kingdomeducationministries

Last week I shared how we must obey Joel 2:12 and return to God with our whole heart.  I challenged readers to set the date of April 23, 2019 as a day for us to do exactly that — turn to God with our whole heart.

Between now and then I believe it is important that Christians individually and corporately prepare themselves for this day of turning.  To begin this effort, it is important to understand that with God it must be all or nothing!  God does not want a half-hearted effort to turn to Him.  He demands our whole heart.

Here are some verses that we can meditate on as we prepare to turn to Him with our whole heart.

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! Psalm 119:2 (NKJV)

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NKJV)

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.  Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV)

Here are some suggestions that might help us examine and prepare our hearts to turn to Him.

• Ask yourself some questions like:
  • How does keeping God’s testimonies relate to seeking Him with my whole heart?
  • Do I love God like He tells me to in Deuteronomy 6?  What might I love more than God at times?
  • How do I search for God with my whole heart?
  • When I don’t search for Him with my whole heart, what things am I searching for?
• Discuss these verses and questions with other Christians.
  • Church staff members can discuss how this relates to their church.
  • Christian school educators can ask themselves these questions from their school’s perspective.
  • An example of doing these two points above could be something like “is our school/church seeking God with our whole heart?”  Do we as a school/church love God more than anything else?  If not, what other things may be competing for our school’s love?

Finally, I want to encourage everyone to share other verses that can help us understand that it is all or nothing!  You can do this my leaving Scripture references as a comment below or simply email them to me at [email protected].

Have a great week seeking and loving Him with your whole heart.

This week I have shared a series of posts about our need to follow God’s instructions that He gave His people through the prophet Joel.  God wants each of us to turn or return to Him with all of his/her heart. It must be done now and it must be a total turn to Him with our entire lives.

The question I wrestled with during this time of examination was this.

How do I know that I am turning to God?

Since I have never seen God and we know that the Father is Spirit, how can we know that we are “turning to Him?”  This is where a very familiar verse of Scripture comes in.  When John began the writing of his gospel, he begins by stating,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 (NKJV)

Here it is made clear that the Word was and is God!  This means that if I want to turn to God, I must turn to the Word.  I know God by studying His Word.  When one realizes this, it means that we must turn our entire heart or life to the Word.  We must search the Scriptures to find out what it says about every area of our lives.  Then, when we do this, the determining factor of whether or not we are turning to God with our whole heart is our willingness to obey what the Word tells us.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be sharing some of what God’s Word has been teaching me about what I need to do in order to turn to God with my whole heart.  At times I will be suggesting that those who are KEM Prime Members review specific articles and/or videos to help with this effort to turn to God with our whole heart.

There are people who receive these blogs from all walks of life — pastors, parents, administrators, business men and women, school teachers, coaches, etc.  I am praying that these different groups of people will get together with others in their homes, churches or schools and discuss what God begins teaching them as we search His Word.

Here are some questions that I believe we have to answer if we truly want to turn to God with our whole heart.

1. What does His Word tell me that I must change in my personal life in order to turn to God?
2. What does His Word tell me that I must change in my home life in order to turn to God?
3. What does His Word tell me that has to change in my church in order to turn to God?
4. What does His Word tell me has to change in my stewardship of my time, treasure and talent if I want to turn to God with my whole heart?
5. What does the Word tell me has to change in my relationships if I am determined to turn to God with my whole heart?
6. What does the Word tell us that need to change in our school if we, as Christian educators, are going to turn to God with whole heart?  The same thing can be asked by church leaders related to their ministries in their churches.

Throughout the Old Testament when God was going to do a great work in the lives of His people, He required them to take certain amounts of time to consecrate or prepare themselves so that He could do His will.  I believe that if we are really serious about turning to God with our whole heart, we must also take time to consecrate ourselves.

Most of the people who subscribe to these blogs are from the United States (even though 8 other countries are represented).  Over the next few weeks, schools will be taking their spring breaks and everyone will be looking forward and preparing for Resurrection Sunday on April 21st.

God has impressed it on my heart to suggest that April 23rd be set as a day of turning. What would happen if the 1,200+ subscribers to these blogs would share this week’s posts with everyone in their circle of influence?  Then, what would take place in our homes, churches and schools if all of us would take the next several weeks and prepare their hearts and minds so that we could all turn to God with our whole hearts beginning on April 23rd.

During this time of preparation, God may lead you to observe some times of fasting over various areas of your heart.  Other times may be times of weeping and/or mourning.  Changes will probably take place in our lives before April 23rd but that date could be a target date when we corporately go to God and surrender our whole hearts totally to Him.  I am not going to try and develop a process or certain steps that everyone has to follow.  I believe that God will show each person what is required of him/her to turn their whole heart to Him.

