God in Schools

One thing I’ve learned is that small schools, along with small churches, are the backbone of our country.

For my family the two, church and school, have been the center of our lives for decades.

My wife and I are both educators and I bivocationally pastor SEMO CC in Malden. My wife is the perfect, at least in my eyes, pastor's wife as she loves the Lord and is the hardest worker I know. The life of being educators and ministers has been a tough one, but good.

I struggled when I first became a classroom teacher about knowing how much God I can bring into the classroom.

I agree with the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution which dictates that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". This law is important because I don’t want a teacher pushing a religion on my own children who are in their classroom that may not be the Truth.

But…I’m a Christian and Jesus told His followers to share the Word about Him wherever we are. As a self-proclaimed disciple of Jesus I have to follow through with His commands.

Over the years, I have learned that God can be best seen through the light His followers show in the classroom and hallways.

No, we can’t evangelize, but Christ can and should be seen if we are His hands and feet. Remember, 1 Peter 4:10 which says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

I am so grateful for the Christian teachers God placed in my family's lives.

An example is the 6th grade teacher who talked my daughter through her tears over dad changing schools the year before she had me as her teacher, which she and I looked forward to. Her Christian teacher knew my daughter was a Christian and said to her, “If you believe God is moving your dad to another school then you have to trust God that He has a plan for you as well.” That teacher, and so many more, have been strong Christian role models and examples for our children.

From a professional level we have always had fellow Christians near us in the schools we worked. Christians who pray for us, reach out when we are hurting, and some who we look up to as examples of how to live for Christ.

I'll never forget during COVID when we had collective prayer with the entire staff because we had to shut the school down for COVID for some time and we wanted God looking after our students.

There are many who view our public schools as terrible places.

But the reality is that God is in our schools.

He is the Light shining from so many staff, teachers, and students and I know He is working.

Yes, there is a lot of darkness. But God can be seen if you look for Him. I don’t know how many years God has me still working in public education but I know that I, as so many others, are here to be the Light for others.