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One of the best parts about running and attending a private Christian school is the freedom we have to take time out of classes to invest in the spiritual growth of our students. We make it a point to take a week in the Fall and Spring to turn the children’s attention towards Christ. This year we have the great privilege to have the DAE group from Cedarville University Alumni Association lead our week of spiritual emphasis.
In years past we’ve had local speakers come. They make a great impact by showing the children what solid Biblical teaching looks like form other Bahamians. However most are more in the realm of professional pastors or speakers. The problem with that is, even though our students are respectful and well behaved, they are a little removed from identifying with the speakers because of the difference in life and profession.
The CU students don’t have this problem at all. The only barrier that they quickly overcame was the cultural difference between the Americans and Bahamians. After the CU students spent time with our WHS kids, they were able to connect with them and earn their respect.
We got to hear from each Cedarville Student, for both a portion of teaching and testimony. It was amazing to see how our Windermere kids responded to their testimonies. Granted no one was repenting of their sins in front of the school, but you could see the way they were engaging with these college kids. Not only did they look up to them as a few years ahead of them, but they looked up to them in respect for their courage to honor Christ in their youth.
The sessions looked quite different from what we’ve had in the past too. They were shorter with games and activities afterwards, and perhaps most impactful is that they organized the kids into small groups, and once a session ended they would then go through it in their small group, discussion and answer questions with the students.
As each Spring Spiritual Emphasis, the Student Government Association took the students out into the community for our Community Service day. I wish I could say that this year went as good as last year, and it did in terms of attitude, but it lacked in terms of cooperation. We still made the rounds throughout the settlement, and mowed all the yards, and along the highway, and we picked every scrap of trash there was to pick, however, we most of the work was done by only a few. We’ll get it better for next year.
I felt like this was the most successful Spiritual Emphasis yet, and that was a unanimous conclusion from all the WHS staff. We sincerely hope that Cedarville can make this an annual investment in the lives of these children. I even have some of the upper classes saying they want to go to Cedarville with they go off to college!