Why Christian Education?

I have devoted my life to Christian Education and glad God has called me to this ministry.  I am thankful to Mr. Wahl who took a chance with a young man who did not truly know what God wanted him to do.  I spent a year working with 7 boys and 5 girls in third grade.  It was during that year, I decided to spend my life in Christian education.  The reason at that time was I realized I spent more waking hours with them than their parents, youth leaders and other Christian influences.  I felt I could make a bigger impact than I ever would as a youth pastor.  Since that time God lead me to four other ministries that have been influential in my life; Calvary Christian, Westover Christian, Grace Christian and Columbia County Christian.  Each of these hold special places in my heart but Westover is where I grappled with why I am truly in Christian education and the importance of Christian education.  Jim Barber and I had many conversations about the importance and as iron sharpens iron, I became a very strong advocate for Christian education for one main reason: Train and equip students with a Christian worldview.

I want to equip every adult, student and person I can with a Christian worldview.  When truly equipped, they become the person and witness God desires of all of us.  I believe their are three main influences in a child's life: home, church and school.

Home is the most important influence in a child's life.  That is obvious to those of us who have younger children.  My boys want to do things like me all the time.  But as they get older we believe their are times when they never want to hear from their parents.  As a coach though, I have seen many times a difference in an athlete's effort when mom or dad showed up for the game.  I am 41 now and still look to my father for advice and thoughts.  He is far from perfect but if I live my life the way he lives his life, I will be pleasing in God's eyes.  My home is still an influence in my life.

Church is the second most important influence in a child's life.  Church's role should be discipleship of the believers.  This should lead to evangelism, an important part of the discipleship process.

School is the third major influence in a child's life.  From the friends they make, to the life forming decisions, and the role teachers have in a child's life.  When all three of these influences are speaking with the same voice, you build a solid foundation for a child's life.  I just watched a video that said 3 out of 4 students leave their faith when they leave home.  I believe when a student has all three; solid family, solid church and solid school all teaching Biblical principles will make a dent in that statistic.

Any questions, just let me know.

Charles