October Update
Time has flown by. I (Jason) can hardly believe the first quarter of school is already over. So much has happened in the past 3 months, yet it feels like the school year just started a few weeks ago.
Along with starting a ministry for mothers, Gail has taken leadership of the women’s ministry at our church. She has also begun to pursue becoming a certified doula, that she may encourage and mentor soon-to-be mothers. I have begun volunteering with our youth group, which is made up of about 15 students, some of whom attend ICS, and some of whom attend the high school at the nearby military base (Osan American High School).
Aside from the regular duties of teaching, I also lead our chapel team, a group of high school students who lead music during chapel, I have a discipleship group, and I am often busy with arranging sporting events, securing gyms for practices and games, and covering classes for our coaches when they have to leave school early for a game.
While I enjoy doing all these things and my duties as teacher and athletic director keep me very busy, my greatest burden is for my students. They are taught the Gospel nearly every day they are at school, they have been given opportunities every single day to ask questions about God, the Bible, Jesus, yet their hearts are closed. They come from broken homes, broken lives, unrealistic expectations, and they want hope, they want answers, but instead of running to the great Comforter, they hide.
Our theme at school this year is the Fruit of the Spirit. In the elementary, we emphasize the Godly characteristics and teach how to apply them in their own lives. In the high school, we are going much more in-depth, looking at Paul’s life, his time spent journeying throughout Asia, and the context of his letter to the Church in Galatia. Our emphasis is not so much on the actual fruit that is born from the Spirit, but rather on the source of the fruit, that is Jesus Christ.
My heart breaks for my students who don’t know Christ, and though I share Christ with them daily, I know that it is not by my power that the Word of God will pierce them, but it is the power of Christ. And so I lift them up in prayer continually, putting my hope in the Lord that his Word will not come back empty.
As I reflect on the last few months spent at ICS, the words of a song come to mind as an expression of the ministry we have here:
Please keep us in prayer, that we would trust not in our own abilities, but in the power of Christ. Please continue to pray for our students, that they would come to know the saving grace of Christ, and pray for our school that we would be a light to the community
Along with starting a ministry for mothers, Gail has taken leadership of the women’s ministry at our church. She has also begun to pursue becoming a certified doula, that she may encourage and mentor soon-to-be mothers. I have begun volunteering with our youth group, which is made up of about 15 students, some of whom attend ICS, and some of whom attend the high school at the nearby military base (Osan American High School).
Aside from the regular duties of teaching, I also lead our chapel team, a group of high school students who lead music during chapel, I have a discipleship group, and I am often busy with arranging sporting events, securing gyms for practices and games, and covering classes for our coaches when they have to leave school early for a game.
While I enjoy doing all these things and my duties as teacher and athletic director keep me very busy, my greatest burden is for my students. They are taught the Gospel nearly every day they are at school, they have been given opportunities every single day to ask questions about God, the Bible, Jesus, yet their hearts are closed. They come from broken homes, broken lives, unrealistic expectations, and they want hope, they want answers, but instead of running to the great Comforter, they hide.
Our theme at school this year is the Fruit of the Spirit. In the elementary, we emphasize the Godly characteristics and teach how to apply them in their own lives. In the high school, we are going much more in-depth, looking at Paul’s life, his time spent journeying throughout Asia, and the context of his letter to the Church in Galatia. Our emphasis is not so much on the actual fruit that is born from the Spirit, but rather on the source of the fruit, that is Jesus Christ.
My heart breaks for my students who don’t know Christ, and though I share Christ with them daily, I know that it is not by my power that the Word of God will pierce them, but it is the power of Christ. And so I lift them up in prayer continually, putting my hope in the Lord that his Word will not come back empty.
As I reflect on the last few months spent at ICS, the words of a song come to mind as an expression of the ministry we have here:
No more, my God, I boast no more
Of all the duties I have done;
I quit the hopes I held before,
To trust the merits of Thy Son
Please keep us in prayer, that we would trust not in our own abilities, but in the power of Christ. Please continue to pray for our students, that they would come to know the saving grace of Christ, and pray for our school that we would be a light to the community
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