How to Get God's Kids Back (Church Leader Course): Spread the Gospel, Make Disciples, and Mentor Youth in Your Local Community

By Nate Landis

God and public schools sound like mutually exclusive ideas to most Americans. Many assume the so-called "separation of church and state" creates an impassable divide that pastors and principals dare not cross. 

Meanwhile, Generation Z, our nation's elementary, middle and high school students, has grown into the larges

• Language: English
• Publisher: Urban Youth Collaborative
• Release date: Apr 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798986119519

Nate Landis

Rev. Nate Landis, Ph.D., is a graduate of Claremont Graduate University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Eastern University. Nate is founder and President of Urban Youth Collaborative, a non-profit organization that equips churches to support student leaders at over 100 public schools in the US and Mexico, where thousands of kids attend student-led faith clubs each week. As an evangelistic preacher and pastor, Nate loves sharing God's word with a wide variety of audiences. He lives with his wife, Angela, and their children in urban San Diego.

Book preview

module one

Jesus and Public Schools: Dreams for a Lost Generation

Have you ever dreamed about changing the world? How about eternity? Do you believe that kids have a special place in God’s heart and plan? Does that passion and expression of child-like faith still stir somewhere inside you? Can you feel it? What if I told you that it’s possible, not just in theory, but out in the real world? In your city, on your block, at the school down the street. What if you, your church, your youth ministry, a small, committed team of believers can be used by God to make a lasting difference by changing students’ lives now and forever?

You can see encouraging fruit in your lifetime. People you have not even met yet will be glad you accepted the challenge. I want to invite you to join me on a journey of ultimate significance. I’m convinced that one of the most effective ways that you and your church can make your days count on earth is by investing in the next generation through public school ministry. As a local pastor, it’s an exhilarating calling God launched me into over a decade ago. I told this story in my first book, God Wants His Kids Back:

My life changed forever one afternoon in 2006 as my car sat at a red light beside a McDonalds across the street from San Diego High School, an urban public school in my community.

Three thousand students go to school there, 90% of them do not have a regular or meaningful relationship with a local church. The congregation where I served as youth pastor sat just eight blocks away. Several years before, I approached the football coach and asked if he would be open to having a team chaplain. I explained that we could do pre-game meals, a motivational pep talk, and be available for students on and off the field. He responded by saying, Sir, we were 1-9 last year. Prayer couldn’t hurt. That year they had eighteen academically ineligible players on the team who could not keep a 2.5 grade point average. It takes discipline to keep your grades that low in this school district. You need an accountability partner making sure you’re not turning assignments in and not going to class.

On this particular afternoon, I was getting ready to pick up football players for the optional pre-game meal and chapel service that we put on for them at a nearby church. Suddenly, before I could do anything, the bell rang. This sea of multi-racial faces came pouring out into the intersection. I couldn’t drive or I would have literally run some of them over. That’s always a tough way to start a campus ministry – with distrust and lawsuits. So I had to sit there in my car watching all these faces go by. The first thought I had at that moment brought great clarity for me. It went something like this, These kids are never going to accidentally stumble into the well-endowed Presbyterian stone castle I work at down the street, I said to myself. We need to go to where they are, to meet them on their own turf. I’m glad Jesus did it that way and did not wait for us to find our way to heaven on our own. The word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1). My second thought hurt to admit but followed from the first observation. If I bring any more of these urban kids into the youth group, there will be great debate inside the church about whether they should be there. I delivered on my promise to grow the youth ministry, but some parents privately questioned why I had to do it with those kids.

At that moment, I heard a still small inaudible but unmistakable voice that did not come from me.

It asked, Who will go for us? Who will reach these kids? Immediately I started to cry, raised my hand in my heart, and whispered, Here I am Lord, send me. That night after the football chapel and game concluded, I went home to my wife. We were eighteen months married at the time, had a mortgage, and live in the expensive land of Southern California. Presbyterians do buildings and budgets pretty well, so with a Masters degree in Divinity, I had a good youth ministry job with a solid salary, medical benefits, and a little retirement each month. I’ve got a great idea, I told my wife. I’m going to quit my job and go after the kids that not enough people are reaching. Without hesitating, my wife said, I think that sounds fantastic sweetheart.

Thank you, God, I thought to myself. I didn’t know what she would say. No sincere Christians would have given her any flack if she said, Let’s pray more, or Are you sure you heard? She could have even found support for saying, You’re hearing voices in your car? Let’s make an appointment with a good shrink and I’ll support you through the process. But instead, she was willing to risk it all and step out in faith because she could tell that God was up to something.

Fishers of Men and Women

When Jesus called Peter to leave everything and follow him, he said, Follow me, and I’ll make you into fishers of men and women. I find this comforting because it says that Jesus is willing to do on the job training. He will make us into fishers of men and women if we are not already there yet. We just have to be willing to leave behind what we think our lives are supposed to be about and what we think we are good at.

Then we let Jesus make us into what he had in mind when he created us. One important step in following Jesus and becoming a fisher of men and women is to realize that fish usually travel in schools. (Rimshot! Thanks, I’ll be here all week.) You may be groaning now but you will never forget this important truth that so many youth ministries overlook. Many congregations and youth pastors spend the majority of their time caring for the caught fish in the tank instead of heading out into the oceans that are teeming with uncaught fish.

