Monday, September 10, 2018

Why Faith Will Fix Education - Marilyn Rhames





Marilyn Rhames delivered a TEDx talk in February 2018 that explains the heart and soul of what it is like to be a Christian educator in the public schools. Click the link above to listen to her 16 minute "talk" and be sure to share it with other educators.

Marilyn is the CEO and founder of Teachers Who Pray, a network of educators that equips and supports teachers to ground their work in faith, prayer and spiritual practices. Her website (www.teacherswhopray.org) is a great resource for becoming a teacher who prays, curriculum, a blog, news and events and your legal rights in the public schools. Go Marilyn, go! What a heart for educators!

As always, I am prayerfully yours,
K


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

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  

May God bless you as you rest and prepare for the 2018-2019 school year.



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. 

Thursday, September 6, 2018

A short film about teachers!



On Sunday, August 26th, Cornerstone Baptist Church in Hernando County, FL hosted a Teacher Celebration service and luncheon for area educators. The whole service was dedicated to the high calling of teaching including this funny video created by Pastor Richard Rossiter.





You can even watch the complete service if you would like. Thank you so much Cornerstone Baptist Church family, Pastor Rossiter and Marianne Domico for all your effort and love.








As always, I am prayerfully yours,
K


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

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  

May God bless you as you rest and prepare for the 2018-2019 school year.



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. 

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

3 Great Initiatives for the New School Year


How do you best prepare for the new school year? Prayer, of course! I am so happy to report that prayer is priority in so many of our Florida schools. I can only tell you of the ones I know about, so if you have prayer stories please share them so others will be encouraged.


#1 - Prayer for the schools


Two churches in Osceola County have been praying over our schools one-by-one calling for blessings of protection and grace for the students, parents, teachers, staff administrators and the whole school community. Nueva Vida church, pastored by one of our science coaches, Carlos Duran, meets every Wednesday evening in front of a different school. I have been privileged to be able to join them for most. We continue to pray until all the schools are covered. (There are 50 schools!)

Our St. Johns group called for prayerwallking every school in St. Johns County the Sunday before school started.

Many of our educators had prayerwalks around their school before Open House with large groups of humble and heartfelt prayers for the new school year.

These are only a few of the examples. How has your district been covered in prayer?

#2 - Back-To-School Prayer Breakfasts


The St. Johns County Christian Educators network gathered on Saturday, August 18th to praise God and to pray. The prayer breakfast is one of three events in the school year: the prayer breakfast, a mid-year luncheon and Honor the Graduates at the end of the school year. The breakfast was catered and served by Turning Point at Calvary. The church donates its meeting hall, music ministry, the breakfast and student servants to the CEAI Network so that love offerings can be saved for the third event in May, Honor the Graduates. We were able to sing songs of praise, eat a delicious breakfast and hear from the St. Johns County Teacher of the Year. She gave a heartfelt and encouraging message about the impact of our words and how powerful they are.



Osceola County's Christian Educators gathered for prayer and praise on Saturday, August 25th. Breakfast was provided by Koffee Kup and we had enough to feed an army. The Porter's Gate Worship Project was introduced to the teachers because all the songs are written for workers in the mission field. You can enjoy and share our playlist - Porter's Gate Worship Project.  https://tinyurl.com/AW180-Worship. Don Clark, worship leader, song writer, devotional writer and 30 year retired veteran was our keynote speaker. Don gave us God's seeds of inspiration to plant and grow our gardens in education this year. Thank you Don. You rocked the house!


The next prayer breakfast for Florida is in Seminole County where CIPE (Christian in Public Education), a network of CEAI will host its 17th annual Back-To-School Prayer Breakfast! Joel Hunter, former pastor of Northland Church in Seminole County and community advocate will keynote the event. For tickets or more information, please visit: https://ceai.org/event/cipe2018breakfast/


#3 - Church support

Many churches feature a Back-to School prayer time and recognize the teachers for their hard work, but Marianne Domico and her church Cornerstone Baptist in Hernando County took it a step further. Teachers throughout the district where invited to worship and then to a Teacher Appreciation Luncheon. There were gifts, resources, and plenty of barbecue, beans, salads and yummy desserts. Pastor Rossiter even made a funny video to commend the teachers. I'm working on getting a copy to share. Cornerstone Baptist is one of the friendliest churches we have ever attend. Mike Hicks, the director of LIFT America for CEAI gave a word of encouragement to the educators and invited the all to Hernando's County first LIFT dinner on November 11th. More details to come! Thank you Marianne for all the hard work behind the scenes. Video of the services

Also, on September 16th, churches all over the nation will be praying for our schools. Join the movement and let you church know. http://prayforschools.com

Finally, let us not forget the student-led "See You At the Pole" on Wednesday, September 26th.
























As always, I am prayerfully yours,
K


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

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  

May God bless you as you rest and prepare for the 2018-2019 school year.



