Nearly 100 students have been baptized during five periodic worship gatherings held at a Christian high school in Colorado after athletic competitions. Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch launched the 5th Quarter gatherings in fall 2024 and holds the student-focused worship and testimony events twice each academic year. The gatherings draw a few hundred people on average, including students, staff, parents and local residents. So far, 96 students have been baptized.
The most recent gathering took place last Friday after a home football game that Valor Christian lost late in the game. Seventeen students were baptized that night. Natalie Tysdal, a spokesperson for Valor Christian, told The Christian Post Tuesday that Jessika Caldwell, the school’s assistant athletic director for spiritual formation, founded the event.
In a statement provided by Tysdal, Caldwell said she “came across an article about a movement of football players from The Ohio State University where they hosted a revival on their campus where student athletes shared testimonies and there was an opportunity for baptism.” “I remember sharing with my family how moved I was and then moved on with my day,” Caldwell said.
“I remember driving, in the quiet and in prayer as I usually do to school that following Monday, and the Lord spoke to my heart.
Why couldn't we do something like this at our high school, Valor Christian?” Caldwell sought “to connect to our specific community” and “throw open the doors, lift the roof off our traditional places of worship and go to the place where a lot of student athletes struggle and fight the lies of identity.” “Sport spaces are those places at times.
My prayer was that by creating a space where maybe they didn't expect to encounter the Living God, that they would in turn do so,” she added.