Concerned educators in Nicaragua saw a tide of destruction sweeping through the lives of children in local schools. School-based programs seemed to have little effect on changing the situation. To help address the problem, EHC Director Isaac Estrada developed a unique outreach called Students Reaching Students for Christ.
Working with local churches, young people who love the Lord and have a heart for their unsaved schoolmates receive training in evangelism and learn how to form student-led Bible-study groups.
When fellow students share the Gospel, classmates are more open to hearing the truth. Already, more than 8,000 students have given their lives to Christ. Among them are 125 young girls who found a way out of prostitution through Jesus. They are now living proof of the transforming power of Christ’s saving grace.
A 16-year-old Christian girl named Tamara felt a special calling to reach out to gang members. One evening on a deserted street she came face to face with a local gang leader named Michael. When he demanded to know why she was there, Tamara boldly said she had come to lead Michael to Christ.
Michael was stunned by her answer but he listened as she shared the Gospel. Ten minutes later, Michael knelt in the street as Tamara led him in a prayer of repentance. With Tamara at his side, Michael paused to write something on the back of the gospel booklet she had given him, when a man with a gun stepped out of the shadows. It was another leader in Michael’s street gang.
Miraculously, Tamara wasn’t hit, but Michael fell at her feet, near death. “Tamara, I’m dying,” Michael gasped, “but don’t worry. I am leaving with Christ.” Michael lay dead on the street.
Later, Tamara read the words Michael had written on the back of a blood-stained gospel booklet that was pulled from his shirt pocket: “I am thirsty for Christ,” he had written. “I don’t want to be a gang member anymore.”
The Students Reaching Students for Christ campaign is setting a milestone standard for churches around the world to follow. Young believers are having their faith strengthened through training in evangelism and then challenged as they boldly reach out to classmates with the Gospel and then disciple new believers in student-run Bible-study groups.
A new generation of evangelists, pastors and teachers is being raised up among young people to take the Gospel through the 21st century.
