Much has been said, in Christian circles particularly, about the continuing trend of business and organizations secularizing the Christmas season. In a supposed attempt to be politically correct, tolerant and non-offensive, the terms “Merry Christmas” have been replaced with “Happy Holidays”. As Christians, this frustrates, and even hurts us, because we know that there is no Christmas without the Lord Jesus Christ in it. His loving us enough to come to earth and become our Immanuel is the primary reason for any type of Christmas celebration. So, the question this year is not, “Are you going to say ‘Merry Christmas’?”, when you’re out doing your Christmas shopping. God’s people should unashamedly proclaim it to those we come in contact with. I believe the question of the hour is, “How are going to say it?” If we speak these words in a vindictive, condescending, or “holier than thou” tone, then we won’t be displaying the very spirit that Christmas is all about. The Lord wants us to be bold, and He wants us to stand for Him, but He also wants us to do these things in loving and humble manner. So, when the opportunity arises over the next few weeks, put a smile on your face, release that joy in your heart, and lovingly say to those you meet, “Merry Christmas”. Say it the way our Savior would say it – gently, kindly and peacefully. But even more importantly than saying it this Christmas season, let’s live it!
HOW WILL YOU SAY “MERRY CHRISTMAS”?
Teacher School
The ACSI Teachers’ Convention
Harry Truman once said “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” As educators, we still have much to learn and as the culture and educational styles continue to change, Seffner Christian Academy is committed to providing our teachers with professional development to keep learning. During the Thanksgiving break, the teachers attend the annual Teacher Convention hosted by Association of Christian Schools International. My children are always curious where I’m going and I explain to them I’m going to “teacher school” They think it’s great that the teachers spend a few days back in school. During thse two days, the teachers get to learn and fellowship with other Christian educators from around the state and get new ideas, techniques, and view the latest technology available for their classrooms. Some of the teachers’ highlights were new smart board techniques, memory tactics, new ways to model children’s literature into writing, the importance of positive influence, and much more. So back to school for the teachers to begin to utilize what they learned at “Teacher School.”
Thanksgiving Feast in Pre-School
On Thursday, November 17th, the Pre-school hosted a Thanksgiving Feast for our pre-school parents and family members. The tables were beautifully decorated with centerpieces and placemats made by our pre-school students. The Thanksgiving meal was delicious with turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, green beans, corn, salad, and rolls. There were also plenty of tasty desserts made by our pre-school parents. We are so thankful for our pre-school teachers and aides and appreciate all of their hard work, but most of all we are thankful for their loving spirit and dedication to teaching our young students. We thank the Lord for our students and supportive parents and grandparents. We are wishing all of our SCA families a blessed, Christ-centered Thanksgiving and Christmas season.
Fall Festival Recap
What more could one ask for in a day? Perfect weather, delicious food, games for the kids, uplifting music, and a chance to do lots of Christmas shopping. Yes, it is called our annual Fall Festival at SCA. We have had a fall festival at SCA since the 80’s, but it has grown into a huge event for our entire community, and an event we all look forward to each year.
Our parents worked together to make this a huge success this year. Thank you to all the parents that donated items to the auction, worked a booth, sold tickets, made cookies for the sweet shop, and participated to make our Fall Festival such a wonderful weekend. This event could not be possible without our faithful parent organization, SIA (Servants in Action). These men and women are true examples of Christian servants and are willing to sacrifice for our entire student body. Thanks also to Mr. Canterbury and Mrs. Saunders for all their leadership for this event.
The Carrabba’s Italian Grill in Plant City worked with the junior class to make over 550 chicken and pasta dishes to sell. It was delicious! The Larkin family made their annual Korean dinner for everyone on Saturday. Their homemade eggrolls, cheese rolls, and fried rice are famous around here. We also had available boiled peanuts, smoked sausages, collard greens and lots of sweets.
The annual auction continues to grow each year. There was some fierce competition for some of the items. We are blessed to have raised over $22,000 from just the auction this year. Praise God! In addition to the Christmas trees, class baskets, teacher coupons, and class memorabilia, the auction added a Chic Boutique this year. The boutique had designer purses, jewelry and unique accessories that were up for auction.
Thanks again everyone for a wonderful weekend at the Fall Festival.
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FIRST THANKSGIVING
Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him and bless His name.” This is exactly what Thanksgiving is all about. We have made into a holiday of food, family and football, but when you look at the origin of Thanksgiving in 1621, we are reminded of its original intent. If you go on-line to Wikipedia and type in the word “Thanksgiving”, this is the definition you will find, “Thanksgiving was established as a national day of giving thanks and praise to God.” The early settlers of Plymouth colony knew what it meant to be thankful. Most of us will sit down to wonderful meals next week, and we’re inclined to think this was how it was for the Pilgrims, but this was not the case. They were thankful, in spite of their circumstances. The truth of the matter is that those early Pilgrims were some of the most underprivileged people our nation has ever known. They had no homes or government agency to help them build a home. No means of transportation, other than their legs. Their only food came from the sea or the forest. They had to fight for their very existence. One of the Pilgrims recorded a description of what their lives were back then. This was what it said, “The grim and grisly face of poverty came upon us like an armed man with whom we must encounter and fight, and from whom we could not get away.” Yet, in spite of these destitute conditions, there was an attitude of gratitude in their hearts. Those early settlers paused on the edge of a hostile wilderness in the presence of unknown dangers and gave thanks to Almighty God. They didn’t do it because of their bounty and abundance. They did it because they were truly grateful for what God had done for them.
