New Partnership Brings Students a Message of Purpose
The years spent in high school are a pivotal time, where plans for the future, hopes, dreams and the purpose of life are at the forefront of young people’s minds. It can also be a time of confusion, lack of direction, depression and even hopelessness. Knowing that God has a plan and purpose for each of them, and that they are meant for more than simply getting by, is at the heart of the message being sent right into the palm of their hands. This month National School Project and Groundwire have partnered together to turn www.MeantForMore.us into an evangelistic tool specifically targeting those lost and hurting students.
Picture Julie, a sophomore who just barely had time to get the hang of high school before the pandemic tipped her whole world upside down. Now she’s juggling a few days a week at school with six feet and a mask between her and every possible new friend, and trying to complete assignments at home while her parents argue in the other room. “What do you want to be when you grow up,” starts to feel like a ridiculous question when you’re not even sure what the next six months will look like. So she sits in her room and wonders if she will even have a future, or friends, and what the point of all of it is. There’s familiarity and comfort with the phone in her hand, and the closest she gets to socializing these days is social media, so that’s where she goes. That’s where Meant for More is waiting with a message of hope, purpose, and the love of God.
Ever since Founder and CEO Warren Willis created the National School Project (NSP) in 2002, the ministry has been praying to see a student-led, church-supported campus awakening to the love of Christ at every public school. NSP launched the Meant for More Campaign in fall of 2019 with a goal of giving a million students the chance to hear the gospel in 1,000 days. Through this campaign, students across the nation were leading Meant for More outreach weeks on their public school campuses, and spreading the message to their peers that Jesus made them for more than just the things the world has to offer.
While NSP continues to equip students to share the gospel at school and on campus where possible, they have also begun pursuing more digital and online resources for students. In this time of continual change and uncertainty, especially with many schools requiring distance learning, they don’t want students to miss out on the opportunity to find hope in Jesus simply because their campuses are closed.
Mark Hopson, president of NSP, says, “America’s public schools continue to be a crucial mission field. As our ministry looks into the days ahead, we see a huge need and opportunity to bring the gospel to students online as well. I am grateful for this partnership with Groundwire and their leadership in this critical arena.”
Groundwire has been leveraging media and technology in order to share Jesus with youth and young adults since 2017, with a focus on reaching them online where they spend so much of their time. In 2020 alone, Groundwire has seen over 95,000 people place their trust in Jesus through chatting with a team of volunteers and online Gospel presentations on their sites.
Sean Dunn, Founder and CEO of Groundwire shares, “Over the past several years it has become increasingly more difficult to get young people interested in attending church, but it has also become increasingly more difficult to get them to put down their phones. We have discovered a great way to reach the younger generations digitally, and are taking advantage of the exciting opportunity of drawing them in through their smartphones.”
Together, the two ministries are excited to pair Meant For More’s powerful message of hope with Groundwire’s expertise in permeating digital spaces to reach students, right on their digital devices.
The MeantForMore.us campaign includes targeted video advertising and a site that offers the message of the Good News, as well as the opportunity to chat live with a team offering encouragement, hope, and the gospel. For more information, visit www.MeantForMore.us or National School Project at www.NationalSchoolProject.com
To learn more about Groundwire and their outreach, visit www.Groundwire.net, www.JesusCares.com or www.WhenLifeHurts.com
National School Project (NSP)’s vision is to see a student-led, church-supported campus awakening to the love of Christ at every public school. For more information, visit nationalschoolproject.com.
(SOURCE: National School Project via Christian Newswire)
