Purpose Driven Classroom

The purpose of this blog is to encourage Christian Educators to recognize their high calling as a teacher. We will be studying the Book of Esther for the next few months. Join us for this ten part study and don't forget to comment on how you think this applies to the classroom. May God help you to see your purpose for Him as a missionary in our schools in America.

The Book of Ruth

My dear teachers,

    How could an ancient book such as the Book of Ruth possibly have application to teachers in the 21st century? If that is a curious notion to you, join me as we continue the Purpose Driven Classroom study in a ten week study of this wonderful story of faithfulness, integrity and hope.

    I have been blessed to listen to Alistair Begg for the last year and a half by podcasting from his website, Truth for Life. His intriguing Scottish accent and eloquent book-by-book Biblical preaching have enriched my life.  It’s hard to pick a favorite series, but I would like to begin with his study into the Book of Ruth, “God of the Ordinary,” and investigate the classroom relevance of the rich principles in this book.  I claim no expertise, but a humble desire to encourage, equip and empower Christian educators in the public and private schools to give God the glory in all that we do.  His Word is our foundation and we have a desire to drink it in each day.

    I have two requests.  Please read Chapter 1 in the Book of Ruth in preparation for next week’s study…..Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth……ah, that’s where it is! Second, let’s study and grow together.  If you find some wonderful lessons that apply to your school setting over the next 10 weeks, please add them to the comments.  Our extraordinary God works with the most ordinary of us.  Be encouraged by this lovely story of His grace.

Ruth 1:16: ….But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you.  For where you go I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge.  Your people will be my people, and your God, my God.”

Until next time, I am…..
Prayerfully yours,

Karen

by: seddonk at 18:52 | link | comments (2)

Day 40

My dear teachers,

    Can you believe that we have come to the end of our 40 week study into “The Purpose Drive Life” by Rick Warren?  Next week, I will be posting our next adventure into the Word, but for right now, let’s bring this final and powerful chapter to life.  Rick Warren instructs us to write a Life Purpose Statement.  It’s not easy to do, nor can you do it quickly.  I prayed about mine and wrote it after my first time through the study. I have tweeked it a bit, but all in all, it IS my purpose and I am empowered by it’s presence in my daily life.


    I exist to encourage, equip and empower educators to be prayerfully dependent on our Eternal Father for all the needs of our students, colleagues, and administrators.  Depending on the Lord for our daily needs at school is the most important educational impact any of us can ever make as teachers. I am an ambassador for Christ to bring His Good News to the educators in Florida.


    Take some time to write yours and have someone else read it for you who knows you well.  It would be awesome if you could post it on this blog for the encouragement of others.

    Thank you so much for joining me in this powerful study into the Word of God and I hope you will continue to join me as we grow as educators in our purpose driven classrooms!
   

This is Part 4 of my testimony in Word format and audio.

As I begin to build e-Cubed, I am humbly awed by the words of Abraham Lincoln, “The philosophy of the classroom in this generation is the philosophy of the government in the next generation.”  The words of our own Declaration of Independence confirm the need for creativity, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” I believe that Christian educators can humbly walk their walk in the halls of our public schools being contagious agents for our Creator upholding the Word of God first and the Constitution of the United States second.  Creative teachers are the ones with vision, passion and productivity who will inspire their students to be producers and not just consumers of learning.




………..to read more open the Word document or listen in to the audio file!







From Rick Warren: Acts 13:36 -  For David……served the purpose of God in his own generation.


From me: Esther 4:14: ….And who knows but that you have come to this position for such as time as this?


Until next time, I am…..

