The only time I interacted with “Jaleea” before online club, she was being bullied at school, and I intervened. She didn’t want to talk with me then, but when she randomly showed up on our club chat, I was silently praising God! As I sat in an empty room talking to a camera, I wondered how kids were responding in front of their computers at home. Thankfully, our Campus Life Military leader team was monitoring the chat.  

After I stopped the live feed another leader sent me a text. “Jaleea wants to talk with you and Jessica about Jesus.”  I was very surprised and very grateful. During our club online I had shared how “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18, NIV).  Apparently, when I told the story about how Jesus healed a woman who bled for 12 years, Jaleea typed, “Can he save me?”

Since schools closed here in mid-March, everything has changed. I am sure from where you sit now, your community is transformed as well. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced many of us into new ways of working, learning, and communicating. 

Youth For Christ is adapting as well! While you might expect that closed schools mean no ministry, the exact opposite is happening. Though we can’t walk into their lunchrooms, missionaries continue to “go where young people are” – and currently, that’s online.  

The response is encouraging to say the least! Many leaders are finding students more open to Jesus than ever before. Teens are attending Zoom Bible studies, gathering for Club on Instagram, and asking questions they’ve never asked – questions like, “Can he save me?” 

Please pray for Jaleea, our team, and for the youth we serve. Many young people who are now confined to the very “homes” that have caused them so much trauma and pain. Knowing this we will continue to be creative, not cancel, and go where these students are. 

*Teen name and image have been changed.