APRIL 2017 SPECIAL MISSIONS WEEK EDITION
C O L L E G E
CHCS News H E I G H T S
C H R I S T I A N
S C H O O L
Missions Week – MARCH 11-19 by Sonya Wilkins, Missions Coordinator
For fourteen years, Missions Week has been a highlight for countless students and teachers at College Heights. God has been on the move! This year was no exception. God is on the move! What is in store for the future? Only one thing is for sure – God will be on the move! Our theme verse this year was Philippians 2:13 which states, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Whether it was through home improvements done for a needy family in Kentucky, a bag of food prepared for folks right here in Joplin, an office painted for an organization helping to stop human trafficking, a smile and conversation shared with a lonely elderly person, or sharing the Gospel message with a group of people who have never heard before in Panama, God continues to “fulfill his good purpose.” We are humbled to be a small part of God’s plan. Please read and be encouraged by the ways God moved through Missions Week this year! I, as well as many of my classmates, were changed in ways I could have never imagined. I witnessed so many powerful and amazing things caused by God! My classmates and I are much closer and we are trying to bring the mission to Joplin by going on prayer walks through Joplin. We also became very close to another group from Texas. My love for my class, my friends, and my God have grown immensely over missions week. –SETH CUMMINS (9th grade), Ozark
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CHCS News
Panama by Jean Miller
Mrs. Miller, Mrs. King, and Mr. Brad Bishop accompanied 18 juniors and seniors to Panama this year for Missions Week. We worked with Rob and Kathryn Harryman and Youth With a Mission in the western part of Panama, outside of David in the state of Chiriqui. Our nine seniors and nine juniors were an amazing and exceptionally cohesive group to work with while we did evangelistic presentations of three different dramas, testimonies, puppets, music and kids crafts to well over 800 people. We spent two days in and around David, where we were able to share Christ in two schools, one church, and two parks. Then we spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday on an Indian reservation of the Ngäbe tribe. The Ngäbe (pronounced ‘no-bay’) are considered the lowest in Panamanian society and we were blessed to be able to meet and love on these humble people. Our program was warmly welcomed into their elementary and secondary schools and we held two church services where we were able to be witnesses of Christ’s love to many unchurched while encouraging the small body of believers there. Our last day on the reservation we were honored to be able to go house to house and pray for individuals and distribute Ngäbe Bibles to those who were receptive. It was a special morning. As we traveled back to Panama City to return home, we were able to enjoy some time visiting Miraflores Lock on the Panama Canal and Monkey Island.
I truly can appreciate how blessed I am after serving in Panama. –MATT GAO
(12th grade), Panama
This experience was absolutely life changing. I personally saw a glimpse of the work God is doing through the children and community in Panama. So thankful to get the opportunity to be a part of such an amazing, blessed week. I went to be a blessing and God blessed me in the process. –MADISON ARNALL (11th grade), Panama
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Red Bird, Kentucky by Tabitha Davison
The Red Bird Missions group worked on three different projects this year. The first group worked off campus on a home putting on siding, installing windows, and building a stoop (small porch). They had a great time getting to know the residents and despite the cold weather and the snowy Tuesday they completed their jobs with no problems. The second group worked on campus installing insulation, wall paneling, and trim to the upper room of the Cardinal House (the main meeting room) in advance of a HVAC system being installed over the summer. No more freezing cold or sweltering hot meetings for future work campers as they praise God and share stories and talents together as one body. The final group also stayed on campus making our annual personalized gift for the students of Red Bird Christian School. This year’s gift was a pen wrapped with a weaving of their name. We worked hard all week and completed all 239 pens! God allowed strangers to turn into friends within only a few days. It makes you realize that your family isn’t just your blood family, but also your family in Christ. –SAM SPAULDING (10th grade), Red Bird
We got to meet a lady while we were working who had no heat or water and it was going to be very cold that night. Her name was Arlene and it was very impactful to see that we had people in America who still were living in those conditions. I got to meet her and got to talk to her a little bit about salvation. She does not believe in Jesus at this time but we are praying that she will accept Christ. It was a cool experience to be able to be a part of a cool experience like that. –MATTHEW HAMPTON (11th grade), Red Bird
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Ozark, Arkansas by Mary Colin
This was my fourth year to have the privilege of taking freshman students to Ozark, Arkansas. We travel about two and a half hours and participate in a program called Mission Adventures, on the campus of YWAM Ozark. This year was a little different. YWAM had another group attending the same week as us. It was a group of high school student from Rosenburg, Texas, a suburb outside Houston. There were A LOT of students, but God orchestrated some really cool things relationally between the two groups. While at YWAM, our students attend sessions that include worship and teaching, they participate in intercession (targeted at praying for persecuted Christians), perform service projects and evangelize in the streets of Ozark, AR. When we returned, I had a parent text me and say that it was her child’s “best week of her life”. Our students encountered God in powerful ways, and returned to Joplin with an energized spirit for missions and for serving our Lord.