Prayerfully yours,

Karen

by: seddonk at 09:01 | link | comments

Day 39

My dear teachers,

Rick Warren’s opening statement for this chapter is: Blessed are balanced; they shall outlast everyone.  He cracks me up.  Being in balance is a juggling act.  It is very easy to know when you are NOT balanced because your life is a mess.  As teachers we so often find ourselves dabbling in everything and volunteering (or being volunteered) for far too many things.  I used to suffer from being a pleaser until I understood that I was put on earth to bring Him pleasure.  I walk away from The Purpose Drive Life study each time with the renewed and confirmed commitment to decision making in this one statement from Rick Warren - if it is "purpose-driven, mission-focus and Spirit-led….” I can say “Yes.” If it doesn’t fill that criteria, I no longer worry about pleasing others because I can now add to my life only those things that are within my purpose.  For instance, I had an incredible opportunity to work for Discovery for a year, but before I made the decision to take a corporate position, I prayed about it, counseled with my family and then put it to the purpose-driven, mission-focused and Spirit-led test.  My job description was to create a network of teachers in South Florida. Now let’s see, did it fit my purpose to encourage, equip and empower teachers to be prayerfully dependent on God through prayer?  You bet.  I had many opportunities to form relationships with other Christians in part of South Florida that would have never been there for me.  Was it mission-focused? My mission is to cover all the schools in Florida in prayer.  How could I have been given such an opportunity to go into schools throughout the state but by His gift?  Finally, was it Spirit-led?  This is the hardest part.  Who am I to guide anyone in Spirit-led decisions?  I can’t, but I can tell you that I know when I am led by the Spirit.  God opens doors and grants favor in ways that are beyond my plans. Through the Discovery Educator Network, I was able to have audience with superintendents and district leaders in most of our counties in South Florida.  Who knows where that may lead some day?  All I ask is that He be given the glory.

    As you seek to find balance in your busy life, pray to seek the leading of the Spirit and put your decisions to Rick Warren’s test- is it purpose-driven, mission-focused and Spirit-led?



This is Part 3 of my testimony in Word format and audio.

As the DEN “mommy” for South Florida (Field Manager for Discovery Educator Network), God began opening doors for me to encourage, equip and empower teachers to pray. Living an undivided life as a Christian in public life is never simple whether you are a classroom teacher, assistant, director, principal or any position in public education that touches the lives of others.  Unfortunately, most of us have assumed that we have to be Christians at home and in church but because of the so-called “separation of church and state” we can’t be Christians at school.  There is nothing further from the truth.  In fact, there is no such expression as “separation of church and state” in all of the Constitution.  What the Constitution does say is that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…….” Public schools can neither encourage NOR discourage the free exercise of religion.




………..to read more open the Word document or listen in to the audio file!







From Rick Warren: Eph. 5:15 - Live life with a due sense of responsibility, not as those who do not know the meaning of life, but as those who do.


From me: Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from Me, yet not My will, but Yours be done."


Until next time, I am…..  

Prayerfully yours,

Karen

by: seddonk at 09:49 | link | comments

Tuesday, March 13

Day 38

My dear teachers,

This week Rick Warren challenged us to go on a short-term missions trip. I recognize how difficult that may be, but please take a look around you and see the mission field.  We are in the only profession that touches every child who comes from any background imaginable. We serve our children everyday with love, joy, peace and more as ambassadors, but being on a mission is unique. In Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Covenant, he says: "I’m Spirit-led, purpose-driven and mission focused, so that I can’t be bought, I will not be compromised, and I shall not quit until I finish the race.  I’m a trophy of God’s amazing grace, so I will be gracious to everyone, grateful for everyday and generous with everything that God entrusts to me."  I use this as a test of saying “Yes” to a project, task or adventure.  If it is purpose-driven, mission-focused and Spirit-led, I can say “Yes” without hesitation.


    Now if your ministry is your profession, what is your mission?  I would like to pose these questions to all teachers. What is a mission that we could be well-know for in Christian Educators?  What is something we can do to service the public school children of America?  What can we do that will allow us to be generous and grateful servants of our Lord Jesus Christ while living within the lawful boundaries of the American school system?  For instance, when you think of Chuck Colson, you think of the Angel Tree network as their mission while their ministry is to the prisoners.  When you think of Franklin Graham, his mission is huge, but you associate it with Samaritan’s purse while his ministry is spreading the gospel to the needy around the world.  What can Christian Educators be known for?  How can we serve? 

