My name is Daniel and I am writing on what God did through me at my school, Castle high, and how transformation came to Castle.  I want everyone to understand that nothing would have happened at Castle if it weren’t for people praying for Castle in the previous years and people supporting me in my vision to see Castle High taken for God’s glory.  So, when I decided to take Castle for God I wasn’t intimidated; knowing that a lot of prayer had gone into Castle and many people were supporting me. 

God released his vision of bringing revival to Castle during my short-term mission trip to Argentina in the summer of 2002. Before going on this trip God was stripping me of human logic and reason and replacing these things with faith and the power of prayer through a time of character development. I knew that God wanted me to start some kind of Christian club on Castle’s campus because I felt such a strong burden to do it.  Yet I hesitated to start a Christian club on campus because there wasn’t any vision for it, so I didn’t have much of a passion to do anything at Castle.  During my trip to Argentina I experienced God in a new way. A way that I can describe it is like watching a professional football game. Watching football live in comparison to viewing it on TV is a totally different experience.  Watching a live game allows me to see the whole field, not just what the camera lens focuses on. So that’s what my experience with God was like. In Argentina I saw faith being lived out everyday because Christians’ lives were pressed during a time of economic hardship where as in the western culture we are not pressed to have as much faith as the Argentines do.  In Hawaii I experienced a bit of faith, but in Argentina I was experiencing a ton of it. 

The turning point on the trip was a morning teaching session with Pastor Eduardo Lorenzo. He preached out of Isaiah 61-62. These two chapters speak of rebuilding and revival.  Before bringing revival, one must be excited about revival approaching. Pastor Eduardo used an analogy: “If a person is not thirsty, you can offer him all the drinks in the world, but he won’t want it unless he is thirsty.” After he spoke on these two chapters I realized that I was content where I was at with God, and that I wasn’t thirsting for him. So when he talked about reaching our cities for God’s glory, energy inside of me was welling up; and when he made the comparison that our schools were our cities, I caught the vision and a fire to see revival come to Hawaii starting with my school.

After coming home from Argentina, such a mountain-peak experience, I was ready to take on the world. But, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to do this on my own. God pressed me to talk to my dad about reaching Castle.  My dad was excited after I shared with him what God wanted to do at Castle, and the most important thing I remember from our conversation was that I needed to do what God told me to do even if no one else would listen or follow my vision.  Feeling kind of discouraged that I would have to do this alone, I asked God to raise up other students at Castle who felt the same way. Praise God for his immediate answer to my prayer, because a week later there were five other students who were just as excited to see revival come to Castle.

At our first meeting of our Christian club there were over forty students who filtered into a classroom. It was amazing. We praised God through worship songs and prayed for God to come to Castle.  We had an amazing start. I told the students at the first gathering that we were not just a Christian club who was called to gather to have Bible studies. What our club was called to do was to pray for God to transform the students, the faculty, and the entire school.  This was a new kind of Christian club that sparked something different in everyone, growing each week by five to ten people.

A month went by and our club was still strong in numbers, which was very encouraging for me.  However, I felt that I needed to seek forgiveness from my principal on behalf of any Christian club and Christian student leader that had disrespected him personally or professionally in the past.  This was no easy task.  I walked into the school’s office about four times a week for a month to be rejected by his secretary that he was really busy or in a meeting. I felt strongly about seeking forgiveness because I felt that there was a spiritual stronghold that Satan had over Castle, and it wouldn’t be broken until there was repentance.  I finally met with the principal asking for his forgiveness on behalf of the previous Christian clubs for being defiant and disrespectful. I left that office feeling free from Satan’s hold on us. I felt that God told me that now he would turn on the faucet of blessings.

The reason this was so important was because up until seeking the principle’s forgiveness the only changes that were happening at Castle was the size of our club. I liked having a large club, but I felt that if we were not praying for and with our friends then we were wasting our time meeting together as a club since our goal was to bring revival to Castle not have a large Christian club. I didn’t want to be a club that felt intimidated by the school who would meet to encourage one another to survive in such an evil place. My vision was about storming the gates of hell and shedding light in dark places.  I spoke this rather passionately to the club, and people left including one of my leaders since it was not what they had in their minds of a Christian club.

God said he would now pour out his blessings after I sought the principle’s forgiveness, but in my eyes things only seemed to get worse. A smaller club and losing a passionate leader was not what I had in mind of God’s blessings being poured out.  But, as some people say, things get worse before they get better.  Things definitely got worse.  At Castle there were about two to three fights per week.  Grades were also not much of a priority for a public high school student who plans to stay in Hawaii for college or work.  Not only was Satan working hard to discourage me, he was also working hard to distract me from my vision.  I met a girl who was very attractive, but she was not a Christian. I thought to myself, that I could lead her to Christ and how much of a testimony it would be, persuading myself to pursue her.  However, Satan is clever and works strategically. The week this girl and I started going out on dates and talking on the phone, there was a 96744 [Zip Code] United in Prayer meeting at the end of the week that I would be deeply involved in. Satan was doing his best to distract me. My dad pulled me aside reminding me about what God wanted to do at Castle and how I need to stay focused. My dad didn’t tell me to not talk to this girl, but I felt that if I was going to do this the right way I had to stay focused. I stopped “seeing” her so that I could focus on bringing revival to Castle. 

As our club grew smaller God began to move within Castle. The improvements were small but vital. Attendance started to rise throughout the semester and fights slowly decreased to about one fight per month.  Students began to share their faith with their friends and teachers.  There were drug busts that would stop major drug dealing in the school. As attendance began to rise in number, grades began to rise too.  These were great improvements, but the most important thing that happened at Castle was that the Holy Spirit started to move within the school halls in freedom.

During the school year there were three events put on by 96744 United in Prayer that helped in bringing improvements to Castle.  The first event was a prayer walk through the school. We met at 7 p.m. and walked the halls of Castle carrying lit candles as a prophetic act that we were shining light in the darkness. The very next day, some drug dealers were caught, who were crucial to filtering in drugs at Castle. The second event was a worship night of praise and repentance. As a result of that night students carried freedom with them breaking the stronghold of shame for being a Christian in a public school.  The third event was a celebration of what God had done at Castle, which brought out the community to engage in celebrating the name of Jesus.  Also, I wrote earlier that fights decreased throughout the year. Our club would pray relentlessly about these fights, yet there were still fights happening. The fights started to decrease after two girl-leaders did an act of repenting on behalf of the fights at school (most of the fights at Castle were started by girls), and asking forgiveness for gossiping and spreading rumors on behalf of all girls. From then on fights decreased from two to three fights per week to one per month.

God brought transformation to Castle as a result of students praying and inviting the Holy Spirit to enter into the school.  It was a privilege to be a part of something like this and I look forward to greater things in the future.

A NOTE FROM PASTOR DOUG LEVY: I had an opportunity last summer (2006) to witness Daniel’s ministry first hand and to also see the Youth Revival that has now spread to all of the Hawaiian Islands as a result of this young man and his heart to reach his school and his generation. Hawaii is now experiencing a Youth Revival because this one teenager (at the time) decided that he must do something! As a result, Youth Pastors are now discipling entire High schools!