Featured Lesson Designer

Laying a Solid Foundation

An Interview with John Leggat

After directing your child’s education from birth into high school, you’re now facing the reality that your student is approaching the time when he or she must “face the real world” on their own. They may be ready academically and socially, but are they prepared spiritually? Thankfully, that’s just the purpose of The Warrior Class: College Prep Apologetics, available to members of SchoolhouseTeachers.com. John Leggat, instigator of The Warrior Class, recently shared how students can be adequately equipped to face attacks on their faith during the college years and beyond.

TOS: Do you feel that this course is essential for every high school graduate?

John: Yes. As you will note in one of the sessions, the four-year undergraduate experience is described as the time that the cement is being poured for the foundation of a student’s life. When understood and responded to that way, the direction of one’s faith, purpose, career, family, and worldview will get onto a much more productive trajectory bearing much more fruit. The alternatives are always less than optimal and can take years to recover from, if ever.

TOS: How can students get the most out of the course?

John: According to Barna Research, each year approximately five hundred thousand high school graduates with Christian backgrounds matriculate to college nationwide. Unfortunately, without the proper preparation and awareness, upwards of 65 percent of them put their faith aside as they fall prey to the temptations and deceptive philosophies presented by their peers and professors.

Students forewarned and forearmed as a result of their sincere attention to the Warrior Class training are far more likely to take on their rightful roles—strengthened by communities of fellow believers—to bring salt, light, and the truth of the Gospel to their dormitories, in their classrooms, and through their playing fields and other extra-curricular activities. The program works well either as a self-directed curriculum or in a congregate setting such as a youth group. You will notice that we offer a number of links that should also be used to strengthen each student’s preparation. Profiles of on-campus ministries can be researched as part of the college application process to identify likely matches in style and substance, and their respective ministry leaders can actually be interviewed in advance to assure the best match for each student’s ultimate college choice.

TOS: Do you have any advice for parents as they direct their student taking this course?

John: As always, it is important to bring a steady focus to both entertaining and the more technical portions of the course. Apologetics and training in the exigencies of evangelism more generally may be more taxing to get through and retain, but they are more than worth the effort for those who will encounter various challenges (and rich victories) in sharing the love of the Lord and His call to salvation.

One of the resources linked to is a book/daily reading called Fuel. It is designed to be shared by parents and teens in the days leading up to the “Launch.” It has proven most helpful in drawing a shared focus and intimacy in matters of faith for both parties and is highly recommended.

TOS: Please share a testimony or success story from a student who applied the lessons from Warrior Class.

John: According to his mother, Jake (not his real name) was a “part-time” and relatively new Christian when he took the Warrior Class in his senior year of high school. Despite the training that the Warrior Class provided, Jake’s ambition and expectation for his arrival at college was, apparently, that it would be more in the nature of a “jailbreak.” Unfortunately, he had to find out the hard way that trouble—in the form of too much partying, too little studying, and little or no attention to the building up of his faith—led to a letter from the college dean suggesting that Jake take a semester off.

According to Jake’s mom, as it turns out, that was the best thing that could have happened. While back at home licking his wounds, Jake reviewed the Warrior Class with a greater sense of urgency and better understanding of its importance. Armed with that new understanding, when Jake got back to school to start over, he sought out a couple of upperclassmen from the football team who had invited him to a Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) meeting several months earlier. Unfortunately, though they were twice his size, he had dismissed them as definitely “not cool” at the time.

Jake quickly realized that his more thoughtful and prayerful selection of friends was going to help him in his discipline and growth. Ultimately, the FCA influence, again according to his mom, consisting of seventy (plus or minus) new brothers and sisters helped to encourage and point him back toward the Lord and the discipline that he needed to grow into. At last report he was happily piling up solid grades, playing football (intramural), and dating a “nice Christian girl.”

As Jake discovered, choosing one’s crew wisely is of critical importance and can make all the difference for college and beyond.

TOS: Parents, in order to give your student a solid foundation for their faith, be sure to check out The Warrior Class: College Prep Apologetics.

If you’d like more information about designing lessons for our site, please email the Executive Manager at stmanager@theoldschoolhouse.com.