A year ago, my principal approached me about being the spiritual life coordinator at Windham Christian Academy.  After prayerful consideration,and a flood of ideas that kept coming to me spontaneously and unsolicited, I knew God was encouraging me to accept this new role.  Included in my responsibilities are: leading elementary chapel and upper school chapel one service each per week, organizing and leading spiritual emphasis week, supervising the class ministries of all the classes, and guiding the high school students in selecting and completing their service hours.  It was a lot to add to my load as a teacher, but these things are exactly where my passion lies. There was certainly a learing curve, but I think it was a good first year, and I have been invited to take on this role again next year.  I immediately said "YES!"

Whenever something new is added to someone's weekly duties, other things inevitably have to give a little.  This year I have done a bit less writing and painting, but my creativity has been challenged in a variety of new ways.  For exaple, each elementary teacher was given a treasure chest at the start of the year.  Then, fter each chapel they were given a physical token to keep in it to use as a review of our chapel lessons throughout the year.  At the end of our first chapel, each teacher was given a lego to remind the class of the creation story, and how God made everything.  Throughout the year, they were given something new each week, including a miniture scroll (God's Word is reliable.), a gold rock (heaven is so wonderful, the streets are paved with gold), and each piece of the armor of God.

In addition to these tokens, each week featured a routine related to my topic, and usually there was  a slide show to go along with the message.  I covered a variety of units with the younger kids, including: basics of Christianity, the love passage from 1 Corinthians 13 (taking a week for each characteristic of love: patient, kind, etc.), and the armor of God.  Throw in a few guest speakers, and that was enough ro fill the entire school year's schedule.  

Upper grade chapels were structured a bit differently: no treasure chest, only occaisional routines, and frequent break away groups for discussion.  Along with individual chapel topics, we did two book studies: "Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart" and "The Prodigal God". I highly recommend both for teens and adults, and so much honesty came up during the small group discussions these books encouraged.  For the final upper chapel, I did do a set of routines as well as readings from some of my books.  I was humbled by a standing ovation from all the teens.

I honestly don't remember if I blogged about spiritual emphasis week, but it was an exciting time to encourage the kids to dig deeper faith.  Both groups had special days of worship, activities, special testimonies from various staff, and more.  The high school students did especially well completing their service hours, ranging from serving in a food pantry to volunteering at a horse stable, and helping elderly neighbors to running a basketball clinic for younger students.

I have loved this role all year long, and the new challenges it posed to my creativity.  I look forward to whatever new year holds.