16-9

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 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.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Teacher Appreciation Day - May 3, 2016

Today is officially Teacher Appreciation Day during this Teacher Appreciation Week. Our mission at CEAI is to encourage, equip and empower you according to Biblical principles. Each day this week, we will post a blessing that includes:

a video to encourage you
a verse to equip you
a prayer to empower you

Encourage

We have heard many great quotes about what an inspirational teacher can be for a child. But one of the ones that encapsulates them all is "Thank A Teacher Today." Today's video made me very grateful to my own teachers and for being a teacher. Even though this video ends up being a plug for an ed-tech product, its message is great.

Link to the video

Equip

Equip yourself with the sword of the Spirit today as you walk the halls of your school.

Col. 4:5-6 - Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Empower

Dear Lord,

You are the Teacher of teachers. Thank You for calling us to teach. Lord, we know that we have a captive audience each day and that we need to guard the words that proceed out of our mouths. Let the words we speak today be a blessing, a soothing ointment that one student needs today. Lord, we realize that we will never know the true impact of everything we say and do to each child that comes under our charge over the years, but please help us act like every word and every moment does count for eternity. Thank You Lord for this Teacher Appreciation Day. May we be a blessing to our paraprofessionals on our campus today. Thank You for the gift of teaching. Amen.

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.weebly.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

• 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.

Monday, May 2, 2016

Teacher Appreciation Week - Monday 5, 2016

Teachers, we just want to bless you. Thank you for your high calling. This week we would like to present you with three little things each day:

a video to encourage you
a verse to equip you
and a prayer to empower you

Encourage

Taylor Mali, poet and teacher, wrote a powerful poem, "What Do Teachers Make?" put to video after encouraging 1000 people to become a teacher. Hope you pass it on to other teachers who need a little encouragement. He's made his poem available on this website for you also.

Equip

Roll this verse around in your mind all day. Read it, say it, meditate on it and act on it.

Hebrews 10:24 - And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works....

Empower

Dear Lord,

Please bless the teachers today. Give them the wisdom and strength to be excellent. Help them Lord to look at their students as fearfully and wonderfully made particularly when that student is not so lovable. Lord, can you help them to encourage their administrators today no matter what relationship they may have with them. Show them your love and help all teachers to be givers, not just receivers during this Teacher Appreciation Week. Please help our teachers to understanding their high calling. We love you, Lord and thank You for making us teachers! Amen.

Have a great Monday!

As always, I am
Prayerfully yours,

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.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

St. Johns County - Honor the Grads

The 18th annual Honor The Grads ceremony in St. Johns County, FL was held Monday evening, April 25, 2016. This prestigious award, sponsored by Christian Educators Assoc. in St. Johns County, had become one of the most important events of the year in the lives of these students. Can you imagine being chosen by your peers as an example of integrity and living out your faith throughout high school? The best part is that these students are chosen by their peers!

The format of the program is beautifully simple. The family and friends of the award winners are lead in a few praise songs and then the graduates are given the opportunity to share a favorite verse, tell about their future plans and give a testimony. It never ceases to amaze us how the students can so boldly and passionately share their love of the Lord and their desire to serve. Some of the comments shared by the graduates this year include:

The way of God was always the way to go in our family.
We prayed with our team every game and in every sport. As athletes, we play for Him.
Knowing how great He is motivates me.
Be obedient when God says it's time to go.
Everything you do has consequences. If I'm willing to work hard at football, why wouldn't I work hard for God?
It could be worse. I could be getting what I deserve.
I want to shine. God speaks through us.
Our own school is a mission field for us.
The Body of Christ is one big family.
Every day is a mission trip at school. Embrace your place!
One of the students even sang their testimony.

After the student testimonies, the families and supporters gather around for a time of prayer from all who feel led. The prayer time was closed by Rev. Joseph Smith, the pastor of Switzerland Community Church who was himself a recipient of their previous award years ago. All were then invited for a time of fellowship and snacks.

Congratulations to all the graduates and their families.

The 2016 Honor the Grads awardees are:

Bartram High School

Kendall Gast

Tyler Aristimuno

Maddox Yuro

Creekside High School

Chelsea Janda

Andrew Hudson

Nease High School

Bailey Williams

Pedro Menendez High School

Simon Ndy

Hailey Malota

Ponte Vedra High School

Meg Barnhorst

Christi Begeman

St. Augustine High School

Hannah Hudgins

Samuel Bodo

St. John's Technical High School

Amber Geist

As always, I am

Prayerfully yours,

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.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

What is gentleness in the classroom?