I have become convicted that it must start with me and hopefully spread to others.  It is absolutely necessary that we each turn to God with our whole heart.  If for nothing else, we must do it for the sake of our children!

It is clear that we, as Christians, have, in many ways, ignored God’s Word.  As a result, He is ignoring our children (Hosea 4:6).  To see the reality of this condition, all we have to consider is the fact that:

• today’s Christians are the most biblically illiterate generation in many years.
• 65-80% of teens in the church today will walk away from the faith within two years of high school graduation.

  Western Christianity has become compartmentalized into the sacred and secular. Because of this dangerous condition, we find it hard to turn to God with our whole hearts.

The only hope for seeing our current condition change is what God said through the prophet Joel.

“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.  Joel 2:12-13 (NKJV)

In these two verses, God tells us that we must turn and/or return to Him with our whole heart.  If a person turns, it means that he/she has to change direction.  The need to change direction implies that the person is going in the wrong direction.  The direction of our lives must change — either by a turn or a complete u-turn.

When I am driving to an unknown destination, I use a GPS system.  This technology is fantastic.  All I have to do is enter my final destination and the GPS will map out the best route to take to get there.

Now I can get the route that I need to take and I can study the details of the route.  I can see every turn that I have to make and the distances between each turn.  I can start driving and hear the voice programmed into my system tell me to make a right turn in 500 feet.  When I get to the turn, it will say, “turn right now.”  I can even look in the direction I am supposed to turn and see where that road goes.  However, I will never get to my destination by just studying the route or looking at the turn.  I must turn the wheel of the vehicle and make it turn at the right place.

Sometimes we do the same thing with God’s directions.  We can study all the directions that God is telling us we need to follow in Joel 2 in order to get to where God wants us to be.  We can actually get to an area of our lives where God says turn now.  But until we actually turn and change the direction of our lives, we will never get to the right destination.

These verses tell us that we must turn to God now.  We can’t just know what the verses say; we must actually change direction.  God also says that we must make the turn to Him with our whole hearts.  God wants our entire life to change direction — not just one area of our lives.  To change course requires a whole heart change.  When we turn to God with our whole heart, it will impact everyone we influence.

I do a lot of travel by air.  When I lived in Nashville, TN, I usually flew to my destination on Delta airlines.  At the time, Delta had flights from Nashville to Atlanta, Cincinnati, New York City or Orlando.  When the boarding of the plane was complete, a flight attendant always made an announcement that went something like this.

Welcome to flight number ___ to (one of the four cities Delta flew to).  If (that city) is not your destination, please deplane now.

It was important that every passenger paid careful attention to that announcement.  There were a couple of times that a person would realize that he/she was on the wrong plane.  Once the boarding door was closed, the plane pushed away from the gate, and taxied down the runway to take off, everyone on the plane was going wherever that plane would go.  If that plane was going to Atlanta, everyone on board had to go to Atlanta.  When the pilot banked the plane to the left, all the passengers would go to the left.  The entire plane went in the direction that the pilot took the plane.

So it is when you and I turn our whole heart to God.  Every part of our lives will go with us.  My life has a lot of passengers.  I have family passengers.  I also have work passengers.  When I teach, I have student passengers.  I have financial passengers, etc.  If I turn to God with my whole heart, it means that I need to turn all of my passengers to God.

Western Christianity has become compartmentalized into the sacred and secular.  Because of this dangerous condition, we find it hard to turn to God with our whole heart.  We will turn to God with our Sunday heart.  However, our work, finances, recreation, education etc. are considered secular aspects of our lives and we don’t see a need to change where we are going in those areas — especially if we think we are “successful” in these areas.

It is not enough just to turn part of my heart to God.  He demands I turn my whole heart to Him.  This is why this type of course correction will include fasting, prayer and mourning.  It is hard and it is costly.  It requires brokenness and complete surrender to God.  But it is what must be done.  There are some questions that I have been asking myself regarding what God expects of me if I want to turn to Him with my whole heart.

1. Do I need to turn my personal, private life to Him?  Does that mean more time with Him studying His Word and in prayer?
2. Are there areas of my family life that I need to turn to Him?  What are they and what will it take?
3. Do I need to make a course correction with my finances?  Have I been faithful in giving God His tithe — the first 10% of all my increase?
4. Are there areas of my work that I need to turn to Him?  (For you, this might include those you lead or teach)
5. Do I need to make a course correction in how I educate my children?  Is the education they are receiving turning them to or away from God?

There might be other areas such as relationships, church involvement etc. that God may be telling you must turn to Him.  God wants us to turn to Him with our whole hearts.  Could God be getting ready to close the boarding door?  Is He making the final announcement?