My week in Ozark was amazing. I really enjoyed being with my friends and being able to impact the lives of many people who need the help of God. Going through the streets of Ozark and praying individually for people was life changing. This was a week I will never forget.
–NOAH EVANS (9th grade), Ozark
Missions Week reminded me how much God has blessed me and to accept what I have. God blesses me with things that I don’t deserve and I shouldn’t take things for granted. –GRACE KNUDSEN (9th grade), Ozark
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Cookson Hills by Jeanne Cummins
Going to Cookson Hills reminded me of how lucky I am to have a family who loves me and can take care of me. –SARAH SILVEY (10th grade), Cookson Hills
Missions Week really impacted me by teaching me about service. It was so humbling to realize I don’t know how to do everything. But what was even cooler was the fact that God can use the most experienced or inexperienced people for his will. –DANIEL ESTEP (11th grade), Red Bird
Missions Week showed me humility and patience. Even the jobs that seem small and unimportant have an impact on the task at hand.
HANNAH BELK (11th grade), Red Bird
Our group consisted of seven high school students (six sophomores, one junior), two elementary students and two adults. We arrived at Cookson Hills on Monday and went right to work. Cookson Hills is set on 1,000 acres. One of our jobs was to get the grounds ready for mowing. As we picked up sticks we prayed for the kids and families. Other projects included moving rocks, cutting limbs, digging stumps and bushes, moving mulch and painting fences. The grounds crew continually thanked us for picking up truck full after truck full of sticks. This trip is a definite work/service trip. Our students learned that our service makes a difference. We talked a lot about the verse in Galatians that says. “And let us not be weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 Cookson Hills provides a home, school, and therapy for kids who are at-risk. They’ve been partnering with families to give kids love, education, and healing in a beautiful setting. Each member of the team works to give children the best chance to live a mature life. For many kids, Cookson Hills is their childhood home. For others it’s a temporary home for about two years. All kids come here to live within a family. They enroll in school, they learn, they play sports, they make friends, they help set the table, they laugh, they talk, they ride horses, they heal, and hopefully, they leave better than they came. It was amazing to see God working in us and in those we ministered to on Missions Week. –TESSA GREATHOUSE (9th grade), Ozark
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Social Justice by Janene Russell
The mission of the Social Justice group is to learn about human trafficking and find practical ways to join the fight to combat this modernday evil. To that end, we spent our week working with two organizations – Rapha House and NightLight International. Between both places, we got a glimpse of what trafficking looks like internationally as well as closer to home. Our first three days were spent at Rapha House. They are finally in their new, permanent home at 7th and Main street in Joplin. We divided into two groups. The girls processed the latest shipment of merchandise from Cambodia by inspecting, inventorying, and tagging so that it can be sold. The guys worked in the deep storage area of the basement hauling out shelving and other junk that came with the building, cleaning out years of dust and dirt, and moving shelving so the space can be better utilized by the Rapha House staff. On Tuesday, we provided lunch from Red Onion for the RH Staff to bless them in a small way for the work that they do. We had some downtime that afternoon and so we watched “Finding Home” in the gallery space at the office. Biaka, their media guy, was excited to get to use the new equipment and see how the set up would work there for a group. We were happy to oblige. In just three days, we accomplished a lot of work for Rapha House that will enable them to do their jobs a lot easier. On Thursday, we headed to Springfield to help NightLight International. This organization
has several offices worldwide and one that focuses on the Springfield/ Branson area. Their office space was considerably smaller and so our group of 11 felt more like a small invasion. However, we were able to paint an office that was a unfortunate shade of yellow-orange and the bathroom, clean up some paint from the trim in the prayer room and clean the main office space. Once finished with the cleaning & painting, they brought out a stack of bibles. We made an assembly line and each student highlighted a scripture or two plus wrote a message on a sticky note to put by the scripture. NL has a goal to have 150 personalized bibles by Christmas to give to the women they reach out to. We were able to personalize 25. I learned later from our group that they found this project very meaningful. We got so much done on that first day, they didn’t need us back at the office until 1:00 on Friday. On Friday afternoon, we took a driving tour of Springfield to see the places where NL focuses their outreach ministry. After dinner, we met with their Friday night volunteers for dinner and to prep for that night’s outreach. Our students were asked to join the intercession group. We spent
