every student
has heard.
The need for this mission is huge. As you
know, the teenage years are a time of
decisions. Students are figuring out who
they are, what they believe, and what
life is all about. Many are asking if life is
even worth living. Guided only by culture’s
shifting standards, students are left to
build their lives on sinking sand. Without
God’s truth to guide them, students are
tossed about and driven toward deadly decisions. Atheism is on the
rise. Alternate lifestyles are on the rise. Addictions and suicide are
skyrocketing.
In all this, millions of students have never even heard the good news
of Jesus Christ, who alone can set them free. But this generation
doesn’t have to stay a lost generation, and that’s why:
Your mission is to give every student at
your school the opportunity to hear the
gospel before they graduate.
This mission is made possible by committing to the 4 CAMPUS OBJECTIVES:
1. Reach Every Student: Imagine giving every student at your school the
opportunity to hear the gospel, respond in faith, grow as a new believer, and
plug into a local church! You can’t make anyone accept Christ, but you can
make sure they have the opportunity.
2. Mobilize Christian Students: You can’t do this alone! Raise up more
Christian students by actively involving them in sharing the gospel at school.
Don’t limit this to only the Christian students that come to your club. Reach
out and intentionally invite other Christians to join in the mission as well.
3. Gather Community Support: This mission requires a team! Invite your
teacher sponsor, parents, pastors, local churches, and other believers to
support and sustain the mission by praying, giving, and volunteering.
4. Develop Future Leaders: Graduation is coming. Continue the mission of
proclaiming the gospel to the next generation by raising up future leaders
and developing them to take up the torch at your school after you graduate.
You can do all this by following
the Action Plan on page 20. This
Action Plan will give you a proven
strategy to raise up others to
join you to Reach Your School
with the 5 Gospel Challenges:
Teach God’s Word, Pray5,
Go Witness, Give God’s Word,
and Lead an Outreach Week.
They are called challenges for a reason, but with Jesus you can do hard
things! My hope is that more than just taking challenges, you become
a leader who proclaims the gospel for the rest of your life. That’s why
14 THE MISSION THE MISSION 15

you’re being equipped with this Guidebook and The Gospel App by
Decision Point. Alongside your Coach, these resources will help you
accomplish the mission at your school.
Your mission will not be easy. You may wonder if you have what it takes
or if God will really use you. It will take lots of time and sacrifice, just like
it does to get good grades or be part of a sports team or music group.
But unlike those other activities, what you do to share the gospel will
have an eternal impact.
THE GOSPEL APP
BY DECISION POINT
You will face challenges along the way, and at times you will be
tempted to quit. But take courage, for you are known and loved by
the Lord. Don’t forget that God loves to use young leaders like you
who are ready to live for Christ, stand for Christ, witness for Christ,
and endure hardship for His name because He is worth it.
And remember, you are not alone. As you step out to share the gospel
at your school, you are part of something bigger. You are part of a
community of students, staff, pastors, parents, teachers and others
across the world all working toward this big vision.
Most importantly, remember that God is with you. After rising from the
dead, and right before ascending into heaven, Jesus said, “All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations . . . And behold, I am with you always” (Matthew
28:18-20).
Ready? Let’s dive in! Check out the rest of this MISSION tab and
then head to the TEACH GOD’S WORD tab to get started.
And be sure to tune in to the Decision Point Podcast that we created to
strengthen leaders like you!
In Christ,
16 THE MISSION THE MISSION 17

GETTING A COACH
What if you had someone who
could come alongside you and your
Christian club to provide support in
the mission to reach your school?
What if they encouraged you in your
growth as a Christian leader each
step of the way? That’s what a
Decision Point Coach does!
1. Pray and think through people you would want to ask, like your
pastor or a youth leader at your church, or a parent or mentor. Don’t
worry if they’re not familiar with Decision Point or experienced with
campus ministry yet. There are resources to equip them!
2. Pick your top choice and share with them how you want to give
every student at your school the opportunity to hear the gospel.
Explain that what you would need from them is to . . .
a. Pray and encourage you throughout the year.
b. Connect regularly in person or on the phone.
c. Work through the Action Plan (pages 20-21) to help you reach
your school with the 5 Gospel Challenges.
d. Help you connect with the local church.
e. Join your Outreach Week.
3. Watch the intro video at decisionpoint.org/students, look through
the website together, and show them this Guidebook.
4. Ask if they would be able to commit to being your coach.
5. Follow up for their answer.
a. If they say no, that’s okay! Pray that God would show you the
next person to ask.
b. If they say maybe, give them a little more time and follow up
after a couple days.
c. If they say yes, thank them and have them download The
Gospel App by Decision Point and register as a coach, so they
can have access to a bunch of free resources. Then determine
the next time you can meet to keep going!
Reach Your School
with THE 5 gospel
challenges
The mission is to give every student the opportunity to
hear the gospel before they graduate.
Use all five Gospel Challenges to have the greatest
chance of accomplishing the mission. If you can’t do
all five, choose what works best for your school!
Teach God’s Word Teach evangelistic series where every
lesson clearly shares the gospel with unbelievers and also helps
believers grow in their faith.
Pray5 Pray faithfully for five unbelievers every day for five
weeks! Pray specifically that God would open their hearts to come
to know Christ. And pray for boldness, that when God opens a
door, you will courageously share the hope that you have.
Go Witness Initiate conversations until you get to share the
gospel with five people. Be friendly, ask them their thoughts about
God, be a good listener, ask if you can share the gospel with
them, and invite them to respond!
Give God’s Word Give a Bible, New Testament,
or one of the Gospels to five of your friends
and to as many students as possible.
Lead an Outreach WeeK Give students a
unique way to hear the gospel by leading a weeklong
outreach on campus consisting of prayer,
promo, gospel events, and follow-up.
18 THE MISSION THE MISSION 19

20 THE MISSION THE MISSION 21

ELLI’S
STORY
The first name on Elli’s Pray5 card was her
friend, Aspen. Elli, a middle schooler in
colorado, took a step of faith by sharing the
gospel through her testimony with Aspen. Elli also
gave her a Bible and they started studying God’s
Word together.
Elli took another step of faith and invited Aspen
to her Christian club. Aspen started attending
regularly and kept prompting Elli on her faith.
Hoping for a chance to further introduce Aspen
to Jesus, Elli invited Aspen to her youth group,
where Aspen heard about winter camp and ended up
attending and accepting Jesus!
Three weeks after that, Aspen was baptized! She
was baptized by Elli and Dustin, who is both a
youth pastor and Decision Point coach.
Soon after accepting Christ, during one of the
outreach events at Holmes Middle School in
Colorado, Aspen stood up in front of 220 of her
peers and boldly shared her testimony about how
Jesus saved her and is changing her life.
Praise God for Elli’s faithful prayers and
witness, and for Aspen’s boldness to proclaim
the gospel to those who didn’t yet know Jesus as
Savior and Lord!
WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?
The gospel is the “good news” about Jesus. It’s the most important
message in the world! Whether sharing the good news with a friend or
strangers, one way to summarize the gospel is with five simple points.
Take time to practice saying this over and over, so that when you talk
with someone it feels natural and clear!
1. GOD - God is the creator and king of the world. He made us to know
Him and experience His love, so we should obey and follow Him. Acts
17:24 says, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord
of heaven and earth.”
2. SIN - We have all sinned against God, so we are separated from Him
and will face His judgment. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God.”
3. JESUS - God, in His great mercy and love, sent Jesus, who died to pay
the penalty for our sin, rose from the dead, and will come again to judge
the world. Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows His love for us in that while
we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
4. SALVATION - We can be saved if we trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior
and Lord. Trusting Jesus means to have faith in God to save you by His
grace, not your works. It means you repent of your sin, accept Jesus as
the Lord of your life, and receive His gift of salvation. Romans 10:9 says,
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your
heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.“
5. DECISION POINT - There really are only two ways to live: life without
Christ or life with Christ. You can receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord
today by calling on Him in faith through prayer. Is there anything that
would keep you from deciding to follow Jesus right now? Acts 2:21 says,
“Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Leading someone in a prayer to receive Jesus as their Savior could
go something like . . . “Lord Jesus, I admit that I’m a sinner. I’m sorry for
going my own way, but I want to follow You. I believe that You died for
my sins and rose again from the dead. Please forgive me of all my sins
and be my Lord and Savior. Amen.”
22 THE MISSION THE MISSION 23

SHARing the gospel
with YOUR TESTIMONY
Write your testimony here and then share it!
Before Jesus:
Sharing the gospel through your testimony is a powerful way to
proclaim the good news of Jesus, and you can do it anytime! In oneon-one
conversations, while witnessing to your friends or strangers, and
at events like your club meetings and outreaches. Your testimony can
help you make the gospel personal and relatable when you share it with
a non-believer, and it can be an encouragement to the believers in your
life. Sharing your testimony also helps you see God’s hand at work in your
life, brings you closer in your relationship with God, and increases your
gratitude and trust in Him as He molds your story for His glory.
When sharing your testimony, talk about these four
things:
1. Before Jesus - Think about what your life looked like before you met
Jesus. Were you anxious? What decisions did you make? What did you
find your identity in? How were you sinning against God?
2. The Good News of Jesus - Share about learning the good news
of Jesus and briefly explain the five points of the gospel. This gives
everyone listening the life-changing opportunity to hear the good
news and be saved!
3. Decision Point - Share about when you decided to follow Jesus. What
led you to repent from your sin, believe in Jesus as your Savior, and
decide to fully surrender your life to follow Him?
4. Since Jesus - Jesus has set you free! Clearly share how the gospel
has changed your life. Explain how having a relationship with Jesus
has enabled you to live differently, whether your circumstances have
changed or not.
Things to Avoid:
• Exaggeration - Your testimony doesn’t need to be dramatic to be
powerful! God uses each of our stories in a unique way.
• Christianese - Using words and phrases like “I was washed by the
blood” may not be helpful for non-Christians who haven’t been
exposed to this kind of language before.
The Good News of Jesus:
I learned the good news of Jesus: that God is the creator and king of
the world. He made us to know Him and experience His love, so we
should obey and follow Him. But we have all sinned against God, so we
are separated from Him and will face His judgment. Thankfully, God in
His great mercy and love sent Jesus who died to pay the penalty for our
sin, rose from the dead, and will come again to judge the world. We
can be saved if we trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Trusting
Jesus means to have faith in God to save you by His grace, not your
works. It means you confess your sin, accept Jesus as the Lord of your
life, and receive His gift of salvation. There really are only two ways to
live: life without Christ or life with Christ. You can receive Jesus as your
Savior and Lord today by calling on Him in faith through prayer. Is there
anything that would keep you from deciding to follow Jesus right now?
Decision Point:
I have decided to follow Jesus because…
Since Jesus:
24 THE MISSION THE MISSION 25

STARTING A CLUB
If you want to reach your whole school with the gospel, you’re going to
want to have a team of believers working together to make it happen.
There are so many opportunities that are only available when
you are in a club. If there’s already a Christian club on campus, try
joining that one and see if they are comitted to sharing the gospel with
unbelievers and if they hold a biblical worldview. If not, then you can
start a new club that can make an impact for years to come. The good
news is: starting a club can be easy!
Follow along with the
“Starting a Club” training
video by scanning the QR
code above or visiting
decisionpoint.org/startaclub
First . . . Go to the school office to find out the process and
paperwork that you need to start a club. Your school should have a
standard process for any student group that wants to become a club.
Next . . . Ask a Christian teacher to be your club sponsor and at
the same time, gather Christian students who can help lead the club
with you. Maybe you already have some Christian friends who would
be interested, or maybe this is an opportunity to make new Christian
friends. Once you find the right people, tell them about your mission to
give every student at school the opportunity to hear the gospel before
they graduate, and ask them to help you start the club.
Finally . . . Once you have everything and everyone you need,
submit the club application and get confirmation that your club is
approved.
If you have any trouble, read the next couple of pages and go to
decisionpoint.org/legal-rights-in-action for advice on how to move
forward.
Start meeting even if you’re waiting on admin approval for your
club. You can start meeting weekly with a group of students going
through the Teach God’s Word content of this guidebook and doing all
the gospel challenges except Lead an Outreach Week. Don’t let club
approval slow you down from gathering students and making an impact
for Christ! You may not be able to hang up posters or reserve rooms yet,
but you can meet together anywhere students can gather and promote
using word-of-mouth and flyers.
Check out the “Leading a Club” section on pages 122-135 to find a
ton of great training to sharpen your club leadership skills.
Don’t have a Christian teacher sponsor yet?
1. Pray! As with all things, start with prayer. Ask God to provide a great
Christian teacher sponsor who will support you in the mission to give every
student at your school the opportunity to hear the gospel.
2. Brainstorm! Make a list of all possible teacher sponsors that might say
yes, even if they’re not a Christian. This can be teachers you’ve personally
had or know.
3. Start asking! Prioritize asking Christian teachers first, and then others
from your list.
• Emphasize that it is a service to the school that will benefit students’
spiritual, emotional, social, and mental health.
• Emphasize that them saying yes opens an opportunity for you and
other club leaders to grow in your leadership development.
• Clarify that your club is student-led, not teacher-led or adult-led. This
is the only way it is legal!
• Make sure they are fully on board with you hosting outreach events
26 THE MISSION THE MISSION 27

and witnessing on campus.
• Make sure they can be physically present for your meetings and
events. You can have two teacher sponsors if they would like to split
the responsibilities of being in the room during club meetings and
events.
• Make sure they are aligned with your beliefs and values. The more
you talk on these things up front, the smoother things will go in
the long run. Consider sharing this webpage with them if helpful:
decisionpoint.org/beliefs-and-values
• If it’s a Christian teacher, emphasize that your heart is to give every
student the opportunity to hear the gospel before they graduate.
Still don’t have one?
LEGAL RIGHTS
FOR STUDENTS
Students often wonder if it’s really legal for them to share their
faith on campus. The answer is: YES! It’s completely legal!
Since many people don’t know this, it’s important to be familiar with the
legal rights that protect students when sharing about Jesus on a public
school campus. Follow along with the “Legal Rights for Students” video
at decisionpoint.org/legal-rights by using the QR code above.
Approach your school administration with your challenge of finding
one and ask for pointers and help.
If possible, mass email the school staff sharing the emphases above,
asking if anyone would be willing to be your club teacher sponsor. Make
sure to include that they do not have to be a Christian. Follow up on the
email a week later if you don’t hear from anyone.
STILL don’t have one?
Begin pursuing alternative creative options.
• Can any paid staff of the school fill this role?
• Can your Decision Point Coach become a school volunteer and then
have the ability to be a club sponsor?
• Are one of your parents available and able to volunteer for this role?
CHECK OUT THESE
TRAININGS TO HELP
LEAD YOUR CLUB!
BEING A GOSPEL-CENTERED CLUB
LEADERSHIP TEAM MEETINGS
CLUB PROMOTION
“Separation of Church and State” is a phrase many
people think means that schools are supposed to be religion-free zones,
but it’s the total opposite! It actually means that public, governmentfunded
schools cannot hinder or regulate students’ expression of
religion.
The First Amendment of the Constitution says that the
government can’t make any laws that keep you from practicing your
religion freely. It also can’t restrict your speech (verbal and written).
So if you want to pray, share the gospel, hand out flyers promoting the
Christian club or events at your church, bring your Bible, or give out
Bibles or any other Christian materials, your school can’t legally stop
you from doing so. If they did, they would be violating your freedom of
speech.
The Equal Access Act of 1984 ensures that all on-campus
clubs receive equal treatment. If any other club can reserve facilities,
hang posters, make announcements on the PA system or bring in a guest
speaker, so can the Christian club. And if another club hasn’t done
something like that at school before, that doesn’t mean the Christian
club can’t be the first! It shouldn’t be limited in any way just because it’s
a religious club.
What do you do if the administration at your school has denied or
ignored your rights on campus? Keep reading!
28 THE MISSION THE MISSION 29
HOW TO LEAD GREAT CLUB MEETINGS
122
124
126
128