If God is not your final destination, please deplane now!

Tomorrow I want to suggest some things that you and I can do to TURN NOW!

Yesterday I shared with you how God convicted me through His charge against His people, Israel, in the book of Hosea.  God saw that the people had forsaken His law.  Because of this, God could say that there was no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.  I explained that the “land” was not a geographical area but referred to the nation of Israel — God’s people.  When one looks at the condition of the church in many places around the world, he/she would have to agree that God’s people have, once again, intermarried with the culture.  The reality is that God can charge us with the same thing He charged Israel with in the days of Hosea.

The consequences that we will face, if we continue to forsake or ignore God’s Word, are devastating.  We saw that the most catastrophic result of God’s people forsaking His law was that God would forsake their children.  As I was wrestling with the condition of the body of Christ today in my country, I read a verse that deeply convicted me.  Each morning I open my Bible app and read the Verse of the Day.  Last Wednesday in the midst of this wrestling match with God the verse was,

“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”  Joel 2:12 (NKJV)

Since reading this verse, I have meditated on it and the rest of the book of Joel each day.  The prophet went on to write,

So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Joel 2:13 (NKJV)

Joel was predicting that the Day of the Lord will one day come when God will judge the world.  Of course, if Joel was warning the people back then that this day of judgement is near, it means it is even closer now.  I am reminded of what  Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome.

And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Romans 13:11 (NKJV)

In both of these verses there is one word that hit me hard.  That word was the word NOW!  God didn’t say some day or when you have time; He said in both cases His people were to do something NOW.  God has impressed on my heart that He demands that His people do something NOW for the sake of the children.  We are to turn to Him with all our hearts.  When we see the condition of the world and the church today, turning to God with our whole hearts will be accompanied by fasting, weeping and mourning.

 I must admit that I have had a lot of reactions to the terrible conditions I see in my country, my community, our schools at all grade levels, and our families.  I have been sad.  I have been angry.  I have been discouraged.  I have even been passive at times.  But have these conditions broken my heart and led me to fast, weep and mourn?  The answer is NO.

I thought that I would end this week’s posting of blogs today.  However, God has burdened my mind and heart so much about the seriousness of the situation and what He expects from His people I can’t stop with this post.  So, I will be posting again tomorrow.  In the meantime, here are some questions that I have had to answer about Joel 2:12-13.

1. What does it mean to turn to God with my whole heart?
2. How do I rend my heart and not just my garments?
3. If my whole heart is my entire life, what makes up my life?  Does it include my family? my work? my church? my friends? my writing and speaking?

I encourage you to take some time and answer these questions for yourself.  Tomorrow I will share about my take on an announcement I always heard flight make just before closing the boarding door.  Tune in tomorrow for the announcement!

It is early Saturday morning, March 9, 2019.  I have been up most of the night talking with God about what I needed to share with you in this week’s blog.  God brought to my mind a verse that has haunted me for almost 18 years.  The first time that this verse impacted my life was in 2001, shortly after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and US Pentagon.  The picture to the left is an ad that ran in Time magazine right after the 911 attacks.  At the bottom of the ad were the words, America’s diversity is united under one ideal .  The meaning of those words can be understood by the caption under the picture that read,

God, Allah, Krishna, Waheguru, Jehovah bless America [emphasis mine]

I realized that whenever I heard someone say, “God bless America”, they might be saying that any god can bless us because all gods are equal.  It was at that time I came across this verse.

When I first started teaching in 1968, I had a dualistic belief system.  My life was compartmentalized into the sacred and secular.  I took my faith seriously but it didn’t really influence how I taught chemistry or coached my teams.  I saw my subject area as basic facts that were devoid of any spiritual meaning.  Chemistry was something that they had to learn in order to get into college and get a good job.

This started changing when I entered Christian education in 1973.  Since that time, I have been engaged in a spiritual battle as I have fought to bring every one of my thoughts into captivity of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).  God has been so good to me as I have seen a transformation of my life through the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2).

I have tried to share with you how my understanding of education has developed over the past 50 years in the last several blog posts.  I encourage you to go back and read last week’s post to understand what led me to writing my book, Kingdom Education: God’s Plan for Educating Future Generations.  By the time the second edition of the book was released, I understood that education:

• was a multi-faceted process
• took place in the home, church and school
• was and is never neutral
• resulted in every person forming a worldview that would drive a person’s attitudes and actions in every aspect of one’s life

By the year 2005, I had formulated a biblical philosophy of education that I believed should be the foundation of every educational effort that took place in the home, church and school.  I had the conviction that the home, school and church had to be unified under the philosophy of kingdom education if future generations were going to become true disciples of Jesus Christ.  I thought the last piece to the puzzle was understanding the role that the church needed to play in the education of our children and youth.  I also was convinced that God was to reign supreme in the entire educational process of future generations.

