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
As always, I am prayerfully yours,
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:
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.