ADVOCATING FOR
YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
Did you know that advocating for your legal rights is biblical?
In Acts 22, Paul is preaching to a crowd in Jerusalem, testifying to the
work of God in his life and defending his ministry work. But when the
crowd hears Paul say something they don’t like, they respond in anger,
rejecting his message and calling for him to be killed (v. 22). When the
Roman commander sees the uproar, he orders that Paul “should be
examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him
like this” (v. 24). Right away, Paul utilizes his status as a Roman citizen
to advocate for his legal rights to a fair trial (v. 25). Because Paul
advocated, he was able to receive fair treatment and eventually
got the opportunity to share the gospel in front of many more
people, including some of the world leaders of his day.
Similarly, there may be times as a student when your legal rights are
not being upheld. Your principal is probably not intentionally out to
get you. Most likely, they just don’t understand that what you’re
asking is actually backed and encouraged by the law. The majority
of the time, things can easily be resolved as a misunderstanding without
becoming a huge issue. But even if it does become a problem, you can
be confident that firmly and respectfully standing up for your rights is
the wise and loving thing to do. It’s important to proceed with a heart
posture of confidence in the Lord, understanding and respect toward
those in authority, and a love for the lost who need to hear the gospel.
This isn’t about defending yourself; it’s about preserving an open door
for the gospel right now and for future generations at your school.
• Sample emails for specific situations. It’s super important to get
everything in writing!
• How and when to ask for help from your teacher sponsor and/or
parents.
• How to follow up utilizing the ”Two Day Rule”: do not wait
more than 2 business days to follow up on an email that
you, a teacher sponsor, or a parent has sent to the school’s
administration.
• How to contact the Pacific Justice Institute.
The Pacific Justice Institute is a non-profit legal defense
organization that helps defend religious freedom free of
charge! PJI understands that most problems come from
uninformed school staff, so their first step is always to reach
out to your school with a pleasant and direct message
clarifying your rights and offering to defend the school admin
for free if anyone tries to challenge the school for upholding
your rights as students. They are an amazing resource, so
don’t hesitate to ask for their help!
When being discriminated against illegally, students can ask PJI to send
a letter on their behalf notifying admin of the law and their need to
uphold it. This simple letter normally does a lot, quickly! You are not
starting a lawsuit by asking PJI’s lawyer to contact admin on your behalf.
It is normally the lawyer’s voice that gets taken seriously and helps any
discrimination get corrected quickly. You can keep a civil and friendly
relationship with admin while also advocating for your legal rights!
Go to decisionpoint.org/legal-rights-in-action to follow along with
the “Advocating for Your Legal Rights'' training video and take a deeper
dive into legal rights and how to appropriately advocate for them. On
that webpage you can also find . . .
30 THE MISSION THE MISSION 31

DANIEL’S STORY
Daniel was a high school senior in New Jersey
when he heard about the opportunity to reach
his school through starting a Christian
club. Excited, he quickly signed up to be a
Decision Point Leader, but it took A LOT OF
PERSERVERANCE.
After dozens of emails back and forth with
his admin, Daniel’s club was finally approved!
Later, when his requests to host an outreach
event kept getting ignored, HE perservered
again.
After working through each roadblock with his
admin, Daniel’s outreach was finally approved.
He put up posters for his event and passed
out flyers with some friends. Daniel had the
chance to share his testimony with the students
who attended, and several of them requested a
Bible.
Praise God for the seeds of the gospel that
were planted!
33

THE TEACH GOD’S
WORD CHALLENGE
So many people today are
building their lives on the
sinking sand of what our culture
tells them and what their own
hearts feel. What if you could
be the one to help them build
their lives on the rock of Christ
and His Word?
The Teach God’s Word Challenge: Teach evangelistic series where
every lesson clearly shares the gospel with unbelievers and also helps
believers grow in their faith.
START THE CHALLENGE
IN THE GOSPEL APP!
As a Christian club leader you already lead club meetings every week so
you can easily Teach God’s Word all year long in your club! You can also
empower other Christians to teach in club and also outside of club with
a few of their friends or classmates. The most important thing is that
the gospel is clearly shared every time you teach (see a summary
of the gospel on page 23). This way, if an unbeliever only comes once,
they don’t miss out on a chance to hear the life-changing message
of the gospel. The following pages contain a bunch of evangelistic
teaching series you can use in your club meetings. Pick a series to start
(see page 40) and don’t forget all the great training available in the
“Leading a Club” section of this Guidebook starting on page 119.
TEACH GOD’S WORD 35

If you’re waiting for your club to get approved by your school’s
administration, you can still start meeting weekly with a group of
students going through the Teach God’s Word content and doing all
the Gospel Challenges except Lead an Outreach Week. Don’t let club
approval slow you down from gathering students and making an impact
for Christ! You may not be able to hang up posters or reserve rooms yet,
but you can meet together anywhere students can gather and promote
by using word of mouth.
Invite other Christians you know to take the challenge!
Even though as a club leader you will Teach God’s Word all year, there
can be times each semester where you can strategically invite others in
your club to take the challenge so you can raise up more teachers and
develop future leaders. Find out people’s interest in teaching, reach out
intentionally to anyone who you would like to invite to teach in your club,
and keep track of who is teaching each lesson for the whole school
year. Christian students can also take the Teach God’s Word challenge
by teaching outside of club meetings!
You can even mobilize your youth group to take the challenge!
Share about it with your youth pastor and see if you could play the video
and lead the youth group in taking the challenge, whether or not they
lead Christian clubs at their schools.
What impact can this have on your campus?
As you work to give every student the opportunity to hear the gospel
before they graduate, let’s dive into how taking this challenge can
help accomplish the 4 Campus Objectives at your school.
1. Reach Every Student: There are unbelieving students at your
school who would come to your club meetings to learn about Jesus
if they were personally invited and knew that club wasn’t only for
Christians. And if the gospel is being shared at every club meeting,
then the more unbelieving students invited means the more students
are coming and hearing the gospel!
2. Mobilize Christian Students: Lead the Christian students at your
school in personally inviting their friends and peers to learn about
36 TEACH GOD’S WORD
Jesus with them in your club. A great idea is to do a big promo push
any time you start a new teaching series. Put out PA annoucements
and mobilize your whole club to pass out flyers with donut holes
before school on the morning a new series launches!
3. Gather Community Support: Invite pastors to attend your club
meeting and to teach one of the lessons. Or even better, they can
come support you as you lead the series! Ask them for tips on what
you did well and how you can strengthen your teaching for next
time.
4. Develop Future Leaders: Recognize other students’ leadership
potential, especially underclassmen, and give them opportunities to
Teach God’s Word in an upcoming series. This will give them a taste
of what it’s like to be a club leader and give them a chance to be
developed as a teacher. This can help them see themselves as a
future leader of the club and fuel their long-term involvement.
Don’t stop teaching God’s Word after just one series. Keep going!
Your experience in teaching from the Bible is a skill you can take
with you for the rest of your life. God’s Word never returns void. It is
powerful to renew minds and transform lives. Pray that as people hear
God’s Word, they discover who Jesus really is. That’s what the Teach
God’s Word challenge is all about.
CHECK OUT THESE TRAININGS
TO HELP TEACH GOD’S WORD!
How to Lead Great Club Meetings
Public Speaking
Vision Casting
Empowering Others
128
130
132
134
TEACH GOD’S WORD 37

HOW TO PREPARE AND
TEACH A BIBLE LESSON
Want to grow in your skill of teaching God’s Word? Check out the
tips below!
TRANSITION STATEMENTS It’s super important to think of
transition statements from one section of the lesson to another. For
example, “Now we are going to look at the passage for today. If you
have your Bible or Bible app, please turn to Luke chapter 4 starting in
verse 16…” Or when talking about the context (for example with lessons
that say “the story is set”) — you could say something like, “Before we
get into our passage today, let’s see where we’re coming into this story.”
REFLECTION Think of a simple reflection, like “One way this Bible
passage impacts my life personally is _____.” Then transition to some
reflection questions that people can personally think about and ones
they can share by turning to their neighbor, getting in a small group,
and/or sharing out loud all together.
CLOSE WELL You can remain in front of the group during people’s
discussions, while keeping an eye on time, and then close in prayer to
wrap up the lesson.
TIME Confirm the length of time your devo lesson should be. If you
have a 30 minute club meeting, maybe aim for your lesson to be 10-15
minutes. If around 45 minutes, maybe aim for 20-30 minutes.
PREP Open the lesson’s teaching notes and grab your Bible.
Read the teaching notes a couple times through. When you get to any
“read the passage” parts, open your Bible and read them. Get the
context and flow of the passage by reading some of the Bible chapters
before and after. This is a good Bible study habit of reading in context.
If you want to teach from a passage of the Bible that you don’t have
teaching notes for, consider using the Hook, Book, Look, Took Method. 1
• Hook - An intro that grabs people’s attention.
• Book - Read the passage of Scripture.
• Look - Look at what the passage means in context.
• Took - Pick one take away to apply to your life.
HOOK The hook is the first thing you share at the beginning of the
lesson to engage those you’re teaching and help them see why what
you are going to be talking about is relevant to their lives. You can make
it fun, meaningful, interesting, etc. You can form your own “hook”, but
you can also certainly use any and all the material in the lesson; that’s
why it is provided to you!
38 TEACH GOD’S WORD
TEACH GOD’S WORD 39

TEACH GOD’S WORD
SERIES PREVIEWS
FOLLOW JESUS This series shows non-Christians what life as a
believer looks like, teaches new Christians next steps in their faith, and
challenges Christians to live a life committed to following Jesus. This is
a great series to use after an Outreach Week!
REACH EVERY STUDENT Clubs start in lots of different spots.
Some start with a full leadership team and a lot of people, filling up a
classroom or even the gym every week. Others start with just 2 or 3
people meeting at a lunch table together. Praise God wherever you’re
at and don’t let anything get in the way of your mission to give every
student the opportunity to hear the gospel. Consider using this Reach
Every Student series to launch the mission of reaching your
school with the 5 Gospel Challenges! Sometimes clubs have a soft
launch where they start gathering Christian students together and run
these first couple weeks of club meetings to build a core team of club
members. Then they have an official launch as a club, inviting the whole
school to join as they start a new evangelistic teaching series. The first
day of this series could even be an outreach event with mass promotion
and free pizza. Decide what’s best for your club, and in everything, pray
to the Lord who has the power to save, that He would do a mighty work
through all the Christians on your campus, till every student has heard.
40 TEACH GOD’S WORD
WHAT’S THE POINT? This series dives into what the Bible has
to say about meaning and purpose. For people who have wondered
“What’s the point of life?”, “Does God exist?”, or “Is there an afterlife?”
- this is a great series for them! Both Christian and non-Christian
students have so many questions, and fortunately, the Bible has
a lot of great answers!
TEACH GOD’S WORD 41

IDENTITY The goal of this series is to attract non-Christian students
that are looking for answers about identity and answer Christian
students’ questions as well. It looks at how God defines us and how
each person has value because we are created in His image. Dive
into how everyone is made to be loved by God and to glorify Him.
THE KING AND HIS CROSS This series introduces students to
Jesus and His mission. As they journey through the Gospel of Luke,
they will learn that Jesus is the true king who came to give His
life for them on the cross. As they see Jesus do miracles, preach the
gospel, and then die and rise again, many will be ready to say “Yes!” to
Jesus, as He calls them now to take up their cross and follow Him.
42 TEACH GOD’S WORD
THE GOSPEL IN ROMANS This series is for everyone - whether
that be non-Christians looking to explore the message of Jesus, brand
new believers who are just starting to figure out how to live out their
faith, or Christians who have been walking with Jesus for a while now.
Everyone will benefit from learning more deeply how the gospel is the
power that not only saves them, but helps them life a life that glorifies
God. It is vitally important that anyone who wants to be a Jesus
follower has a clear understanding of what the gospel is and how
it actually works itself out in our lives. The Gospel in Romans series
will lead you through the fundamental elements of Christianity in clear,
simple, and profound lessons about who we as people are in relation
to our holy God. Questions like - who is God?, and how can sinners be
made right with God? and what does it mean to live as a Christian in
today’s culture? - will all be explored in these messages of hope and
salvation.
CHECK BACK FOR NEWLY RELEASED
TEACHING SERIES EACH YEAR!
TEACH GOD’S WORD 43

MORE CLUB
MEETINGS
MANNY + DIEGO’S
STORY
As one of the few Christian students at
his campus, Manny began to wonder if God
was really using him as a club leader. He
faithfully shared the gospel at his club
each week. At one of the meetings, Manny
asked if anyone wanted to receive prayer.
A student raised his hand, and Manny prayed
over him and shared God’s love for him.
Afterward that student told Manny,
“I’ve been struggling with depression and
anxiety and was planning on going home to
end my life in two hours. Now that I know
God loves me, I’m not going to do that.”
Manny was shocked. Not only had the
Lord immediately encouraged him in his
discouragement, but God had worked through
Manny to save this student’s life! Since
then, Manny’s faith in God has grown
enormously, and he has continued to lead his
club with boldness and perseverance, knowing
the Lord will meet him each step of the way.
Testimony Sharing
Sharing gospel through your testimony is a powerful way to proclaim
the good news of Jesus. It can be done anytime: in one-on-one
conversations, while witnessing to friends or strangers, and at big events
like Outreach Weeks. Additionally, students can share their testimonies
during weekly club meetings!
When students like you share their testimonies, it makes the
gospel personal and relatable to a non-believer. It can also be
an encouragement to other believers and help the club grow
deeper together as a community. And for the person who shares their
testimony, it can help them see God’s hand at work in their life, bringing
them closer in relationship with God and increasing their gratitude and
trust in Him as He molds their story for His glory.
Check out “Sharing the Gospel With Your Testimony” on pages 24-25 to
help grow your confidence in sharing your story in the context of Jesus’
bigger story.
A cool idea is to have one student share the 5 minute version of their
testimony right after the lesson at each club meeting all year so people
can continue to get to know each other and see Jesus working in the
lives of the people around them. It can even be a space where new
believers can share their stories after coming to Christ throughout the
school year!
44 TEACH GOD’S WORD
TEACH GOD’S WORD 45

Testimony Videos
Just as it is powerful for someone to share the gospel through their
testimonies with their peers, it is also powerful to hear other people’s
testimonies! There are a ton of amazing testimony videos you could
play at your club, whether you turn it into a multi-week series or
just play them every once in a while when you are in between
series.
See You At The Pole
Use these teaching notes during the
club meeting before See You at the
Pole (SYATP), which is a global day
of student prayer. SYATP began in
1990 as a grass roots movement with
ten students praying at their school.
Decades later, millions pray on their
campuses on the fourth Wednesday in
September. See You at the Pole is simply a prayer rally where students
meet at the school flagpole before school to lift up their friends,
families, teachers, school, and nation to God. Utilize these teaching
notes and check out syatp.com for more info and resources. Many
Christian students have made praying a the flagpole a monthly or
even weekly thing. What an amazing way to be a consistent light in
the darkness!
Christmas Party
This is a club gathering to do mass promotion for. Don’t miss the
chance to share clearly the gospel - your true hope and the true
meaning of Christmas is Jesus! This is also a great day to do the Give
God’s Word Challenge in the morning before school. You can have your
club hand out God’s Word and a Christmas Party flyer to everyone as
they come into school. You could say something like, “This is a gift from
the Christian club and we’d love to invite you to our Christmas party
today!” Make this a super fun club meeting; it is a party after all! Check
out the Christmas devo from the book of Luke that a student or
pastor could give during the party, especially so that non-Christian
students get a chance to hear the gospel. At the end, preview your
next teaching series and encourage people to come back after Winter
Break to learn more about Jesus!
Holiday Parties
Most holidays lead to easy outreach parties. Thanksgiving,
Valentines, Easter, etc. Get creative! One school passed out
“Valentines”, which were Life Books with candy, a hand written note that
said “Jesus loves you”, and an invitation to their club’s Valentines party
where they shared about true love through the gospel.
End of Year Party
Wow! Your last club meeting of the school year! Take time to celebrate
what God did this past year, cast a vision for the future, and
introduce the club leaders for the next year. If you are doing any
witnessing outings, bonfires, or casual prayer/worship gatherings over
the summer, announce the dates and location so people can check it
out! Make this a super fun club meeting. Have music playing, get some
good snacks, and consider playing a fun game. You could even make a
slideshow of pictures from the year that you watch together!
46 TEACH GOD’S WORD
TEACH GOD’S WORD 47

