Jeff: Hi, I'm Jeff Fenholt. Welcome to Standin' On The Rock. Praise God. I've been set free out of all the bondage. How about you? You been set free? He who the Son sets free, is free indeed. Today, I have Mike Berry on the show with me. Co-founder and director of Students 4 Christ. We've been workin' on this project, now, for over a year. And we're seein' student-initiated Bible study clubs bein' raised up all across the United States of America. Praise God.
When I go into the schools...[Mike: Weren't you in West Virginia, Clarksburg, just recently? (1998)] Yes. [Mike: How many kids did you did you get in the rally?] Oh, goodness, I don't know. 1800 or [Mike: A couple of thousand, and the response was overwhelming.] It was overwhelmin'. But, it wasn't just at the rally. It was at the school that it was overwhelmin'. We had 3,000 kids that we saw at the schools that day. You got to figure over half of 'em came out for the rally that night. But when we hit the schools, funny enough, the guy in the school who was, quote un-quote 'a Christian', who was one of the administrators and the school educators there at the school, he came up to me before it started. He said, 'You can't talk about God and you can't do this.' He told me everythin' I couldn't do. And this was a brother in Christ. Because of what you had alluded to earlier. He'd been brain-washed. [Mike: Absolutely.] And I told him. I said, 'We can. I can talk, brother.' He said, 'No, No, No, No, No.' And he was the Christian, who said 'No'. Let me complete the thought here. The Principal came up to me, who was a believer; but, he was a part of the 'frozen chosen'. You could tell he probably goes to church every other Easter or somethin' or Christmas. And not judgin', just, he told me himself. 'I don't really believe like you do, but our kids are in trouble. You say whatever you want to say.' So, the Christian had been brain-washed to think we couldn't do anythin'. And the guy that really wasn't espousin' Jesus as his Lord and Savior, came up to me and said, 'Brother, we've got drug problems; we've got crack cocaine problems; we've got pregnant girls; we've got alcohol; we've got all the garbage goin' on here, suicide, sexually transmitted diseases. If you want to talk about Jesus, talk about Jesus.
Mike: Well, what was amazing, is I went up to Cincinnati Ohio, there was a guy who was working, just starting out, just to reach into the public schools as a part of help. He was a pastor. And he was working in the worst school in the whole district. They had considered shuting down. Crack cocaine, parent's were prositutes, kids were out there being used for prostitution, everything else, right? And I said, 'Well, can we go to the school?' And he took me into the school. And he was preaching Jesus and sharing with kids. Jeff, this wasn't a high school; this wasn't a junior high school; the worst school in the Cincinnati area was an elementary school. [Jeff: Unreal.] And the pastor told me the principal, and I met the principal and the social workers, they begged for him to come into the school, and help.
Jeff: Let me tell you what really infuriated me about five years ago. I went into Dallas Texas. Went to a major high school, where they were havin' terrible problems, there. And, went in with a guy named Mike Evans. And Mike had helped to sponsor that. And we reached gang-bangers. And got over 200 gang-bangers to commit their lives to Jesus Christ. Then I got a letter, a week later, from the church that we were workin' with, who said that, 'They didn't want me to come back to the church, even though they had originally scheduled me to come back. Because they didn't, in fact, like the people that we brought in through the crusade. 'Cause we brought gang-bangers, and such. And this religious spirit [Mike: Exorcise it.] I hate it, I can't stand it. You know, five years later now, one of the good reports I've got though, is, one of the young guys that got saved at that rally has gone all the way through Bible college. [Mike: That's wonderful.] So, praise God, I know for a fact, the one head of the gang, one of them that got saved, has made it through Bible college. But, through no thanks to the church and pastor, where we tried to plug them in.
Mike: Well, there's a lot of pastors out there. Listen, I'm a pastor. I've been pastoring for twenty-two years. [Jeff: I know.] And, there's a lot of pastors. I've gone through seminary; I've traveled globally. There's a lot of pastors do a lot of talking; but, they're not commited because they're not prepared to disciple kids, who just basically are Biblically illiterate. And there's a challenge here. And that's why we need every Christian involved in Students 4 Christ. Because when these kids get saved, it's not just the pastor that's going to do the job. It's going to take moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas and people that have been sitting in church doing nothing for 10 or 15 years. [Jeff: Right.] And they are going to have to disciple. And the thing that has happened though is that, we have been brain-washed by the secular media telling us that the schools are off limits. And that's not true any longer. The schools have been open since 1984. Ronald Reagan got a law on the books called The Equal Access Law, that gives us the right to evangelize the schools. In fact some of the rights are: students have the rights to, Constitutional rights, to carry their Bibles on campus; they have a right to pray together.
Jeff: What is this you are readin' from?
Mike: This is published by...this is the actual equal access law, gives them the rights to. It gives them the right to have outside persons visit the campus to participate in club meetings and events, like yourself and others; [Jeff: Which is the way that I've been gettin' into a lot of the schools. The student clubs have been callin' and askin' me to come.] Absolutely. Club sponsored events on campus; and advertising those events; they can announce it over the public address system; they have the right to distribute religious literature, as long as there is not a restriction based on all campus literature. In other words, a ski club, if it's not allowed to pass out literature to advertise its events, then the Bible club can't. But, they can't restrict the Bible club if the ski club is allowed to advertise. [Jeff: Right.] Students are allowed to excuse themselves to be exempt for activities that contradict their Christian values. Then they also have the right papers and reports. [Jeff: This is law.] This is all law. [Jeff: This is law.] This is what was fought in a case with the Westside Community School Board of Education vs. Mergens. Which is another thing that was a challenge in 1990 against the Equal Access Law. So the Supreme Court has given the right for Christians to reach out to this generation. Now, listen Jeff, the condition of the country is not because we've got bad politicians in Washington. The reason we're in trouble is what II Chronicles 7:14 says which was the spirit of Washington For Jesus. If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways, then we will hear from heaven and God will heal our land. [Jeff: Amen.] And that's what God wants. [Jeff: The church first.] The church first. And God wants to challenge the church to wake up from it's sleepiness and it's apathy; and to get out and evangelize a new generation.
