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God Opens A Door

Every day we are faced with decisions to make. What determines our choices in those decisions is, more often than not, our motivation to please. Do we want to please ourselves, our friends, or God? I certainly know which way I would answer that question much of the time, and it is not the latter. I witness high school students make these choices constantly. They are usually made to please their peers, their boy/girl friend, their fragile ego, their teacher, and possibly their parents. The fact is, God throws us into situations to make us better, and to glorify Him. This is a quick story of an awesome movement across our state. One in which many young men and women are stepping up when God places an opportunity in front of them.

My name is Brian Menk, and I am a high school mathematics teacher in southeast Minnesota. In the fall of 2015, I was asked a question by a great friend of mine at church. The question was simply, “have you ever thought about starting FCA at your school?” My response to him was no, and that I had no idea what it even was. A couple of weeks later, I was listening to a presentation by the Southeast Minnesota FCA director, to a small group of parents and students in a neighboring town’s high school gym. I left that night feeling very enthusiastic about the opportunity. I also learned that FCA stands for Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Now, here was one of those situations that was undoubtedly provided by God, and truth-be-told, my first feelings were not how I would like them to be. I started to have thoughts of how good this would look for my own reputation in my school and community. To put is another way, my first thoughts were very selfish. After pondering this and comparing how I was feeling to how God calls us to be selfless, I almost shut down the entire idea. I was stuck in guilt and fear, exactly where God doesn’t want us.

After wrestling with my conscience and realizing that this was an opportunity to bring glory to God and bring Jesus into the lives of kids, I decided to move forward with it. I had meetings with our principal and superintendent just to make sure that I would not be losing my job by doing this. They checked into a few things, and to make a long story short, because the “huddles”, which are the weekly group meetings, are student lead…..we were good to go. In the weeks and months that followed, 5 students stepped up to the challenge and volunteered to be leaders in our new FCA huddle. They attended trainings throughout the fall and by January, we were ready to start our weekly meetings and open them up to the entire student body. With the help of my wife, Nichole, and another teacher in our school, we were all excited to get going. Over the course of the remaining 5 months of the school year, we held Bible studies and activities on alternating Friday mornings before school in my room or the gym. We had established our little FCA huddle.

After some summer planning we started our first full school year with FCA. We gained a couple more student leaders, as well as much needed experience. We hit the ground running and saw tremendous growth. In fact, at one point I was concerned my classroom was not going to be big enough for all the students who kept showing up. We were all so excited that things were going so well. Along with the weekly morning huddles, we planned and took part in various community events such as Fields of Faith, a Feed My Starving Children meal packing day, a Toys for Tots collection and shopping trip, and See You at the Pole just to name a few. The point is, our students were giving, serving, praying, loving, challenging, and growing……all while giving glory to God. Keep in mind, this was all happening in a public school.

The closing prayer at the end of our FCA kick-off event.

Well, we just started our second full year and things are rolling right along. We are growing. Student leaders have graduated and moved on to college better equipped. New leaders have stepped up in their place. God is good! We just had our annual FCA kick-off and waffle breakfast in the gym, and lets just say it was AWESOME! I want to finish with two stories of kids in our school, which is probably what got me to finally write this.

The first is a story of a young 7th grade girl, lets call her Suzi. Suzi was currently serving her daily morning detention in the office, when one of our secretaries asked me if she could come join our kick-off event. We both agreed that would be a great thing. So instead of Suzi sitting silently in the office, she joined a gym full of over 60 kids, waffles, worship music, and talks from our student leaders. She also had an impactful conversation with my wife while she was there. That is God intervening in a big way. The second story is about a 7th grade boy who we will call Billy. I came into the office one morning to find Billy with tears in his eyes talking to that same secretary. I overheard her telling him about our FCA group and how it might be good for him to check it out. The secretary asked if I could talk with him. We went for a walk in the school and talked for a while, I gave him one of our FCA wristbands, and then sent him on his way. I checked into his situation later that day and found out that since school started two weeks prior, he has been terrified of school and had spent a lot of time with tears in his eyes. The next day as I was passing through a group of students, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to find Billy with a huge smile on his face and all he did was point to the wristband. Again, God at work!

To close off this little article, I guess I want to share my hope. God calls all of us to be disciples. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me.” John 15:4. My hope is that someone will read this and decide to listen to God’s voice, feel the Holy Spirit’s nudges, and take that step. Teenagers are making disciples out of their peers and each other, and it is a beautiful thing. At a time when so much attention is given to the terrible things going on in our country and around the world, take the time to look for the doors that God is opening in your own life. He has a plan for you!

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