Recap of Rise
Standing in Pauley Ballroom, at 5:55 with a group of other college students, waiting for the clock to hit 6PM, I was more excited than I’d been in a very long time. In just a few minutes a huge crowd of youth would be coming through those doors, and we had just three precious hours to try to interest them in a ministry that could very well help to define the course of the rest of their lives. The pressure was on, but at the same time we mentors knew that this was an awesome opportunity.
Outside the auditorium, other college Interhigh mentors were welcoming the students as they entered the building. Clusters of people could be seen gathered around mentors wielding signs with grade numbers on them, from middle school all the way up to twelfth grade. As the mentors put all they had into making the visitors feel welcomed with cheers and grade-specific chants (HOO! HOO! JUNIORS!), the atmosphere crackled with excitement. The doors opened, and the students began to enter. The time was now six o’ clock, and Rise was beginning.
There is no real consensus on the issue, but what is clear from what experts and various studies say is that a large majority of Christian youth that go to college fall away from the faith, and fairly quickly at that. It is a staggering thing to think that so many youth, young men and women who have been churched, who have heard the gospel, who by all rights should be passionate and firm followers of Jesus, are falling away, with all their potential to serve God, all their youthful zeal, simply fading away. It was out of concern for just such youth that many of us decided to become a part of the ministry of Interhigh. And now the time was finally here: our chance to offer what we could to help those young Christians in a major way. With this in mind, it is easy to see why we mentors were as excited as we were as Rise kicked off, some of us literally leaping in the air with exhilaration.
A gauntlet of purple-and-black clad Interhigh mentors welcomed the youth with cheers and applause as they entered the room, serving to set an atmosphere of high energy and excitement straightaway. As an usher, I helped to direct the flow of young people to the assigned sections by grade, with a smile on my face and energy in my voice and movements.
With everybody finally seated, the praise band took the stage as the lights darkened.
A low voice intoned, “Is anybody out there tonight?”—James, the Interhigh praise leader.
The earsplitting response reflected the exuberance that I was feeling. The youth in the room cheered and whooped as if they were at a concert—but in that room, that night, they were ready to sing praises to God.
The praise band kicked the night off with “The Time has Come” and “One Way” by Hillsong United, followed by “Alabastar Jar” by Zach Neese and ending with Lincoln Brewster’s “Today is the Day.” As mentors, it was our duty to set the tone of the praise time, to try and inject some energy into the crowd. Some of us worried that the praise time would involve simply a bunch of leaping, excited mentors and a sea of bemused looking, non-participating youth. Our worries proved to be unfounded. By and large, from where I stood the room was filled with youth getting totally into the worship experience.
As the praise band ended with a last bang and took their leave, the main attraction stepped up: Sean McDowell. We were lucky to have reserved him as our speaker. With eloquence and humor, the veteran apologist engaged his audience on the importance of truth: our need as Christians to know the truth, to understand the danger of moral relativism, and to be able to present and defend the truth of Christianity to an unbelieving world. While showing one of the students to the bathroom midway through the talk in my capacity as usher, he told me “man, that’s some deep stuff they’re talking about in there.” Not too deep for him to internalize, hopefully.
Four of our own youth then hopped onto the stage and presented a hilarious skit detailing the lives of four Christian youth who are in different way confused about their identity as followers of Jesus. The skit was well received, as the audience responded with laughter and applause at all the right times. Most every youth in the audience admitted that they could relate to at least one of those exaggerated characters, whether the shallow, materialistic, fashion-obsessed Christian, the embarrassed compromising Christian, the joyless, overzealous militaristic Christian, or the ungrounded, guitar-strumming, emotions-only Christian with pants so tight that God’s grace was required for the simple act of walking.
Pastor William wrapped up the program with a short talk on just what exactly Interhigh was, and why we were doing it. He talked about the need for worldview and apologetics training for youth, about the many temptations and challenges youth face as they leave their churches and go to college, and about the vision that we had for Interhigh. He extended an invitation to those in the room to become a part of Interhigh, to join us at Interhigh monthly and to get connected with a college mentor who could be simply somebody to talk to in the crazy world of middle and high school.
That was the end of the program, but it was followed up by some team games and refreshments. In some ways, this was the most important part. It was our chance as mentors to meet the youth who came and try to get to know them personally in that short interval. I was assigned to a team of juniors in high school, who made it out to Rise despite the infamous stress of eleventh grade. While I cannot speak for the other teams, my team was a joy to be with. They were friendly, energetic, and got engaged in the games and in conversation afterwards. Some of them, we found, had come all the way from San Jose, driving the good hour required to make it to Berkeley.
