Wednesday 30 November 2011

Being culture-changing champions

At this morning’s chapel, students were challenged to become the champions that God has called them to be.

Paul Dunk of The Gideons International told students that they need to stop worrying about what they are going to do, and start focusing on what they are going to be.

“And the beauty of it is you get to be that person right now,” said Dunk, sharing three keys from the life of David, who was anointed to be king when he was just a boy.

Although David went back to tending sheep after his anointing by the prophet Samuel, “he was being very kingly” in the way he dealt with Goliath, with persecution by Saul and with the rag-tag group of “losers” who eventually became his “mighty men,” said Dunk.

“Make no mistake, he did it for the money and for the girl,” said Dunk, but there were three principles that David followed that apply to us today.



1) Choose your perspective. David had to deal with some rotten circumstances, but he didn’t give up or get discouraged. He chose to live his life through the filter of God’s word, said Dunk.

“We are getting it backwards when we use the circumstances of life to be the filter for God’s word, instead of letting God’s word be the filter for the circumstances of life,” he said. “It’s why you’ve got to read it, or life is going to choose your perspective for you.”

2) Relate to your life with vision. David’s first followers were 400 men who were distressed, in debt or discontented, he said. David would have failed if he had let himself be influenced by them. Instead, “he turned those chumps into champions” by following God’s vision for his life.

“If you are in the cave, I am going to encourage you today to fall in love with this,” he said, holding up a Bible, “and relate to your life with vision.

“The problem with our generation is that we don’t read it,” he said, much like we click “accept” to “terms and conditions” when we’re downloading something from a website without actually reading the fine print. “I am not saying people don’t hurt us,” said Dunk. “I am saying we get to choose. When God gave David an army, it didn’t look like an army, but these guys did amazing things because the word of God transformed David and what was in him, got out of him.”

3) Look for wisdom, not agreement. Students need to ask “What does God want me to do, not what can I get people to agree with me to do,” Dunk said. That means they need to turn to mentors, parents and teachers, not their friends.

“Your friends are great, but they don’t have wisdom,” said Dunk. Friends offer agreement because “they are in the same zone as you are in.” Instead, you need “leadership from experience.” Whether it’s gossip, pornography, drugs, alcohol, whatever, “if you are stuck in a swamp, you need someone who is not stuck to help you out.”

Dunk gave each of the students a copy of the New Testament but said it wasn’t for them. “This is an opportunity for you to take it out of your hand and give it to someone who does not know God. Hopefully, a year from now it will be gone and you’ll get in touch with me and I’ll hook you up.”

Dunk gave examples of how the word of God had changed lives of prostitutes and murderers, and how the Gideons’ desire is for people “to love God, love his ways, and bring his ways to everything we do.

“Gideons care about one thing,” he said. “Giving out the word of God. Because we believe God’s word changes lives. And if you can get God’s word into their hands, God can get it into their hearts.”

To read more about the work of the Gideons, visit www.gideons.ca

We were also blessed by members of the Praise Team who led us in worship with "Hosanna," "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and "Mighty to Save."

Friday 25 November 2011

Fourth place!

Congratulations to the Sr. Boys Volleyball team at OFSAA in Manitoulin Island with a fantastic fourth place finish! For tournament details, visit the OFSAA website at http://www.ofsaa.on.ca/boys-volleyball

Go STORM!

Sr. Boys Undefeated!

The Sr. Boys Volleyball team remains undefeated at OFSAA, winning both games against St. Thomas Aquinas this morning, 25-14 and 25-17. Next game at 11:30 against Espanola. It will be streamed from the OFSAA website at http://www.ofsaa.on.ca/boys-volleyball
Go STORM!

Thursday 24 November 2011

OFSAA Fever

They're miles away but close in our hearts! The Sr. Boys Volleyball team is on Manitoulin Island this weekend, competing at OFSAA.
They won their first game this morning against TDChristian 25-17 and 25-18! Some of the games are being live-streamed, so we were able to watch.



The next game is not being streamed, so you'll have to follow us on Twitter for instant updates: www.twitter.com/smthvllechrstn

Here's some info about the tournament from the Manitoulin Expositor.
http://www.manitoulin.ca/2011/11/23/mss-hosts-ofsaa-v-ballers/

Wednesday 16 November 2011

You are great! We are so glad you are here!

This week’s chapel was on the topic of our theme for the school year: Encouragement, which is taken from Hebrew’s 3:13 “Encourage one another daily.”

Mr. Gord Park, our spiritual life director, said sometimes encouragement is simply a case of cheerleading. It’s turning to someone and saying, “You are great, I am so glad you are here!” But encouragement is also counsel: offering good, Godly advice.

He talked about the times we have “mountaintop” or “lightning bolt” experiences – when we tangibly sense the presence of God in our lives, such as during worship, at a retreat, at a convention, or participating in a service project. But there are also times when we don’t feel God’s presence, he said. That’s when we have to remember that God calls us to walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).

When there are times that we make mistakes or that we are confronted with the mistakes of others, Mr. Park said we have to “keep short accounts.”


“That’s grace,” Mr. Park said, which Christians must be able to both give and receive. “But you have to have the guts and the courage and the honesty to be in a place where you are good with God.”


Finally, Mr. Park said we have to share, because “whatever God gives you is to give away to someone else. Every gift, every opportunity, every revelation you receive is to bless and encourage someone else.”