It’s an honor to spend my days on behalf of today’s remarkable young people. Generation Z – our nation’s elementary, middle, and high school students – hold the keys and the dreams that will shape the future of our country and this world. As of 2020 they comprise over twenty percent of the United States population, yet one million youth per year are exiting churches because they do not see faith – or at least institutional religion – as relevant to their lives.

As people of faith, we need new strategies that build bridges to the next generation. That’s what I’ve dedicated over a decade of my life to doing. I want to teach you how it can happen. Step-by-step. Eternity will be different if you dare to join me on this adventure!

In the course, I’ll show you the exact strategies that my team and I have used every day for the past ten years to impact 3,500 young people every week at close to 100 public schools in San Diego, Tijuana, and Atlanta. We want to give it away to you and your church here so you can start using it today. Why? Because we believe this generation – with its 50 million students in public schools – is too valuable to ignore.

Christ calls his people to courageously go and make disciples of all nations by engaging America’s largest mission field: her public schools! Missions no longer require us to cross an ocean. It happens when we dare to cross the street and engage the next generation on their own turf and their own terms. The nations have literally come to us in America’s public school system.

By taking this journey with me, I can equip you to effectively go to them and love them in a way they can receive and understand. Today I’m stepping out in faith again, believing that others will answer God’s call, lay their lives on the line, and watch miracles happen.

What’s the one crucial ingreChurch_Leader_Course_dient that many churches skip when venturing out to engage students at public schools? Without it, you’ll be left stone cold with a load of good intentions.

Find out in the next chapter as we head off together . . .

module two

On Your Toes and On Your Knees: Postures of Prayer and Obedience

Last time we spent time together, I shared about the importance of stories and how they intersect in our lives. We looked at my calling to reach public school kids and how God is likely tugging on your heart, too, through these lessons. During the tough times, you and I have to go back to the time(s) when Jesus called us and remember that this all was his idea in the first place. This reminds us of the why . You and I can then remember that ministry is not about us. We did not choose Jesus as much as he chose us. He appointed us to go and bear fruit that will last forever.

During each session that we spend together, I’m going to share proven strategies that I’ve discovered over the past twelve years. They work in the real world. We put them into practice daily in many different contexts.

As we embark on this adventure, you’ll encounter surprisingly hostile environments and warmly welcoming ones by bravely stepping inside the lives of kids and public schools. The thrill of stepping out in faith, seeing doors open, and watching lives change forever is exhilarating. It keeps me going back and is well worth any pockets of resistance along the way. Rest assured. No matter what you run into, you’ll be prepared. We’ve probably seen some form of it before and we’ll walk through it together.

If you persevere over the long haul and apply what we talk about, the whole culture and atmosphere of schools, neighborhoods, families, and society can change because of your faithfulness to Jesus! Your church, personal life, and ministry may change too! I’ve seen it happen and you can too. That’s why I put this course together.

At the very beginning of our journey, I need to make one thing crystal clear. If we hurry and skip over this component – as it is so tempting and common to do – we’ll be left powerless. The supernatural force behind all techniques and tools I will hand you is a lifestyle of sincere, abiding, contemplative prayer.

Prayer is the life breath of any thriving ministry! Like the air we breathe, prayer is absolutely everything! It shapes and empowers all we are and do. Before humans can run, jump, speak, kiss, dive, play, eat, skip, or sleep we need to breathe for our bodies to live. While stretching ourselves during these activities, our bodies fall over the moment we stop breathing. Without prayer, our spiritual lives and campus ministries quickly fall flat too. That’s why the apostle Paul tells us to pray without ceasing. Before, during, and after implementing any of the strategies explored in this course – pray.

My heart is that you’d come to Jesus, no matter how long you’ve been a follower, and say with child-like faith, as the disciples did: Lord, teach us to pray. They asked him to teach them because they saw him doing things no rabbi ever did . . . his kingdom was not made up merely of words. His words had power. When Jesus spoke:

The dead returned to life.

The sick recovered. The lame jumped up to dance!

Deadly storms calmed.

Notorious sinners discovered joy through forgiveness and inclusion in community.

Jesus announced the Kingdom of God.

Good news was preached to the poor.

A new light of hope shone brightly on a land darkened with despair.

Fifteen thousand people ate until full from one little boy’s lunch.

The disciples knew Jesus had something – and knew something – they did not have. They wanted it badly. Badly enough to ask Jesus to change their prayer life. Are you willing to ask Jesus to change your prayer life?

As Jews raised in the ancient near east, we can assume the disciples prayed often already. Their request does not imply that they were asking Jesus how to pray so they could try it for the first time. Instead, they are saying "Lord, teach us to pray like you . . . With power, authority, and deep intimacy with your heavenly Father!" Lord, teach us to pray prayers that matter!

Unlike the religious establishment of their day, Jesus’ disciples were hungry for prayers that change lives, shake the gates of hell, transform neighborhoods, redeem culture, revitalize families, provide a foretaste of heaven on earth, and