When sophomore art major Hannah McLaughlin attended high school, she led the Christian club on her campus. After a year of trying to run it on her own, she found the California School Project which gave her the resources she needed, such as a mentor. Now in college, she returns the favor by acting as a mentor to high school students.
Better portrayal of expanded mission
The National School Project, previously known as the California School Project and the Illinois School Project, encourages campus outreach by supporting high school Christian club leaders with spiritual guidance and teachings. The ministry born on Biola’s campus over a decade ago rebranded itself this summer in order to better portray its expanding mission.
“We’re not only working with California students, but we’re like getting to get out and go outside of California, and I feel like changing the name from California to National is like breaking borders of where we can go,” McLaughlin said.
NSP’s goal of reaching every student for Christ has begun to come to fruition as the ministry opened its first branch in Texas and has plans to open one in Maryland. Though the expansion will take time, rebranding the name depicts the leaders’ confidence in the ministry’s continued growth.
Currently, the majority of the program occurs throughout California and Illinois. University students involved in NSP interact on a weekly basis with high school students, helping them share their faith in God to other students. They also partner with local youth groups in order to get different youth leaders to speak at rallies and other such high school events.
“I’ve gotten to have a bunch of conversations with different high schoolers who are going through a hard time and to just give them so much encouragement and tell them literally what the love of Christ is, and it has been such a blessing to be a part of it,” McLaughlin said.
awakening love of Christ at every public high school
Junior English major Cynthia Ramirez joined NSP her freshman year at Biola because she had always cared about the struggles high school girls face. Because of her involvement with NSP, she had the opportunity to go to Chicago last summer and guide a junior high girl through her first experience evangelizing. Ramirez also had the opportunity to share the gospel herself in Spanish for the first time.
“God just opens that door for me to share the gospel in another language. It’s such a privilege, such a blessing to be able to have that open door to talk to people in Spanish, which is really cool,” Ramirez said.
NSP offers spiritual growth for both high school and college students. It also teaches them better techniques of spiritual leadership. Senior sociology major Kelly Vine got involved her sophomore year and now interns with the ministry.
“I’m overseeing 10 high schools, directly mentoring one of them, and it’s been incredible, it’s been awesome,” Vine said.
With the encouragement of their success in California and Illinois, NSP plans to pursue its mission to its fullest potential, to “awaken the love of Christ at every public high school,” as their mission statement says.