Jeff: That's true. And you know, there are places, like Kentucky, where the shootin' occured. I was down there where the school is, talked to several of the kids that were shot at. [Mike: And that was a prayer meeting.] It was a prayer meetin' where a kid came in and started shootin' at them. But, you know, there's been revival goin' on in that school. Praise God.
Mike: I heard the report that a revival has broke out completely in that school, as a result.
Jeff: That's what I hear. We're gonna monitor what's goin' on there, the beginnin' of this comin' year.
Mike: We need to come out of the woodwork, because in Alabama right now, this crazy judge down there has shut it all down. [Jeff: Yes, he shut it all down.] Shut down Alabama. And they now have prayer police. [Jeff: The arrogancy of these people.] Prayer police monitoring the hall ways to make sure the kids don't pray or carry Bibles on campuses, which is against this law. It's a direct challenge of this law.
Jeff: I believe men like this, if they don't repent, I believe that God's gonna just move them out. [MIke: I do too.] I don't think he'll be able to stay in his position as Superior Court Judge, or whatever, Supreme Court there. [Mike: It's a local judge, Jeff.] It's unbelievable.
Mike: And he's fighting against the government. But the most amazing thing to me is this, as I read the Bible. [Jeff: I don't know where it says....tell me what the Bible says.] I was just going to give you Psalm 102. There is a generation coming that's going to praise the Lord. I think we're on the verge of that. [Jeff: Amen.] I think we're going to see a sweeping of a whole generation. But my challenge and your challenge is we got to tell the church. The church ain't ready. [Jeff: I know. :)] I mean, the last time I was with you, we were in L. A. and you brought the Samoans on. And you had some east L. A. gang people on. I'm going, my God, the church is not ready for this; there not ready for this. [Jeff: Laughing. Yeah, pretty heavy stuff.] And it might take God touching a young person in an east L. A. gang to raise him up as a mighty voice, like He did David Wilkerson, years ago, thirty years ago.
Jeff: Well, there are a lot of men comin' up, Nuwine, and some of these other guys. There's a kid that got shot through the face, and God spared his life. He's out there witnessin'; he's out of Houston. And, a lot of young guys are comin' up. And I've, kinda like, big brother bad or whatever, I see a lot of these young men comin' up. And like, with Nuwine, when I met him, I saw a vision over his life. I saw somethin' where I see, that should the Lord tarry, I see that he's gonna have an outreach, somethin' like Bishop Blake. [Mike: There needs to be fathers.] Young people lookin' to him, and I praise God for these guys standin' in faith. But, you know what? I need to encourage, again, you viewers out there to get in touch with us. Young people, for the Students 4 Christ, contact us, write to us, call TBN, and we will get you information on the Students 4 Christ. Those of you who want to be chaplains or get involved in the chaplaincy program, contact us and we will help you. Also, again, to be redundant, I want you to tell TBN, Paul and Jan, that you appreciate the work and the help that they did with us for the Washington For Jesus rally, where we had 500,000 kids at the nation's capital a little over a year ago. Praisin' God for 18 hours. We have the video footage that we showed in one of the other programs. I want you to tell Paul and Jan you appreciate the out-pourin' and the outreach that they are doin' to youth. And I want you to encourage TBN to continue to help and to support Students 4 Christ. Where better to reach the kids, then in the classrooms, in the school rooms, in the United States of America public schools? If we can have condoms in the schools; if we can have guns in the schools; if we can have drugs in the schools; then I do believe we need to have prayer in the schools. God is in the schools. Regardless of whether there has been prayer in the schools, I'm tellin' you, God is. His mercy is from everlastin' to everlastin'. And His Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, is in the schools of America. And I believe our young people have a callin' and destiny in Christ Jesus.
Mike: Jeff, I was thinking about the prophecy that was given to us at Washington For Jesus from this tremendous man down in Phoenix Arizonia, Glenn Foster. And he said, that years and years ago, he went to Jesus Christ Superstar on Broadway. And saw you hanging on the cross. And he couldn't stand it so much, that he got up and walked out. [Jeff: He couldn't stand me, is what he said. He said, he could tell I was drunk. :)] But he was right outside. And the most amazing thing, as he said, God spoke to him and said, 'This man will put prayer back in the schools.' And that's what I believe we're here to do.
Jeff: Praise God. You want to pray? I was gonna start singin', but why don't you pray for young people while I'm headin' over this way?
Mike: Lord Jesus, we thank you for this generation. And we ask you, God, that You'll turn the tide in America and bring this generation in for you, in Jesus' name.
Song: Christ Remains. Jesus says I will never leave you; I'll never forsake you. Praise the Lord God. You want to get involved with Students 4 Christ? Write to us. God bless you. Go with God.
My Deepest Love,
Jeff
Studio, Trinity Music City, Hendersonville TN, August 27, 1998