After a year of working with at-risk boys through an after-school club, Scott Carroll and other volunteers from Stony Fork Community Church were able to walk three students through professions of faith. Every week for a year, around 15 young boys met for Quest Team, a life skills and character-building club sponsored by the church. Although Scott and the other volunteers could not directly speak about Jesus to the students, they “lived Jesus in front of them and taught from a Christian worldview,” Scott said. 

The students in the club were handpicked by the teachers as potentially at-risk boys that needed a male influence in their lives. The curriculum of the club taught lessons on decision-making, active listening, family and relationships, and other life skills. 

At the club’s last meeting, one of the boys asked what it meant to be a Christian. “Because he asked the question, it opened up the door for us to answer,” Scott said. “As one of our church interns began speaking, they engaged in conversation back and forth and were able to clear up some misconceptions about what being a Christian truly meant.” 

As they finished, the student asked if he could become a Christian. Two other students that were listening said they also wanted to be Christians. “Right there at the pizza table, in front of the other boys, we helped these students say a prayer to accept Jesus Christ into their lives,” Scott said. 

Because the club was ending, the volunteers knew they needed to point the students to the local church. They invited the students to the Vacation Bible School at their church, offered to help them find a church in their area, and gave them some materials for elementary-level discipleship. 

Although the club has not been able to resume meeting since the coronavirus hit, the impact of the club and the church is still felt at the school. “The principal shared with me many times that the school is vastly different because of the impact the Stony Fork Community made on campus,” Scott said. “God has blessed us and allowed us to move beyond the school through this partnership, moving into the families and communities where the kids live.”

To find out more about how your church can partner with local schools, visit https://www.scbaptist.org/heart4schools/.