Finally it all had to end. Chatting and meeting new people, many students were reluctant to go, but little by little the room cleared out. It was a bit of a downer to think that it was over, that Rise was done with. But as one of the older staff said, this was only the beginning. Rise was awesome (there is no other word for it), but it was simply the kickoff event for the ongoing ministry of Interhigh. “Only the beginning”, we mentors told each other as we headed home. Now, with just as much excitement, I look forward to the weeks, months, and years ahead as we will see just what God has in store for us in this terribly exciting ministry that he is giving us the privilege of carrying out.
Written by Isaiah Kang, InterHigh Mentor
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[...] kids, parents, youth leaders, pastors who came, as well as from all our college student mentors. Isaiah from Koinonia wrote a recap of RISE so I’ll let him explain in detail. Please pray for this great new [...]
[...] sure to read “Recap of Rise” post for all the details of what [...]
praise the lord for wonderful turnout and many favorable responses.
i’m excited to see all that God will do through inter-high in the years to come.
any jr high/high school student who wasn’t there definitely missed out!
It was amazing to see Pauley filled with Youth, Parents, and Youth leaders/mentors. It was a sight to see. Excited for what is to come for InterHigh.
Andy, we missed you! Try to come to the InterHigh monthly if you can.
I’m so excited to see how God will lead this new ministry! What a tremendously exciting night!
I am so thankful for InterHigh ministry and the RISE turnout! High school was probably the most confusing time of my life and I think it’s much harder for the youth today. I’m praying that this really is going to be the start of something dramatically life-changing for many people!
wish i could have been there! but so excited for what you guys are doing with inter-high, praying for you all!
Seeing the slide show of the night made me realize that God has given us something special by sharing his heart with us for the youth of our generation. This is something I wish I had as a high school student as I think it could have really help grow. It’s awesome to see all the high school students, college students and staff giving it there all to honor God!
This is only the beginning!! I think God has a lot more in store for InterHigh and I hope all of you out there come and check us out and join us for future events, even if you missed RISE.
I have so much hope for the youth now!! Praise the Lord!
So exciting! Much hope and prayers for the youth of today and all God wants to do through and in them!
i’m so excited for interhigh and how God can really use this ministry to save the heartache and brokenness of college when people should have joy and faith in Jesus
I’m so thankful for all the willing hands who are willing to get Interhigh going! It is really inspiring to see so much effort to care for the youth.
keep up the good work! karen’s uncle participated in the event. he was very impressed and said that he would tell his church’s youth kids to come next time!
i was really inspired by the energy that the interhigh staff put in. for example, i saw my peer who’s serving interhigh the next morning. i thought he got sick from working so hard because his voice sounded hoarse. he responded: “no. i am perfectly healthy. i was just screaming the whole time with the kids.”
Awsome!!! Excited and hopeful for all the youth whose lives can be transformed and experience all the ways God wants to fill their lives and use them!!
Thanks for this recap Isaiah, Rise was really awesome and it was great seeing the students enjoy themselves and get equipped, I’m really excited for how God will use InterHigh!!!
One of my favorite parts of the night was when the mentors, staff, youth parents and youth pastors gathered around the youth students. To know that all these older brothers and sisters have gone ahead of them, and have committed to love/care for them and raise them up to be a thinking generation, really overwhelmed me with a sense of excitement and hope for this generation. I am looking very forward to InterHigh monthly and all that is to come!! WOOOHOOO!!!
InterHigh’s kickoff event RISE was awesome. I am in awe of God answered the prayers and cries of so many youth and youth leaders of our generation so concretely. I am excited to see how God will shape and use this ministry to bless many people and bring many new brothers and sisters in Christ together with us.
Wow, I wish we had something lke InterHigh when I was in youth!
Wow, I’m excited to see how God will use RISE to impact a whole generation of youth!
Excited and looking forward to what God will do through this!
we gotta start jumping around during praise like the youth does at RiSE! =)
It was great to see so many students at RISE! I met a lot of new students, some even came from Vacaville! I hope to see you guys again at INTERHIGH MONTHLY!
[...] online, and because Isaiah K. already did all the work in writing up what happened, I’ll just point you to Isaiah’s recap. Oh yea, here’s a cool [...]
RISE WAS SUPER AWSOME~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CANT WAIT FOR THE INTERHIGH !!!!!!!
i wish i could be there!! will be praying for y’all!!!
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