Food and Fellowship: Bringing Faith and Community to the Public High School
My sophomore and junior years of high school were a time of bold faith and unexpected growth. It all started with a simple idea: bringing the lessons we were learning at Scottsdale Bible Church to our high school. A few friends and I wanted to create a space where students could express their questions, learn about Jesus, and experience fellowship without fear of judgment or commitment. We called it “Food and Fellowship.”
Every Thursday during lunch, we openly invited students to join us for a short sermon or discussion and, of course, some pizza. At first, the group was small, but as word spread, more students began to show up. By the end of our second year, over 100 students were regularly gathering to hear about Jesus, ask questions, and share their thoughts. It was incredible to see how God moved through something as simple as pizza and a willingness to share.
One of the biggest lessons I learned from this experience was the importance of being bold in my faith, even when it wasn’t easy. There were moments when people openly disagreed with me or called me ignorant. Questions like “How can God be good if there’s so much evil in the world?” and “Why do we suffer, and why do our loved ones suffer?” challenged me deeply. I didn’t always have the answers, and honestly, that humbled me. But it also taught me that faith isn’t about having all the answers; it’s about trusting that God will work through our willingness to show up.
Something beautiful came from those hard questions. Students felt safe to ask the things many of us wrestle with but are too afraid to say in church. One week, we asked students to write down prayer requests on slips of paper. I kept these papers and prayed for each student individually. To this day, I have some of these prayers up in my room at college because they remind me of the childlikeness we have in Christ when we ask Him for help to understand and know Him better. They also began praying for each other, forming bonds of support and encouragement that extended beyond our meetings. We created a space where people could open up, express their hurt and beliefs, and encounter Jesus in a real and logical way. Many of these students began to develop their own faith, separate from their parents' beliefs. Some even started attending our youth ministry, hungry for more.
As the weeks went on, I saw lives change. I watched students encounter Jesus and wrestle with their faith in transformative ways. And through it all, I felt God developing me as a leader. Sharing my testimony, facilitating discussions, and simply being present stretched me in ways I never expected. It was a reminder that God doesn’t need us to be perfect or have all the answers—He just asks us to be willing. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Now, years later, my high school has multiple clubs like this meeting on different days, and I’ve had the joy of seeing peers accept Christ and be baptized. It’s humbling to think that Jesus used a group of four high schoolers who simply wanted their friends to hear the gospel. It reminds me of how God works through small beginnings: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20).
Looking back, I’m in awe of what God did through Food and Fellowship. It started as a simple idea, but it became a movement of faith and community that impacted so many lives, including my own. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: never underestimate what God can do with a willing heart and a box of pizza.