However, I was still struggling with one question.  Will this work in real life?  God answered that question in 2005 when He led me to leave LifeWay Christian Resources and join the pastoral staff of Sherwood Baptist Church.  It is one thing to write a book on kingdom education but it was something else to actually practice kingdom education in the real world of education.

I had been consulting with Sherwood Christian Academy for a couple of years.  During that time, the school had developed a strong operating constitution that included:

• a mission statement that reflected the 10 biblical principles of kingdom education
• six core values that had to be maintained in order to achieve the mission
• a series of operating principles for each of its core values

Before accepting the position at Sherwood, I spent two days meeting with the pastor to share my convictions about how the church and school could not be separate entities but had to be a unified whole.  We also discussed that the parents had to enter into a partnership with the church in providing their children and youth with a biblical worldview education.  As a member of the pastoral team of the church, my main responsibility was serving as the head of the Academy.  One of the major responsibilities that I was tasked with was uniting the church and school together.

The first few years at Sherwood were challenging to say the least.  Satan did not want the church and school to be united.  He also didn’t want the home to understand the biblical principles that needed to be followed by everyone in the effort to raise disciples of Jesus.  For kingdom education to be a reality in the home, church and school there had to be an intentional, ongoing plan to drive the philosophy of kingdom education into the hearts and minds of parents, church staff and school staff.

It was exciting to be part of a training process that included:

• annual staff training on kingdom education that involved the staff members from the church and the school
• a consistent effort by the administration and staff of the Academy to help parents understand their God-given responsibility related to the education of their children and youth
• a continual staff development process at the Academy so that each and every person knew, understood and were committed to a biblical philosophy of education

Of course, we still gave careful attention to helping the faculty improve their instructional strategies, understand and implement technology in the classroom and improve other aspects of the teaching and learning process.  Like other Christian schools, we required all the teachers to be certified and the Academy achieved accreditation through regional, national and international accrediting agencies.  However, the first priority was to make sure that everything was done in line with a kingdom education philosophy.  We knew that if we didn’t keep the main thing the main thing, we would eventually fall into the trap of becoming a quality academic institution that was Christian in name only.

Everything was going great.  Kingdom education really worked.  We were seeing the reality of what could happen if the words that Josh McDowell wrote in the forward of Kingdom Education became our everyday practice.

The ideal way to help our kids not only to reject the postmodern worldview but also embrace deepened Christian convictions is to align church, home and school into a unified whole that arms our children with the truth and protects from distortions.

In 2010 God, once again, took me through a refining process in regard to my understanding of education.  I was sitting in my home office one day and several challenging questions came to my mind.  I couldn’t get them out of my mind no matter how hard I tried.  Here are those questions that were troubling me that day.

Is kingdom education true?  Have I used Scripture to prove my opinions when it comes to understanding education?  What would happen if I found out that I was just spinning my wheels and not really doing what God wants me to do when it comes to educating children and youth?

These questions took me on a 6-7 month deep dive into God’s Word.  I also read and re-read several books.  I begged God to crystallize in my mind what the purpose of education was from God’s perspective.  Even though this time in my ministry was very challenging, it took me into a more intimate relationship with the Lord and clarified the message of kingdom education in my heart and mind like never before.

What God has done in my life over these past 8-9 years has been absolutely amazing.  My conviction of the need for the home, church and school to be united under a biblical philosophy of education has deepened well beyond what I ever imagined.  It has resulted in partnering with Sherwood Baptist Church’s media ministry in developing 6-7 hour video series, Kingdom Education for the 21st Century, that was approved for ACSI philosophy training.

During the 2013-14 school year, God started burdening my heart to step out in faith and use my remaining years to train others on a biblical philosophy of education through Kingdom Education Ministries.  It has now been 5 years in following God’s leading in the effort to help parents, church leaders and Christian educators to know and embrace kingdom education in their efforts to raise a generation of young people who are equipped to engage the culture by thinking and acting from a biblical worldview.

One of the amazing things that God has done over the past couple of years came about through what I thought was a typical training opportunity.  I received an email request to do a faculty inservice on kingdom education at a small school in Shreveport, LA.  I didn’t realize what God had in store for Kingdom Education Ministries when I accepted the invitation.