49

THE PRAY5
CHALLENGE
If God answered every one of the prayers you’ve ever prayed, how many
people would come to know Jesus? It’s so easy to look around and see
people who don’t know Jesus . . . maybe your friends, family members,
or that random person you sit next to in math class. What if God has
specifically put you in your friend group, theater group, sports team,
lunch table, and your school for a reason?
The Pray5 Challenge: Pray faithfully for five unbelievers every day for
five weeks! Pray specifically that God would open their hearts to come
to know Christ and surrender their lives to Him. And pray for boldness,
that when God opens a door for a gospel conversation, you will
courageously share the hope that you have.
START THE PRAY5
CHALLENGE IN
THE GOSPEL APP!
Check out page 23 for a way to summarize the gospel when you
get an opportunity to share it! You got this.
Mobilize other Christians to take the challenge! Schedule when to
introduce this challenge to your entire club. Create a Pray5 group in The
Gospel App for the believers at your school.
Mobilize your youth group and/or whole church to take the
challenge! Share about it with your pastor and see if you could play
the video and lead people at church in taking the challenge. Create a
Pray5 group in The Gospel App for the believers at your church.
PRAY5 51

What impact can this have on your campus?
As you work to give every student the opportunity to hear the gospel
before they graduate, let’s dive into how taking this challenge can
help accomplish the 4 Campus Objectives at your school.
1. Reach Every Student: By mobilizing your entire club and other
Christians on campus to take the Pray5 Challenge, hundreds of
unbelieving students could be getting prayed for by name, and
Christians would be more intentional to look for opportunities to
share the gospel with them.
2. Mobilize Christian Students: The more Christian students are
invited to pray for the lost, the more they are being mobilized to
be active participants in what God can do in and through them on
campus!
3. Gather Community Support: Invite your community to pray
alongside you for your school and the students on your Pray5 list. You
could even mobilize your entire church to take the Pray5 Challenge
with you!
4. Develop Future Leaders: When you challenge other Christians to
pray for the unbelievers around them, oftentimes their hearts soften
for the lost and their desire to share the gospel increases. This could
lead to their heart growing for the mission to give every student
the opportunity to hear the gospel before they graduate. This is the
kind of heart you want for anyone who is a leader of the Christian
club, and you can start developing that from the start. You can even
consider having an underclassman lead the Pray5 club meeting!
Do we believe God answers prayer? If the answer is yes, then let’s pray
like it. Let’s make it a lifestyle to pray for people to come to know
Jesus, and pray that we would take the opportunity to share the
gospel with them! That’s what the Pray5 challenge is all about.
LILLI’S STORY
Lilli heard about the Pray5
Challenge at her school’s
Christian club and felt
compelled to share it with
her church. She approached
the missions pastor to share her vision. He
was enthusiastic when he learned about this
challenge and ended up inviting Lilli to
stand in front of her entire congregation and
invite them to personally join in the Pray5
Challenge.
Lilli went on to explain the details, sharing
how God has been using it to change the lives
of both the people praying and the people
being prayed for! Everyone in the room was
handed a Pray5 card, and Lilli invited more
than 5,000 people across three church services
to “join us in seeing all that God will do
through our open hands.” If most of them
accept the challenge, that’s a total of 25,000
people being prayed for by this group of
believers!
52 PRAY5 PRAY5 53

MOBILIZE PEOPLE
TO PRAY
In John 17, Jesus prays that the believers would be one so that the
world may believe in Him. It is essential in this mission to work together
with other Christians. Let’s get everyone on your team aware and
praying!
Mission Prayer Prompts:
• Pray that the club leadership team would be united, protected from
the enemy, and filled with God’s Spirit.
• Pray consistently over the 4 Campus Objectives:
• That every student would be given the opportunity to hear the
gospel, respond in faith, grow as a new believer, and plug
into a local church.
• That Christian students would courageously share the gospel
at school and with their peers.
• That the Christian community would gather around the school
to support and sustain the mission by praying, giving, and
volunteering.
• That future leaders would be developed to take up the
torch year after year so that every student could have the
opportunity to hear the gospel before they graduate.
Remember that prayer is fuel for the
mission! Prayer is what . . .
Three things you can say as you mobilize people to pray:
1. I’m so excited about the mission of my school’s club to give every
student the opportunity to hear the gospel before they graduate.
2. We’re part of Decision Point, taking on 5 Gospel Challenges
to reach the lost students on our campus. Christian students
everywhere are doing this at their schools, too. We believe God
wants to bring about an awakening to the love of Christ at our
school! But it’s only possible through the power of prayer.
3. Will you join us in this mission and commit to praying with us all year?
• Roots us in Christ: “I am the vine, you are the branches; He who
abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you
can do nothing" (John 15:5).
• Unites believers: “Two are better than one... for if either of them
falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls
when there is not another to lift him up” (Ecc. 4:9-10).
• Spurs believers to be on mission: “The harvest is plentiful, but the
laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest
to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matt 9:37-38).
• Softens the hearts of unbelievers: “I will give them a heart to
know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be
their God” (Jer. 24:7).
• Connects us with the power of the Holy Spirit: “You will receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end
of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
54 PRAY5 PRAY5 55

CHRISTIAN STUDENTS
TEACHER SPONSOR
Sharing a big, bold mission to reach your whole campus will certainly
shake things up. It will challenge your club members to commit to the
mission with you. It will unite Christians on campus that aren’t yet part of
the club. It will challenge your youth group to pray with you and maybe
even encourage students from your youth group to join the movement at
your school and spur others to reach their own schools!
Get the word out to ALL Christian Students!
• Brainstorm all the Christian students you know who go to your
school. Try to think of students from each grade so that you can
increase your club's influence on campus.
• Ask the Christians students you know who they know. Ask your youth
pastor if they know any other Christians who go to your school.
• Contact a few Bible-believing churches nearby and ask if they have
any students who go to your school. Also ask if they’d pray for you.
• There’s a high probability that you don’t know every Christian student
who goes to your school, so promoting your Christian club in a big
way so that everybody knows about it could help you meet more
Christians! And even just having conversations with people about
Jesus could lead to meeting other Christians!
Remember to share these 3 things as you mobilize Christian
students to pray:
1. I’m so excited about the mission of my school’s club to give every
student the opportunity to hear the gospel before they graduate.
2. We’re part of Decision Point, taking on 5 Gospel Challenges
to reach the lost students on our campus. Christian students
everywhere are doing this at their schools, too. We believe God
wants to bring about an awakening to the love of Christ at our
school! But it’s only possible through the power of prayer.
3. Will you join us in this mission and commit to praying with us all year?
Consider utilizing the “Reach Every Student”
series (page 40) to launch the club with a strong
vision and momentum for the mission.
Your club teacher sponsor is an important part of the team for your
mission. One of the best ways to stay in sync is to maintain good
communication all year. Even though your club is student-led, the school
administration expects the teacher sponsor to know what is going on
with the club.
Prioritize sharing these things with your teacher sponsor:
• Thank them for their support and mobilize them to pray!
• Keep them in the loop with all your plans early and often.
• Include them on all emails with administration.
• Have them read “The Heart of the Mission” (page 14) and
“Reach Your School with the 5 Gospel Challenges” (pages 19-21).
• Have them check out decisionpoint.org/educators and introduce
them to Decision Point staff so they can get access to some free
resources and know who to contact if they ever have questions.
• Make sure they feel confident in your legal rights as students
and as a club so they can advocate for them if needed. Share
pages 29-31 of this Guidebook and invite them to check out
decisionpoint.org/legal-rights.
• Meet with them at the end of each semester to debrief, ask for
feedback, and decide if you want to ask them to be your sponsor
again next year.
Remember to share these 3 things as you mobilize your teacher
sponsor (and other Christian staff at your school!) to pray:
1. We are so excited about our club’s mission to give every student the
opportunity to hear the gospel before they graduate.
2. We’re part of Decision Point, taking on 5 Gospel Challenges
to reach the lost students on our campus. Christian students
everywhere are doing this at their schools, too. We believe God
wants to bring about an awakening to the love of Christ at our
school! But it’s only possible through the power of prayer.
3. Thank you for being part of this mission, and please be praying with
us! We appreciate you so much!
56 PRAY5 PRAY5 57

PARENTS
THE CHURCH
With all of the hard work you are doing at school, it might be easy to forget
about possibly your biggest supporters — your parents! Especially if they are
Christians, they want to see the gospel go forth and your group of Christians
grow together in your faith. Thank them for all the ways they support you!
Make sure to communicate and to keep them in the know all year.
Connect on these things with the Christian parents of your club:
• Ask them for support and mobilize them to pray!
• Share with them that being part of the Christian club is a great privilege
and a massive opportunity. Just like being on a sports team or in a music
group, it will require sacrifice and commitment.
• Keep them in the loop with all plans early and often.
• Have them read “The Heart of the Mission” (page 14) and
“Reach Your School with the 5 Gospel Challenges” (pages 19-21).
• Have them check out decisionpoint.org/parents and introduce them to
Decision Point staff so they know who they can connect with.
• Make sure they feel confident in your legal rights as students and as a
club so they can advocate for them if needed. Share pages 29-31 of this
guide and invite them to check out decisionpoint.org/legal-rights
• Get them involved with helping to provide snacks for club meetings,
dropping off food and/or volunteering to help during the Outreach Week,
mobilizing your church to pray and support your club, and helping drive
new believers to and from church.
Remember to share these 3 things as you mobilize your parents (and
other Christian students’ parents!) to pray:
1. Share why you personally care about giving every student the opportunity
to hear the gospel before they graduate.
2. We’re part of Decision Point, taking on 5 Gospel Challenges to reach the
lost students on our campus. Christian students everywhere are doing this
at their schools, too. We believe God wants to bring about an awakening
to the love of Christ at our school! But it’s only possible through the power
of prayer.
3. Will you join us in this mission and commit to praying with us all year?
Of the hundreds and hundreds of clubs who have taken on the mission to
reach their school, the ones with the most long-term impact have been
rooted in partnership with local churches. The local church is THE place for
students to receive long-term discipleship as followers of Christ. Team up
with your pastors, youth leaders, and anyone else who has a heart to see
the gospel proclaimed to the next generation. Do this with the churches
represented by all the club leaders and members so it can truly be the body
of Christ working together!
Connect with your pastor and other local pastors to:
• Share what you’re doing and mobilize them to pray.
• Invite them to support the club by being a guest speaker, providing food
and materials, volunteering to help (especially with the Outreach Weeks),
mobilizing the church to pray and support your club, and being ready to
help with follow-up by welcoming in new students to the church.
• Keep them in the loop with your plans early and often.
• Have them read “The Heart of the Mission” (page 14) and
“Reach Your School with the 5 Gospel Challenges” (pages 19-21).
• Have them check out decisionpoint.org/pastors and introduce them to
Decision Point staff.
• Encourage them to lead other students in their churches to take one or
more of Decision Point’s 5 Gospel Challenges.
Remember to share these 3 things as you mobilize pastors and other
church leaders to pray:
1. I’m so excited about the mission of my school’s club to give every student
the opportunity to hear the gospel before they graduate.
2. We’re part of Decision Point, taking on 5 Gospel Challenges to reach
the lost students on our campus. Christian students everywhere are
doing this at their schools, too. We believe God wants to bring about
an awakening to the love of Christ at our school! But it’s only possible
through the power of prayer.
3. Will you join us in this mission and commit to praying with us all year?
Check out the “Gather Community Support” info
at the beginning of each Gospel Challenge
tab for more practical steps.
58 PRAY5 PRAY5 59

61

THE GO WITNESS
CHALLENGE
If someone asked you how many people at your school know the gospel,
what would you say? It’s easy to think that everyone we see is either a
Christian or someone who has already decided to reject Jesus. But that’s
just not true! Did you know that more than 50% of students today have
never even heard John 3:16, let alone know the whole gospel? 2
START THE CHALLENGE
IN THE GOSPEL APP!
The Go Witness Challenge:
Initiate conversations until you
get to share the gospel with five
people. Be friendly, ask them their
thoughts about God, be a good
listener, ask if you can share the
gospel with them, and invite them
to respond!
Check out the Go Witness resources and the following pages in this
section to learn practical ways to talk with people about Jesus and
how to follow up with them. Intimidated to start on your own? Ask your
coach, pastor, or youth leader to go through the training with you and
then take you witnessing!
Mobilize others to take the challenge! Schedule when you want to
introduce, train, and empower a group of believers, or even your entire
club, to Go Witness.
You can even mobilize your youth group and/or whole church to
take the challenge! Share about it with your pastor and see if you
could play the video and lead people at church to take the challenge.
GO WITNESS 63

64 GO WITNESS
What impact can this have on your campus?
As you work to give every student the opportunity to hear the gospel
before they graduate, let’s dive into how taking this challenge can
help accomplish the 4 Campus Objectives at your school.
1. Reach Every Student: There will be unbelieving students at your
school who will not end up on a Christian’s Pray5 list, who might be
absent the day you hand out Bibles, and who would never have it
on their radar to attend your club or Outreach Week on their own
initiative. BUT, if someone was willing to take time to stop and kindly
initiate an intentional conversation with them, then they might be
willing to talk with someone personally, one-on-one. That’s why
going witnessing is so powerful: it’s personal and it meets someone
right where they’re at!
2. Mobilize Christian Students: The more Christians on campus
who are trained how to witness, the more empowered they will
be to share the gospel! Doing the Go Witness challenge once per
semester is great, but even better is helping Christians become lifelong
witnessers. You can make witnessing a normal and consistent
thing that your club does, scheduling to go once a month or even
once a week.
3. Gather Community Support: Invite your community to pray
alongside you for the students you’ll be talking with and make sure
to introduce to your youth pastor anyone who ends up coming to
church with you!
4. Develop Future Leaders: The more someone goes witnessing, the
more they grow in their relationship with God and their passion
to reach the lost. Take note of which Christians show up to go
witnessing and think through if any of them may be a good fit to
join your leadership team now or in the future. You can also develop
future leaders by giving people a chance to share their witnessing
experiences at club meetings, help teach witnessing training, or help
lead witnessing outings.
What if God used YOU to empower Christians at other schools, other
youth groups, or even your whole church to Go Witness?! Witnessing
can become a lifestyle! If every Christian was equipped and
mobilized to share the gospel, what do you think would happen?
The world would certainly be a different place and no one would
be in the dark about who Jesus really is!
Every time you open your mouth to share the gospel, you’re taking a risk;
you don’t know how someone will respond. They might not be interested
or you might get shut down, but more often than not you’ll find people
who are open and that God has been preparing this conversation
to do His work in their lives. And remember, success is defined by
faithfulness, leaving the results to God. That’s what the Go Witness
Challenge is all about.
ANA’S STORY
Ana is a young lady who was coached by Decision
Point to reach her school in Boston. One
day, Ana saw a group of girls smoking in the
restroom. Feeling a burden to talk to them, Ana
texted her Decision Point coach for advice and
prayed for courage.
Despite her fear, Ana went up to share the
gospel with them. Hearing about Jesus is
probably the last thing these girls expected
when they lit up a smoke that day, but
thanks to Ana’s boldness, that’s exactly what
happened. And thanks to Ana’s faithfulness,
one of these girls ended up praying to accept
Christ on the spot! Praise God!
GO WITNESS 65

66 GO WITNESS
GO WITNESS 67

WHY WITNESS?
HOW TO WITNESS
For many people, witnessing is at the top of their “scariest things”
list. But when you truly understand the power of the gospel message,
sharing about Jesus becomes exciting and rewarding, and you realize
it doesn’t depend on you alone. Jesus taught His disciples how to know
God AND how to share the gospel (Mark 3:14). If we want to be in Jesus’
discipleship plan as believers, we need to be personally evangelizing.
Witnessing was one of the core parts of
Jesus’ discipleship plan.
Why should we witness?
• It brings God glory.
• God wants to speak through you.
• Witnessing works.
• People need to hear the gospel to be saved (Rom. 10:14-15).
• The Bible commands us to share the gospel (Matt 28:19-20; Acts 1:8;
John 14:15).
• God is working behind the scenes when you witness.
• Witnessing makes the gospel personal.
• We grow and experience Christ when we witness.
• We experience the joy of sharing the best news in the world and
seeing God at work in people’s lives!
Important Perspective: “Success” when sharing the gospel is not
dependent on someone getting saved. Of course, someone accepting
Christ is something to celebrate, but it’s not something you can control.
Success is simply being obedient to initiate the conversation with
someone. When you look at it that way, the pressure’s off!
Check out the witnessing training videos at
decisionpoint.org/witness by scanning the QR code above!
Witnessing is an amazing kingdom skill that can be used not only on your
school campus, but for the rest of your life! Check out the witnessing
training at decisionpoint.org/witness using the QR code above.
The following four steps, can be used to share the gospel anywhere
you go and with anyone you meet.
1. Pray: Before going out to witness, it’s important to speak with God
and settle into the right mindset. Ask God to give you boldness,
love, joy, and truth. Pray about any fears you may have, and invite
the Holy Spirit to work through you and in the hearts of people you’ll
interact with.
2. Start the Conversation: This is often the hardest part of witnessing,
but remember, this is just a conversation!
• Relax, smile, and ask a question to get started.
• If it’s someone you know, it might be difficult to start that conversation,
but that’s okay. Embrace any awkwardness there may
be! Say something like,”Hey, we’ve been friends for a while.
Isn’t it kind of weird we haven’t talked about faith and religion
before? What are your thoughts about God?”
• If it’s someone you don’t know, you might say… “Hey there, I’m
Alex. My friends and I are doing something a little different today.
We love talking about Jesus and having cool conversations
where we get to hear what other people think and believe.
Would you mind sharing with me what you think about God?”
• If you’re using a survey or doing video interviews, which can be
especially helpful if people are feeling intimidated by starting
conversations, you might say… “Hi, I’m Taylor and I’m part of
the Christian club on campus. We’re going around interviewing
people about what they believe. Would you mind participating
in the interview?“
68 GO WITNESS
GO WITNESS 69

