Dr. Tony Evans, senior pastor Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship and founder of The Urban Alternative, talked about his initiative that could help change the United States for good.
The initiative, which he talked about in his blog on Feb. 6 and posted in a YouTube video, attempted to tackle some of the problems the country is facing today. He argued that God has provided the answers to many of today's issues in His Word.
"Since it can be difficult for churches that want to make an impact to know where to start, we have developed a national plan that can be implemented on a local level," Evans wrote.
Evans added that his plan would involve the National Church Adopt-A-School Initiative. He described it as "a strategy that trains churches to partner with local public schools to provide mentoring, tutoring, and family support services."
"Together, we can win the next generation for God," Evans said.
In the video, Evans reported that the problems facing the country may seem "overwhelming" nowadays and too large to address effectively. He talked about "the demise and devastation of the family, lives that are struggling to exist," and everything else affecting the country and culture today.
"If we can come up with scalable, localized solutions for what we are facing in our communities, then that means you can impact the whole nation," Evans said.
Evans believed that God has provided "a simple yet strategic plan" that could work in communities across the United States and possibly around the world.
"This is our initiative: to train and equip churches to adopt a public school in their area to provide mentoring, tutoring, and family support services to the needy students in that school and their families," Evans said.
Evans added that "it was time for the church to lead the way in community transformation." He elaborated on how the strategy would work.
"It's a national strategy applied locally," Evans said. "The Bible calls us to good work. This is a great work: to keep the family strong, and to win the next generation for God and for good."
The initiative's website talked about how its idea started over 25 years ago, when a principal at a Dallas high school contacted Evans. That school was dealing with increased gang activity and other disruptive behaviors by students back then.
"Dr. Evans responded to the call by sending twelve men to regularly walk the halls and restore order," the organization wrote. "Not only that, but he personally gathered all of the teen boys in the auditorium for a time to challenge them toward making right choices."
What Evans did at that school must have worked, because the organization noted that the school had a more conducive, stable learning environment after that response. The principal of that school then became a superintendent and allowed Evans' ministry to do its work in the schools underneath his leadership.
"The social impact of this school intervention quickly spread to neighboring clusters as well," the organization wrote. "What began as a crisis intervention in one school has now become proactive intervention in over 65 public schools in Dallas County and parts of Fort Worth."
That incident eventually led to the establishment of the National Church Adopt-a-School Initiative in 2006. According to its website, NCAASI uses the existing structures of both churches and schools to promote "community revitalization through church-based social services."