God used that assignment to form a strong partnership with Pastor James McMenis and his church, Word of God Ministries.  It would take several more blogs to share all that has and is continuing to take place through this amazing partnership.  The accomplishments that have been realized over the past 1.5 years are mind boggling and include:

• a total redesign and launch of a new website, www.kingdomeducationministries.com
• a subscription side of the website that is providing parent, church leader and educator training on kingdom education to over 150 individuals and/or organizations in 4 different countries
• the filming of thirty two 30-minute videos that can be used by the home, church and school to fully understand kingdom education and a biblical worldview
• a growing number of articles, booklets and other resources to strengthen the home, church and school.  A brand new booklet with a challenging study guide called, Contaminated Waters: The Poisoning of Our Children and Youth, is in final production and will soon be added to the subscription website

Over the next several months we will be filming several more video sessions.  These and other resources are being developed as God takes me deeper into an understanding of His plan for educating future generations.  I am more excited about what God can do as we equip the home, church and school to educate their children and youth by providing them with a biblical worldview education than ever before in my years in ministry.

Several schools and/or individuals that receive these blogs each week are already KEM Prime Members.  More schools are joining this effort each day.  Because of the amazing partnership with WOGM, I am able to offer this membership to schools and individuals at an extremely low, affordable annual rate.  If your school is not a KEM Prime Member, I encourage you to become one today.  If you’re not with a school, you can get access to all of these resources as an individual for just a $25 annual fee.  You can email me for more information or simply click the Become a Member tab at the top of this post.

This world is spinning out of control like never before in my 72 years here on earth.  The home, church and school must be united by a biblical philosophy of education before it is too late.  God wants every Christian to address the issue of education biblically!  It is the only hope our children and grandchildren have to survive today’s culture.

God has done so much in my life to shape my understanding of education from a biblical perspective.  It has been an amazing journey and I am excited for what God has in store for me in the days, months and years ahead.  I want to thank each of you for joining me on this exciting journey.  All I can say is to God be the glory for the great things He has done!

In 1996 the Southern Baptist Convention gave an assignment to its publishing agency, LifeWay Christian Resources.  This new assignment was to address the topics of Christian schools and homeschools.  Through the leading of the Lord, I left ACSI to head up this new work at LifeWay.

I thought that I was going there simply to expand my ministry to Christian schools and homeschools.  However, God had something else in store for me.  This new assignment was not easy to say the least.  On my first day in Nashville I met with the President of LIfeWay.  He welcomed me and then took me up to meet the Vice President who was in charge of the largest division of LIfeWay, Church Resources.  As we were going to the Vice President’s office, the President told me something that I wasn’t ready for.  He said, when I told Dr. Mims that Christian schools would be assigned to his division, he told me that he didn’t really want it.

I met Dr. Mims and he briefed me on the work of Church Resources.  He shared with me that Christian schools and homeschools would be under the Church Leadership Department.  He proceeded to call the Director of this department to join us.  As we were waiting for him to come to Dr. Mims’ office, Dr. Mims gave me a warning.  He told me that when he told Dr. Miller that he had assigned Christian schools and homeschools to Church Leadership, Dr. Miller said that he didn’t want anything to do with this assignment.

To be honest with you, I was somewhat disappointed and anxious. I soon learned that the vast majority of the 1,700 employees there at

LifeWay there was only a handful who knew anything about Christian schools or homeschools.  Their children were all in secular schools, mostly public schools.  Many of the employees approached me with caution.  I also learned that some of the church growth consultants were actually telling churches that if they wanted to “kill” church growth, start a Christian school.

I spent many hours before the Lord asking Him if I heard Him correctly calling me to LifeWay.  In looking back on the 9 years I spent heading up the Christian school and homeschool section of LifeWay, I, once again, saw God’s hand at work.  I thought I was there to continue working with Christian schools and now with homeschools.  However, God brought me there to show me a missing piece that I needed to know in order to understand His purpose for education.  God knew I needed to understand the importance of the local church.  It was during this time that I realized that the home and church were the two primary, God-ordained institutions that were responsible for educating future generations.

Many people at LifeWay assumed that I would come in preaching the need for everyone to put their kids in Christian schools or homeschool them.  However, I started sharing what I had discovered about how God wanted parents and church leaders to educate children.  Where they were educated was secondary to how God expected them to be educated.  Since I was trying to base everything on Scripture related to educating children and youth, more and more of my fellow workers started to understand we were in agreement on many points.

I was beginning to see how the home, church and school had to be united in providing children and youth with a biblically based, Christ centered education.  This is when I started using the illustration of a three-legged stool that I eventually put into my book, Kingdom Education.  To emphasize this growing conviction, I found myself surprising pastors when they called my office seeking advice about starting a Christian school in their churches.  I would tell them that I didn’t think that their church should start a Christian school.  They were shocked and asked why I would say that.  I would go on and explain that my recommendation was that they should pray and ask God if He wanted the church to expand ministry to include schooling.  I still believe that a church shouldn’t have a Christian school but that Christian schooling should be a ministry of the church.  The schooling ministry is the church operating throughout the week in a united effort with the home to disciple the next generation.