As I began reflecting on what it means to have gentleness in the classroom, I felt so inadequate because I don’t feel gentle most of the time. It is one of the parts of the Fruit of the Spirit that is a weakness for me and often an area of repentance. However, as a grandma, I relish the opportunity to be gentle with my granddaughters by giving them a place where they are safe, comfortable and at peace. Isn’t that what we all strive for in our classrooms? Don’t we aspire to create an atmosphere that is safe, pleasant, calm, comfortable and peaceful? Gentleness is our ability to give others that sense of “I want to be here.” Gentleness in the classroom is our purposeful attempt to make all our students, even the unlovables, feel safe and welcomed. No learning can begin until there is that sense of trust and reliability. Being gentle does not mean weakness. In fact, it takes a lot more strength to be gentle under adverse conditions than to be powerful. Anyone can intimidate a child into conforming, but it takes the Spirit of God to consistently be gentle on a daily basis.

What might a gentle classroom look like? One of the synonyms for gentle is placid. As a lake without ripples, waves or turbulence, a gentle classroom will have a sense of calm. As the gentle leader, our students will respond to “events” in our classrooms as we do. Ask any substitute teacher about classroom personalities. If the teacher is loud, the class is often loud. If the teacher is calm and soft spoken, the class, in general, takes on those qualities. It’s a great experiment to test this theory. Speak in your normal tone while giving instructions or lecture and then mix it up with a very soft voice. Our students will immediately notice the difference, perhaps strain to listen, and if given the opportunity to respond, they will answer in a quiet tone. Our classrooms environments are set by our standards, our mannerisms and our display of the Fruit of the Spirit. Let’s be purposeful in being gentle to these precious children we will inevitably be making an impact. Let’s strive to be gentler in order to give our students a calm, orderly, and safe place to learning.

The greatest teacher who ever lived, Jesus, was described as gentle shepherd. What a compliment if we could be like Him! These four verses are my favorite reference to gentle in the Word. May you and your students be blessed with a gentle classroom this year.

Proverbs 15:1  - A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Matthew 11:29  - Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Philippians 4:5  - Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

1 Peter 3:15  -But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

Prayerfully yours,

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

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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.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Hour of Power

On Thursday evening, February 11th, Osceola County Christian Educators held the first Hour of Power at Cornerstone Church. This special praise and worship concert for the public schools was a partnership between the Praise Team and Tech Teams of Cornerstone Family Church in St. Cloud, FL and the Osceola County Christian Educators to bless the public schools and to announce Osceola County's first Honor the Grads program on May 9th.

Our MC, Eddie Cortes, facilitated a Kahoot interactive online game as a "pre-test" to see the background knowledge of the participants about religious liberties. Seven questions were posed that represent the seven guidelines of the US Department of Education.

The Seven Freedoms Are:
1. Students can pray, read their Bibles or other religious material, and talk about their faith at school.
2. Students can organize prayer groups and religious clubs, and announce their meetings like any other club.
3. Students can express their faith in their class work and homework.
4. Teachers can organize prayer groups with other teachers.
5. Students may be able to go off campus to have religious studies during school hours.
6. Students can express their faith at a school event.

7. Students can express their faith at a graduation ceremony.

Cornerstone's Praise Team kicked in with two songs and then Pastor Carlos Duran opened the concert up with encouragement for the public schools, scripture and prayer.

Eddie introduced Liz Salvato and Mignon Austin, educators from Osceola County, who discussed the first two guidelines of FREE to Speak and prayed for our superintendents, school board, principals and assistant principals.

Cornerstone's Praise Team did two more awesome songs and then Eddie introduced Karen Seddon who prayed an ABC prayer of adoration, introduced the purpose of the concert, explained the 1:16PM prayer movement, Around the Word in 180 Days and introduced the first Honor the Grads program for Osceola County. Our St. Johns Christian Educators group has been honoring their grads for the past 15 years. This amazing program has been a source of encouragement and testimonies that can melt any heart. To find out more, read about last year's Honor the Grads.

