Concord Christian School The Mane Event December 2013 Good Tidings and Great Joy From All of Us this Christmas Season! Rejoice For unto you is born this day In the city of David A Savior, who is Christ the Lord - Luke 2:11 LOOKING AHEAD Christmas Holidays December 21 January 6 Students Return to Class January 7 2014-2015 School Preview Thursday, January 9 6-8 pm No Class for Students January 17 Martin Luther King Day January 20 no school concordchristianschool.org 1
THANKFULNESS THROUGH SERVING The Bible says, Each of you has been blessed with one of God s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well. If you have the gift of speaking, preach God s message. If you have the gift of helping others, do it with the strength that God supplies. Everything should be done in a way that will bring honor to God because of Jesus Christ, who is glorious and powerful forever. Amen.. (1 Peter 4:10-11 CEV). One way our students show thankfulness is through serving others. As they serve, they are being the hands and feet of Jesus to many in our community. In this year alone, Concord Christian School students have served in approximately 30 different outreach avenues. It starts in our kindergarten with their participation in Operation Christmas Child all the way to the seniors who help at KARM. Our students do not need to get on a bus to minister to others. The middle school students go to the Bellaire community behind the school and clean yards and pray over each driveway. Our National Honor Society works with Helping Hands, a ministry of FBC. Recently, our 8 th graders went with Mission of Hope to Burchfield School to sing and help the children pick out Christmas gifts. Steve Peek, Pastor of Legacy Builders, said this of our 8 th graders. When I look at CCS students, there is hope for the future! Pastor John Avant said many times that he wants our students to be culture changers. Serving others unselfishly, showing the love of Christ is accomplishing just that. We are so thankful for our students who show the spirit of service! Kindergarten Kindergarten participates in Operation Christmas Child each year for their mission project. 1st Grade First Grade does a field trip each year visiting assisted living centers while sharing God's love with the elderly on Valentine's Day. 2
LIBRARY BOOK CLUB/SERVICE GROUP This quarter, students in 1st and 2nd grade were invited to participate in The Crazy Christmas Angel After School Book Club with Mrs. Donnelly and Mrs. Crisp. Eight students enjoyed a time of reading, reflecting, making crafts, and playing games. One of the students favorite activities was making an Advent Calendar that reveals a different name for Jesus each day of December until Christmas. At the end of the quarter, students put together baskets of treats, crafts, and warm wishes and delivered them to families residing at Ronald McDonald House. Throughout their time together, the students focused on the true meaning of Christmas and serving others during the holiday season. Third Grade sent cards in October and November to KARM. The KARM representative made a special trip out here last week to let us know how meaningful the cards have been to their clients. They brought me a picture of two of the ladies holding the cards, it has a thank you printed on it and she brought it in a frame. It is exciting to be in a school where Proverbs 2:6 is true: For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 2 nd Grade The second graders raised money for the Ronald McDonald House. Our classes made Christmas items (crafts and food) and sold these items to the students, parents and visitors at school. We have what is called a Christmas store. The money that we collected went to the Ronald McDonald House. This year we raised over $1800! 3
Third Grade We do a persuasive writing unit after Thanksgiving. The students have to come up with a way to persuade their parents to serve others during the Christmas season. The students write a paper and we send a copy home and create a hallway bulletin board with the original paper. We do a follow up after Christmas break to see the many different ways they were actually able to serve others. Socks of Love - Students bring in travel size toiletries along with money to purchase a pair of socks. One day we write a verse on the bottom of a sock and fill it with the matching sock and toiletries. We tie a bow around it and have them delivered to Knox Area Rescue Ministries (KARM). Each month starting in October, we make pocket size cards for the clients at KARM. *(We make full size cards for their Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners) 4th Grade 4th Grade started working with Joni and Friends (for disabled adults) and the Sonshine Ministry here at First Baptist Concord during last school year. 5th Grade Fifth Grade has adopted a family from Western Heights to minister to throughout the year. We have several things in the planning for this family. ES Spanish The students in Elementary Spanish class participate and volunteer at the Hola Festival every year. They volunteer at country booths at this festival as well as participate in the "Parade of Nations." Some students make puzzles with Spanish verses on them to pass out to other families who attend the Hola Festival. 4