The second reason God led me to LifeWay was to help me understand His highest priority for every believer.  There was a major emphasis that was the driving force behind all of the resources LifeWay was developing during my tenure there.  This emphasis was on the kingdom of God.  It was because of this emphasis that I realized that God’s highest priority for every believer was for him/her to know, understand and experience God’s kingdom each and every day.  I believe this to be true because of Jesus’ own words in Matthew 6:33.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God…

I knew this verse but never understood what the kingdom of God actually was.  In Dr. Mims’ book, Thine is the Kingdom, he defined the kingdom of God in a way that made it easy to understand but also applicable to my everyday life.  He explained that the kingdom of God was,

the reign of God through Jesus Christ in the life of a believer….

There cannot be a kingdom without a king.  A king is sovereign and sets the rules and his subjects are to obey.  The king’s ordinances that the subjects are to obey are found in God’s Word.  It all made sense.

It wasn’t long before I was told by the leadership of LifeWay that I needed to write a book.  It was explained to me that I was saying things that they had never heard and it needed to captured in writing.  I had never written or even thought about writing a book.  However, I started putting together everything that God had been teaching me over my years in education.  When it was finished and ready to go the editor, I had to come up with a title.  I decided to call it Kingdom Education: God’s Plan for Educating Future Generations.

God wants every believer to seek His reign in his/her life everyday.  He wants to reign in all of life.  That means that He wants to reign in the education of children and youth.  This means that God wants to reign in the education a child receives at home.  He also wants to reign in the education a child receives in church.  But it also requires that God reigns in the education a child receives at school.  The question becomes how do we know that God is reigning as king in a child’s education at home, church and school?  The answer is when what God’s Word says about education is obeyed in all three places.  In my book I identified 10 biblical principles of education.  Since the time of writing the book, I have uncovered an additional four principles.

I thought that I finally understood God’s call on my life and what His ultimate purpose was for education.  There was one big question that I soon faced.  Will this work in real life?  Monday I conclude this series by sharing what God did next in my life that has brought me to where I am today.  Have a blessed weekend.

Things were going smoothly in my life.  I was completing 16 year at Lynchburg Christian Academy where I served as Superintendent for the last nine years.  In addition to my school life, I had completed my course work and passed all my comprehensive exams for my EdD at the University of Virginia.  My future plans were in place.  I would continue serving the Lord at LCA, write my dissertation and receive my degree.  All was good!

But God…. Little did I know that God was preparing me for somethings that would shape my understanding of what true biblically based, Christ centered education really was.  In 1989 God uprooted our family and we moved to Atlanta, GA where I assumed the role of Southeast Director for the Association of Christian Schools International.  For the next 7 years I would serve what grew to be over 600 schools in 8 states.

Because of my thirst to understand God’s design and purpose of education, I made a biblical philosophy of education the major theme of the Southeast’s services to schools.  We tried to bring in the best speakers on the subject to our teacher and administrator conferences.  We stressed the importance of the philosophy of Christian schooling in our student activities, student leadership conferences and regular school consulting efforts.

Through all of these efforts, I constantly asked myself if this is really what God’s purpose of education is?  Were Christian schools merely an alternative to other forms of schools?  Were Christian schools a Christianized version of secular/public schools?  One verse was on my mind constantly.  I thought about this verse on an almost daily basis.

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Colossians 2:8 (NKJV)

More questions grabbed me by the heart.  How much of Christian schooling was merely following the tradition of men?  After all, Christian schools operated pretty much like all schools.  They had similar calendars, course offerings, graduation requirements, athletic and other co-curricular offerings, and even used many of the same textbooks.  Were we being taken captive by false ideas/philosophy of education?  What would it look like if Christian schools were doing everything according to Christ?

When I first started serving the Southeast Region of ACSI, I wasn’t able to begin my work on my dissertation.  One day I was near Charlottesville, VA and stopped by UVa to inquire about how much time I had to complete my dissertation.  I was told by one of my professors that I had one month left to complete everything.  However, he told me that if I would get him a proposal that he would approve, he would get me a one-year extension.  I don’t have time to go through how God worked this out but I had my dissertation approved exactly one year from the date I visited the University.

