DAVE DOES DISCIPLESHIP

Dave tackles worldviews in the classroom

For some years, I (Dave) have felt that the Alliance Academy International's unique Christian identity has been under attack. Our chapel and discipleship programs were hijacked in many ways by the need to comply with new government regulations. Some of my Bible classes suffered a near 50% reduction in class time. Perhaps the most frustrating change to our Christian formation programming was the loss of our Christian Service Outreach (CSO) program. 

For decades, the AAI provided a variety of CSO ministries to equip our students to put their faith into practice through the visual arts, community service, youth ministry and evangelism. Alumni have frequently commented that our CSO programs were a life-giving highlight of their AAI experience. The closure of CSO two years ago – amidst intense transitions at AAI– was greatly lamented by many alums. A painful consequence of this loss is a growing disconnect between the vision of AAI for Christian identity formation and a narrower academic focus of many of our families. My conclusion is that we need a broader, specifically Christian perspective on how their faith integrates with the rest of their lives. 

Thus, it was a tremendous honor when our new school director tasked me with resurrecting our CSO programs. In partnership with a former student of mine, we began the revitalization of CSO with the Guardians ministry. Guardians is based on the principles of discipleship development in 2 Timothy 2:2. Our team of adult leaders is training 20+ high school students to study the Bible, craft an interactive devotional, lead a variety of team building exercises, and facilitate small group discussions and prayer times with 4^th – 8^th graders.  Our hope is that Guardians will help our students value their Christian education for more than just their diploma, but as God’s tool for developing them as the next generation of Christian leaders. Check out the video from our kick-off retreat (below) and please join us in prayer each Wednesday for our Guardians leaders. Thanks!

Guardians leaders growing their skills

A BROKEN CAR IS LIKE A BROKEN HEART

...It takes time and patience to fix! We’ve been carless for several weeks, relying on Dave’s parents’ very kind lending of their vehicle as we wait for the repair of our Ford Explorer. Getting parts and navigating repairs have been complicated and expensive. 

Back when our car - and the Chicago Cubs! - were functional

Thankfully, though, our hearts aren’t broken over it. However, we do feel our patience tested recently from our kids’ recurring sleep troubles. Sometimes it feels like a whack-a-mole game as different kids pop in during the night. We do live in a noisy city apartment, but some of their sleep troubles seem to be anxiety-related. We are still working on getting to the root of these issues.   

You can help with both these scenarios! How? Please pray for peace for the hearts of our kiddos and for grace and wisdom for us as we parent. And please consider a year-end donation to help us get our wheels operational again. Our happy (hopefully well-rested) hearts thank you!