Friday, August 24, 2007

Let the Academic Year Begin



It may just be the most exciting day of the year for our ministry as a whole. I am speaking of the first day of our academic year and it all begins this coming Monday morning. For those of you who don’t know, our church also runs an educational ministry with MorningStar Daycare and Lititz Christian School which entails well over 400 children from 6-weeks old through the 12th grade being in our building most every day and being spiritually impacted along with their entire families by a wonderful staff of godly men and women that make up our administration, faculty and staff.

This is all part of the vision of Dr Young, the former Senior Pastor of Grace Church. Dr Young would see these wonderful church buildings that only got used 1 or possibly 2 days a week. He promised God that if He would give Dr Young a building, Dr Young would do everything within his power to see that building utilized 7 days a week. Our mighty God answered that prayer of Dr Young and in return Dr Young was faithful to keep his promise and launched MorningStar and Lititz Christian. Dr Young’s vision lives on as another exciting year gets ready to kick-off come this Monday morning.

I am very pro Christian Education. Why? First, because I am a product of Christian Education. I spent my last three years of High School at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (CVCA) in Stow, Ohio and it had a great impact on my life. One of the men who God used greatly in my life as a teenager was my High School Band Director at CVCA. I also believe in Christian Education as well because I have seen the difference it has made in my own kid’s lives. I love the fact that both my kids attend Lititz Christian.

Now please don’t get me wrong…I am in no way “anti” public schools. We have many wonderful educators in our area public school systems that also attend Grace Church. We have many hundreds of wonderful teenagers and children who go to public schools that also attend our church. I thank and praise God for each and every one of them. Our ministry has a wonderful relationship with the Warwick School District.

But one of the things I love about pastoring Grace Church is being able to be part of this daily ministry of impacting young lives through Christian Education. As a result, there is always something exciting going on inside of our facility. We have an exceptional group of students who attend Lititz Christian. I am thrilled at the intentional progress that our educational ministries are making to increase our excellence in every area. God has blessed us with a tremendous administrative team at MorningStar and Lititz Christian who also are all part of our Grace Church family. Be sure to be praying for these leaders of our educational ministries as they embark on another academic year starting Monday:

Rick Bernhardt, Senior Administrator
Eric Lewis, Secondary Principal
Sherry McConaghay, Elementary Principal
Tammy Wiggins, Daycare Director

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