My dissertation involved a national study on the religious beliefs and practices of Christian school graduates.  It was a fascinating study but what was taking place behind the scenes would eventually become my life’s message and mission.  To complete this study I had to provide proof that education, especially formal schooling, was more about developing a belief system than on accumulating facts that would guarantee success in the future.  I spent hours upon hours in the basement levels of the UVa library reading about the purpose of education during the founding of the USA.  I read chapel messages by Noah Porter while he served as President of Yale.  It was exciting to research and find out what our Founding Fathers had written about education and its true meaning.

As I traced the history of American education from its beginning to its current time (it was 1994 when I was doing this research), I became aware of the secularization of education and society.  This dangerous shift in educational philosophy started slowly in the early to mid 1800s.  However, it increased in intensity in the early 1900s.  Today, public schools operated under the authority of the government are completely secular in philosophy and operation.  Of course, many Christian leaders warned of this demise of education when the shift was starting to take place. However, very few parents and church leaders paid any attention to all of the warning signs.

God was working in my life and I was starting to understand what education’s purpose was supposed to be.  I was convinced that it involved the home, church and school.  However, I didn’t know how all of this fit together.  God had to, once again, turn my world upside down.  He did this in the summer of 1996.  What I was about to experience would change my life completely.  Tomorrow I will share how it all came together but it wasn’t easy.

God is always at work — even when we can’t see any evidence of it.  It is only when we take the time to look back can we understand what He was doing and what His will for our lives is.  This has been my experience as I look back over the past 50+ years of teaching.  As I shared in yesterday’s blog, I never imagined that I would be a teacher.  But God…..

The fall of 1973 was a very exciting time for our family.  We had just moved to Lynchburg, VA and I began teaching science and coaching basketball at Lynchburg Christian Academy.  Dr. Jerry Falwell started LCA in 1967 and had just launched what is now Liberty University in 1971.  There was excitement in the air as I began my journey into Christian education.  But then, a question I was asked caused me to stop in my tracks and I began wondering once again what is education really all about?

During the first week of school, there was an open house.  On that night parents actually followed an abbreviated schedule of their child’s classes.  The first group of parents entered my classroom and sat in the students’ desks.  I started my time with the parents by sharing with them what God had done in my life while teaching in the public school.  I explained how several of my students had come to faith in Christ.  It was at that point that one parent asked me a question I couldn’t answer.  He asked,

If God was using you in such an amazing way in that school, why did you leave to come here and teach?

I had never given that any thought.  Why was I here rather than back at my former school?  My answer was somewhat shallow as I explained that I wanted to teach where I could teach truth and could share my faith with my students openly.  In fact, it was exciting to have my principal tell us that we were expected to do just that.  However, I really didn’t know the difference between the public school I left and the Christian school I was at.

I could not get that parent’s question out of my mind for quite some time.  As I reflect back on my journey in education, I realize that it was at that point in time that I started wrestling with trying to understand education from a biblical perspective.  I went to conferences and seminars where several giants in the Christian school movement spoke on what Christian education was all about.  Men such as Dr. Francis Shaeffer, Dr. Roy Lowrie, Dr. Paul Kienel, Dr. Tony Fortosis, Dr. Ron Chadwick, Bud Schindler and Gene Garrick were used by God to begin formulating a biblical philosophy of education in my heart and mind.  I read as many books as I could find on this subject.  To name just a few of the books that started shaping my ideas of what God’s design for education is included How Shall We Live, The Pattern of God’s Truth, Which Way to Educate, Educating for Eternity, Reclaiming the Future of Christian Education, and The Christian Mind.

Later on, I was challenged by Drs. James Dobson and Gary Bauer when I read their book, Children At Risk.  My whole idea of education was rocked when I read Thomas Sowell’s book, Inside American Education and The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom.  I found myself pouring over the Scripture and asking God to let me understand what His design for education was.  I didn’t want to go through the motions of simply filling my students’ minds with facts and figures in order for them to pass a test and get into a good college.  Of course, I had the freedom to add some Bible verses and little sermonettes to my lessons and there were chapels, Bible classes and spiritual emphasis weeks that all students participated in.  Prayer before practices and games were commonplace and expected.  However, there had to be more to this than what the typical Christian school was doing.

After my first year at LCA, I was asked to be the Secondary School Principal.  This led me to begin graduate courses at nearby University of Virginia.  Surely now I would learn what real education was all about.  Little did I know that God was moving in my life in a way that still boggles my mind.  I was very fortunate that all of my professors in both my Masters and Doctoral courses allowed me to address everything from a biblical perspective.  Of course, they didn’t agree with me on just about everything I wrote or presented but they tolerated my positions on a wide variety of topics.  What was taking place behind the scenes was that I was beginning to formulate a biblical philosophy of education in my heart and mind.

