Putting First Things First

April Lutz and Elijah Ramjattan

Anyone who works with young people today understands they are facing difficulties that older generations cannot comprehend. The bombardment of social media, technology addictions and continuous decline of this earth has left many young people floundering. Parents, pastors, educators and administrators alike are struggling with how to provide the support and guidance students so desperately need.

In an intentional push to put the most important things before anything else, Highland View Academy (HVA) hosted their annual Week of Prayer, themed “Legacy Builder: Shaping Tomorrow by Being Leaders of Today,” during the second week of school. Week of Prayer accomplishes many goals, but the most important is leading students to a personal relationship with Jesus.

Erwin Nanasi, Minister of Music at the Spencerville church in Silver Spring, Md., and Matthew Loredo, an ICU nurse in Maryland, led morning and evening meetings, focusing on relevant themes such as foundations of one’s faith, intentional living, leaving a spiritual inheritance and much more.

Students were also given the opportunity to practice the spiritual tools they learned throughout the week by participating in a day of community service where all staff and students went into the community to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Students collaborated with many community services such as Reach of Washington County, Faith Step, Brookdale Senior Living Center and helping local farmers by participating in garden work for the older population.

Through the combination of Week of Prayer and Service Day, students learned that being legacy builders is the calling that God has for us; a calling that does not only impact their faith journey but can also tangibly impact those they are around.

At the end of Week of Prayer, the students were challenged to make a few commitments: to commit to six months in a foreign mission field; to commit their lives to Jesus through baptism; and to commit to fulltime ministry as a future career. In this appeal, made by Nanasi, dozens of students accepted at least one of these challenges.

And it does not end there. Not only has HVA staff provided their students with an early and intentional period of prayer and connection with Christ as they contemplate their role as legacy builders; it has also transformed its campus to ensure that their minds and souls stay open to the gentle whisper of Jesus.

This year, HVA has gone completely free of personal technology. All students now spend most of the day without their phones. And while they are still getting used to this drastic change, anyone walking around campus can feel how vibrant student life has become. Students are playing games, practicing hobbies and filling their free time with both silly and profound conversations. Staff report what an incredible thing it has been to see students disengage from their phones and reconnect to the social interactions that are so vital at this age.

The future is bright at HVA, say leaders, not because of the glow of screens but because the light of young people coming alive, filling every corner of the campus.