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--Gym
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Superintendent
Nate Davis |
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| Oct 28, 06 Rally MP3 (17Mb) | ||||||
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God’s grace this school has been instrumental in changing hundreds
of lives directly and thousands, if not tens of thousands, indirectly! In a strong partnership with Christian families and churches, these students have been firmly grounded in God’s Word, academic scholarship, talent development, and personal leadership… for in Christ Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3) Thank you parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Thank you churches, pastors, and staff members for your strong support. Let’s celebrate God’s faithfulness tonight. Tonight, we have experienced many of our students and we have witnessed their confident and joyful leadership. Thank you, students! These are the kind of people Alaska – and the world - needs. Can I share with you some daily snapshots I have experienced over almost ten years at Grace? ÿ I have seen elementary students praying for high school missions teams. ÿ I have watched high school students spend time mentoring junior high students. ÿ I have seen junior high students gently inspire reading skills with elementary book buddies. ÿ I have heard student worship leaders pray for their classmates and for true worship to occur. ÿ I have seen teachers, staff, and coaches go out of their way and out of their hours to help or pray for students. ÿ I’ve seen student actors stir a captive audience to carefully consider life and purpose. ÿ I’ve seen musicals and concerts that glorify the Lord and inspire and comfort listeners. ÿ I have seen talented and highly competitive Grace athletes bow their heads together to pray for an injured opponent. ÿ I have seen teenagers on missions trips rolling on the ground, buried under local elementary kids- loving them to the Gospel. ÿ I have seen hope and light leap into the eyes of a teen who has accepted Jesus Christ because Grace students visited their town. And I’ve seen some of those kids return to Grace to attend school with their new-found friends. ÿ Everyday I see hundreds of teenagers walk the halls confidently and maturely as leaders who enjoy great eye contact and communication with adults. And I could go on and on. There is no doubt. These kids are different. They have a light inside. They have hope. They have joy. They have purpose. They are set to fully enjoy Jesus for eternity. I believe this is the direct result of following God’s instructions from Psalm 78. “We will not conceal [God’s Word] from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done. That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children. That they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God…” Psalm 78:4,6 These are the children we all love. For these are the people who will work in our businesses. These are the people who will lead our churches. These are the people who will lead our government. These are the people who will train our grandkids. These are the people who will help win souls for Jesus Christ in lands around the globe. Today we have more than 500 of these people- our alumni- around the world in nearly every industry. It is our goal to build more of these people. We build leaders through a cycle of correct instruction and personal participation. Children grow into leaders through participating- not through spectating. We currently have nearly 700 students in elementary school, junior high school, and high school. We only have one room- the gym and stage- in the building for all those PE classes, lunch programs, chapels, and special assemblies during the day. And we need this same room in the afternoons, evenings, and weekends for all the elementary music programs, band, choir, ensemble, drama, wrestling, basketball, volleyball, and cheerleading practices, rehearsals, games, and performances- not to mention award ceremonies, banquets, memorial services, weddings, youth groups, children’s programs, and fundraisers. Obviously, a lot gets relocated or simply doesn’t happen as it should. So tonight I am thrilled to stand before you on behalf of a prayerful and visionary School Board to announce the next stage of building leaders at Grace Christian School. We have a dream. The Phase I project, completed in 1998, which included the expansion and upgrade of our current gymnasium and stage area helped us to better prepare student hearts. The Phase II project, completed in 2001, which included 14 classrooms, including science, art, and computer labs and the library helped us to better prepare student minds. Phase III, the project before us tonight, will help us Share the Joy of the mind and heart by continuing to emphasize the fundamental elements of a great education, but also building strengths in music and drama, athletics, exercise, and foreign languages. We are publicly launching the Sharing the Joy Capital Campaign. It has been my privilege to watch your school and church leaders work through each step prayerfully and carefully. Phase III is part of the Master Plan adopted by the School Board of the 1990s. Those school leaders foresaw what kind of facility it would take to effectively build nearly 700 student-leaders each year. In this last year, in due diligence, the School Board prayerfully employed a consulting group to help confirm the timing and feasibility of the Campaign and to guide us in communication and strategies. In January of 2005, the School Board and the Anchorage Grace Church Elder Board prayerfully and unanimously signed a joint resolution to proceed (with both the Academic-Athletic Wing and the Chapel). Since that time, we have been building committee and volunteer leadership, finalizing design and construction documents, and seeking advance gifts in a quiet phase of the campaign. We have been encouraged over the months as God has opened doors in amazing ways. Long-time Grace parents, Bob and Koni Arnold, have graciously committed to be the Sharing the Joy Capital Campaign Chairs and have already found many other eager volunteers to offer leadership in this Campaign- you can find some of these leaders on your program… We are still looking for more, thoughJ. The Sharing the Joy Capital Campaign is a 3-year, $5.8 million campaign. There are two pillars to the Capital Campaign: The First Pillar is to fully fund the Academic-Athletic Wing we just saw, now estimated at about $5.2 million. The Second Pillar is to fund the Grace Annual Fund at $200,000 per year- this is the annual giving that helps fund the difference between tuition and the total cost of education at Grace. During the next three years we do not want our kids or our teachers to suffer because of a building project. You may have noticed the cost of the chapel is not included in our fund-raising goals. There is a very good reason for that. Anchorage Grace Church prays to fully fund the chapel in the very near future- targeting their fundraising efforts after the New Year. Thank you, Anchorage Grace! Tonight we are excited to announce the design-build team of Krochina Architects and McGee Industries. They and their people and subcontractors have already invested hundreds of hours into this project and have given us significant discounts. Thank you Pat Krochina, who has been generously designing projects at Grace since 1981- and thank you to Grace Grandpa Tom McGee. Since pledges will be coming in for 3 years, we are targeting completion of the Academic-Athletic Wing for the Fall of 2008. However, the timing is truly up to our Lord as we depend on Him for funding and to work debt-free with architects, contractors, and the city planners. You know, God’s kingdom is built of people… like you and like me- not buildings. People just like you and just like me. I believe that God will amply fund His will as individuals, businesses, and churches in the Anchorage community and beyond invest in eternity. And that is my prayer. My daughters were asking about the new gym the other day. BethAnne asked, “When will we start building?” I said, “In God’s timing. Possibly as early as this summer, if the funds come in.” Then she asked, “When will it be done?” I told her, “In God’s timing, but we are praying for the Fall of 2008.” Then my youngest daughter, Jodi, chimed in, “Daddy, how much will the new building cost?” When I started talking about millions of dollars, I glanced at her and noticed… Her eyes and her mouth got really big as she gasped. I asked the question that I guesed from her face, “Is that a big number?” She couldn’t even answer. With her eyes and mouth still open she just nodded her head up and down, up and down, up and down. So, I asked the next question, “Is that a big number for God?” Her mouth snapped shut and she said matter-of-factly, “No! It’s tiny!” and she poked her own arm, “It’s just like a germ is to us!” And she bounced off to play. May we have the faith of a little child in our great big God. We are in a war for the hearts and minds of these children! These are the people! Let us build for them and for their children and for their children’s children. |
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