Eddie introduced Patrick Blake who reviewed FREE to Speak's 3rd and 4th guidelines, read scripture and prayed for our teachers and paraprofessionals. Cornerstone's Praise Team did two more songs and then Eddie invited Gracia Miller, Nan Parker, retired educators from Seminole County and Lorri Pate, teacher at Harmony High School. Lorri introduced FREE to Speak 5th guideline which explains the Released Time Education program, probably the most little known and underutilized tool for Biblical and devotional education available to public schools. For more information, visit the Released Time Education website.

Finally, Marshall Mabry, worship leader for Cornerstone, played the God's Not Dead 2 trailer and the Praise Team closed with "God's Not Dead, He's Surely Alive!" Eddie introduced Pastor Danny Rivera, former school resource officer for Osceola County for a powerful closing prayer.

This beautiful event blessed the Osceola County schools and can be easily replicated any where with a partner between Christian Educators and a local church. For assistance, ideas and support, do not hesitate to contact Karen C. Seddon.

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:

• 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.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

What is kindness in the classroom?

Kindness is the 5th part of the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Before I write anything, I always ask the Lord to help me and I love how He inspires. I learned an old Anglican prayer from Dr. Barry Black and Alistair Begg that reads, “I want to think myself empty, I want to write myself clear and I want to pray myself hot,” while asking the Lord for His guidance. As soon as I was done praying, the Pay it Forward concept came to me. He is good! I can’t think of any other topic that portrays kindness in the classroom better. In today's world of technology and gadgets, we need human kindness. The concept of Pay It Forward (as developed in Catherine Hyde’s novel) is simple. It begins with doing an act of kindness for someone without any expectation of being paid back. Instead, the recipient of the kindness is encouraged to “Pay It Forward” to three others with the same expectation that the unconditional kindness will be paid forward. The unconditional kindness can be large or small, depending on the interest and age level of the giver. Catherine Ryan Hyde, in her novel “Pay It Forward” about a 12 year-old boy who accepts the challenge of his teacher to change the world, is the springboard from which the Pay It Forward Movement began. Trevor’s idea was to choose three people for whom he will do a favor or act of kindness. When the people thank him and ask to pay him back, he tells them that they are to “pay it forward” instead to three more people. It’s nothing less than a human chain of kindness and good will.

Catherine Ryan Hyde established The Pay It Forward Foundation in September 2000 to educate and inspire students to realize they can change the world and provide them with opportunities to do so. The Pay It Forward Foundation is a small, mostly volunteer organization with a powerful heart and gift to educators. They provide Pay It Forward grants, ideas to share and an excellent website with success stories. The Pay It Forward Foundation has trademark rights to the term, “Pay It Forward Foundation.” The idea of “pay it forward,” however, is in the public domain and the foundation encourages all who want to promote the concept of paying it forward to do so. The Pay It Forward movie and website are property of Warner Brothers and the novel, “Pay It Forward”, is copyright property of Catherine Ryan Hyde. She has now given the reigns over to a young man named Charley Johnson. He developed the Pay It Forward bracelets and has distributed hundreds of thousands throughout the world. He's spoken at TED twice and is about to do his third. Here are three samples: the story behind Pay It Forward bracelet, Global Reading Flash Mob of Pay It Forward, Charley Johnson on TEDxBountiful.

In April 2005, I developed a “Pay It Forward” presentation for students of all ages which encourages students to create their own movement with their families. I have presented the lessons for hundreds of children from kindergarten to college and in very large group settings and even churches. I have an annual date with one of my daughters who is a teacher on the Friday before Thanksgiving to present the concept to their families around the Thanksgiving table. If you are interested in a presentation for your classroom, just contact me. There’s no charge for a Pay It Forward lesson, you only need to agree to pass it on!

Pay It Forward Day is April 30th each year. An Australian group is hoping this will become a worldwide event. Check their website at www.payitforwardday.com for more details and ideas on how to Pay It Forward!

Let’s face it, our classrooms can use a whole lot of kindness. Why not make a commitment to raise the kindness level in your classroom this year and teach your students not random acts of kindness, but purposeful and targeted ways to be kind to others? Order the Pay It Forward bracelets for your students and as they do an act of kindness, they hand to bracelet to the person and encourage them to pass it on. Simply beautiful!

Prayerfully yours,

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