George Washington issued the first Presidential proclamation concerning Thanksgiving in 1789, but the state of Georgia has a heritage of giving collective thanks that even precedes Washington’s proclamation. If you ever have the occasion to visit St. Simon’s Island, pause at the sight of old Fort Frederica, and read the words of James Oglethorpe, which were written on July 21, 1742. These are his words, “Truly the Lord hath done great things for us. Not our might or strength hath saved us; our salvation is of the Lord. Therefore, it is highly becoming to us to render thanks to God our deliver…And I enjoin that everyone observe this festival in a CHRISTIAN and Godly manner…” I believe Mr. Oglethorpe’s statement hit it right on the head! Truly, God has been good to us, and He deserves to be thanked for all He has done. How about taking some time today to get our knees and tell Him how grateful we are for His blessings upon us?
WHAT IS “THE JAMES PROJECT?”
James 5:16 says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much…” The Lord has strongly impressed upon the hearts of the SCA administration to begin a school-wide prayer campaign that involves students, parents and teachers coming together as one body to ask the Lord to bless our school with $5 million. We are praying for the Lord to bless us with this money so that we can accomplish three significant goals for our school: (1) Pay off the $680,000 that remains on the gym debt, (2) increase the salaries and benefits of our teachers, and (3) construct a new multi-level academic building that would provide additional classrooms and administrative offices. We have assigned various groups a designated day to join us in this prayer campaign. The schedule is as follows:
MONDAY – Pre-school classes and parents
TUESDAY – K-5 thru 2nd grade students, teachers and parents
WEDNESDAY – 3rd thru 5th grade students, teachers and parents
THURSDAY – Middle school students, teachers and parents
FRIDAY – High school students, teachers and parents
SATURDAY – Faculty and staff of Seffner Christian Academy
SUNDAY – Members of First Free Will Baptist Church
In addition to our praying, we have had parents, faculty and staff participate in a “40 Days of Sacrifice” which involved participants doing without certain things for a 40-day period as a way of showing the Lord we are willing to pay a price for this financial blessing. Some gave up TV for that time period, others gave up sweets, coffee, or different things of this nature. We are confident that God is going to honor our efforts. He knows the desires of our hearts and how we long to see SCA reach greater heights for His glory. He has blessed us with the most wonderful teachers, students, and parents, and we want to see Him provide us with the resources to be a greater blessing to each of them.
We hope that you will join us in praying and spreading the word of our hopes and dreams throughout the community. God has some people already set aside that He is going to use to help us see this vision become a reality. Thank you for your help and support. We are so privileged to be a part of a ministry that God continues to bless with His favor, and we truly believe the best is yet to come for Seffner Christian Academy!
We’re Here to Serve!
A few of the 8th grade Beta Club Members at Metropolitan Ministries
Educating the mind is easy when you’re in the school building. How do we educate the heart to serve? In the middle school, we take a step outside of the classroom to give our students the opportunity to see their community through the eyes of Jesus. During the first week of November, the middle school Beta Club joined Metropolitan Ministries in serving the homeless population of Tampa. Our students sorted clothing donations for the thrift store, prepared meals in the ministry’s kitchen, and sorted and stocked food donations in the Metro Market. The cleaning, sorting, cooking, and stocking all sounds like trivial tasks, but these are what teach the heart of a student to serve. Servant hood is a key leadership trait that Jesus taught His disciples. He washed their feet…the dirtiest part of a person in Biblical times. However, Jesus got down on His hands and knees and served. This is what our Beta Club members did. They weren’t afraid to get dirty and serve. As a principal, I am proud and overjoyed to see the amazing spirit and attitudes in our young people. There was not a word of complaint, but only smiles and willing hearts. We have some outstanding servant leaders in our future at SCA!
“The measure of a leader is not the number of people who serve the leader, but the number of people served by the leader.” ~ Adapted from a quote by John C. Maxwell.
Stocking Shelves at Metropolitan Ministries
I’d also like to thank the parents and teachers who volunteered their time to chaperone and serve as well:
Mrs. Brown, Mr. Huebner, Mrs. Skiles, Mrs. Ross, Mr. Duke, and Mr. Hall. We appreciate you!
To learn more about Metropolitan Ministries visit: http://www.metromin.org/
24 Days of Thanksgiving
I love this time of the year! The weather has finally cooled off a bit, and the holiday seasons are on their way. From a school standpoint, everyone looks forward to the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks and spending time with family.
The other day, I was thinking about the “25 Days of Christmas”, and I began to wonder, “Why can’t we have a ‘24 Days of Thanksgiving’?” Continue reading
James Project – 40 Days of Sacrifice
You made it!!
Those who participated in our “40 Days of Sacrifice” have finished their challenge. We are so grateful to each of you that participated. We’re also excited to let you know that we have come up with a logo for The James Project, and we will be ordering some t-shirts Continue reading
New Security at SCA
We are very exciting about the enhanced security on campus.
With the addition of the locked main office pedestrian gate, main school gates and rear gate, we feel we have been able to better secure our campus. We realize it has been somewhat of an inconvenience for our parents and visitors but we believe Continue reading
