Saddleback students working to stop AIDS
By Manda Gibson

When Saddleback Church was planning its first AIDS conference, Kay Warren – executive director of Saddleback Church’s HIV/AIDS initiative – asked Shaun Blakeney, Saddleback’s high school pastor, to lead a workshop on sexuality. That request made Blakeney start thinking more about AIDS and about how Saddleback’s youth could address it.

“I saw a passion in Kay Warren for HIV and AIDS that I’ve never seen in anybody before,” he said.

When he saw that passion in Warren, he prayed: “God, if we’re going to have this ministry in high school, I have to have that passion.”

God radically changed his perspective. Instead of seeing people who were HIV+ in a negative light, he began to see them from eyes of love.

“You’ve got to have God wreck your life and say, ‘Stop the stereotypes,’” he said.

Youth AIDS Summit Do you know a student with a compassionate heart and a passion to change the world for the better? Then make sure that student is at Saddleback Church on World AIDS Day – Dec. 1 – for an AIDS event designed specifically for middle and high school students. The event will inspire and equip students to address the AIDS pandemic through their churches and schools. Students will worship through music and learn from dynamic speakers from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Be sure to send your student pastors and adult volunteers too. Registration is free for those attending the 2007 Global Summit on AIDS and the Church, Nov. 28-30; for all others, the cost is $50. Learn more >>

Saddleback’s student HIV/AIDS ministry was officially launched in 2006 during the Global Summit on AIDS and the Church. The ministry is called 8K – representing the 8,000 people who die from AIDS-related causes every day.

Now around 50 Saddleback students are regularly involved in the 8K ministry. They meet monthly for training and learning about HIV/AIDS and how they can respond to it. Some students have already started getting their campuses involved.

“We’re training them in what HIV and AIDS is because we feel like if we’re going to try to fight against this pandemic, we need to be knowledgeable about it,” Blakeney said.

In August 2007, Saddleback students will see the AIDS pandemic firsthand during a missions trip to Rwanda. That trip will serve as a springboard to 8K school-based ministry in the Orange County, Calif., area, where Saddleback is located. Each high school in Orange County will have two 8K representatives who will rally their fellow students to address AIDS in their communities and around the world.

Changing hearts

As Saddleback students are preparing to launch 8K in their schools, they and the student ministry staff are learning what it means to love other people like Jesus did.

Just as Jesus approached lepers – people his peers feared because of their illness – and touched them, Christians today should have the same heart for people with HIV/AIDS, Blakeney said.

“People matter to God, and they should matter to me,” Blakeney said.

He’s worked to instill that attitude in his staff. As their hearts have changed, so have their actions.

“Sometimes when you see TV commercials and people with AIDS, it may for a second break your heart and then you’re onto the next thing,” Blakeney said. “Now when you see those images, your heart breaks, but you’re also saying, ‘I’m going to do something about it.’”

The next challenge was to instill that same attitude into Saddleback’s students. A primary way Saddleback staff has done that is by modeling love to their students by simple things, like seeking out those who are hurting. And it’s starting to make a difference.

Students taking the lead

Students are beginning to take ownership of the 8K ministry. As Blakeney looked for student leaders for the ministry, one student – David, who is a high school junior – kept rising to the top. Though he had served on the student worship team, he hadn’t had the chance to fully develop his ministry gifts. In the 8K ministry, he has grown in his passion, maturity, and leadership. Now he’s sharing about the ministry both at church and at his school.

“My personal opinion is it’s radically changed him,” Blakeney said.

Another student was looking for a way to visually represent 8,000 deaths a day. She called the Build-A-Bear Workshop® and asked them to donate 8,000 of the hearts that they use inside their stuffed bears. Then she put the hearts inside a glass jar, helping people understand what 8,000 lives looks like.

Partnering with non-Christian peers

The 8K ministry is already serving as an evangelistic opportunity as Saddleback students are encouraging their non-Christian classmates to work with them to address AIDS.

“High school students today are looking for a cause to rally behind, even non-Christian kids,” Blakeney said. “The exciting thing about HIV/AIDS ministry is it doesn’t matter where you are on your spiritual journey; it’s something that everybody can be part of.”

In some schools, Saddleback students are partnering with students in the gay/straight alliances to address AIDS.

“It’s showed students that God is a God of love; we’re the Church and called to be like him,” Blakeney said. “It’s not just loving those with HIV and AIDS; it’s loving those in our schools and communities.”

More resources: Looking for a way to motivate your students to address AIDS? Download 8000 a day/everyday, a video created by a Saddleback student. If you have questions about how Saddleback is mobilizing students to address AIDS, contact Cheri Healy.

Tips for student ministers

Blakeney suggests that student ministers interested in starting an HIV/AIDS ministry start small.

“We started with getting it out to our students – letting them understand a little about HIV/AIDS,” he said. “Sometimes people bite off more than they can chew. I knew if we started, it would grow into something amazing, but we had to start small.”

He also encourages churches to have one volunteer adult leader whose volunteer ministry focus is the student HIV/AIDS ministry. As they develop the ministry, the Saddleback student team is still looking for that person.

But as they look, they’re continuing to grow the ministry, believing they’re following Jesus’ example of helping the sick and outcast

“We’re going to take a stand for what’s right and make a stand for God in our culture,” Blakeney said.