He used the example of the Sea of Galilee, which flows out into the Jordan Valley, giving life. In contrast, the Dead Sea doesn’t flow out and it does not give life. “Something happens to you when you share, you grow in your faith,” he said.

Mr. Park said some of the best conversations we can ever have with each other are the ones about God. “When God becomes part of the conversation, what a blessing it becomes.”

At our chapel today we also heard a presentation about Rose City Kids from Lynette Andree Wierenga (Class of 2003) who explained the goals and impact of this powerful Welland ministry. She said over 400 children and their families are being blessed by the Saturday program, the home visits, the tutoring and the leadership training that Rose City Kids is able to provide. She said Rose City Kids feeds the children physically, emotionally and spiritually, and its goal is to teach the children important life truths.

“We want each one to know Jesus loves you, there is a plan for you, you can dream big, God knows your name,” she said.

Lynette said demographic research reveals Welland has high unemployment, high poverty and high household debt, and these factors put incredible stress on parents and families.

She said one way in which Rose City Kids blesses its participants is through its personalized Christmas boxes, which over 150 Smithville Christian High School students are filling. She said one mother was overwhelmed when she realized that her child was known by name by an anonymous donor who would be choosing gifts and praying for her daughter.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for filling these boxes,” Lynette said, also inviting students to consider volunteering for one of the programs.

The chapel also featured worship led by one of our student praise teams. Thank you to Mariah, Katelyn, Rachael, Caleb, Hayden, Kaleb, Tyler, Alex and Fayth for sharing your gifts of music and song.

Visit the Rose City Kids website by clicking here.

Monday 14 November 2011

Sr. Boys Volleyball Tournament

Our thanks to the organizers, players and fans who made the Sr. Boys Volleyball Tournament such a success. What terrific volleyball action!
Here are a few photos from the day, including Mr. Breukelman in Indonesia, who took in the tournament via Skype!

Thursday 10 November 2011

We Remember.

At the Remembrance Day Chapel this week:

The Praise Team led us in worship.


Mr. Robb explained the history and meaning of Remembrance Day, and told us why we remember: "It's important to remember what God has done for us so we cherish our faith and it's important to remember the awesome blessings we enjoy in this country." See Deuteronomy 6:12 and Deuteronomy 8:19.

Students shared stories of four Christians from Burma, Ecuador, India and North Korea who don't live in freedom.

We listened to Anthony Hutchcroft sing "In Flanders Fields."
http://youtu.be/Ky2WKqmrnnI


We observed a minute of silence and saw a slide show of war images.

We sang our National Anthem.

And Student Council introduced the T-shirts for this year's theme: Live Out Loud. We are thankful for the freedom to worship and to attend a Christian school where we can live our faith out loud. Praise God!

Wednesday 9 November 2011

Super Heroes!

The halls are full of caped crusaders today.
We also had a talent show at lunch. Congratulations to the winner, Hayden!

See more pictures on Facebook.

Friday 4 November 2011

Highlights from the week

Monday was Retro Day,


Tuesday, our Mayor spoke at chapel,

Wednesday we enjoyed a visit from Grade 8 students,

The Grade 12 Physics class used trigonometric ratios and model aircraft to calculate centripetal force,

and The Grade 11 Phys Ed class went golfing,

Thursday, the Sr. Boys Volleyball team left for a tournament in Bowmanville,

There was a "Fatal Error" when Mrs. V. was processing report cards (don't worry, she got it figured it out),

The photocopier jammed,

The Culture Club held its first meeting,

and Friday was Random Acts of Kindness Day.

Wow, what an action-packed week! Have a blessed weekend everyone!

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Grade 8 Day 2011

We had a great day at Grade 8 Day, when we met some of the students who will make up the class of 2016. They worshipped with the Praise Team, heard personal testimonies from Jeremy and Shannon (who said they are blessed to attend Smithville Christian High School),learned about the school theme from student council and visited classes such as science, drama, Bible, art, industrial arts and math. Who knew that in high school they served chocolates in math class?

Here are a few photos from the day. For more pictures see the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/smithvillechristian

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Engaging Culture

Teenagers who attend Christian schools shouldn’t think they are hiding from the world in a “holy huddle,” said principal Ted Harris at Tuesday morning’s chapel. Mr. Harris said teachers from Smithville Christian High School joined their colleagues from across the province last week at a two-day professional development conference, at which they were challenged to make their teaching relevant by “engaging culture.”

That means instead of thinking that we are retreating from the world, we must be equipped to be part of it, he said. “How do we train our young people to create culture, to cultivate culture,” said Mr. Harris, “to make things around us better.”

That’s why Smithville Christian was pleased to host West Lincoln Mayor Doug Joyner at chapel this week, to speak about the role that local government plays in our daily lives – from the clean water that comes out of our taps to the roads that we drive on.

Mayor Joyner described the two tiers of municipal government in Niagara, and acknowledged that the 17 cents out of every property tax dollar goes to public schools. “So your parents are paying taxes that go to the public schools and the Catholic schools, they don’t go here,” he said.

Mayor Joyner also quizzed students on their knowledge of government issues and politicians, and thanked Smithville Christian students for being involved in their community. He said the Township of West Lincoln was successful in applying for a healthy communities grant because Smithville Christian was willing to partner with the Township.

“I applaud you, all of you for getting involved to move this (healthy communities initiative) forward, because you are getting involved,” said. “You are making a difference. What you are doing in the community is very good, so keep it coming.”

Mayor Joyner quizzes students on their knowledge of local government.

Tallia, the student council president, with Mayor Joyner and his chain of office.