Students in grades five to eight at Downers Grove Adventist School shared their faith with their community by presenting a series of meetings at their school from February 20 to March 7. Remarkably, the students planned, organized and conducted the evangelistic series, with help and encouragement from Joe Arner, pastor, and their classroom teacher.

"Even though it was quite a bit of work, we knew it was for God and we wanted to bring people to Him," Lucas Carreira wrote in the school newspaper.

On the first night, nearly all of the students were present to set up chairs, snacks, tables, the registration center, crafts, prizes for attendance, gifts for bringing guests and more. For nearly a month before the series began the students copied memory verses onto card stock, cut out the verses and put magnets onto the back of each card so the visitors could have a memory verse magnet to take home with them each night.

Student participation was strong throughout the series. Parents were a big help too, because they brought the tasty snacks that everyone enjoyed each evening.

Gift Bibles were given to anyone who attended five meetings. To personalize the Bible, all the students signed the Bible on the page with the recipient's name. The students also included a favorite Bible verse, typed out on card stock, complete with the reference and the page number where the verse could be found. In addition, the students included a personal testimony about why that verse was special and a message to encourage the reader to look for the blessing in that particular verse.

Each meeting began with the reading of one chapter of a continued story, which ended with a cliffhanger. Next, the praise team led both familiar and new songs. Students then welcomed new guests and recognized returning ones. Different ones led out in announcements, opening prayer, the memory verse drill and a review of the previous meetings.

The students shared Bible themes in a personal way. Visitors also heard Bible stories told from a whole new perspective. Some students had never spoken publicly before and enjoyed the opportunity to do so while sharing the gospel with others. The students used a big screen and interesting visual effects. After the message, visitors had the opportunity to make a craft specifically designed to reinforce the night's message.

This was an incredible walk of faith for all of us. Repeatedly, the Lord removed obstacles and showed His power in ways that awed and astonished us. His hand was clearly behind this evangelistic series, and we are thrilled to have been able to cooperate with Him. At the end of the series, a baptismal class was started and two students requested baptism.

According to Lucas, "It was a huge amount of work but all of us in grades 5–8 think it was totally worth it. In fact, now that it is over we are already planning what we will do next year and who the speakers will be."

Patricia Williams is the principal of Downers Grove Adventist School.