SIXTH GRADE The sixth graders wrote notes to a family who had just lost both of their parents. They wrote things to encourage the children. Over the next couple of weeks we will collect some food goods for Teen Challenge to give to them when they speak in chapel. Seventh Grade The seventh grade classes are going to work both with Wears Valley Ministries and Camp Wesley Woods, cleaning the properties and helping prepare for the coming season. Several times we have helped clean yards, rake leaves, etc. for the residents of the Bellaire neighborhood. The middle school collected funds for Hurricane Sandy through a gift wrapping service last year. The sixth grades raked leaves and did yard work in the Belle-Aire community Nov. 25. We have been doing this for about 5 years. We also collected funds for African children with AIDS and Western Heights Boys and Girls Club with a Hoops for Hope fundraiser in the fall of 2011. Middle School NJHS MS NJHS had a service project with the Helping Hands ministry at First Baptist Concord last month in which we prepared food together, taught games, etc. 5
Western Height Ministry Middle School Boy and Girls Club Every Wednesday after school This is a partnership through First Baptist Concord. After school we meet at 3:15 in the student building. We have around 30 CCS students who serve. We take a bus down to the Western Heights community in the inner city housing projects and meet at the Boys and Girls Club. They have on an average about 45 to 50 children that range in age from kindergarten to 6th grade. First activity we do upon arriving is a bible story, one on one or two on one. We have a group time where we allow the children to share with each other what they have learned. Then we break into small groups. One group makes a craft that reinforces the lesson and the other group plays. We switch after a few minutes. We stay for an hour and half and arrive back tat he church at 6:00. Our students have built relationships with the children there. They are anxiously waiting for us when we arrive. We hear the children saying," the church people are here"! We have been doing this ministry for 5 years. We have seen children accept Christ as their savior through the years. We serve in the summer as well. Then we go one day a week and stay for two and a half hours. Becky Creswell is the church leader and Becky Fraser, CCS Art Teacher, assists her and manage the CCS coordination. This a great ministry and I am blessed to get to serve our Father there. High School/ Computer Teacher Several of our high students have provided childcare for the single mom s luncheon. I offer an afterschool computer class for Homeschool students. 6
8th Grade The 8th grades will join FBC Concord to go to Burchfield School in Oneida, TN. where they will help Mission of Hope pass out presents to needy children. The 8th grades will sing and do a Christmas presentation that will include the Gospel. We have done this for about 12 years. The 8th grades also regularly bake Christmas cookies for the community and deliver them the last day of school before the holidays. CCS students also have done a number of service trips in the past, including Knox Area Rescue Ministries, Maynard Elementary School, Sam E. Hill School, Ijams Nature Center, Goodwill, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, etc. A few years ago, students and families also have sponsored a Muslim Iraqi family and helped them prepare an apartment upon arrival to the U.S. They also guided them to language school, church and provided them with a used car. Do your work willingly, as though you were serving the Lord himself, and not just your earthly master. Colossians 3:23 CEV High School NHS NHS sponsored a school wide collection for the Bread of Life Food Pantry. The students exceeded their goal by collecting 2415 cans of food! It took two trucks to transport the food to the food pantry. Middle School/ High School Boys The Crossing: The Crossing is a program dedicated to helping dads and mentors build a better relationship with the young men in their lives while allowing the young man to grow from the mentorship of these strong Christian men. The Crossing has been created to help heal and prevent the wounds of spiritual, mental, and physical brokenness that is so pervasive within our old and young men alike while opening the path to a stronger more fulfilling, "others centered", life. Using activities such as work projects, Rafting, Camping, Air Soft, Football, and Paintball as our mediums, we seek to involve and educate our sons and fathers on topics including, but not limited to, Sexuality, Sobriety, Leadership, and the impact men can have in the world if only they engage it with meaning and purpose. Through this program we seek to build up our men to be the powerful and influential men God intended them to be. 7