almost two hours praying for the team, the ministry, and the women they would reach and more. This was the most challenging thing of the week because it stretched many of us out our comfort zone. NightLight gave us a new perspective on human trafficking. We’re not immune because we live in the bible belt. It’s here and we will all be aware and look for ways to do something about it. For all of the seriousness of this week, there were many lighter moments. We played a silly rhyming game whenever we had down time. We ate at Café Cusco in Springfield – a Peruvian restaurant that served goat. (I had beef.) We stopped at a food truck serving Pasties, a traditional food from London, and had British cola (to mixed reviews). We went to an escape room in Springfield; one group escaped in time and the other came very, very close. Instead of sleeping on the way home, we had a Disney tune sing along. The best part was hearing a voice we didn’t recognize belting out the Lion King and realizing it was the quietest girl in the group. I wish I had that on video! But these moments are what help connect our students and help make our school community truly unique.
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Serving Our Seniors by Kristi McGowen and Candice Anderson
You really don’t know how God is going to use you in others’ lives. One day I washed tables, another I talked to the men and women. Each way God put me in something that was needing to be done. –RILEY CHAFFEE (9th grade), Serving Our Seniors
Sixteen students began each morning with Donuts & Devotion. Our first two days were spent at Spring River Christian Village where we participated in a variety of activities. On Tuesday, many of the girls painted nails. Other activities included window washing, dining room preparation, card/board games, and Bingo. Much of the day was spent visiting with residents. They had many stories to share and the students enjoyed listening. Mail folders with encouraging notes (created by Mrs. Blankenship’s class) were delivered to residents. Mrs. B’s students were our prayer warriors for Missions Week. As we reflected on our days spent at Spring River, many students commented that they plan to return in the near future. Wednesday and Thursday were spent at College View Manor. Students engaged in “deep cleaning” and yardwork for the facility. We also cleaned the hair salon, a huge closet used for decorations, and a house once occupied by one of the residents. Students enjoyed ordering all-you can-eat lunch from “Jeff the Chef” and ending the meal with pie! We also enjoyed Bingo and Tai Chi with the residents. This was a week spent visiting, listening, working, playing, praying, and building relationships with community members that we can now call friends. Many residents commented on our students with great pride. The residents of both facilities enjoyed visiting with our students who were truly the hands and feet of Jesus during this week. It was a joy to watch our students minister and to work alongside them.
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God’s Resort by Todd Johnson
This year at God’s Resort was great! The week started with bad weather, so we took to the concept of working inside very well. God’s Resort (GR) has purchased a house just across the street from the community building. We spent part of a day ripping up old carpets and pads and throwing them away. We then spent one and a half days pulling stables out of the floor (so many staples). We then primed and painted the inside of the house. We (some of us) know the people who are going to be moving into the house, so we prayed for the family and the kids as we worked in each of the rooms. Once the weather cleared, we did work outside raking leaves and sweet gum balls. When finished, there were over 50 large bags. On Tuesday we did not start working till 1:00 p.m. That day we hosted a cook-out for those living at GR so we could meet them and talk to them. After the cook-out we attended their Tuesday night prayer meeting and praised and prayed with them. What most people are not aware of is how our work effects GR. GR is, after all, an apartment complex. GR has one maintenance person, Will. He told us the leaves alone would have taken him five Saturday’s to finish. The house would have taken him two weeks to get it to where we finished. Our work allows Will to get even more done for the residents of God’s Resort. I felt our class change. We came close as a group and as a class. –KRISTEN JACOBS (9th grade), Ozark
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Life House by John Blankenship
Eric Johnson and I took a group of about 20 students to Life House again this year to minister to the children in that area. Monday we spent the entire afternoon at Life House cleaning and organizing prior to the arrival of the kids. Once they arrived we played games, had praise and worship time, taught Bible lessons, and provided dinner for all the children before they went home. Tuesday we went and served at the Joplin Boys and Girls Club. We swept, mopped, cleaned windows, and organized prior to heading over to Life House where we repeated the VBS style program we did on Monday. Wednesday we worked at We Care. We stocked their food shelves and helped in their warehouse before heading to Life House for our VBS program. Thursday we went to Royal Heights and Jefferson elementary schools and helped the children with reading, math, and other items as requested by the teachers. Friday we went to Walmart and purchased groceries for a family whose children attend Life House. It was blessing to have the opportunity to help a family who really needed the assistance. It was another great week for our team. They really enjoyed working with the children at Life House and felt they were doing something useful and impactful. It’s awesome to see our students invest their time, energy, and spiritual gifts into the lives of other people.