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, August 12, 2018

A Teacher's Prayer for the 1st Day of School


The 1st day of school is exhilarating, exciting and exhausting! As we begin a new school year, we pray. Prayers are being lifted up on campuses all over the country. Churches are prayerwalking outside the schools and teachers are prayerwalking inside the schools. We pray because we humble ourselves before the Only One Who can make a difference. This is a prayer for all those who are beginning the new school year.
Dear Lord and King,

You are welcome in our schools because we need Your Lord. We need Your wisdom, kindness, mercy and grace each and every day. Please pour out Your tender mercies on each student as they return to us. Help us to gather them up as You would, with open arms, pure hearts and nurturing words. Oh Lord, guard our lips that we may speak only words of comfort and encouragement. Help us to have an eye for the needy, marginalized or outcast students. Give us hearts to love especially when we don't feel like loving. Give us ears to hear what You are trying to show us. Let us be Your eyes on our campuses to see ways to help all the students in our school. Help us to be Your ears that we may hear the cry of the desperate and helpless. Show us how to use our hands in a way that we may be a blessing to our students. In all that we do, let it be to Your glory. Lord, we commit the 2018-1019 school year into Your perfect hands and rest in You. In Jesus's Name we pray. Amen.

Psalm 90:17May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.

Col. 3:23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

As always, I am prayerfully yours,
K


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

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  

May God bless you as you rest and prepare for the 2018-2019 school year.



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, August 5, 2018

The Teacher's Prayer for Pre-planning


To many, it may sound unbelievable, but most of our southern brothers and sisters are returning to school this week! Praise God for those who are called to our profession. Pre-planning days are exciting and exhausting. It's so great to catch up with colleagues we haven't seen since school let out and to meet the newest staff members. Let us as Christian educators, step out and welcome all who are new to our schools and check in on them, particularly if they are a first-year teacher. Please find two or more colleagues to prayer with before Open House and the start of this brand new school year.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you Lord for calling us to teaching. Please show us how to represent You well this school year. Let us be Jesus with skin on: may our eyes be Your eyes to see the needy, may our feet walk where You want us to be, and may our hands bless the children with creativity, passion and the gifts You have bestowed upon us. May all that we do be to Your glory and honor. Help us Lord to be merciful, to do justice and to love kindness in our school. Let us display the Fruit of the Spirit in everything we do that we may win the hearts of our colleagues and students contagiously for Your glory. What an exciting time of refreshing, rejuvenation and redesign. You make all things possible, Lord. We love you. We ask for all things in the Name of Jesus. 
Amen.


1st Peter 1:13Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Heb. 6:17-18 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.


Ephesians 1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

As always, I am prayerfully yours,
K



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

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  

May God bless you as you rest and prepare for the 2018-2019 school year.



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, May 27, 2018

Summer 2018






No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks,” is the refrain most remember from Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out For Summer,” because through the eyes of a student that doesn’t love school there’s great reality. However, don’t we all hope they are still learning throughout the summer. Many students are blessed to have parents who travel and take them places while other students vegetate in front of the TV.  What about teachers? What do they do when the school door closes for the school year? For me, I always needed those first few days to do nothing. It was as if the hammer that was clanging on my head the whole year suddenly stopped. After that I typically had some type of professional development to attend, a conference or two and plans for next years. Fortunately, there is much more time for family and what a gift. 

As you enjoy these summer days and typically have a slower pace, please let me encourage you to spend more time with the Lord. Develop holy habits that could be continued in the school year (perhaps on an abbreviated scale) that will cultivate your relationship with the Lord. It’s easy to cry out to Him in our desperations and exasperations, but too often we forget Him in less stressful times.  I would like to offer just a few suggestions for spending time with Him:

  •  Invest in the habit of prayerwalking.
  • Be in the Word everyday.
  • Give thanks.
  • Practice 1:16 PM
  • Find an accountability partner.
  • Read the book, "2 Chairs" by Bob Beaudine


Investing in prayerwalking has been a life saver for me. One of our pastors suggested it and I have found it to be my most engaging time in prayer. You definitely cannot fall asleep. If you’ve never tried it, the first time it’s a little awkward to pray and walk at the same time. Depending on where you are, the words can be audible or silent but the beauty that He has created around you is a testimony to His love. I have been prayerwalking everyday for 25 years and look forward to any time I can get to the water’s edge to prayerwalk at sunrise. 

Being in the Word everyday is critical to our success as educators. I realize how hard that is early in the morning, but it doesn’t have to be long and involved, because He’s our coach. We need to drink in His plans and promises to be effective. A simple holy habit that I love is “flopping” in the Word. I randomly “flop” open my Bible each day and search for His message. 90% of the time I’m jazzed by what He reveals to me and I write a quick note back to Him with grateful thanks and an attempt to understand the verse in my present situation. The great app available for devotionals and tons of Bible translations is simply called Holy Bible. It’s been a life saver to have the word on my devices and available everywhere and anywhere I go.

We are asking you to practice 1:16PM this summer for the 2018-2019 school year. We are asking every Christian in the public schools to stop and pray at 1:16PM. Based on Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes; first to the Jew, then to the Gentile, we believe that this movement can be in every public school in America. The key is reverence and discretion. For more information, visit www.one16pray.com. Help us spread the word to your sphere of influence.

Finally, seek an accountability partner or small group who will hold you accountable to your desires to please Him. There is no better summer investment of your time than to grow more in love with our Lord. He will guide you, provide for you, look over you and give you peace. May this be your most refreshing summer ever.


As always, I am prayerfully yours,
K



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

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  

May God bless you as you rest and prepare for the 2018-2019 school year.



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.