Pastors & Leaders

Pastors & Youth Staff:  Call or email to set up a 15-minute screen-share to show you how churches are using these resources.

315-480-1232  john@BelieversCollegePrep.com 

Download this letter to email to families.

Want to talk?  Call 315-480-1232 or email john@BelieversCollegePrep.com

Students Share the Process to prepare and connect.

What % of the HS Juniors & Seniors in your church are connected now to campus ministries?  It’s been proven that if Juniors select colleges with good ministries, and all students are in relational touch with the ministries in advance, that the following Christmas most will return to their youth group with exciting stories of growth.  Parents encourage the students, and a show of hands in your youth group shows if you are reaching 100%.  Pastors - Be a “Connected Church” in your community, which means you are striving for no student left behind, and encouraging other pastors.  Learn how.

Why High School Juniors & Seniors need to prepare and connect now 

Each Fall is one of the most critical seasons for the success of the church in America, since during Freshmen orientation and the weeks that follow, all the love and instruction that parents and churches have poured into our students either bears fruit or becomes damaged or is cast aside.   Research shows that the future lives of believers and non-believers alike are significantly altered during the first weeks of college, which is why we need to prepare our youth to work with ministries to know the other believers in their dorm and reach out as a team.  Juniors are wise to select colleges that have strong campus ministries to build a base of initial friends.   We can share how this is being rolled out in a fuller way nationally with the leadership of Believers College Prep, Campus Renewal, Youth Transition Network and a number of ministry and denominational channels.

Experience & Vision -  A Spark to Youth Groups

I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. 1 John 2:14

FIRST GENERATION BELIEVERS: When I became a believer in 1972 in Syracuse during the Jesus movement, life was nothing close to dull.  My friends and I had encountered a Christ we knew nothing about and were blown away with the fact that we could encounter the actual presence of God whether reading the Bible, in prayer, or in powerful worship.  It was astonishing to us in that generation that our sins were forgiven, we felt whole, and sin was not interesting.  All we wanted was for our friends and others to experience the same thing.   That’s the way it is with new believers who go from darkness to light.

SECOND/THIRD GENERATION BELIEVERS:  In God’s economy, second generation believers are designed to live off that same sense of wonder vicariously as they lead peers to the Lord and help disciple them become a direct expression of God’s love.  Anything short of this leads to eventual dullness.  A number of years ago in an InterVarsity chapter in Geneseo, New York, a student whole-heartedly put their faith in Jesus during freshmen orientation, with a wonderful transformation. This was the first time that many of the InterVarsity freshmen had seen one of their peers impacted by the grace of God, and they became so energized that 26 other students coming to Christ in his dorm that semester.  The students came back to their youth groups for Christmas with stories of growth, great friends, and participation that energized their youth groups with vision.  We want to see this “feedback” loop become normal in all churches.  

Ignition - Student Evangelism Experience

This experience needs to start someplace, and the Sweet-Spot confluence of very open non-believers is the easiest place on the planet for students to experience the blessings of seeing their peers transformed by the love of Christ.  Love and zeal grow because the head knowledge suddenly becomes real with actual changed lives.  We recommend bringing or sending your high school juniors to visit campus ministry meetings at a college near you.  During Christmas break, set up a night where first semester freshmen can share their experiences.   The next step is to have to experience youth conversions in high school.  We recommend that you believe God for an active club in your local high school.  Fellowship of Christian Athletes welcomes non-athletes, and due to the popularity of sports is easier to get into schools than most.  We have experience there and can assist you.  See www.BelieversCollegePrep.com/FCA.   Our friends at FUEL Student Led Youth Ministry have a lot of success stories to share also.

FCA Sparks a High School Revival

An efficient way to see how other churches and schools are using this is to set up a 15-30 minute session to view our screen for a walk-through.  You can contact John Decker at  john@BelieversCollegePrep.com or 315-656-7973  SCREEN-SHARE LINK

Primary step for your church or school

Let the parents know that www.BelieversCollegePrep.com is a national resource site to turn the tide on success with our youth. The site home page will bring them to the below flyer, where they can watch the videos, and search and contact campus ministries through www.LiveAbove.com during their sophomore, junior and senior years,  It’s a good idea to get a show of hands from parents from time to time to see if all the students have started connecting.   Youth pastors can click here to run a session in a youth meeting meeting.  Optional steps are further down on this page, but the website itself will inform people of the possibilities and resources.

Believers College Prep uses its resources to initiate local or national projects that help with successful college transition.  Local churches are the bedrock for sustained gospel movements in communities and the schools and colleges they serve. We wish to hear about  best practices and testimonies from churches and Christian schools that we can share on this website to accelerate community transformation.

Recommended Steps

• Resource Site - Encourage parents to use BelieversCollegePrep.com as a regular resource page.   To spread the word, you can use the information on this page  which includes website buttons, bulletin words, introductory newsletter, Facebook, etc.  Calvary Chapel FingerLakes wants to see this message become “normal” in the community so has offered to promote events on their network of radio stations, plus do special PSAs about the movement. We may be able to provide these PSAs to your station, so that all the 2016 grads in your community succeed in the college transition. Communication resources for your church or school.

OPTIONAL STEPS

• Workshops/Seminars - Set up several workshops that I can lead for parents and students in-person of via webinar.  NY, PA, and NJ are best for in-person, and the rest can be done via webinar.   These workshops can be large or small, and cover all the spiritual and financial topics on the site, or do some specialized ones.
• Youth Group – Set an expectation that all Juniors and Seniors should create a login to LiveAbove.com, and that everyone be sure to watch the videos and be connected to, and dialoguing with, campus ministries as part of the Junior year college search and Senior year college selection, so that they have a concrete plan on who to meet with during the first 3 days of freshmen orientation, and have prepared for several years in advance how to reach out on campus.   Have a youth group meeting (I can help if you like) where you show some videos, create discussion, then as homework have each log on and email some campus ministers, then report back to the group the next week. Step-by-step directions are here on the Other Resources drop-down.
• Ministry Visits – Encourage students to visit local campus ministries and catch the vision.  I can set up introductions for you at colleges.
• Fellowship of Christian Athletes & other High School ministries– Spread the word in church that FCA would love to have a high school ministry on campus to help their kids grow strong together and reach out to others.  Non-athletes are welcome.  The “All Points Bulletin” is to encourage them to be on the lookout and network to find any Christian coaches, teachers, principals, superintendents and interested teens. I will forward that information to FCA.  The same goes for Young Life, Youth for Christ, Youth Alive, etc. See BelieversCollegePrep.com/FCA 
• Woodlawn Bible Study – The Woodlawn film will be on Amazon and DVD in mid-December.  I suggest watching the first free 30 minute study, and ordering the $29 set of 6 weeks.  This is extremely well done, and the premise is – a revival started in a high school (led by FCA) in 1973 and you (students) can do it again! . See BelieversCollegePrep.com/FCA

Calvary Chapel Radio produced these announcements to spread the movement.  

Believers College Prep was a Speaker at the 2016 CCEA East Coast Calvary Chapel School Conference

Let us know if you have a station we should contact for these anouncements.