If you’ve chatted with me at all while I’ve been home or around, you know that one of my prayer requests has been for the class of 2026.

I began sponsoring them over two years ago, that is, working with their student officers, planning monthly weekend activities called “class nights.” Class nights always mean providing snack for 65+ students, organizing a prayer time for our assigned “Unreached People Group” and having some sort of activity planned. The activity could be fun, like a badminton tournament, or watching How to Train Your Dragon, or it could be work experience: planning for freshman sales at sporting events or the drama, planning sophomore restaurant, or even the junior/senior banquet (think: prom). When I first started working with this class, I kept hearing titters of their “reputation.” Somewhere along the way they have become labeled a “bad” class. By whom, I’m not really sure, but I hear it from other students, the students in the class themselves, and even from other adults. Usually not outright, more like “Well, if you interact with them one on one, they are all pretty great, but together…” with an ominous air left hanging with an ellipses.

Personally I’m not sure what everyone keeps talking about. I’ve heard snippets here and there of “events” but never the full story, keeping me in blissful ignorance of whatever it is that first triggered this so called reputation. I love them all! It’s been so fun having them in my chemistry classes this year. I’m loving the rapport I’ve built, and how it I can pull on it to help them be even better students. I’m loving our banter, and how they know me SO well, in an unusable way they can distract me better than any other group of students I’ve taught.

I’ve spent so much time in prayer for these students, meeting weekly with the other adults on the sponsor team last year, now this year even with the class officers. The student leaders have cast a vision, assigned a class verse, and have shared openly about their desire for unity across borders (gender, dorm, friend group…). They’ve expressed a desire for a changed reputation, and by gum, God is moving and at work, answering these long-breathed prayers.

At Spiritual Emphasis Week a few weeks ago, many students made decisions for Christ, or to rededicate themselves to the Lord. Afterwards, our Spiritual Life Team decided to hold a chapel where students were given the opportunity to make these decisions public, to share them in boldness with the student body. They were given advanced notice and asked to pray about it. Come the morning of showing their decisions, I sat in the back of our chapel and uttered a prayer of my own, “Lord, give SOMEONE the boldness to be first.”

With teens, the hardest place to be is walking up first, to be the one to be bold enough to approach and respond on their own- for goodness sake, they rarely even pee on their own if given the choice! And so I prayed that God would move in someone’s heart with the courage to be first. Off to my left I saw stirring as I watched one of my junior boys stand to his feet in the back row and slowly walk down the whole aisle to the front of the chapel. Not too many moments later, it was another junior boy who was second to approach the front.

That moment felt like an answer to so many of our prayers… if THAT can’t change the reputation of the class of 2026, nothing can! Praise be to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

But that isn’t all- we have been praying as a class for God to move and work amongst a specific unreached people group (less than 2% of the population have heard the name of Jesus). We learned of a need related to our specific people, and my class of 2026 organized a fund-raiser to help meet this need. For a mere 100 ksh (100 shillings is just less than a dollar) the students could throw a whipped cream pie in the face of their favorite (or least favorite) teacher! This past week in church our chaplain shared that some of the RVA offering money was added to our meager attempts at supporting this need, a need that first was being met by the generosity and action of the class of 2026. Praise be to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

And yet, these past couple of weeks has been hard for our class. This wonderful class of mine I love so much still needs so much prayer, and so much love. Would you pray for them?

After a heavy week of hard came Sunday. God always brings the good after the hard, it’s his specialty. On Sunday we had four students get baptized, and wouldn’t you know it, three of them were from the class of 2026! One of them was three very youngman who was first to approach the front at chapel a couple weeks ago… the other two were both class officers! As each of them shared their testimony, I sat in awe of how God is moving and at work. Each one was a beautiful story of God calling them to himself. One young gentleman was raised in a Christian home, yet didn’t understand Gods love for himself. Another became a Christian at a young age, but after wrestling with some struggles decided to rededicate himself to Christ. The third came from a place of emptiness, sharing how at 13 he was already a substance addict and by 15 had already been in rehab. Sports had pulled him out of the darkness each year when rugby season came along, but when sports ended, he was again lost in his own brokenness. He heard the story of the prodigal son in a chapel a few weeks back and that changed his perspective on how he looked at God, and at Spiritual Emphasis Week decided to follow Jesus. He even admitted how nervous he was about getting baptized since he knew that meant sharing his story, in which he was so embarrassed about the choices he’s made. 

But in boldness he did share. In front of all his peers, his teachers, and even his parents who flew from a great distance to be here this week. He spoke of God’s goodness and how he finally didn’t feel alone anymore since becoming a Christian. Praise be to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Talk about changed reputation!

And so, I’m reminded that if God can move in mighty ways like that, He can do anything!

Thank you for praying alongside me, and please, keep praying for the class of 2026! 💕