The School Board Meeting!

The Monday of the school board meeting was one where I realized my severe inadequacies. Thank the Lord that he chooses to work through broken vessels.

Steve Schmitt has worked for Young Life for the past 31 years. Currently he is the Regional Developer for Southwest Virginia, but before that he was the Area Director in Blacksburg a position currently held by Dave Sloop. This means that while I was a punk high school kid coming up through the ranks of Christiansburg High School and going to Young Life, Steve Schmitt knew me, or at least knew of me. In college Steve led a Bible study in my apartment and through our relationship he encouraged me to apply for staff and talked to me about Franklin County long before I was placed there. I'm honored that I get to walk through this process with him.

Steve and I talked on the phone that morning, as we would be presenting together, and came up with a basic outline of what we wanted to say. This wasn't Schmitty's first rodeo. He'd been in similar situations and knew what would be good for the school board to hear. We got off the phone and I practiced what I would say all the while checking the clock as I watched 7 o'clock get closer and closer and my butterflies become more and more numerous.

Schmitty came around 5 and we grabbed dinner together after practicing what we would say a few times. We showed up at the school board office around 6:30 and waited outside for a few of our committee members. Jane Jacobsen was the first to meet us. Jane is our committee chair and I thank God that she is. She is dedicated, driven, organized and above all she loves Jesus in a way that drives everything she does. I couldn't ask for a better captain of our ship. Second was Tom Rickard. Tom is the librarian at one of the local elementary schools. He is well known in the school system and an all around great guy. Going in to a meeting with school administration he is a great person to have backing you up. Lastly Al Flora arrived. I'm not sure if there is a person in the county that Al doesn't know. He had a comment for nearly every person that we walked by in the way to the office. It's good to know people that know people.

So in we walked, Steve and I flanked by our Franklin County family praying that the Lord would speak through us and allow us access to the school. Immediately upon walking in I saw Deb Decker, the principal at FCHS. I went up and made small talk with her and ended up sitting next to her as the meeting started. I remained unsure of how sold she was on Young Life, but I was glad she was my seat neighbor. As I looked at the schedule that she handed me, I saw that we were the first order of new business.

After a few quick orders of old business they moved on to new business. Sue Rogers, who we had met before, introduced us and the fact that we would be speaking on behalf of Young Life. We approached the podium that sat ten or so feet away from where the School Board sat. The tables that they sat at were raised about a foot so that we literally looked up to them as we gave our presentation. Many of them, there were ten or so, had painted their framed picture behind them on the wall. They were official. I was nervous.

So our time came. As Steve gave his part he introduced me saying that I was a VT grad to which the room responded with cheers. "Did you think we'd put a UVA grad here?"Steve quipped, giving way to laughter across the board which lightened the mood considerably. There is something to the way Young Life uses humor to allow people to be unguarded. From then on I felt free to just talk, rather than feeling I had to do perfectly.

-Side note: The whole week I'd been reading a lot of Scripture on the Holy Spirit. There are many examples in the Bible where believers come before authorities (most of them wanting to kill them, I realize my situation is a bit different) but they talk about not worrying about what you will say, because the Holy Spirit will speak through you.* This means it isn't our job to convince them. Of course I wanted to be as prepared as possible, but there was no argument that I could make that would seal the deal. That is where prayer comes in. That is where we have to fall on our knees, rely on the Lord and trust that He is going to work for His purposes. So I tried my best to humbly do that and when the moment came, I spoke.

Now, my part was by no means perfect. I said what I wanted to say. Steve concluded briefly and I had the feeling that there were a few important things we wanted to touch on that we left out. However, they gave time for the board to ask us questions.

As people began to ask, some prefaced saying something along the lines of "I want you to know that I'm for you, but what about . . . ". You could tell in their faces that they understood and supported what we wanted to in loving kids. As they asked questions I became more and more thankful that Steve was there. As I said, he had been here before. He understood the questions they had in a way that I couldn't. When they asked "What happens when [insert apparent problem]" He could respond "Well when I was Area Director in Blacksburg, this did happen in [insert school name] and we handled it by [insert super wise solution] and it was positive because we [insert more things that make us look like we know what we're doing]".

The ultimate 'God is with us' moment came as Steve was answering a question and I felt a tap on my shoulder. Note that the rest of those that came to the meeting were about 10 feet behind us, so someone had to leave there seat to get my attention. I turn to see Deb Decker who whispered to me to tell the board what I had told her about my getting involved in Young Life in high school. When the opportunity didn't immediately present itself, she piped up from the crowd allowing me a chance to answer. That was the moment that I knew that the principal of FCHS was for us in a big way. It was huge. The whole board saw her talk to me. The volumes that must have spoken, unreal.

As we finished, we told them what we were looking to do in the school and they said they would discuss is. No timetable for a response, and here I sit a week later and there is nothing yet. We know how busy they are and how many things they need to discuss, we know it could take a while. We know that the Lord is with us, and in His timing His purposes will be accomplished. That was demonstrated so clearly I have no grounds to question it.

The icing on the cake came as we once again took our seats the next gentleman, a member of the football booster club came to give his order of new business. He began with something along the lines of "I know this is off of my topic, but we had Young Life when I was in high school in South Carolina. It brought our school together and gave us a sense of unity. I can't say enough good things about it. But what I'm here for today is . . . ". He went on to talk about advertisements on the gates at the football field, a subject of which the school board had a million things to say about how unsure they were that this thing would work out. In the end, signs on the football field got more opposition than a 22-year-old man coming in to the school in hopes of bringing kids to Christ.

The Lord is with us.

I apologize for how long this post is, how late it is, and my lack of story telling ability. Above all though, I hope that you see what the Lord is doing through the prayers of his people. I hope you are as amped as I am about the doors He is opening in Franklin County. If the Lord is for us, who can stand against us? What a beautiful picture of Christ's love. Thank you for your support friends, more to come soon.

*A great resource for this is Francis Chan's Forgotten God. An even better resource is the Bible, specifically Mark 13:11 and Luke 12:12)