Rival school gangs and cliques are coming together to pray, not fight

Brian Barcelona encouraged thousands of high school students to seek God.(Facebook/Brian Barcelona)

When two rival gangs in California came together, people expected a brawl. But what they did next not only surprised people, but inspired them to follow God's direction, the Christian Examiner reports.

It all started in 2012 when One Voice Student Missions founder Brian Barcelona moved to the Los Angeles metropolitan area and changed the lives of 100 schools and 100,000 high schools students in the area.

Together with a group of friends he started preaching the Gospel in their high schools - schools where gangs are common. They initiated prayer meetings at schools and local churches, and thousands of students joined them.

Now, because of their efforts, students from different schools, all walks of life, different gangs and cliques, and contrasting beliefs come together in prayer, and people are astounded by this miracle.

Lou Engle, a prayer activist said that Barcelona received a dream that led him to Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles. He and his group initially offered free pizza to attract people, but the miracle of God soon worked on the students and they started going to the prayer meetings because they wanted to hear the Word.

One Voice Student Missions school clubs have a four-part purpose, namely evangelism, discipleship, healing and fathering the fatherless.

"We want the kids that no one else wants," Barcelona explained. "We want those drug addicts. We want those students who struggle with homosexuality. We want those students who have been abused."

Barcelona added that through prayer, they will be able to help troubled kids steer away from drugs and fights. "Prayer will change the direction of everything," he affirmed.

One of the teachers at Roosevelt High School in Corona, California said that he is amazed by the hundreds of students that encounter God's love and presence each week. "Last week as I walked through a crowded basketball gym and witnessed students tearfully calling upon the name of the Lord, the realisation of what God was doing in our school began to set in. However, another realisation soon surfaced - that this is only the beginning," he said.