What if they say…
• “No” - Simply smile and say, “No worries, thanks for your time. I
hope you have a great rest of your day!” If you know them personally,
you can let them know that you are always there if they
want to talk about it. That’s it! And guess what? That person
just had a kind interaction with a Christian. That’s a huge win!
• “Yes” - Ask your survey questions or an opening question like,
“Sweet! So what are your thoughts about God?” and then this
is your chance to LISTEN FIRST. Listening is so important! Hear
what they have to say and learn about them. The goal of your
time isn’t to debate, it’s to have an honest and loving conversation
that points them to the truth of the gospel.
After you understand some of what they believe, ask a permission
question. This could sound something like “Thank you for sharing! Do
you mind if I share with you what I think about God?”
3. Share the Gospel: If they answer “yes,” this is your opportunity to
share the gospel with the 5 simple points on page 23:
If they say there’s something that would keep them from doing that,
you can ask what that is and discuss with them as much as they’re
willing. If they say they aren’t ready to make that decision, that’s
okay; you don’t need to force it. And if they respond they’d like to
accept Jesus as their Savior, then you can invite them to pray and
receive God’s free gift of salvation in Jesus right then and there! The
exact words aren’t magic. Repenting of their sin, believing that Jesus
died on the cross and rose from the dead, declaring that Jesus is
King, and surrendering their life to Him is what really matters.
4. Follow Up: Whether or not they accept Jesus or need more time
to think, offer them a physical or digital gospel booklet and point
out that in it there is a link to a website where they can learn more
about Jesus and find a church in their area, and that there is a 24/7
live chat available if they ever want to ask someone a question or
receive prayer. Get their contact information when appropriate and
follow up with them later. You can even invite them to your Christian
club or church!
And that’s it! As you go out, remember that witnessing isn’t about being
perfect, but is instead about being faithful to share the good news
of Jesus with those around us. The more you go witnessing, the more
comfortable and confident you’ll get! Just remember: God is the only
one who can save, but we have the amazing opportunity for Him to work
through us as we go witnessing in the power of His Holy Spirit.
Using a gospel booklet with the written words of each point
(whether physical or on The Gospel App) can be a great tool as
it helps you share clearly, gives the listener something to look at
and process, and contains the Word of God, which is powerful to
change lives! As you go through the gospel with the listener, keep
them engaged by having them read passages, checking in to ensure
they understand what you’re sharing, and asking what stands out
to them. Once you’re sure they understand the gospel, you get the
privilege of asking them if they are ready to make a decision.
70 GO WITNESS
GO WITNESS 71

how to lead a
witnessing outing
What if it was normal for Christians to gather on campus to go out
and start gospel conversations? It’s possible! Witnessing natuarally
in your day-to-day life is the goal, but Christians are often encouraged
and grow in witnessing through going in groups. Planning and leading
regular witnessing outings will bring a lot of growth and momentum
in witnessing for your fellow Christians, and will result in more people
hearing the gospel! Here are some tips on how to make it happen.
1. Make Preparations: First things first: pick a date, location, and
time when your club can go out witnessing together. This could be
during your normal club meeting time, during lunch, or maybe right
before or after school. Make sure everyone in the club knows when
and where it’s happening, and go the extra mile to personally ask
people if they are coming. Prepare by gathering materials such as
gospel booklets, Bibles, gospel surveys, and “You’re Invited!” flyers
that have the info for your club and youth group(s) on it to help you
follow up after the conversation. Then, assign someone (preferably
a club leader for the first trip) who will be responsible to lead the
outing and a time of debrief afterwards.
2. Leading a Witnessing Day: Now that your preparations are in
place and the witnessing day is here, follow these steps:
i. Meet up, set the tone, and quickly review training: Choose a
central location to meet as a team. Remind everyone that a
successful witnessing trip is one where you take initiative to
share the gospel of Christ, leaving the results to God. Quickly
review how to start conversations and how to respond if someone
says “yes” or “no” to having a conversation.
ii. Split into pairs and pass out materials. Pair people together,
either experienced with inexperienced or guy/girl pairs to help
make it easier to talk to people of either gender. Next, give
each pair materials and make sure they have The Gospel App
downloaded on their phones so they can use the gospel presentation
tool to share it easily with people.
iii. Set a time to come back, then pray! If possible, set a goal to
witness for 45-60 minutes, and decide when and where to
meet up afterwards. Once everyone is ready to go, pray! Ask
God to be with you and ask the Holy Spirit to work in your heart
and in those whom you will speak with.
3. Debrief After Witnessing: This step is extremely important! Take
time after witnessing to share exciting highlights, disappointing
setbacks, and/or lessons learned. Sharing honest experiences helps
us encourage one another as we grow. No matter what happened,
give perspective by reminding the team that you were all successful
because you were faithful! End the time by praying over those who
heard the gospel, even if they didn’t accept Christ.
4. Record What Happened: Record what happened and have a few
people plan to share at your next club meeting about their experience
witnessing!
If after reading this you want more encouragement, visit “God is Our
Confidence” (page 75) for perspective on how the Holy Trinity works
through us as we witness, or review “Witnessing Myths” (page 66) to
debunk some fears you may be holding on to.
72 GO WITNESS
GO WITNESS 73

the BIBLE COMMANDS
US TO SHARE THE GOSPEL
GOD IS OUR CONFIDENCE
74 GO WITNESS
We are called to witness because God wants to speak through us
personally. Consider these four biblical truths:
1. All Christians are called to be disciple-makers. The last thing
Jesus said before ascending to heaven was, “Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:18-20). If we are
to obey Christ, we must be in the business of sharing the gospel.
2. All Christians are called disciples, and disciples share the gospel.
Jesus’ plan for His disciples included intentional evangelism. He
taught His disciples how to know God, but also how to share the
gospel (Mark 3:14). If we want to be in Jesus’ discipleship plan as
believers, we need to be personally evangelizing.
3. All Christians are called to be Christ’s ambassadors. As
ambassadors for Christ, God makes His appeal to others through us
(2 Cor. 5:20). What an honor to be representatives of the King of
Kings and Lord of Lords!
4. All Christians are commanded to warn about the coming
judgment. While it can be easy to forget about the coming
judgment in our daily lives, the apostles consistently include truths
about God’s judgment in their preaching. In our fear of offending
others, we fail to graciously, lovingly speak about the truth of
coming judgment that we are accountable to share (Ezekiel 33:9).
If we really love Jesus, have seen His glory, and have had our lives
transformed by His mercy and grace, then let’s share the good news
with everyone!
“So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again
to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, ‘Do
you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him? We cannot stop
telling about everything we have seen and heard.’” Acts 4:18-20
When we witness, we are not on our own. Yes, our friends may be out
witnessing with us, but did you know God the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit is out with us as well? Our confidence can be found in the three
persons of the Trinity as we go out and share the good news!
• God the Father: His love gives us confidence. God’s plan to save
mankind starts with the idea that He loves us and wants to be with
us. Therefore, we can have confidence that He sent His only Son
to die so we can be with Him because He loves us (John 3:16) and
desires us to be sons and daughters who receive every blessing He
has (Eph. 1:3-6).
• God the Son: His authority gives us confidence. As the Son of
God, Jesus was given authority over heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18-
20). What a blessing that the same God who rules over everything
has given us authority in His name to go out as ambassadors (2 Cor.
5:20) and share the gospel with those around us.
• God the Holy Spirit: His power gives us confidence. As believers
in Christ, we get to partner with the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit
convicts people of the gravity of their sins (John 15:26), but also empowers
courageous and fruitful gospel proclamation (Acts 1:8). It is
through the power of the Holy Spirit that people are saved and can
grow in Christ (Romans 1:16)!
How encouraging to know that each person of the Trinity - Father, Son
and Holy Spirit - is actively present and with you as you go out and
share the gospel with others. Delight in God’s presence with you, and
know that when you share in Christ, you are never alone!
GO WITNESS 75

sharing the gospel
with people YOU KNOW
sharing the gospel
with people YOU DON’T
KNOW
While we can demonstrate our faith through our behavior and
friendship, this alone is not enough to help our friends know how to
accept Christ (Romans 10:9-15). To help our loved ones understand and
receive God’s gift of salvation, we need to take initiative to intentionally
share Christ with them. Let’s look at three examples from the Gospel of
John of people doing exactly that:
• Andrew meets Jesus and then brings Simon
Peter to meet Him too (John 1:35-42).
• Philip meets Jesus and then brings
Nathaniel to meet Him too (John 1:43-46).
• The woman at the well goes back to
her town after meeting Jesus and tells
everyone about Him (John 4:28-30).
Following these examples, we can be faithful to tell our friends how much
the Lord has had mercy on us by delivering us from the bondage of sin
and that He can do the same for them.
While we want those we care about to know the gospel, it is just as
important to share Christ with people outside our circle of friends
and family. This is called “initiative witnessing” because it requires extra
initiative to reach out to people we don’t know. In fact, in the Bible, we
see more examples of people sharing the gospel with strangers than with
people they know personally.
• Jesus went village-to-village preaching
to people He did not know (Mark 1:14-15).
• Jesus shared the gospel personally with
the woman at the well (John 4).
• The Apostles shared Christ with people
they had never met and whom they
would never see again (Acts 8:26-40).
Notice that when believers take initiative to share Christ with people they
don’t know, it allows brand new believers to share Christ with the people
they know and meet. What an incredible way to see God’s glory on
display as we see the gospel spread through us and others!
76 GO WITNESS
GO WITNESS 77

79

THE GIVE GOD’S
WORD CHALLENGE
One of the best ways for
people to really know God is to
read His word. In a world full of
lies and misinformation, people
need the word of God more
than ever to experience real
truth, freedom, and love. What
if you helped them find it?
The Give God’s Word Challenge: Give a Bible, New Testament or
one of the Gospels to five of your friends and to as many students as
possible! Invite them to read it and let you know what they think. Or
better yet, invite them to read it with you. As a Christian club, take the
challenge in a big way by giving out Bibles on a mass scale to your
entire campus with an outreach event or at a stand alone time! Check
out the Give God’s Word resources and learn how to order Life Books.
Also learn practical ways to talk with people about Jesus and how to
follow up with those who received God’s Word.
START THE CHALLENGE
IN THE GOSPEL APP!
For an example of how to share the gospel when giving out God’s
Word, go to page 23. You can do it; just go for it!
Mobilize your club to take the challenge! Order materials, pick a
date, location and time to meet, then get together to give God’s Word
to as many people on your campus as possible. You can equip your club
members to say something like, “Here’s a gift from the Christian club!”
or “The Christian club is giving out Bibles to every student on campus;
here’s one for you!” Tie this in with any event or holiday. This can even
double as promotion for club if you include a flyer!
GIVE GOD’S WORD 81

You can even mobilize your youth group and/or whole church to
take the challenge! Share about it with your pastor and see if you
could play the video and lead people at church to take the challenge.
What impact can this have on your campus?
As you work to give every student the opportunity to hear the gospel
before they graduate, let’s dive into how taking this challenge can
help accomplish the 4 Campus Objectives at your school.
1. Reach Every Student: Make it a goal to get a Bible, New Testament
or one of the Gospels into the hands of every student on your
campus. Give them out to your friends, while witnessing, during club
meetings, at outreach events, and especially via mass distribution!
2. Mobilize Christian Students: Mobilize all your club members and
other Christians on campus to join for a day where you’ll work to
give every student a Bible. Set up a table that says “Free Bibles” with
a few club members ready to pass out Bibles. But don’t just wait for
people to come to the table; equip all the other Christians students
to go in pairs all around campus handing out Bibles.
• If it’s the end of the fall semester, they could say something
like, “Here’s a Christmas present from the Christian club!
Would love to see you at our Christmas party today!” and
include a Christmas Party flyer with the Bible. (Check out the
Christmas Party club content on page 47 for more info on
how to host an awesome Christmas Party.)
• If it’s the end of the spring semester, they could say something
like, “Here’s a gift from the Christian club! Hope you have a
great summer!” and include a flyer that has the club leaders’
names, phone numbers, and info for their youth groups
inviting students to check out a church over the summer.
3. Gather Community Support: Share the initiative with your pastors,
parents, and church community. Invite them to provide more Bibles
and a treat like hot chocolate or donuts to have at the “Free Bibles”
table when you do the challenge.
4. Develop Future Leaders: Give potential leaders the chance to lead
by coordinating the logistics for the challenge!
What if this became a lifestyle instead of just a one-time thing?
What if you were always prepared to share a copy of God’s Word
with someone who needs it? The Word of God is powerful. God is
always at work when people read His Word and it will not come back
void.
JUDE’S
STORY
As a high school student in Arizona, Jude
led an Outreach Week at his school and made
a point to hand out boxes and boxes of Bibles
during the week of the event. Even though one
of his closest friends from middle school had
denounced God and even told Jude they couldn’t
be friends anymore because of his faith, she
happened to receive one of those Bibles from
someone who had attended the outreach event
and began reading it.
although her heart was hard towards Jude and
other Christians, she was willing to read God’s
Word and realized God was speaking directly
to her as she continued to read the Bible. It
changed her heart completely and she ended up
accepting Christ! Today, Jude is reconciled in
his friendship with his new sister in Christ,
and she has even started to help Jude lead the
outreach events at their school!
82 GIVE GOD’S WORD GIVE GOD’S WORD 83

HOW TO READ THE BIBLE
H
Highlight
As you are reading the passage, watch for the 1-2 verses that stand out or
speak to you. Write out the verse or verses the Holy Spirit highlighted to you.
Want to HEAR from God? Then read the Bible! It’s called His “Word”
for a reason! Reading God’s Word on a daily basis is so important for
abiding in Christ. The Bible can be hard to understand sometimes, but
even though it was written over 2,000 years ago, it is so cool that God
still speaks to us through it today and allows us to get to know Him more
and more every time we read it.
If you would like to grow in
reading and studying the Bible, try out
the H.E.A.R. method. 5 H.E.A.R. is an
acronym that stands for: Highlight,
Explain, Apply, Respond. You can
use these each time you sit down to
study God’s Word!
But before getting started, take a moment and pray for the Holy
Spirit to guide and teach you as you read God’s Word. “We also
speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those
taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.”
1 Corinthians 2:13 CSB
How do you teach someone else to read
the Bible? Just teach them these things
and even consider doing it together every
once in a while!
E
A
R
Explain
Next write a few sentences that explain what the text means. Remember to
focus on looking for the original author’s message to the original recipient.
Ask questions like:
• Why was this written? To whom was it originally written?
• How does this fit with the verses before and after? Why did the Holy
Spirit include this passage in the book?
• What does this passage say about God and His character?
• What does it say about humanity?
Apply
Now take the truth from the first century (or earlier if you are reading the
Old Testament!) and try to apply it to today. Ask questions like:
• What does this mean today?
• How can this scripture apply to my life?
• What is this scripture inviting me into?
• How does this scripture impact: My relationship with God?
Relationships with others? How I view or conduct myself?
Respond
This is where you will write a specific response to the truth God revealed.
Maybe it will be a call to action, something you will change in the coming
week. Maybe it will be a prayer asking God to help you work this truth into
your life. Whichever, consider how you can reach out to a brother or sister
in Christ who is the same gender as you and invite the to help hold you
accountable in your growth as a disciple of Jesus.
84 GIVE GOD’S WORD GIVE GOD’S WORD 85