I wasn’t passionate about the Missions Week until the moment I found out that I can be the real me when participating. Working with others means compromises, a lot of compromises. However, the group members ultimately accepted the real me, the one that’s not constrained by external thoughts, and I appreciate it very much.
–CLOUDY CHEN (11th grade), Crosslines
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Crosslines by Charmagne Stanley
Crosslines Mission team, headed up by Mike Endicott and Charmagne Stanley and involving eleven hardworking students, had a busy week this year. Monday began with helping the ministry bag up 2,000 pounds of potatoes. The rest of the week was spent in various tasks including helping in the clothing “store” during free week, stocking the pantry, helping with commodities distribution, cleaning the entire building inside and out (scrubbing refrigerators and shelving, washing down tables, chairs, washing windows, picking up trash outside, vacuuming), making up homeless packs, organizing storage areas and cabinets, filing, cleaning out a storage container, and numerous other activities. These kids worked very hard this year and represented College Heights in an amazing way.
I really got to see the needs of people who lived near me. It helped me to realize that poverty affects people all over the world, not just in poor countries. I had the opportunity to show Christ-like love to people who may never get it anywhere else. –DJ PAINTER (10th grade), Crosslines
8th Grade by Pam Green and Sonya Wilkins
One half of the eighth grade students served at the Thru the Roof ministry. They helped cut out, laminate, and paint decorations for the Jesus Jam party sponsored by Thru the Roof. A prayer walk through the Thru the Roof house ended our afternoon of service. The students went to the mall for dinner and then back to CHCC for the annual Thru the Roof talent show. CHCS students and Thru the Roof members all participated in a talent show. The students did a puppet show, told jokes, did jump rope tricks, and sang. As always, a fun night of glorifying God, making new friends, and having lots of fun! The other half of the eighth graders wrote notes of encouragement then delivered them to workers at the mall. They were able to encourage many mall employees with a kind word, a smile, and prayer for those who responded.
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7th Grade by Nancy Ohmart
The CHCS seventh graders were able to physically work at Maranatha Bible Camp, a camp many of them have, on numerous occasions, actually attended. In spite of the cold (it was 27 degrees when we started working) the students were tremendous workers as they tediously cleared timber and brush creating (which they enthusiastically enjoyed) a huge bonfire! The forested area we cleared will soon be the camp’s new lake. I reminded students, as they visit the camp in future years, they will be able to say “I had a part in its creation.”
6th Grade by Kim Hamilton and Angel Davis
Our sixth graders made crafts to sell at a Springfield craft sale that will benefit The Missouri Baptist Children’s Home. They made coasters, pillows, scrapbooks, padded hangers and jewelry. They also took time to pray for the other groups that were doing missions during the week. They left encouraging prayer notes to let them know that they had been remembered in prayer!! Those sixth graders worked diligently and we are so proud of them. Way to go for their first CHCS missions experience!!
Elementary Supports in Prayer Our sweet elementary students were partnered with high school groups. Their prayer support and encouragement cannot be underestimated. Thank you, Elementary students, for your love and prayers!
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ECFA ACCREDITED – On November 12, 2012, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability announced the accreditation of College
Heights Christian School. Accreditation is based on the ECFA’s Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship, including financial accountability, transparency, sound board governance, and ethical fundraising. When an organization is accredited by ECFA, it demonstrates its willingness to follow the model of biblical accountability.
MISSION STATEMENT
CHCS glorifies God through excellence as a Christ-centered learning environment that produces servant-leaders with a Biblical worldview.
COLLEGE HEIGHTS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL n 4311 E. NEWMAN ROAD n JOPLIN, MISSOURI 64801 n 471-782-4114 n WWW.COLLEGHEIGHTS.ORG