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Faith-based club helps kids grow

Room E241 at Fairmont Junior/Senior High School is apparently the place to be on Wednesday mornings.

“We have donuts there because, you know, we’re cool,” joked Raquel Vaughn.

While donuts might draw some people to Project7 meetings at first, they soon find there is much more to the club.

Project7, or P7, is a faith-based club for students in grades 6 to 12 that offers them an opportunity to fellowship, communicate and share God’s love, Vaughn said.

Every P7 club is organized a little differently, she said, but at their meetings, which start at about 7:45 a.m., students grab a donut, chat, participate in a lesson, and often discuss either the lesson or other various topics in which they’re interested.

There’s also often plenty of laughter.

“We joke around a lot in our club,” Vaughn said.

Although P7 is a faith-based club and part of the youth ministry division of the United Pentecostal Church International, students don’t have to go to a specific church or to any church to participate, she said, adding that it’s very informal.

“So it’s a simple meeting that anyone can really be comfortable in,” Vaughn added.

Project7’s lessons are based on seven core values, which are accountability, communication, empowerment, integrity, leadership, relationship and community.

For example, a recent lesson titled “You Mad Bro?” addressed what students should do if they’re angry or involved in conflict. It’s not always obvious which core values a lesson is highlighting, Vaughn said, which makes the students think critically about what’s being offered. She thinks this particular lesson highlighted accountability and communication.

“Every lesson kind of has all of the seven characteristics kind of hidden inside,” she said.

The 14-year-old Vaughn became interested in starting a P7 club after a couple of her friends started clubs in other cities. They, along with a youth pastor, encouraged her to begin a club in Fairmont.

She emailed Assistant Principal Andy Traetow before school began this past fall about starting a P7 club.

Any student can come forward with a proposal for a club, Traetow said, citing the Equal Access Act of 1984, which requires federally funded secondary schools to allow equal access to extracurricular clubs. Students organize and lead the groups, he said, and all clubs must operate within certain parameters.

Traetow said the school provides space for student-run clubs to meet but staff members do not participate in the club meetings and the school has no fiscal responsibility for the clubs. There are a few student-led groups that meet outside class times at the school, he said.

P7 meetings began about three weeks after school started.

At first Vaughn was afraid that nobody would come to P7, but students seemed interested. Attendance has fluctuated a little, but Vaughn said there are 9 to 12 students who attend regularly.

Vaughn said she gets “super happy” to hear that other students get excited for P7 and actually get disappointed if the club meeting is canceled for some reason. It builds up her spirit to know that they want to come, she said.

She hopes the club grows, but knows it will happen in time.

One of the challenges Vaughn faced, especially when P7 first began, was teasing from some students who made P7 out to be something insignificant. Still, she sees it as a sign that even if they are teasing a part of them is interested in P7 and in learning more about character building and the love of God.

“Maybe it (P7) isn’t important,” Vaughn said, “but it will be soon. And it probably is now. I’ve heard it was important to a lot of kids.”

The rewards far outweigh the challenges, and Vaughn has been rewarded with new relationships.

“I’ve grown relationships and friendships a lot with kids who I didn’t think I’d become close with,” she said.

To help build those relationships and forge some new ones, Vaughn recently organized a P7 rally. The rally combined members from her P7 club and P7 clubs in Mankato and Worthington.

About 50 youth from Fairmont, Mankato and Worthington attended the rally, which was held at Grace Tabernacle United Pentecostal Church in Fairmont. The teens sang songs, and Jason Brooks, the Minnesota youth president for the UPCI, spoke to the youth in attendance, encouraging them to reach out to their peers and show them God’s love.

A pizza party and drawing for prizes followed the service.

Other students who have started P7 clubs also shared their stories.

Nyabhan Jock, 16, began a P7 club at Mankato West High School at the beginning of this school year. She was at a church camp, and during one of the services she felt she should start a club to share God with others.

“It’s not fair for me to know about God and walk the same halls with them and not witness to them,” Jock said.

Her club averages three to five students each week, and while it’s not big, Jock said size doesn’t matter.

“I think it’s very impactful,” she said, “because you don’t really know what a student next to you is going through.”

A student might be dealing with something really heavy, Jock said, and they might feel like they’re going through it all alone. P7 helps students learn to reach out to one another, she said, and share God’s love with them.

Dulce Perez, 15, started a P7 club at Worthington High School about two years ago. She started with two students at the first club meeting, but now about 15 students attend weekly.

“There’s a lot of people who face a lot of stuff,” Perez said. “Project7 allows us to unlock their faith.”

Sharing God’s Word helps not only the students attending club meetings, she said, but it also can impact the whole school.

Both Jock and Perez said they have matured and their patience has grown since starting P7 clubs.

Clubs might start out small and might take time to grow, but it’s important not to concentrate on the numbers, Perez said.

“You’ve got to have the right heart,” she said, “because hundreds of people can come to your Project7 club, but if you don’t have the right heart, there’s nothing that’s coming out of it.”

With the right heart, though, she said no matter how many people come to the club meetings you can make an impact.

Vaughn encourages anyone interested in starting a P7 club in their school to “just go ahead and do it.”

“They won’t regret it,” she said. “I know I didn’t.”

For more information, visit P7clubs.com

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