ROGELIO’S STORY
As a high schooler, Rogelio
saw the desperate need for the
gospel and the hunger for God’s
Word among his peers. Wanting
to do something about it, he decided to raise
money so that he could buy Bibles to hand out
for free at his school.
As a rancher and member of Future Farmers of
America, his fundraising efforts included
selling produce, eggs, and livestock he had
raised himself. With the money he purchased
hundreds of Bibles and joyfully saw students
lining up at his school to receive the free
Bibles. Rogelio ended up handing out hundreds
of Bibles to his schoolmates and saturated his
campus with the Word of God!
STUDENTS AT TARTAN
HIGH SCHOOL
Tartan HS, in Minnesota, handed out 500
Lifebooks at their Give God’s Word event. One
of the students who helped prepare lifebooks
took one home to her Muslim mom. her mom read
it, accepted Christ, and went to church with
her the following Sunday! God’s Word does not
return void!
87

THE LEAD AN
OUTREACH WEEK
CHALLENGE
What if you could do
something that changed
the conversation about God
across your whole school?
What if you shared the gospel
so publicly that you got
everyone on campus talking
about Jesus?
The Lead an Outreach Week Challenge: Give students a unique way to
hear the gospel by leading a week-long outreach on campus consisting of
prayer, promo, gospel events, and follow-up.
In the Bible we see God’s people doing exactly this as soon as Jesus
sends the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter 2 the apostle Peter stood up
in front of everyone in the city to preach the first Christian sermon.
He said to the crowds . . .
START THE CHALLENGE
IN THE GOSPEL APP!
It’s all about people hearing the gospel! Refresh yourself with a simple
way of summarizing the gospel on page 23. Your club has what it takes!
Use the Decision Point Outreach Week Planner in conjunction with the
following pages to follow the 7 Steps to Leading an Outreach Week! The
Outreach Week Planner will help keep things organized, and the following
pages are filled with helpful tips for each of the 7 steps.
LEAD AN OUTREACH WEEK 89

What impact can this have on your campus?
As you work to give every student the opportunity to hear the gospel
before they graduate, let’s dive into how taking this challenge can
help accomplish the 4 Campus Objectives at your school.
1. Reach Every Student: Get the word out to your entire school about
your Outreach Week! Personal invitations and mass promotion are
key.
2. Mobilize Christian Students: Give every Christian on campus
specific roles in the week. They don’t even have to be a regular
attender of your club! And of course, have everyone help with
promotion by wearing outreach T-Shirts, and both personally inviting
their friends and helping mass-distribute flyers.
3. Gather Community Support: Get multiple churches involved!
Churches can help provide food, guest speakers, volunteers, and
most importantly, prayer for your Outreach Week.
4. Develop Future Leaders: Identify 2-5 underclassmen who could
lead next semester’s Outreach Week. Give them opportunities to
help plan, promote, lead and follow up so they will be ready to take
even more ownership next time.
Take this challenge each semester to build momentum over time and
reach even more students with the gospel. It won’t be easy, but it will be
worth it. Leading an Outreach Week will give you skills you can take
with you for the rest of your life as you seek to make disciples no
matter where you go! Be faithful and put in the hard work. Through the
apostles’ ministry, entire cities heard the gospel. Sometimes chaos broke
out, sometimes revivals broke out, and sometimes both. But through it
all, the Spirit was at work to call people to follow Christ, and that same
Spirit is at work at your school too. Jesus will be with you every step of
the way.
7 STEPS TO LEADING AN
OUTREACH WEEK
The Lead an Outreach Week Challenge is broken down into 7 steps.
Everything in this section is designed to be used simultaneously with your
Outreach Week Planner. This will help everyone stay on the same page,
literally! And remember, even with great planning, the most important
thing is to be praying. Try to start with prayer for a couple minutes every
time you work on your Outreach Week.
1 GET APPROVAL FROM ADMIN IN WRITING
2
3
4
5
6
7
DESIGN THE OUTREACH WEEK
LOCK IN THE DETAILS
PROMOTE THE OUTREACH WEEK
LEAD THE OUTREACH WEEK
FOLLOW UP IMMEDIATELY + PERSONALLY
CELEBRATE + DEBRIEF THE WEEK
CHECK OUT THESE TRAININGS TO
HELP LEAD AN OUTREACH WEEK!
TRUSTING GOD THROUGH THE UNEXPECTED
EMPOWERING OTHERS
LEADERSHIP TRAPS
PUBLIC SPEAKING
135
134
133
130
Now, open up your Outreach Week Planner and let’s jump in!
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LEADING AN OUTREACH WEEK:
1 GET APPROVAL FROM ADMIN IN WRITING
In your Outreach Week Planner, head to Step 1: Get Approval From
Admin In Writing. One of the biggest barriers to having an Outreach
Week is not getting admin approval soon enough or in writing in case
there is any pushback especially right before the event. Every school’s
procedures with events are different, but the major thing is to get
in writing the approval for 1. the event space, 2. having guest
speakers, and 3. bringing in outside food.
Here is what’s needed to move forward:
Step 1: Pick the Dates for Your Outreach Week
Pick 2 or 3 days to do your gospel events. It’s possible to do lunch, even
if you have one lunch period or multiple! A 30 minute lunch event often
gives a greater chance for more students to attend than a 60 minute
event after school. If you have multiple lunch periods this can be a great
way to raise up more leaders. And if it can’t be done at lunch, no sweat,
next best times are before or after school, or even during study hall. The
gospel event days are consecutive so that each day’s momentum
can build on one another. Monday will be used to do big promotion
in the morning or at lunch, so then Tues-Thurs (or Tues-Fri if you want to
do 4 days!) will be your event days. Another way to do an Outreach
Week is to integrate all the Gospel Challenges by: praying on
Monday, witnessing on Tuesday, giving out God’s Word with an
event flyer to everyone on Wednesday, gospel events Thursday
and Friday, then working on follow-up on Friday night or Saturday
where you intentionally invite people to church that Sunday. As you
consider the dates for your Outreach Week, don’t forget to pull up the
calendar for your school and student government to make sure there
are no major scheduling conflicts. Also consult with your club leadership
team and club teacher sponsor so you can find the dates that work best
for everyone.
Step 2: Determine Event Space Location
Dream big! What’s the biggest space on your campus where
a large portion of your student body can gather? Think of a
space on your campus that could hold up to 50% of your school
population. The gym, auditorium, or another large indoor space is
recommended so that the most students can attend. A classroom
will limit you to 30-50 people, so work hard to get a bigger space
approved with your administration. But something is better than
nothing! If this is your starting point - awesome.
Step 3: Email the Right Person to Approve Your Event Request
When communicating with administration, use their language. You
are asking for approval for a club “event.” The word “outreach”
may not make as much sense to them. Head to Step 1 in your
Outreach Week Planner for a sample email to send to your
principal, and make sure to CC your club teacher sponsor
on the email. You can also find helpful tips on what to do if you
experience delay or rejection for your requests on pages 29-31
and at decisionpoint.org/legal-rights-in-action
Once you have sent the approval request email to your
administration, get started right away on Step 2: Design The
Outreach Week. But stay diligent to get admin approval in writing
quickly. And remember, the ball is always in your court. If you
haven’t heard back from your administration, take the initiative
and follow up. Make sure to follow the Two-Day Rule: don’t let
more than two business days pass by without following up
again!
One of the biggest regrets students share is wishing they
followed up persistently with their administration. When PJI
Christian Lawyers were asked the best way to get approval, they
said “Follow the Two-Day Rule!” Doing so shows you are being
responsible and taking initiative.
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NOAH’S
STORY
During the second semester of his freshman
year, Noah started the Christian club at Palo
Alto HS. Although it was already late in the
year, Noah had a strong desire to reach the
students at his school with the gospel, so he
submitted the request to hold an Outreach Week
on his campus. His request was denied and he
was told that the event breached the separation
of church and state.
After talking to his coach, Noah reached out to
the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI). The lawyer
from PJI advocated for Noah by sending an email
to the school’s admin and within an hour of
receiving that email, the administration gave
Noah permission to hold the event! God not only
answered Noah’s prayers to hold the Outreach
Week, but because of the outreach events, one
of Noah’s friends accepted Jesus and started
going to church!
Praise God!
2
LEADING AN OUTREACH WEEK:
DESIGN THE OUTREACH WEEK
In your Outreach Week Planner,
head to Step 2: Design Your
Outreach Week. This is a space
to write out the rough draft for
your Outreach Week. And don’t
worry - keep the plans simple
for now! You can always go
back and edit this section as
plans come together.
Here are a few helpful tips for designing
your Outreach Week:
• Theme: Themes help your week have a central focus around sharing
the gospel. A theme provides structure for daily topics, key scriptures
and is super helpful for having effective promotion on campus!
• Prayer Plans: Keep Christ at the center of your plans by scheduling
prayer times throughout the week! This could be circling up to pray
with your Outreach Week team before school each morning, before
events start, or even gathering your community together for prayer
at the beginning of the week.
• Topic, Key Scripture, & Promo Hook: View the sample plan linked
in the Outreach Week Planner for ideas on daily topics, anchor
scriptures for each day, and catchy promo hooks to catch the
attention of your student body.
• Gospel Speaker: Who is a strong speaker able to share the gospel?
Consider first having students be the main speakers, it is so powerful
hearing directly from a peer! You can also ask pastors from different
churches for different days of the week. You might even know of
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a gospel-performer or evangelist who would be excited to come
to your school. Whoever your speakers are, make sure they are
committed to sharing a clear explanation of the gospel and inviting
people to give their lives to Christ each day.
• Student Testimony: A powerful way to open up a gospel event is to
have a student share their 5 minute testimony. Check out “Sharing
the Gospel with Your Testimony” on page 24. This student can also
be the MC for the event.
• Student MC: Brainstorm students who would enjoy facilitating
the event from the front. They should be enthusiastic and able to
communicate clearly!
• Projected Attendance: Pray big! Many schools see between 100-
300 students attend their gospel events, and a couple have had
even more. With awesome promo and a move of the Holy Spirit,
anything is possible! Plan for at least 100 people!
• Food Type:
• Food to have while doing promotion should be quick and easy
to hand out with a flyer. An easy food idea for promo is donut
holes. They are inexpensive and a little can go a long way.
• Food ideas for main gospel events: Pizza, Taco Bell, Chickfil-A,
Sandwiches, Donuts, or something unique to your city!
• In Step 1 you’ll be confirming with administration if you are
permitted to bring outside food into your school. If there isn’t
a school policy against it, you shouldn’t be restricted. If you
can’t serve outside food because of a contract between your
school and the cafeteria supplier, see if you can arrange with
the cafeteria to serve their pizza at the event that your club
pays for.
• Food Amount:
• For promotion food, aim to provide enough food to match
the number of flyers you plan to hand out. It is recommended
to pass out flyers with food to at least half of your school
population, or at least 500 minimum if there are more than
1,000 students at your school. Many schools print 1,000 flyers!
• For gospel events, aim to provide enough food at each event
for 100-200 students. You can adjust this number based on
your school population. Of course you want to feed everyone
who comes, but don’t worry about having the exact perfect
amount of food. One tip is to put on the flyer: “Pizza for the
first 100 people!” This is a great way to know how much to
order and budget well.
• Estimated Food Cost: Check out the link in your
Outreach Week Planner for food cost estimates.
• Who’s paying for all this? Right away think through
those who could help sponsor food, print flyers, and order
promotional materials. Consider asking each day’s speaker
if their church can pay for the food on the day they are
speaking, and ask the church right away in case their budget
approval process takes some time. The earlier you ask, the
better the chance a church can help provide financially! You
can also take an offering at your Christian club or ask parents,
teachers, and businesses to help.
Once your design chart is filled
out, you are ready to move on to
Step 3! Hopefully by filling this out
you have a great picture of what
your week could look like. You
can even pass this chart along to
club members, your club’s teacher
sponsor, parents, and pastors to
give them an overview of what
you’re praying to see happen.
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3
LEADING AN OUTREACH WEEK:
LOCK IN THE DETAILS
Now that you’ve gotten written approval from administration for the
event space and dates in Step 1, and have designed your Outreach
Week in Step 2, you are officially ready to lock in the details so that
your club’s hopes and prayers can start to come alive for your Outreach
Week!
Head to Step 3 in your Outreach Week Planner to view the Outreach
Checklist which is based on having 8 weeks to plan. If you’re ahead
of the plan, that’s great! This checklist is just a guide to help keep you
moving. If your Outreach Week dates are less than 8 weeks away, don’t
worry! It’s still possible to get everything done. Schools have planned
their Outreach Week in just two weeks, but the more time you give
yourself, the less stressful it will be.
Take note! In the two weeks leading up to your Outreach Week,
devote two club meetings to leading the “2 Weeks Before
Outreach” and “1 Week Before Outreach” teaching notes found at
resources.decisionpoint.org/clubcontent. This will help get your whole
club and other Christians on campus excited, praying, and involved in
the upcoming Outreach Week!
As your team works through
the Outreach Checklist, refer
to the tips below for help and
assign each task to a specific
person. This way, everyone on
the team knows exactly what
they are in charge of and can
hold one another accountable
and encourage each other.
Notice that tasks in the Outreach Checklist are split into 3 categories:
• Logistics - Hands-on details that help make gospel events run
smoothly including locking in speakers, food, equipment, and materials.
• Promotion - Getting the word out to the entire school so that every
student has the opportunity to attend. This can be word-of-mouth,
flyers, posters, PA announcements, social media, etc.
• Follow-Up - Create a solid plan before the Outreach Week takes place
to ensure that follow-up happens with students who are interested in
more.
About 8 Weeks Out
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Connect with Decision Point for Outreach Materials: As soon
as possible, make sure you get T-shirts, Bibles, gospel booklets, and
response cards for your Outreach Week so you can get them in time.
Lead the ‘Outreach Week Preview’ club meeting content:
Preview the Outreach Week in your club meeting so club members
are aware and can start praying and helping! For teaching notes, go
to resources.decisionpoint.org/clubcontent.
Get familiar with & adjust the Minute-by-Minute Schedule: Find
this in your Outreach Week Planner. You do not need to fill all this
out right now. The idea is to get familiar with it since you’ll be filling
it out over the next several weeks. This schedule helps everyone
involved stay organized and on time so that each element of your
event gets the time and focus it needs. The schedule will give you
an idea of what should be happening throughout the day, how long
each of those things should typically take, and roles that people
can fill to help. Personalize the schedule for each event based on
your school’s bell schedule. Helpful Tip: On the day of each event,
take a screenshot or print several copies of this schedule to give to
everyone involved in making the day happen!
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Mobilize People to Help: Brainstorm! As you review the Outreach
Week Roles on the Minute-by-Minute Schedule, start brainstorming
who could help with certain things. Consider all club members, other
Christians on campus who aren’t in your club, pastors, youth leaders,
parents, community members, and even homeschoolers! Consider
the giftings, abilities, and interests of each person and assign tasks
that best suit them. People naturally become more engaged when
they have clarity on their role and the value they bring. Involving
other students also gives them an opportunity to be raised up as
future leaders. Over the next several weeks you’ll be reaching out to
people about specific roles. If you don’t hear back within a couple
of days, try reaching out again! If they confirm, update your Minuteby-Minute
Schedule with their name. If they can’t do it, brainstorm
and reach out to others.
About 6 Weeks Out
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Mobilize People to Help: Lock in your Gospel Speakers, Student
Testimony, Student MC, and DJ. Refer back to the ‘Design Your
Outreach Week’ chart in Step 2 in your Outreach Week Planner to
get the names of the people you brainstormed. Also, think through
who could be your daily DJ to run the music and sound (could be a
student or volunteer).
Mobilize People to Help: Lock in who is paying for food and
delivering it each day. Follow up with those you asked to sponsor
food and confirm exactly who is paying for the food and delivering it
to the school each day.
Lock in event audio equipment: Lock in a way to play music at the
events using your school's sound system, a church’s portable sound
system, or even just a good bluetooth speaker. A MC or speaker
doesn’t have to use a mic (students sometimes listen better if they
don’t!), but you definitely want a way to loudly play music at the
beginning and end of the event to set a great vibe.
Lock in tables for materials and food: At each event have at
least one table for food and one table for the free materials you’ll
be giving out (like Bibles, “You’re Invited!” flyers, etc). Ask your school
if you can reserve a few tables for the week and work out who is
responsible to get them to the event each day.
OUTREACH WEEK ROLES
Morning Prayer/Promo Crew: Everyone should be on this crew!
Setup Crew:
• Setup Team - Shows up 15 min early to set up sound, tables, food, materials, etc.
• Food Deliverer - Guest speakers are great to ask to pick up and deliver food for
each day. If they’re unable, parents or community members are the next best bet.
• DJ - Should arrive 15 min early to make sure the sound system is up and running
and music is playing before the doors open. This can be a student or volunteer.
Doors Open Crew:
• Student MC - Someone who would enjoy facilitating from the front.
• Walk-Arounds - A group of students at the start of the event who walk around
campus inviting students to the event. Don’t miss this promo opportunity!
• Greeters - Students who help people feel welcome when they come in and
hand a response card to everyone who comes.
• Food Servers - Students or volunteers who pass out the food.
Closing Crew:
• Response Card Collectors - Can be the same people as the Greeters. As
students leave, collect the cards and then give them all to the Data Recorder.
• Materials Table - Students distributing Bibles, “You’re Invited!” flyers, etc.
Wrap-Up Crew:
• Clean Up Team - Students and volunteers leaving the space better than found.
• Data Recorder - The Data Recorder is an important job! This is how people will
know what to praise God for and what follow-up needs to take place. It should
be someone (student or volunteer) who can stay 10 min after each event to input
the response card data into the Outreach Week Planner on Step 5.
Daily Action Steps Crew: Club Leaders and potential club leaders sync up each
day to debrief and makes sure everything is ready for the next day. If you have a
Decision Point Coach, they would be a great person to have part of this crew too!
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Personalize Outreach Week promo flyers: Click on the link in your
Outreach Week Planner for a promo flyer template. As you lock in
the details for each day, make edits to this flyer template so you’ll
be ready to print enough for at least half of your school for promo.
Personalize the “You’re Invited!” flyers: “You’re Invited!” flyers
are a way to invite students to your weekly club meetings and local
church youth groups. Get the flyer template and put in the specific
details, incuding the names and contact info of the students who
attend each youth group.
Update the Minute-by-Minute Schedule as details get locked in!
About 4 Weeks Out
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☐
☐
Schedule a time for leaders to work on follow-up right after the
last day of outreach: At each gospel event, your Data Collector
will collect all of the response cards each day and record the data
in the Outreach Week Planner as soon as the event ends. Take a
moment right now to schedule a date, time, and location for leaders
to work on follow-up after the last day of outreach and before the
next Sunday so you can invite people to church that week. During
this time, the Data Collector will distribute the response cards to
each person for follow-up. Together you can begin messaging or
calling each person. Refer to the Follow-Up section in Step 6 for
tips!
Schedule times for leaders to work on the Daily Action Steps
each day of the Outreach Week: In Step 5 of your Outreach Week
Planner is a checklist of items that should happen the day before
each event and the day of. It's helpful to assign a few people to
help with these things each night of the Outreach Week, whether in
person or on a video call. Note which student leaders will be doing
this each night in the Minute-by-Minute Schedule. This is a great
thing to include your coach in!
Send Speaker Prep Notes to Gospel Speakers: It’s important for
each gospel speaker to know the details of your Outreach Week
so they can be prepared to give a powerful gospel message and
invitation in the time allotted for them. Using the email template
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provided in the checklist, reach out to each of your guest speakers
to prep them. Make sure to edit the template before you send it out.
• Share with the Student Testimony speaker “Sharing the
Gospel with Your Testimony” (pages 24-25) so they can
prepare their 5 minute testimony.
Make an MC script for each event: MCs should practice out
loud before the event remembering to speak with enthusiasm and
volume!
Order food for each event (ask for discounts!): Talk to the people
you’ve locked in to pay for the food to figure out the best plan for
placing a large take-out order. Don’t forget to ask for discounts
from the restaurant!
Make a detailed plan for serving food at events: There are a
couple ways to distribute food in an organized fashion. You can
choose to pass out food at the beginning of the event or at the end.
If at the beginning, have students get in a line for the food and have
someone announce repeatedly something like, “So glad you’re here!
The food is for people who are attending the event. After you get
your food, please take a seat and we’ll start soon!” (so they don’t
just grab it and leave). If you’re handing out food at the end, have
it organized at a table on their way out. Either way, have multiple
people ready to hand out food as this can be a chaotic time if not
organized well.
Organize morning prayer & promo plans: Before school is a great
time to circle up for 5-10 minutes to pray together for the day. If
you choose to do promo in the morning, come a few minutes early
to pray together before you pass out your flyers and donut holes.
Check out ‘Step 4: Promote Your Outreach Week’ on the following
pages for tips on how to have a successful and effective promo
event!
Create and submit PA announcement scripts: Create scripts for
PA and school news announcements and submit them to your school
weeks in advance with an announcement schedule. Ideally, promo
over the PA system could begin at least a week or two before the
Outreach Week takes place. And remember the Equal Access Act
- if another club can make announcements, the Christian club can
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☐
too; and religious content cannot be hindered since it is a religious
club and that would be violating your First Amendment rights.
Map out social media posts: Social media is a great place to get
the word out about your events. Create social media posts for your
club’s accounts and have your club members share it. You can also
share post templates with the Christians on your campus so they can
all post from their personal accounts.
Update the Minute-by-Minute Schedule with any new, locked-in
plans!
About 2 Weeks Out
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Lead the ‘2 Weeks Before Outreach’ club meeting content: Get
your whole club involved, praying, and excited for your Outreach
Week! Go to resources.decisionpoint.org/clubcontent to find two
weeks of club content to lead at your club the weeks right before
your events.
Mobilize People to Help: Lock in Setup Crew, Doors Open Crew,
Closing Crew, & Wrap-Up Crew. Using your Minute-by-Minute
Schedule, begin filling in the details for who will fill each role. Note:
Any non-student helpers should arrive at the office about 30 minutes
before lunch so they can get checked in and have time to find the
facility. For brief explanations of each role, check out page 101.
Make a plan for opening & closing music at events: Music sets
a tone for the whole event! Talk to your assigned DJ about having
music playing as students come in and as soon as students are
dismissed.
Print promo flyers, “You’re Invited!” flyers, and response cards:
• Ask your church for help with printing. Print enough promo flyers
and “You’re Invited!” club/youth group flyers to pass out to at
least half of your school. Flyers go fast, so it’s better to print
more than you think necessary.
• Promo flyers can be passed out every day of your Outreach
Week.
• “You’re Invited!” club/youth group flyers should be passed out
every day at your events as students are leaving. You can use
these flyers all year long if you have leftovers!
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Determine when and where to hang posters: Hang posters
anywhere they are allowed. Post them on bulletin boards, school
gates, classrooms, in bathroom stalls, etc. During your ‘1 Week Before
Outreach’ club meeting, you can even take some time to make
massive painted posters on butcher paper!
Update the Minute-by-Minute Schedule with any new details.
By now, the chart should be mostly filled out!
About 1 Week Out
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Lead the ‘1 Week Before Outreach’ club meeting content: You’re
one week out! Go to resources.decisionpoint.org/clubcontent for
teaching notes. This club meeting will be helpful in encouraging the
Christian students to pray, promote, and lead strongly in the roles
that have been assigned to them.
Mobilize People to Help: Prep people for their roles. Your
Minute-by-Minute Schedule should be all filled out with your club
and community members' roles for the week. Confirm with each
person they are still able to fill these roles and go over the details
associated with each role.
Mobilize People to Help: Prep Christian Students for individual
promo and mass promo. Make sure every Christian on your
campus is on the same page with when to wear their T-shirt, sending
personal invites out, posting on social media, and helping with your
promo event.
Distribute T-shirts and flyers to club members: T-shirts are a
great tool for promo! Bring the Outreach Week T-shirts to your ‘1
Week Before Outreach’ club meeting and pass them out to everyone
to wear on Promo Day and every day throughout your whole
Outreach Week. If you have leftovers, give them out at your events.
This is also a great time to distribute promo flyers so people can use
them as they personally invite their friends and classmates.
Purchase gloves, plates, and napkins for food: Think through
what food you’ll be providing throughout the week and purchase the
necessary products for serving it. Plastic gloves are super helpful,
especially with pizza.
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Finalize, print or screenshot, and share the Minute-by-Minute
Schedule with all involved: Once everyone has confirmed their
roles for the week and all the details are locked in, you can print
copies or take a screenshot of the Minute-by-Minute Schedule. If
you print, make sure there are enough copies for everyone involved
including the MC and speakers for each day.
4
LEADING AN OUTREACH WEEK:
PROMOTE THE OUTREACH WEEK
Now that your details are all locked in,
let’s get promoting so that every student
on your campus has the chance to hear
the gospel! People often need to be
invited to an event up to seven times
before they decide to come. The good
news is that you can start promoting
weeks out from your Outreach Week.
Here are some helpful strategies for
promo leading up to your events, as
well as during the week of.
Promo Before the Outreach Week:
• Personal Invitations: These are one of the most impactful forms of
promo. Have everyone in your club write a list of 10-20 people and
then have them personally invite them with a flyer by text, DM, or in
person.
• Flyers: This is the next most impactful form of promo! Print enough
flyers that everyone on your campus could receive one. See if a
church would sponsor the printing. Remember that handing out
flyers is covered under your First Amendment rights of free
verbal and written speech. You do not need approval to hand
out flyers, but you do need approval to hang up posters.
• Posters: Print/create large posters to post around your campus.
To catch people’s attention even more, gather some large butcher
paper for painting signs. All you need is butcher paper, paint, and
a large paintbrush. Remember to get your posters approved by
the office before hanging them up. They should not be denied for
having any religious content on it since that would be a violation of
your religious freedom and the Equal Access Act.
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• Class Announcements: Encourage all Christian students to ask
the teachers of each of their classes if they could make a quick
announcement for the club events coming up. They can even do that
for multiple days in the same class.
• PA Announcements: Create scripts for PA and school news
announcements and submit them to your school weeks ahead
with an announcement schedule. Again, nothing should be denied
because it is religious in nature.
• Social Media: Digitally send your flyers to every Christian on
campus and ask them to post to their accounts. You can also make
your own posts shareable so that other people can share them.
Promo Day!
How many Christians can be mobilized to invite everyone at school to
the Outreach Week? The first day of the Outreach Week is dedicated to
getting the word out to every single person on campus! It’s a great day
for every Christian on campus to wear their Outreach Week T-shirt. The
big promo push is best done the morning of the first event before
school starts or at lunch the day before your first gospel event (or
both!). Here are some helpful tips:
• Order food: Donut holes are a hit! Quick, easy to pass out, and
delicious!
• Invite every Christian on campus to meet either 45 minutes before
school starts or right when lunch begins.
• Station Christian students to stand at every entrance to the school
in the morning handing each student who walks in a flyer. It’s also a
great idea to go table-to-table at lunch for flyer handout. The goal
is for every student to get personally invited during that time!
• Don’t just hand someone the flyer and food, but audibly invite them!
Mistake to avoid: do NOT call it an “outreach” to your school
or peers! That isn’t a great word for non-Christians. Instead say
something like, “Come to the event in the gym put on by the
Christian club! There will be guest speakers, free food, and you
can hear about hope in Jesus!”
• Be bold, friendly, and smile! And remember to have fun!
• Before the bell rings, grab some students to walk around and pick up
any flyers that end up on the ground.
Promo Throughout the Outreach Week:
• Personal Invitations from every Christian to at least 20 non-Christian
students by DM and word-of-mouth with a flyer.
• Walk-Arounds: Right before the event starts, grab some flyers and
walk up to groups or individuals, handing out flyers and personally
inviting people to head to the gym. This will give a last minute
opportunity to anyone who forgot or was on the fence. Consider
carrying some of the food with you to show what you’re serving. That
may be the incentive some people need, and that’s okay!
• Get every Christian on campus wearing the Outreach Week T-Shirt
every day!
• Class Announcements: Continue making class announcements each
day and share what the topic is at the next event.
• Have PA Announcements running each day of the week!
• Keep posting on Social Media!
108 LEAD AN OUTREACH WEEK LEAD AN OUTREACH WEEK 109

