Sunday, September 27, 2015

The 14th Annual Back-To-School Prayer Breakfast




The 2015 Back-to-School Prayer Breakfast, sponsored by CIPE (Christians in Public Education) held a powerful prayer breakfast for those who love our schools and love the Lord. Coming together to pray for each other and specifically for our superintendents, administrators, teachers, paraprofessionals, parents and precious students is our paramount goal. The CIPE team celebrates another very successful time of fellowship, prayer and worship.

The program kicked off with the exciting Seminole County Gospel Choir. These talented young adults sang two songs with intensity and joy. Our only complaint is that we couldn’t have more! The breakfast was opened with prayer by Pastor Ron Williams and then I gave a short description of a few tools the Christian educators have for their toolbox. It is important for all educators to know the law and to remember these two numbers 16 and 9. Know the first 16 words of the 1st Amendment to be a legal Christian in the public schools and the 9 Fruit of the Spirit to walk the walk with grace. Second, we invite all Christians to pray with us at 1:16PM each day and to be in the same chapter in the Bible through Around the Word in 180 days. 

Breakfast at the beautiful Orlando Lake Mary Marriott was delicious and served by a class servers. We were blessed to have Erika Dunlap as our guest speaker this year. Erika is a native of Orlando and presently serves as the major gifts officer at FAMU. However, Erika is best know as the 2004 Miss America! Her passionate message of encouragement to educators to love with our eyes. She shared from her heart and made most of us cry with her.

Jane McCann lead us in a corporate prayer as she placed us in groups of 3-4. Praying as a team yet in such an intimate setting was powerful and beautiful. It’s a precious sound to hear the small voices of others calling out to God in petition and praise. Jane guided us through prayers of adoration, supplication, confession and then for our leaders, colleagues, students and more. What a precious time of communing.

Finally the prayer breakfast was concluded with an accounting of funds as CIPE continues to support schools in Africa, community networks and Honor the Grads for the first time this school year. Teachers were encouraged to form prayer groups in their schools before or after the school day. We sang two upbeat songs lead by William Tillman, 2nd grade teacher, on keyboard and his team of two singers and a drummer. They rocked it as if they were a 10 piece band. Kathy Morganelli helped us conclude the morning with Amazing Grace. 

Having a prayer breakfast to give honor to God and to help educators understand that they are not alone in the public schools in our goal of connection. It was an honor and privilege to bring so many dedicated servants of God together to join together to transform our schools with Gods love and truth. We would like to thank Children’s Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) for such a large group of supporters.

For more information on putting together a prayer breakfast in your community, please contact the CIPE team.


Mail: CIPE, P.O. Box 621589, Oviedo, FL 32762-1589 
Call:
Kathy Phillips at 407-927-9634
Gracia Miller at 407-349-5830
Rebekah Richey at 407-252-7009
Karen C. Seddon at 407-892-5651






As always, I am
Prayerfully yours,
K



PS. Don’t forget to spread the word about the 1:16PM Prayer Movement and Around the Word in 180 Days:
      Go to www.one16pray.com  and www.aw180days.com for more information.
      Visit,  "like", and add comments the 1:16PM Facebook page and the Around the World in 180 days Facebook page.
      Sign up for text message prayer prompts from Remind 101 

May God bless you with success His way this 2015-2016 school year.

Note: To more fully understand the 16-9 Movement, please read the first blog entry by clicking here.

Christian Educators Association International is the only professional association in the United States specifically for Christian educators in public schools.  CEAI protects our members first in prayer, next with excellent professional liability insurance and other benefits while helping them live out their high calling as a Christian in the public school. 

Sunday, September 13, 2015

FL Daniel Weekend



Our 1st Daniel Weekend took place in Florida on August 7-9, 2015 just before school got rolling for our 27 participants. The Daniel Weekend is a unique time of spiritual renewal designed by Tentmakers and supported by Christian Educators to encourage, equip and empower educators to transform their schools through God's love and truth. The setting was the beautiful Cocoa Beach Hilton where the teachers were treated to all their materials, a 2-night stay and all their meals. Funds were raised and supporters caught the vision of teachers as missionaries in the public school. They gave so that the teachers need only to bring themselves.

All 27 participants created Action Plans for their schools and students (when appropriate) and are fired up to see their plans through. The plans ranged from creating an intentionally positive experience for the children this year to starting prayer groups on campus. All the educators were excited to be with other educators from around the state to realize that they are not alone.

Being a Christian in the public school can be tricky at times because most administrators and teachers do not know the law. Teachers do not lose their 1st Amendment rights at the classroom door and can participate in prayer and Bible study groups before and after school. Teachers cannot pray with the students but can certainly pray for the students. As long as there are tests in school, there will be prayer!  Finn Laursen, executive director for Christian Educators Association, Int. (CEAI) gave an exciting presentation of the legal rights of teachers and students that helped all the participants understand how to be both a legal and graceful Christian in the public school.

FL districts that were represented were: St. Johns, Clay, Indian River, Seminole, Orange and Osceola.  Positions included principals, assistant principals, district leaders, classroom teachers, support teachers and retired educators. We even had a representative from CEF - Child Evangelism Fellowship who sponsor Good News Clubs for the elementary level.


If you are interested in partnering with us to support another group of teachers through a Daniel Weekend, please contact Karen C. Seddon. A teacher empowered by the Lord is a jewel for the public schools. Not only do they know how to love the children as image bearers of God, they also know what they can and cannot do. Heather, one of the Daniel facilitators gave the participants frogs to help them remember to be Fully Reliant On God. When it came time to try to explain the Daniel Weekend in  one or two words, one of the participants said, "FROG license." He now has the legal backing to be all He can be for the Lord in his classroom. Special thanks to Tentmakers, Christian Educators and all our sponsors for making this one of the greatest outreaches to public school educators anywhere.


As always, I am
Prayerfully yours,
K



PS. Don’t forget to spread the word about the 1:16PM Prayer Movement and Around the Word in 180 Days:
      Go to www.one16pray.com  and www.aw180days.com for more information.
      Visit,  "like", and add comments the 1:16PM Facebook page and the Around the World in 180 days Facebook page.
      Sign up for text message prayer prompts from Remind 101 
      Follow us on Twitter for the prayer prompts @one16pray


May God bless you with success His way this 2015-2016 school year.

Note: To more fully understand the 16-9 Movement, please read the first blog entry by clicking here.

Christian Educators Association International is the only professional association in the United States specifically for Christian educators in public schools.  CEAI protects our members first in prayer, next with excellent professional liability insurance and other benefits while helping them live out their high calling as a Christian in the public school.