    I recognize that most of you who read this blog do not comment, but now it’s your turn.  Let’s start brainstorming the possibilities and pray that God will stir us up to be in His will.  I have attached Part 2 of my testimony as an encouragement to you to write yours down.  I know it’s hard.  That’s why I was late posting this week.

It was very apparent that teachers had become afraid to be Christian in the public school setting. Most teachers have been hoodwinked into thinking that they can’t even mention the name of God and say that they are Christians. How did this ever happen? Learning the legal rights and history of the public schools was a very interesting study and it lead to a few organizations that were doing exactly what I was trying to do: encourage teachers to pray for their students, colleagues, administrators and communities.  I found a FCE (Fellowship of Christian Educators) in Chicago and they were willing to share and CEAI, Christian Educators Association, Int. in California and they had tons of resources to help with the study.  Another teacher in my district has also heard of CEAI and told me about Jack Wells, the State Director.  I called him and invited him to our first meeting.  He spoke at our first meeting, encouraged us to begin prayer groups and admonished us to, “Just do it!”…….


………..to read more open the Word document or listen in to the audio file!





From Rick Warren:  Ps. 67:2 - Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind. (LB)


From me: Isa. 6:8 - Then I heard a voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”


Until next time, I am…..
Prayerfully yours,

Karen

by: seddonk at 06:22 | link | comments

Sunday, March 04

Day 37

My dear teachers,

Sharing your life message is sharing His message.  When we tell others what Jesus has done for us, we are giving a testimony.  If you have never told your story, this is your encouragement to really think it through.  I have kept an outline of my journey with God in my Bible and each time I get a new one, I moved everything over and add the marvelous things He has brought me through.  Although this may take some time, it will be well worth you effort.  According to Rick Warren, you life message has four parts:


•    your testimony
•    your life lessons
•    your Godly passions
•    The Good News

I have tried to model his admonition for your encouragement and have it posted in this entry as a Word document and an audio file in my own voice.  I hope you can open it! Since there are four more weeks left to this study, I have decided to do a little bit each week.  Please do not give up if you can’t write you testimony the first time.  It takes awhile and it’s ever growing, but the best advice I can give you is get started. (Hint: on the audio file, it will work best if you download it first.)

To God be the glory.

....I love God. I have always loved God, but I have not always known Jesus. However, when you don’t know Jesus and love God, sometimes you don’t even know you don’t know Jesus. That’s my story. I’ve been a Catholic, a Jew, a Protestant and a born again Christian. Now I am a Christian, a believer and a follower of  our Lord Jesus Christ.

I am so grateful to have been brought up as a Catholic. Through my family’s influence and good example, I came to know and stand in awe of God. If anything I was more afraid of God, but it kept me in line. But as I became a more rebellious youth, I drifted, sinned and made too many mistakes that I shamefully hid from Him the best I could. As a young adult in my third year of teaching, I saw great discrepancies in the way children were categorized and began to seek an answer. After all, weren’t we all God’s children?  I was stirred to buy my first Bible – one of the white leather covered ones and began to read it from Genesis to Revelation.  I was left only with a sense of my own accomplishment. (Forgive me.)
 
In my 9th month of pregnancy, my husband announced to me that he wanted to begin attending his brother’s church. That was a total shock to me because I didn’t know anything about that church and I certainly had no idea he had been seeking God also. If I understood any of God’s laws, I knew that I had committed myself to this good man for my life and I was about to give birth to his child so how could I not go to church with him?


………..to read more open the Word document or listen in to the audio file!

From Rick Warren: 1st Peter 3:15 - Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, but do it with gentleness and respect.

From me: Dan. 4:2 - It is my pleasure to tell you about the marvelous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.

Until next time, I am…..

Prayerfully yours,

Karen

by: seddonk at 20:06 | link | comments