LEADING AN OUTREACH WEEK:
LEADING AN OUTREACH WEEK:
5
LEAD THE OUTREACH WEEK
6
FOLLOW UP IMMEDIATELY + PERSONALLY
The time has come and the Outreach Week is here! Praise the Lord!
You’ve put in a lot of hard work, and now it’s time to stand up and lead
in the details so your Outreach Week can be a success.
Check out your Outreach Week Planner - Step 5 for details on how to
lead diligently during your Outreach Week. Be faithful with the Daily
Action Steps. The list includes a daily checklist of things to run
through before and after each event takes place. You should have
already scheduled times for specific student leaders to work on these
each day in person or via video call in your Minute-by-Minute Schedule.
Be faithful and leave
the results to God!
Keep in mind, the assigned Data Recorder should submit the
response card data and cool stories in the Outreach Week Planner
directly after each event ends, right away! That way no info is lost,
and it will make follow-up a lot easier.
Spiritual warfare is real, especially in
times of intense ministry efforts. Even
though you will be very busy, take time
every day to center yourself on Jesus,
be fed by God’s Word, and put on His
armor to defend against the schemes
of the enemy. Feel free to go through a
devo from the 7 Principles of Christian
Leadership each day (page 137), and
check out “Trusting God Through
The Unexpected” (page 135).
It’s important to be faithful to the end with your Outreach Week, and
implementing a strong follow-up plan is part of that. When people come
to your events and indicate that they’d like to talk more on the response
card, it’s the perfect opportunity for follow-up. When following up with
people, make sure to do it promptly, in a personal way, and with
pleasant persistence.
In Mark 4:3-8, Jesus tells the disciples
about the kinds of people with whom
they’ll share the gospel.
• Some people will hear the message
and walk away unchanged.
• Others will be excited at first but
will eventually slide back into their
old ways of living.
• Some will encounter Jesus and
become lifelong followers of Him.
Here’s a checklist for when you get together to work on follow-up:
☐ Pick a date and time to work on follow-up at the end of the
Outreach Week (Friday or Saturday) so you can invite people to
church that weekend.
☐ Watch the video “Faithful to Follow Up.”
☐ Prioritize who your team will follow up with based on their
response cards.
• First prioritize those who made a first time decision for Christ.
• Second those who said they’re not ready to accept Jesus but
want to know more, check out the Christian club, or visit a
church.
• Then if you have it in you to follow up with anyone else who
came and gave their contact info, knock yourself out!
110 LEAD AN OUTREACH WEEK LEAD AN OUTREACH WEEK 111

☐ Assign by name who is following up with who. It’s best to have
guys follow up with guys, and girls follow up with girls.
☐ Each person working on follow-up should have at least 3-5
people they are intentionally following up with and inviting
and offering a ride to youth group that week.
☐ Pray together for each person you will be reaching out to and
for God to go before all of the follow-up conversations.
☐ Send messages to invite students to your club and church and
even to grab lunch together if they want to talk more. Start with
something like, “Hey, so cool that you came to the Christian club
events this week! My name is ____. I saw on your response card
that you wrote ____. Can you share with me more about that?”
Then some other questions you can ask as you continue talking
are:
• “What did you think of what the speaker said?”
• “What did you think about the speaker’s personal invitation
to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?”
• “Are you interested in meeting up to talk more, coming to
club with me, and/or coming to church with me?”
☐ Trust God with the results!
☐ Plan for the club meetings after the Outreach Week to be extra
seeker-friendly. Consider using the Follow Jesus series (preview
on page 41).
JACKSON’S STORY
When Jackson invited his friend John* to his
outreach event, he was disappointed to realize
that John had only come for the free pizza and
didn’t intend to pay attention to the gospel
message at all. Discouraged, Jackson cried out
to God,
“God, please let John listen.”
Minutes later, as Jackson watched,
John took off his headphones and
began listening to the message.
That day, John heard the full
gospel message and began asking
questions. John received a Bible
from Jackson, and he began reading
it in secret.
Soon, he had read through several books of
the Bible. John decided to follow Jesus and
get baptized even after his family threatened
to kick him out of his home. Jackson had the
privilege of baptizing John at his youth group.
At their school’s next Outreach Week, John
invited his friends to come hear the gospel.
Two of them ended up coming and accepted Jesus!
Since then, many more students have come to
faith because Jackson dared to pray to God for
a miracle and because of John’s courageous and
unashamed witness for God even in the face of
persecution from his own family. Praise God!
112 LEAD AN OUTREACH WEEK LEAD AN OUTREACH WEEK 113

