The School Celebrates Homecoming (Jan 30, 2012)
What a wonderful weekend it was as alumni from all over the United States returned to Columbus for the annual homecoming festivities of Grace Christian School. It all started on Friday evening with our annual homecoming game against Trinity. The Varsity Crusaders took care of Trinity 46-33, and the homecoming queen was crowned between the varsity and JV games. Our congratulations to April Amsbaugh who was crowned queen for the 2011-12 school year.
The annual alumni games were conducted on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Crusaders volleyball team played the alumni ladies. The alumni ladies put up a valiant fight, but in the end, the Lady Crusaders took two of the three sets.
The Varsity Crusaders then played the alumni men in basketball. It was one of the most competitive games on record. The alumni men took the varsity boys to overtime, but Jeremy Crespo hit a shot with 1.7 seconds left, and the Varsity Crusaders won by two.
There were many door and game prizes given away. Our appreciation goes to Ronda Harmon who organized most of the weekend's activities.
In the midst of all this hoopla, Pastor Horton, our administrator, received a call that his daughter Lydia had gone into labor to deliver their first grandchild. James and Jackie left the alumni games to travel to Gainesville to witness the birth of Annie Grace Bernstrom. She arrived weighing 7 pounds, 14 ounces. Mom and baby are doing great. We are excited for Grandma and Grandpa Horton.
Between the volleyball and basketball games, we inducted Stephen Henderson into the Mama Jo Bowers Cruader Hall of Fame. Stephen graduated in the class of 1992 and then received his ministerial education from Pensacola Christian College. After graduating from PCC, he had a brief stint as a youth pastor in Florida before returning to Grace to serve as singles' pastor. He moved up the ranks and eventually became associate pastor and administrator of Grace Christian School. He also served as the interim pastor between David Price and me. Stephen left Grace to plant the Harvest Baptist Church in Manhattan, Kansas where he has served for nearly a decade. Stephen is also the first student to go from K-5 all the way through 12th grade at GCS. Due to the declining health of his wife, Stephen was unable to accept the award in person, but his parents accepted the award in his honor. Do pray for Stephen and his wife Rebecca as they continue to battle physical difficulties.
On a sad note, we announce the homecoming of Boyd Alexander. Boyd is the husband of Carol Alexander, long-time venerated educator here at GCS. Boyd peacefully went home to be with Jesus Saturday afternoon after bravely battling brain cancer. Pray for his family as they make funeral arrangements today.
Don't forget that missions conference is just around the corner. It starts February 15, and David Snyder, president of BIMI, will be our key-note speaker. Missionaries from Chile, France, Japan, Singapore, Uganda, the United States will be with us. Pray that we will be able to reach our faith promise goals.
This past Wednesday night, we were able to add Michael Kelly to our missionary budget. He becomes the 205th missionary supported by Grace Baptist Church. Mike, a great African-American preacher, is planning on coming here to Columbus to plant a church that can effectively reach the African-American population of our city. We have been praying for years that God would send us a man like Mike, and we are thankful that the Lord is sending him to our area.
On a personal note, Karen and I will be ministering this coming weekend (Thursday through Saturday) at the annual couples retreat hosted by Tabernacle Baptist Church in Nicholasville, Kentucky which is pastored by my good friend Lonnie Moore. Several churches will be in attendance at this retreat in Gatlinburg. I trust that you will pray for Karen and I as we minister. Pray especially for Karen's healing as she has been under the weather the past several days.
Your prayers do mean much to us. We ask that you especially spend time in prayer for the sale of our north property. The proceeds from this sale will enable us to construct our new family life center. Thus, the sale is vital to our future. Thank you in advance for spending time to talk to God about this.