As I continued trying to understand God’s perspective on education, I dug deeper in Scripture and continued reading everything I could get my hands on about the subject.  It was during those early years in Christian education that I realized that education could not be equated merely to schooling.  I began understanding that biblically based education was a multi-faceted process that took place at home, in the church and in the school.  Even though I was searching for meaning, I still didn’t see how God was shaping my heart and mind about this very important aspect of life — the education of children and youth.

What God did next in my life was amazing to say the least.  Yet, it still challenged me about everything I thought education was all about.  But you will have to come back tomorrow for what the late Paul Harvey would say —The Rest of the Story!

There are many times in life when we have difficulty understanding why certain things happen to us.  It is during those trials and testing that it is important to continue living our daily lives and trusting God to accomplish His will for our lives.  As I reflect on my fifty years in education, I can now see how God was shaping me in so many ways to get me to where He wanted me to be today.

I was a pre-med student in college but God had another plan for my life.  Two weeks before graduation I didn’t know what I was going to do in the future.  I had not been accepted into medical school and I was getting quite anxious about what the future might hold.  One of my classmates had just signed a contract to teach math in a public school south of Buffalo, NY.  When he returned to campus, he saw me in the library and gave me a note with a telephone number on it.  He explained how the school needed a chemistry teacher and asked me to call the number.  This was on a Wednesday night in May of 1968.

The next day I called this school and on Friday I interviewed for the position and signed a contract to teach chemistry.  At the time it was very confusing to me about what had taken place in less than 48 hours.  After all, I was not an education major and had never even thought about teaching.  In the fall of 1968 I began my teaching career.

Those first 5 years of teaching were quite challenging to say the least.  During my tenure in Gowanda, NY I taught Regents Chemistry to juniors and seniors.  New York offered what were labelled “regents” courses.  These courses were intended to be more rigorous and at the end of each course students had to take a regents final exam.  This exam was prepared by the State and no one saw what was on the exam until the day it was scheduled to be administered.  The pressure that these exams carried was enormous because what you scored on the test was your final grade in the course for the year.

The pressure wasn’t just on the students.  Teachers also faced a lot of pressure as your future as a teacher was somewhat determined by how well your students did on the regents exams.  I took the place of a teacher who had been quite successful teaching Regents Chemistry.  87% of her students had passed the exam the year before when the state average was around 82%.  My principal regularly reminded me of the challenge I was facing to have my students do as well those students of the former teacher had done.

The first year ended and when I had graded all of the tests, 96% of them had passed.  For the five years that I taught Regents Chemistry in the school 97% of the students passed their regents exam.  It was through this season in life that I realized God had given me the gift of teaching and that this would be my calling in life.

One of the difficult situations I found myself in dealt with the theory of evolution.  In order for the students to pass the regents exam they had to answer certain questions as if evolution was true.  This was the first time that I can remember my faith being tested.  It was frustrating to tell students that they had to answer certain questions in line with evolutionary thought but that those answers were not in line with truth.  As I explained to the students, the people making the tests believed in evolution but the design and patterns found in chemistry clearly showed that there was a Creator behind our magnificent universe.

Even back in those days, what I was doing with my students was not acceptable.  I still remember the day when my principal came into my classroom and told me something that brought a lot of anxiety into my life.  He said,

I know what you are doing in your classes.  However, if any parents complain, I will tell you to stop.

What was I going to do?  I shared with some fellow Christians who also taught in the school what the principal had said and asked them to pray for me.  During a men’s prayer breakfast one Friday morning, the only prayer that they prayed was that the principal would not come in and tell me to stop.  I remember very vividly interrupting the prayer time and challenge them about what they were asking God for.  I told them that what I wanted them to pray was if and when the principal came in and told me to stop, I would have the courage to do what was right.  I asked them to pray that God would give me the boldness to teach truth.

During those five years of teaching in public schools, the principal never came in and told me that I had to stop doing what I was doing.  I had the privilege of seeing several of my students and players (I coached basketball also) place their faith in Christ.  But, I continued to wrestle with knowing what education was really all about.  Was it just a process that students went through in order to get into college or get a decent job?  Was there something more that God expected children and youth to learn during their school days?  I didn’t understand it at the time but I now see that God was stirring my heart in such a way that I would leave the public school system and begin a teaching career in Christian schools.

In the fall of 1973, I began teaching science in a Christian school.  I was so excited because now I could teach the truth behind science without fear of retribution.  In fact, I was encouraged to share my faith and talk about God in everything I did as a teacher and coach.  I felt like I was in heaven.  However, my faith was, once again, rocked during my first open house at my new Christian school.  It was then a parent asked me a question that shook me to the core.  Tomorrow I will share with you what God did in my life on that night.