7
LEADING AN OUTREACH WEEK:
CELEBRATE + DEBRIEF THE WEEK
Congratulations! You made it
through your Outreach Week!
The gospel was proclaimed, seeds
were planted in people’s hearts and
minds, you grew as a leader, and
most importantly, you greatly pleased
God in doing your best to proclaim
the gospel. It may have gone
awesome or maybe things didn’t go
according to plan. No matter what
happened, God was glorified through
your faithfulness!
Why celebrate?
• The Bible teaches us to celebrate what God has done and give Him
all the glory.
• To thank those involved.
• To build excitement for the future.
After your Outreach Week, don’t forget to debrief with people who were
helping make it happen: the club leaders, your coach, any pastors or
youth leaders, and your teacher sponsor. Schedule a time for right after
the Outreach Week to celebrate and debrief together.
Wrap Up Action Items:
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
Talk through the debrief questions above.
Confirm that you wrote what God did each day on Step 5 in your
Outreach Week Planner.
Share photos from the week with each other.
Find a way to share a praise report and thank anyone who prayed
and helped, like your coach, teacher sponsor, parents, pastors,
churches, those who gave financially, and anyone else.
Share encouraging stories in an upcoming club meeting of how you
all were encouraged by God, how you were personally encouraged
by the message, etc!
Continue to follow up with all those who want to learn more.
Thank God and pray for what He will continue to do at your school!
Here are a few questions to discuss together:
• What can we praise God for?
• How were students impacted?
• Who is one student that came that encouraged you, and why?
• What was a challenge we faced and how did God show up?
• How did you grow as a Christian and leader?
• What went well?
• What should we do differently next time?
114 LEAD AN OUTREACH WEEK LEAD AN OUTREACH WEEK 115

117

LEADership
OVERVIEW
Being a leader for Christ is an incredible opportunity and privilege. Having
this leadership role may feel exciting, intimidating, or maybe a mixture
of both. Thankfully, God doesn’t want you to do this in your own
strength. He will equip you with everything you need to please Him and
boldly share the gospel with your peers.
“Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal
covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd
of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He
work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory
for ever and ever. Amen.” Heb. 13:20-21 NIV
The following pages are dedicated to helping you grow in your
personal leadership and also specifically in leading a Christian club.
The best leaders have the most room for growth, and feedback is the
breakfast of champions! Go through this content as desired throughout the
year, and feel free to come back to it anytime.
LEADERSHIP 119

BEING A GOSPEL-
CENTERED LEADER
Paul the Apostle was changed when he met Christ on the road to
Damascus (Acts 9). He now knew that the gospel he had heard from the
Christians whom he persecuted was real. This called for a dramatic
reorienting of his life because of his new identity in Christ. Let’s
take a quick look at Paul’s life to see how it changed once he believed
the gospel:
• He dwelled on the gospel often, which led him to worship and
prayer, bringing God glory through his life (Eph. 1:15-23; 1 Tim. 1:15-
17).
• He gave up everything for the sake of the gospel because he knew
Christ was the only way for people to receive eternal life (1 Tim. 1:15-
17; Rom. 1:16-17).
• He shared the gospel despite great dangers (2 Cor. 11:24-29; 2 Tim.
1:8-13).
• He cared deeply about defending the gospel from myths, rumors,
and lies from the enemy (Gal 1:6-10; 1 Tim. 4:7).
• He discipled others through the gospel, explaining deeper truth and
reminding them of Christ often (2 Tim. 1:6-14).
• He equipped others in the ministry of the gospel, so that they
advanced the gospel even when he wasn’t around (Phil. 2:12; 2 Tim.
2:1).
Your role as a Christian Leader is tied to you growing as a follower of
Jesus. To help you become a stronger gospel-centered leader who will
impact your club, your school, your family, your church, and the world,
here are 7 Principles for Christian Leaders:
1. Focused on God’s Purpose
2. Fed by God’s Word
3. Filled by God’s Spirit
4. Fueled by Prayer
5. Faith in God to do the Impossible
6. Filled with Boldness from the Lord
7. Faithful in All You Have Been Entrusted
Find devotionals for each of these principles starting on page 137!
Spend some time reading and reflecting on the verses mentioned
above. Just as faith in Jesus reoriented Paul’s life, your life must
also be reoriented around the central reality of the gospel. You are
limited in both time and energy. Be realistic about what you can and
cannot do. Leading a Christian club focused on sharing the gospel is a
big commitment, just like it is to commit to being part of a sports team
or music group. Is there anything you should step back from to make
space to lead your club well?
120 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 121

BEING A GOSPEL-
CENTERED CLUB
As you continue to grow as a gospel-centered leader, you will
shape the heart of your club to be centered on the gospel as well.
Here are some ways to shape your club to be gospel-centered:
• Keep the mission at the forefront. Remind your club often of its
gospel-centered mission: to give every student the opportunity to
hear the gospel before they graduate. Share the incredible spiritual
and legal opportunities that the club has to reach lost students.
Help them see that their purpose and effort in Christ has eternal
significance by mobilizing them to work in their strengths to serve
God!
• Consistently pray over the 4 Campus Objectives. Throughout
history, revival has always seemed to go hand-in-hand with fervent
prayer! Lead your club to pray fervently for your school, specifically
that God would...
Reach Every Student, Mobilize Christian Students,
Gather Community Support, and Develop Future Leaders.
Christians but focused on unbelievers, and make sure to share the
gospel every week (Teach God’s Word). Finally, put on big events
that stir a lot of buzz about Jesus on campus (Lead an Outreach
Week).
Developing a gospel-centered club requires time and effort. It may
take a while for the club to reflect the direction you are taking
them in, but don’t give up! Rather, be encouraged that you are taking
crucial steps towards helping your club develop a greater, deeper love
for the gospel in their lives.
Remember, as you grow as a gospel-centered leader, you will shape the
heart of your club to be centered on the gospel as well.
There may be other Christian clubs on campus or in your area who you
could partner with in sharing the gospel. As a rule of thumb, check to
make sure you align on core doctrinal beliefs and even run it by your
pastor. If there seems to be unity, go for it! The more people sharing the
gospel, the better!
• Make a big deal out of witnessing. Train Christian students why
and how to share their faith. Then, Go Witness together frequently!
There are so many schools who have made witnessing a normal,
weekly thing. There was even a school in California whose club
leaders witnessed every single day at lunch their senior year. That
school had 4,000 students, and by the end of the year students
were telling them, “Oh you already talked to me!”
• Commit to doing all 5 Gospel Challenges. Pray faithfully for
specific unbelievers (Pray5). Share the gospel with those you know
and those you don’t (Go Witness). Offer a Bible to every student at
school (Give God’s Word). Make your club meetings applicable to
122 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 123

LEADERSHIP MEETINGS
Accomplishing a mission with a team requires everyone being on the
same page, which is hard to do if you're not regularly syncing up! It is
recommended to meet weekly together as a club leadership team and
your Decision Point Coach. It could be less frequently if needed, but
meeting weekly will really help build momentum for the mission. Here are
six categories recommended to incorporate into each leadership meeting:
1. Pray together. Pray over the students on your campus, both Christian
and non-Christian, pray for each other, pray over the 4 Campus
Objectives, and ask God to give your team guideance, wisdom, and
favor.
2. Be in the Word together. Spend some time reading the Bible to
anchor you as a team. Feel free to use the leadership devos starting
on page 137 of this guide as well as going through other encouraging
books of the Bible like Philippians or 1 and 2 Timothy. You can even go
through the Teach God’s Word lesson you are planning to teach at your
next club meeting as a way to prepare and get your hearts into that
Scripture.
3. Encourage each other. Take time to celebrate how God is moving.
Share wins you are seeing in the club and in each other’s lives.
4. Train and plan. Go through any needed training in this guide.
Prepare for club meetings and map out the details of any upcoming
Gospel Challenges. Make a clear plan for all that needs to happen,
who is doing what, and when things need to be done by. Set clear
expectations by communicating distinct roles and responsibilities for
each person.
5. Follow through. Check in on the responsibilities assigned at your last
leadership meeting. What updates are there? Has everyone been able
to complete their tasks? Are there any obstacles that may need to
be discussed? Determine if more help is needed in certain areas, and
celebrate any progress that was made.
6. Have fun! A big part of working together well as a team is doing things
outside of work, so be sure to take time to eat together, hang out, or
play games!
DEVELOP FUTURE
LEADERS
Do you want the good news or the bad news first? The bad news is:
the leading cause of death for Christian clubs is graduation. The good
news is: if you start preparing future leaders now, the club and gospel
movement at your school can continue to build momentum regardless of
who graduates! Every year there will be students who need to hear the
gospel, that’s why the 4 Campus Objectives are always essential.
The 4 Campus Objectives
1. Reach Every Student
2. Mobilize Christian Students
3. Gather Community Support
4. Develop Future Leaders
Start developing future leaders from DAY ONE and throughout the whole
school year. Don’t wait until spring to start thinking about who could
be a leader next year. God has given you the job of praying for them,
inviting them to participate and take ownership of the mission, and
developing them in leadership over the course of the year.
Check out the “Develop Future Leaders” strategies at the beginning of
each Gospel Challenge tab for more practical steps.
Leadership Hand-Off Technique:
1. I lead, you help.
2. You lead, I watch and guide.
3. You lead, I go lead elsewhere.
Who to Consider for Leadership:
• Faithful to Jesus.
• Available to lead.
• Underclassmen.
• Mixture of guys and girls.
• Those who serve humbly.
Go to decisionpoint.org/tools
for a sample club leadership
application form!
124 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 125

CLUB PROMOTION
Since your mission is to give
every student on your campus the
opportunity to hear the gospel, you
should invite every student to your
club meetings and events! Your first
meeting of the year is one of the most
important meetings you’ll have. Strong
promotion for your first meeting as
well as for Outreach Weeks will greatly
impact how many people you can
reach. If nobody knows something is
happening, then nobody can come!
Promotion Strategies:
• Personal Invites - This is one of the most impactful ways to
promote. Personally inviting people via text, DM, or in person is a
great way to get the word out. Think of 10-20 people you could
personally invite and ask them to invite people they know too!
• Flyers - Print “You’re Invited” flyers for every student on campus
and plan to do a big promotion time with your club members right
before starting a new Teach God’s Word series in the club. Include
a treat like donut holes to really sweeten the promotion! Also do this
with flyers specifically promoting your Outreach Weeks. Remember
that passing out flyers is covered by your first amendment
rights so you do not need to get them approved by school
administration, but do make a plan to pick up any that students
may toss on the ground.
• Posters - Putting up posters is a great way for students to know
about your club and events. Make sure the words on a poster
would make sense to an unbeliever. Get approval from the school
administration to hang them up, and remember that they should not
be denied just because they have Christian content since that would
be religious discrimination.
• PA Announcements - Whether you have the same overhead
announcement every week or you personalize it, something simple
can convey just the right amount of info. For example: “The Christian
club meets every Thursday at lunch in Room 102. No matter what you
believe, everyone is welcome to come learn more about Jesus. Today
they will be talking about how God gives us true purpose in life.”
• Social Media - Post your flyers and club info online! You can do this
from both a club account and people’s individual accounts. Make all
posts shareable to create even more momentum.
126 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 127

HOW TO LEAD GREAT
CLUB MEETINGS
Imagine your Christian club being a place of excitement as people unite
over learning more about Jesus and making Him known. Great club
meetings start with great planning. For club content teaching series,
check out the “Teach God’s Word” tab of this guide on pages 40-47.
Tips for planning great club meetings:
1. Decide the WHAT: Decide what you want to include in the meeting.
Some recommended things are a warm atmosphere, an upbeat
welcome with a fun icebreaker, solid teaching (whether it’s one
teacher from the front or multiple teachers in small groups), and a
great closing with inspiring announcements.
2. Decide the WHEN: Now take each of those “WHAT”s and put them
into a schedule. Here’s a sample of what that could look like in 30
minutes:
12:00 PM Bell rings, students walk in to music playing and
friendly greetings; they get a fun snack and settle in.
12:08 PM Welcome, share purpose of club, do a fun icebreaker,
and pray for the lesson.
12:12 PM Teach God’s Word lesson and discussion.
12:27 PM Close with a teaser for next week, any reminders
or announcements, then play music and hang out.
12:30 PM Bell rings
3. Decide the WHO: Clearly decide who is doing which roles and
make sure everyone knows what their responsibilities are. Here are
some recommended roles . . .
• DJ - Have someone play music at the beginning and end to create
a nice vibe. Standing in a quiet room can be intimidating and
unwelcoming. Ideally, this is someone who can get to the meeting
spot right away.
• Greeters - This is such an important role. While every leader should
be greeting and welcoming people in, specifically designate one
or two people to intentionally greet people and make them feel
seen and welcomed. They could even pass out gospel booklets to
anyone who hasn’t gotten one before and see if anyone needs a
Bible. Ideally, these are people who can get to the meeting spot
right away.
• Snacks - If snacks are a possibility, it can really add a lot of fun. It
can be simple like lollipops, bags of popcorn, or cookies. You can
rotate who brings snacks or even just do it every once in a while if
weekly is not feasible. Ideally, snacks are put out by someone who
can get to the meeting spot right away.
• Welcome - Have someone officially start the meeting by
welcoming everyone, sharing the purpose of the club, leading a
short icebreaker game, praying for the lesson, and then handing it
over to the teacher.
• Teacher(s) - There are multiple ways to Teach God’s Word. You
can have one student teach from the front with multiple people
who lead discussion groups at the end, or a few student teachers
who all teach the same lesson in breakout groups. Just make sure
that whoever is part of the lesson is really familiar with the content
so they can teach well and everyone there can be encouraged and
grow in the Lord.
• Closing - Have someone who ends the time with . . .
• a teaser for the next week encouraging people to come
back and invite their friends.
• telling people to let a leader know if you want a Bible or
want to check out a church in the area.
• any reminders or announcements, sharing them in a way
that is upbeat and exciting.
Both club leaders and members can take on these roles. Empowering
club members encourages participation and helps develop future
leaders!
128 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 129

PUBLIC SPEAKING
Public speaking is an important skill
for any leader. You want to cast
vision and teach content in a way
that is impactful and meaningful.
HOW you say something can be
just as important as WHAT you
are saying. Every leader has room
to grow in their public speaking.
For some suggestions on how to
communicate effectively, follow the
Feel, Do, Know structure:
Here are some tips:
• Project your voice and make eye contact. If people can’t hear
you or see your eyes, they are less likely to pay attention or take you
seriously. Speak with emotion and conviction.
• Don’t overelaborate on simple points. Keep points simple so the
content you’re sharing is easy to follow.
• Avoid saying “um” and other verbal pauses. While it may be
easy to say “um” as a placeholder when you’re thinking, it can be
distracting.
The best way to grow in public speaking is to just do it! Practice
and ask others for feedback. Remember, feedback is the breakfast
of champions!
• Feel: How do you want your audience to feel about what you are
communicating? The best way to convey the emotion you want
to stir up in others is to first feel it yourself! Emotions tend to be
caught, so if you’re portraying these feelings, your audience will
likely feel them as well. Awareness of your tone and body language
can enhance and help communicate your point. Speak with
conviction and believe in what you’re saying, so you can help others
to believe in it too!
• Do: What do you want your audience to be able to do with what
you are communicating? Do you want them to feel united in your
vision to reach your school? Do you want them to be motivated to
come witnessing? Do you want them to sign up to help with your
Outreach Week? Do you want them to apply the main points of your
teaching lesson to their lives?
• Know: What does your audience need to know to be able to do
what you are hoping for? Know your content extremely well and
strive to communicate clearly and simply. Include any details needed
for people to be able to accomplish what you want them to do.
130 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 131

