|
A Little Fall Color in East
Texas
The Rose Queen of the Tyler Rose
Festival
And yes, the back of the
float is the train of her dress!
You can have a dress like it
for about $50,000.
Hello Folks,
We hope you all are doing
well. God has been good to us as usual and we want to
share what's been going on with us!
Beth
My students are continuing to be such a
blessing in my life! I am learning much about myself and
God as I teach this kindergarten class. For starters, I
am keenly aware of how essential my quiet times alone with the
Lord are. I love to soak in His presence with worship
music or just silent solitude with Him. This time with
Him fills me with His love which I can then pour out of the
overflow of my own heart into the lives of my students.
I am also realizing that teaching is not merely a ministry to
students, but also to parents, co-teachers, and others.
What a privilege He has given me to influence so many lives
for Him! The Lord continues to show me the eternal value
He has given each individual and how significant it is to
affect even one life for Him. One particular day, when I
felt a little weary of the day to day routine, Jesus lovingly
reminded that as I minister to each child, I am ministering
“unto Him,” and what a difference this has made! It is a
joy to know that the Lord is using me to lay His foundation of
Truth in these little ones’ lives, and that His Word does not
return void. My prayer is that these eternal seeds will
bear much lasting fruit in my students’ lives as they walk in
His fullness. I love to be able to teach every subject
from the perspective of, “What does this teach us about
God?” As I am renewing my own mind with a Biblical
worldview, it’s exciting to know that this future generation
of leaders is starting with Him as their bedrock.
We will be starting to read our first book
after the Thanksgiving break! The children and I are so
excited. :) Just before Thanksgiving, we celebrated
God’s goodness to us with a Thanksgiving program and a
Thanksgiving feast at school. I hope you enjoy the
pictures of my little pilgrims. Their joy seems to be
contagious.
We have two weeks of school coming up
before Christmas, and the Reading Class has just been invited
to carol from room to room at a nearby nursing home which will
be very fun!
In my Teachers for the Nations class, The
Philosophy of Christian History, Education, and Government, I
am continuing to learn so much! The founding idea of the
course is that doctrine produces character, and character
produces government. In other words, a people’s
understanding of God produces their character and determines
under what kind of government they will choose to live.
The Principle Approach is the philosophy of education that we
are studying, and it is defined as, “America’s historic
Christian method of Biblical reasoning which makes the Truths
of God’s Word the basis of every subject in the school
curriculum.” For each subject in the school curriculum,
the “4 R’s” are applied:
1. Researching God’s Word to discover the basic
principles of a subject.
2. Reasoning from these principles and
identifying them to the student.
3. Relating the Biblical principles to each
student through individual subjects.
4. Recording application of these Biblical
principles.
The books we are reading (and using as
textbooks) are: James Rose’s A Guide to American
Christian Education for the Home and School: The
Principle Approach, Rosalie Slater’s Teaching and
Learning America’s Christian History, and Verna Hall’s
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United
States of America: Christian Self-Government.
Other information about what we’re studying may be found
at http://www.face.net/
(which is the website for the Foundation of American Christian
Education).
The Seven Principles are:
1. God’s Principle of
Individuality
2. The Christian Principle of
Self-Government
3. America’s Heritage of Christian
Character
4. “Conscience is the Most Sacred of
All Property.”
5. The Christian Form of Our
Government
6. How the Seed of Local
Self-Government is Planted
7. The Christian Principle of
American Political Union
As we have been studying Providential
History, it has been so interesting for me to understand
Galatians 4:4 in new light, “...when the fullness of the time
came, God sent forth His Son...” We have been learning
how God was preparing the way for the Messiah throughout
history. With the Jewish people, He brought forth the
understanding of the Law. The Greeks brought
philosophical thinking and reasoning along with their language
which captures specific meanings of concepts so clearly.
Thus, the New Testament was written in Greek. Lastly,
the Romans brought external order and government, so Paul, as
a Roman citizen, was free to travel throughout the empire to
preach the gospel. It has been awesome for me to
understand how God was working with people to prepare the way
for His Son to come in the “fullness of time.” Our
Father truly does have a strategy for bringing forth His
Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven!
It has also been so inspiring to study
William Tyndale and other martyrs of the faith who gave their
lives that we might have the freedom to read the Bible for
ourselves in our own language. What a privilege we have
that cost so many men so dearly! Their sacrifice paved
the way for the Word of God to be the supreme authority.
Jason
There’s nothing greater than to see
people’s lives changed by the truth. Of course, Jesus
did say, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you
free.” We live in bondage to the degree that we walk in
deception.
I have been very encouraged to hear our
students share how much they are enjoying School of the Bible
this year. One guy from Belize was going to stay only
for a few months and then return home to lead a Discipleship
Training School. However, after studying here the past
few months, he has decided to postpone the DTS until the
summer so that he can complete the School of the Bible.
Praise God!! He shared with us the misconceptions in the
church and culture in Belize and I know that he will be well
equipped to return to his country and bring transformation by
preaching and teaching God’s Word.
I am becoming more and more convinced that
discipleship is the only way to see real transformation in
people’s lives. We in missions can get focused on
preaching and teaching the multitudes. However, I believe that
in the long run the most effective way that Jesus ministered
was by taking twelve people and spending three years teaching
and mentoring them. In turn those twelve began to teach
and mentor others. The multiplication of the truth of
the gospel this way is exponential in growth and it also lasts
because we are not only making converts, but disciples as
well. Jesus called us to disciple the nations, not
convert them. I feel privileged to have the opportunity
to spend this year teaching and mentoring our fifteen
students!
Our trip to South Dakota was a quick
one! We traveled to Sioux Falls and prayed for the
election there concerning abortion. (If you are not
aware, a ban on abortion went to a public vote in the state of
South Dakota.) We felt led to pray and read
Deuteronomy aloud outside of the City Hall. We also
prayed outside of Planned Parenthood where abortions actually
take place.
The people are wearing
red tape over their mouths that say, "Life." This is a silent
prayer for the unborn who have no voice.
Even though the ban lost at the voting
booth, we must still pray for change in America. First,
it must come in the body of Christ. I believe that we
must raise up ministries to combat the consequences of
unwanted pregnancy. We need to reach out in love to
those single women who need to know there are other options
like adoption. We need to support the people through
their pregnancies with ministries such as Father Heart here at
YWAM which houses and mentors un-wed mothers. It is
wonderful to see Christian families adopting some of the
babies that might have otherwise been aborted. This is
how we can minister restoration to our present generation.
We are both so blessed to be here in Tyler
developing the gifts of God in us and walking in His call!
God bless you,
Jason and Beth McKenney
|
