Going Public

A book review, by Donna Hatasaki

 Some called it the biggest upset in college football history.  On October 6, 2007, underdog Stanford University beat top dog USC, 24-23 in front of a televised audience and 85,000 people in the Los Angeles Coliseum.  Tavita Pritchard was the sophomore quarterback who made history that day with his first college start and quickly became the bright eyes at the center of a sports media storm. Without hesitation, the 6’4”, 200-pound Samoan smiled at the cameras and said, “All the glory goes to God.”

 Tavita’s story sounds like good material for a compelling book. Unfortunately, he missed mom and dad’s deadline by a few weeks.  Instead, Going Public, by David and Kelli Pritchard, starts with an historic football upset of a different kind.  Tavita’s dad David befriends a young bully who is terrorizing his daughters at school and teaches him to throw a spiral.  In the process, the bully is transformed and becomes David’s daughters’ self-appointed body guard and best friend. 

 Going Public is the first book of its kind, a practical guide with profound encouragement for parents who choose the public school system for their kids.  Filled with powerful personal stories gathered from 24 years of raising eight children, the Pritchards make a compelling case for facing parental fear with the love of Jesus Christ. Relationships recently caught up with the Young Life staff couple from the Pacific Northwest and asked a few questions:

 Relationships:  There are some parents today who believe that putting their kids in the public school system means putting their kids at risk, socially, academically, physically and/or spiritually.  Do you hope to change their minds?

 David: It’s not our goal to change anyone’s mind. Instead we desire to give parents a process to make a decision that is right for their family. We believe that there are good reasons for families to choose home school or private school. Fear is just not one of them.

 Relationships: You’ve led a parade of eight Pritchard children through the public school system for the past 19 years. Have there been any moments when you were afraid you chose the wrong route?

 David:  If you’re asking were there ever any tense moments, the answer is yes. There was the time our girls where getting bullied by that young boy in class; there was the time that a teacher sent home material that called Noah and the Ark a religious fairy tale, and there were others. Rather than thinking we made a wrong decision, we saw opportunities to live out our faith.

 Relationships: There must be many other stories of how God has used your family in the lives of others during your journey through the public school system. 

 Kelli: I can tell you one we’re still living. Through our son Tana and our daughter Dani we met a single mom and her four kids. Over the years we’ve “adopted” that family. When mom needs help picking up kids, I will often be the soccer mom. If the principal wants to meet with one of the kids for discipline issues, David will go to the meeting. Or if there is an awards ceremony, our family will try to go support the recipient of the honor. The mom often wonders what drives us to give our time and resources to her family; it ends up being a great opportunity to live out the love of Christ.

 Relationships: Tavita spoke at the Young Life All Staff Conference in Orlando in January.  He said, in so many words, there’s nothing better than being the kid of a Young Life staff person.  How so?

 Kelli:  Two things stick out above the rest: “family business” and “superheroes”.  First, we’ve never wanted our kids to see ministry as something that dad does, but rather as the “family business”.  As our kids have partnered with us in ministry, their own faith stories have been formed and strengthened.  Second, we will never be able to quantify the privilege and blessing it has been for our kids to be influenced by Young Life staff and volunteers.  Our kids have been raised, in part, by the mission of Young Life, and we are forever indebted.

 Relationships: Is there anything you’ve had to guard against as you’ve raised your kids on staff?

 David:  First, we have prayed that the message of Jesus would never become too familiar.  Second, it’s easy for our kids to feel like they’re living in a fishbowl.  We’ve tried to be intentional about allowing our kids to make mistakes.  Third, and we talk about this in the book, I’ve tried to give my family the sense that they have access to the “red phone”.  You know—the phone in the movies that was kept under the glass case.  The person with access to it knew, if they picked it up, they would get instant results.  In ministry you run the risk of making your family feel like every other kid is more important to you.  I wanted my kids to know that if they called me on the red phone, they would get results.  My family always had instant access to me.

 Going Public is available in bookstores everywhere. But get ready for an upset.  In this book, faith beats fear every time.