VISION CASTING
LEADERSHIP TRAPS
What is Vision Casting?
A vision is a compelling description of something you hope to become
reality. Vision casting is simply communicating the vision for something
in a way that is clear, compelling, and concise. Vision casting helps set
the tone, gets people excited for it, and shares the goal for what you
are hoping to accomplish.
How to Vision Cast:
1. Share the Need - Communicate the need you see. For example:
“Students at our school are struggling with depression and anxiety.
We know this is all a result of sin.”
2. Share the Solution - Communicate the solution with passion: “And
we know that Jesus is the only true and lasting hope for our peers.”
3. Share the Desired Results - Discuss what will happen if the vision
is accomplished. “If students encounter Jesus, they can be set free
from sin and darkness.”
4. Share the Action Plan - Share how it will be done: “So let’s really
step out in faith and obedience and commit to sharing the gospel of
Jesus!”
5. Invite to Next Steps - Tell them about the next specific activity that
you want to invite them to participate in. “Next week, we will have a
witnessing outing… [insert details].”
Cast vision any time you make an announcement or call people to
action. Help them see what the vision could accomplish and why
they should join you in it.
Christian leaders are meant to gather
those around them to do God’s work
together, all while depending on the Holy
Spirit and working unto the Lord.
Here are six leadership traps to avoid:
1. Overcommitting. You are limited in both time and energy. Be
realistic about what you can and cannot do. Leading a Christian
club focused on sharing the gospel is a big commitment, just like it
is to commit to being part of a sports team. Is there anything you
should step back from to make space to lead your club well?
2. Not asking for help. There are other students at your school who
want to make an impact for Christ but don’t know how or haven’t
been asked. By not asking for help, you miss the opportunity to show
them how they can be involved.
3. Refusing to delegate. Be willing to share responsibility and learn
from other people, even if they do things differently than you.
4. Believing you can do everything better yourself. Jesus saw value
in training His imperfect disciples and giving them opportunities to
grow, which changed their lives forever.
5. Being unappreciative of people’s unique giftings. People
flourish when they are given tasks that align with their skills and
passions. Learn to value the strengths of others and be a team that
complements each other.
6. Not trusting your club. Your club members won’t do their jobs well
if they feel like you don’t believe they can do it. Give them support,
encouragement, and space to succeed!
132 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 133

EMPOWERING OTHERS
The mission to reach your school is a team effort! And it is so cool that
the other Christians around you bring unique gifts to the mission.
Empower others to get involved by doing these three things:
1. Think through what needs to get done.
2. Identify someone who could grow through an opportunity to help.
3. Personally invite them to take part in the mission by owning a
specific responsibility.
If they say yes, empower them! Empowerment is much more than just
giving someone a task to complete. Empowering someone means to:
• TEACH them how a process works and how to perform a task well,
while still giving them freedom to perform it in their own way.
• EQUIP them with the tools they need.
• ANTICIPATE issues or questions they may have. Be available to
assist if they need you.
• AFFIRM them in their abilities. Believing in people will give them
the confidence they need to step out in faith and mature in the Lord.
• HAND OVER authority to them. When you give someone a task,
trust them to accomplish it.
• THANK them for their hard work.
• BUILD UP others by acknowledging their skills and encouraging
them in what they are doing well.
TRUSTING GOD THROUGH
THE UNEXPECTED
When leading a Christian club, it is normal to encounter challenges such
as last-minute changes, inconsistency from others, or pushback from
school staff or other students. Here are a few perspectives and tips to
help deepen your trust in God when things get hard:
• Pray first, pray together. Make prayer the first response
to any and every challenge. Share with other Christians and pray
together for God to show up! “Do not be anxious about anything, but
in everything by prayer… let your requests be made known to God”
(Phil. 4:6-7).
• Rely on God’s grace to strengthen you. The apostle
Paul writes, “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for
My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the
more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest
upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses,
insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak,
then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:9-10).
• Practice an attitude of gratitude. “Give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1
Thess. 5:17-18).
• Refuse to give up! Don’t jump to conclusions, explore every
avenue of possibility, and don’t take no for an answer without asking
follow-up questions. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at
the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal 6:9
NIV).
• Ask for help! Some difficulties require support from parents,
teachers, and other adults. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, especially
if you are facing opposition from school administration.
• Debrief, learn from it, and move on! Learn what you
can from each obstacle and then move on to the next thing. You are
not perfect, others are not perfect, and God doesn’t expect anyone
to be perfect. Praise Jesus and just be faithful!
134 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 135

7 PRINCIPLES FOR
CHRISTIAN LEADERS
Christian Leaders are…
1. Focused on God’s Purposes
2. Fed by God’s Word
3. Filled by God’s Spirit
4. Fueled by Prayer
5. Faith in God to Do the Impossible
6. Filled with Boldness from the Lord
7. Faithful in All You Have Been Entrusted
Being a leader on a mission is awesome. You are doing a lot of great
work and you are empowering others to do the same. What you do is
important to God, but it is not the only thing that is important. Who
you are matters so much.
In John 15, Jesus says, “Abide in Me,” which is His way of telling His
followers to stay constant in their relationship with Him. He desires them
to “bear fruit,” which includes good kingdom work, but to do it from a
posture of being connected to Him. What are some ways to do that?
2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for
every good work.” Since the Bible is the authoritative Word of God
written by the Holy Spirit, there is no such thing as growing as a Christian
apart from being shaped by the Word and Spirit of God.
The following devotionals explore 7 key principles for growing as
a Christian leader. They will help you grow in truth, righteousness,
leadership, and your ability to share the gospel with confidence.
Go through these devotionals with your coach and leadership team
throughout the year, maybe even once each semester! In addition to
these devotionals, the hope is that you cultivate a daily discipline of
reading God’s Word and praying, becoming more and more like Jesus.
136 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 137

Focused on God’s
Purposes
Read Joshua 1:1-9
3. Demands that a leader meditates on God's Word and be filled with
boldness from Him. Joshua is commanded not to fear but instead to be
strong and courageous (v. 6, 7 & 9). He is told to study and meditate
on God's Word.
Be strong and very courageous. Be
careful to obey all the law my servant
Moses gave you; do not turn from it to
the right or to the left, that you may be
successful wherever you go.
Context
God had a mission for Joshua. Centuries earlier, God had promised
this land to Abraham for his descendants. Now, God was going to
accomplish that purpose through Joshua. The Lord had led the people
of Israel out of captivity through Moses, but He was going to lead the
people into the promised land through Joshua.
Main Points
Being Focused on God's Purposes...
1. Means the leader must get up and get going to do what God wants.
Joshua had to get up and go do what God said (v. 2).
2. Gives the confidence and satisfaction that comes from doing
something God wants to be done. Joshua can have confidence
because God will give him success and will be with him (vv. 2-3).
Joshua can have great satisfaction knowing God is using him to fulfill
His purposes and promises (Genesis 12).
"I will give you every place where you set
your foot, as I promised Moses."
Application
1. Commit yourself to God's purposes, this year and for the rest of your
life.
2. Embrace all the responsibility, boldness and faithfulness that this
requires. Ask God for His strength.
3. Meditate on God's Word so you can live for God's purposes.
Discussion
1. How does this study encourage you with issues you are currently
facing as a Christian leader?
2. How are you tempted to be distracted with things other than God's
purposes?
3. What truths from God's Word encourage you to be strong and
courageous?
138 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 139

FED BY GOD'S WORD
Context
Read II TIMOTHY
“All Scripture is
breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and
for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may
be complete, equipped for
every good work.”
3:16-17
Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, a young pastor he was mentoring.
Paul wrote while sitting in prison awaiting his execution in Rome. All
the while, persecution against the church was running rampant. Many
Christians and teachers had been abandoning the faith, while some
were teaching false doctrine in the church leading many astray (2 Tim.
2:14-3:9). Throughout the letter, Paul calls Timothy to remain steadfast
in the truth in spite of suffering. A key to remaining steadfast in life and
ministry is to stay rooted in God's Word.
2. Because God’s Word “is breathed out by God":
God’s Word is holy.
God’s Word is our authority.
God’s Word is completely true and without error (inerrant)
because God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18).
God's Word is necessary to live & flourish (Matthew 4:4).
"Man shall not live by bread alone but by
every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God." Matthew 4:4
3. God's Word is “profitable for” four key things . . .
Teaching: Helps us know God and how we should live.
Reproof: Shows us our sin.
Correction: Provides a better way to live than our sin.
Training in righteousness: Builds us up to live holy lives.
Application
1. Read the Bible every day like your life depends on it.
2. Memorize key Bible verses.
3. As you read and memorize Scripture, ask God to teach you,
correct you, and train you in righteousness.
Discussion
In what ways has God encouraged you from the Bible this week?
Main Points
1.“All Scripture” is inspired by God.
Keyword: “ALL,” not just some.
"Breathed out" = inspired or spoken by God.
140 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 141

FILLED BY GOD'S SPIRIT
Read EPHESIANS
And do not get drunk with wine,
for that is debauchery,
but be filled with the Spirit.
5:18
Application
Christian leaders must be continually filled up by God’s Spirit.
The Christian life cannot be lived without God’s Spirit.
Discussion
As you seek to be a light to those around you, how will being
filled by God’s Spirit empower you and your gospel efforts?
Context
Paul’s command to the church of Ephesus to be filled by the Spirit
comes immediately after he tells them to carefully watch how they live.
He tells them to walk by the Spirit, remembering their identity and union
with Christ. These believers are to be filled with the Spirit, not only
because it is a gift from God, but because it is necessary for following
Jesus.
Main Points
Paul gives a command to be filled by the Spirit.
For those who are new creations in Christ, being filled with
the Holy Spirit is a part of their identity (2 Cor. 5:17).
Being filled with the Spirit is both something that Christians
are, and something that Christians are supposed to strive
for. Paul says this as a command.
Being filled by God’s Spirit…
Means that God is with you at all times (John 14:16-17).
Enables you to deny your sinful nature and live a godly life;
He will help you in your weakness (Gal. 5:16-26; Rom. 8:26).
Brings you an understanding of God’s Word (John 14:26).
Requires that you continuously seek to be filled (Eph. 5:18).
Enables you to minister in His power (2 Tim. 2:1; Eph. 6:17-18).
142 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 143

Fueled by Prayer
“‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup
from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours,
be done.’ And there appeared to Him an
angel from heaven, strengthening him. And
being in agony He prayed more earnestly;
and His sweat became like great drops of
blood falling down to the ground."
Context
At many points throughout His ministry, Jesus sets the example to pray.
He often goes off alone to pray (Luke 5:16), teaches His disciples how to
pray (Matt. 6:9-13), and prays for them (John 17). Only hours from His arrest
and crucifixion, Jesus focuses on prayer.
Main Points
Read LUKE 22:39-40
Jesus prayed regularly (v. 39).
Jesus commanded His disciples to pray (v. 40).
Jesus prayed directly to the Father (v. 42).
Jesus prayed fervently as he faced His greatest test (vv. 43-44).
Jesus was strengthened in prayer by the Father (v. 43).
Jesus says His disciples need to watch and pray so that they will not
fall into temptation (vv. 40, 46).
Jesus' disciples slept when they should have prayed, then stumbled
when they should have stood strong (vv. 45-46).
Application
Will you commit to frequent and fervent prayer this semester?
How should we pray? Let’s pray “FAST"! That means praying with...
Faith – The Bible teaches us to pray with faith, believing that
God is fully able and willing to answer our prayers
(Heb. 11:6; James 1:6-7).
Anticipation – We are to be watchful for God's answer to our
prayer, much like Elijah watched for God to answer His prayer
to bring rain (I Kgs. 18:41-46; James 5:16-18; Ps. 5:3).
Specific – God wants us to bring specific requests to Him. He may
not answer our prayers in the way we want or expect, but He
still invites us to ask and pray specifically (Lk. 11:9-13; Phil. 4:6;
Matt. 20:29-34).
Together – There is tremendous value and power when believers
unite in prayer (Acts 2:42).
Discussion
How does this study encourage you in the midst of issues you are
currently facing as a Christian leader?
How do you get distracted from a life of prayer, and what could you
do to change?
How will being fueled by prayer equip you for ministry as a Christian
leader?
144 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 145

FAITH IN GOD TO DO
THE IMPOSSIBLE
Read MATTHEW 19:26
God defeated armies before battles even began.
God caused a virgin to conceive and give birth to His Son, who was
both fully God and fully man.
Jesus Christ performed miracles, healed the sick, raised the dead
and was Himself raised from the dead.
If God gave Jesus to save you, trust Him to also give you what you need
as you serve Him. Paul said, “If God gave up His own Son for us, will He
not also give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32).
Context
"But Jesus looked at
them and said, 'With
man this is impossible,
but with God all things
are possible.'”
Jesus says this right after the disciples ask, “Who then can be saved?”
There are many things that are impossible for human beings to
accomplish, but there is no limit to the sovereignty of God. One such
thing is salvation. People cannot save themselves, but can only be saved
by the power of God. God can do the impossible and calls His followers
to have faith in Him to do so.
Application
Will you pray in deep faith and ask God to accomplish the
impossible at your school?
Will you have faith in God to do even more than you can ask or
imagine? (Eph. 3:20-21).
Discussion
How does this encourage you in the midst of issues you are currently
facing as a leader?
Where do you need to have more faith, trusting God for the
impossible?
Main Points
Strengthen your faith by remembering things God has done that are
impossible for man.
God created and ordered everything in the universe.
God parted the Red Sea.
146 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 147

FILLED WITH BOLDNESS
FROM THE LORD
Context
Read ACTS 4:1-31
“And when they had prayed, the place in
which they were gathered together was shaken,
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and continued to speak the word of God with
boldness."
In Acts 4, Peter and John are arrested by the Jewish religious
leaders for proclaiming the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ
from the dead. They threaten and warn Peter and John to no
longer spread this message, but the two apostles refuse to be
silent. Instead, they pray and ask God to fill them with boldness.
The religious leaders even boldly proclaim the message of
salvation to those who arrested them.
This boldness from the Lord was noticeable and testified to the
truth (v. 13).
The believers continued in prayer, asking God to fill them with
boldness (vv. 23-31).
Application
Will you pray to be filled with boldness by the power of the
Holy Spirit?
How will you boldly proclaim the gospel in a way similar to
Peter and John?
How will you respond when others are offended or tell you that
you can't talk about Jesus?
Discussion
How does this study encourage you in the midst of issues you
are facing as a Christian leader?
What causes you to be timid when sharing the gospel with
others? What will you do to combat this fear and be filled with
boldness instead?
How does being fed by God’s Word, filled by God’s Spirit,
fueled by prayer, and having faith in God to do the impossible
help you be filled with boldness from the Lord?
Main Points
Preaching the gospel will offend and upset those who oppose
it (vv. 1-3, 17).
Preaching the gospel will cause many to believe and repent
(v. 4).
Peter and John boldly spoke of Christ, even to those who
arrested them (vv. 8-12).
They spoke of Christ boldly by the power of the Holy Spirit
(vv. 8, 31).
148 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 149

FAITHFUL IN ALL YOU
HAVE BEEN ENTRUSTED
His master said to him, "Well done,
good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful over a little;
I will set you over much.
Enter into the joy of your master."
Context
Read MATTHEW
This well-known parable is one in which Christ calls His followers to
faithfulness and perseverance. It teaches of a master who requires
diligent service and stewardship of his servants. This parable should
motivate us to joyfully and faithfully serve God in light of all that has
been entrusted to us.
25:14-30
Application
Will you commit to devoting yourself to be faithful in little and much?
Will you commit to prayer, asking for God’s help to be faithful?
Will you commit to working diligently, even when many others would
quit?
Discussion
How does the principle of ‘faithful in little, faithful in much’
challenge you to be faithful?
Where do you think God is calling you to greater faithfulness in your
ministry?
How does looking forward to the future day when God says, “Well
done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your
master,” affect you in the present?
Main Points
The master entrusts each servant with work and resources to steward
(vv.14-15).
The master does not entrust his servants in equal and identical
ways (vv. 14-15).
Servants are expected to faithfully do the work that has been
entrusted to them (vv. 16-23).
The master judges and settles accounts with each servant according
to their labor (vv. 19-30).
The master teaches the principle that those who are faithful in little
will be entrusted with more. He rewards those who are faithful with
little with more responsibility (vv. 21, 23).
Faithful servants are welcomed into the joy of their master (vv. 21, 23).
150 LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP 151

Index
1. Lawrence O. Richards, Creative Bible Teaching (Moody Press, 1976).
2. Decision Point, Internal Decision Point Survey. (Decision Point, 2009)
3. Barna, Over Half of Gen Z Teens Feel Motivated to Learn more About Jesus,
February 1, 2023. https://www.barna.com/research/teens-and-jesus/
4. One Hope, Global Youth Culture: United States Report. (One Hope: Global
Youth Culture U.S. Report, 2020)
5. Robby Gallaty and Kandi Gallaty, Hear God Speak through Bible Journaling,
August 18, 2021. https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/bible-journalingmethod-to-hear-god-speak

162 TEACH GOD’S WORD