A Note from Janet Nason - Asia Director for ASCI

Many of you are aware that on Saturday, September 26 a devastating storm struck the Manila area leaving a month's worth of rain in 6 hours. According to current news reports there are 162 confirmed deaths and the number is expected to increase as waters recede. Our ACSI office has been in the field and is in the process of documenting damage and conducting a needs assessment.

The human side of the story is that many of our schools were holding make up Saturday classes due to swine flu. Dr. Tan of Grace Christian said water rose quickly totally surrounding the school building. They fed lunch and dinner to 300 stranded teachers and students with many spending the night. Mrs. Helen Villanueva at MGC New Life school had a similar story with minor damage, but students stranded during the night and her being unable to return home until the following morning. St. Stephens school had water pour into first floor offices and they've lost some student records. It strikes me that our schools were literal "arks" for many during the floods.

Our ACSI secretary Ofelia had 5 feet of water rush into the first floor of her home when the area dam released water to avoid breaking. She lost her stove and refrigerator but was praising God today because the house she moved from a year ago had entire back wall washed out. Yesterday, our country director, Dr. Beth Bullecer found our former Early Ed director, Rosie Rico covered with mud shoveling out her home with her husband. They lost everything and we were able to give them food, water and some basic supplies. Rosie said the price of rice in the area is now 10 times what it was.

We are in the process of determining the extent of the water damage and if ACSI should set up relief funds as we did with schools in Indonesia impacted by the tsunami. What I do know now is that your brothers and sisters here need your immediate prayers. Pray specifically for ACSI's office staff we deal with this crisis in the middle of preparing for our 3 October Teacher's conferences. This is typhoon season and as I write two more storms lined up in the Pacific headed towards the Philippines. Please pray these would be turned away and that God will give wisdom and grace to all.

"The Christian school is at its best in times of crisis," Dad often said and I've had that going over and over in my mind. That being said, remember us.

In Him Alone,

Janet

Janet Lowrie Nason, Ed.D.
Asia Director, ACSI

A Challenge to "Love One Another Deeply - From the Heart"

This week, Mr. Glenn Clement challenged the Bridgeton Christian School (NJ) faculty, staff, students and families to "love one another deeply from the heart." With his permission, we share that challenge with all of our MACSA schools!

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind...and love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:37

As Christians, we face challenges every day. One of the greatest is to love one another deeply from the heart - but that is my challenge this year to myself, our faculty and staff and our students. Throughout the coming months we will be studying the principles of servanthood. Part of our mission here at BCS is to prepare our students to be servants of Christ. Please encourage your children to practice the following principles of servanthood:
Love
Submission
Generosity
Trust
Encouragement
Obedience

We want to serve others without thought of ourselves or gain. We want a spirit of cheerful obedience to authority. We want to be sensitive to the needs of others and to show compassion. We want to face suffering and disappointment with a sincere faith and positive attitude. We want to look for opportunities to do good and help each other. We want a genuine excitement about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His teachings.

This is a challenging time to be alive and to possess an authentic faith that hopes in Christ's promises. The Holy Spirit will give to us all that we need and more. As we have heard before from the beginning, Jesus's command is that we walk in love. Let's walk together down that pilgrim road this year and devote our lives and all that we have to Jesus for all that he has done for us. As Saint John recorded in the third chapter of his first epistle, "let us love not in word or speech but in truth and deed."

Sincerely,
Glenn Clement
Administrator

Lancaster – Here We Come!

The MACSA convention is just 7 weeks away - and it will be here before we know it! The MACSA Convention Committee has been working hard since January to plan the convention and they are excited about the keynote speaker and the workshops offered at this convention!

Convention Preview Booklets have been mailed to MACSA member schools - and the information is also available on the MACSA website. Click here for Convention Registration Information.

Keynote Speaker
Richard A. Swenson, M.D., received his B.S. in physics from Denison University and his M.D. from the University of Illinois School of Medicine. Following five years of private practice, in 1982 he accepted a teaching position within the University of Wisconsin Medical School, Department of Family Medicine where he taught for fifteen years. He currently is a full-time futurist, physician-researcher, author, and educator. He has written six books including the best-selling Margin and The Overload Syndrome, both award-winning. He has presented widely, including national and international settings, on the themes of margin, stress, overload, life balance, complexity, societal change, health care, faith, and future trends. A representative listing of presentations include a wide variety of medical, professional, educational, governmental and management groups, most major church denominations and organizations, members of the United Nations, Congress, NASA and the Pentagon. In 2003 he was awarded Educator of the Year Award by Christian Medical and Dental Associations. Dr. Swenson and his wife, Linda, live in Menomonie, Wisconsin. They have two sons, Matthew and Adam, a daughter-in-law Maureen, and a granddaughter Katja.

New This Year: A track of three workshops for your business manager presented by Marlin G. Groff, Assistant Superintendent – Finance and Business Affairs, Lancaster Mennonite School, Lancaster, PA. The track will include workshops: Compensation and Benefits, Tuition, Financial Aid, and Balancing the Budget, and Business Managers Roundtable.

CEUs and Graduate Credit

• Curriculum Theory, Design and Assessment – 1 or 2 CEUs or graduate credit
  Dr. Sheryl Vasso - Philadelphia Biblical University, Langhorne, PA
  
  
• The Life and Character of David, King of Israel- 1 or 3 Bible CEU(s)
  Rev. Joel Kime - Lancaster Bible College, Lancaster, PA
  

• Differentiated Instruction – 1 CEU
  Dr. Penny Clawson, Lancaster Bible College, Lancaster, PA
  

• Philosophy of Christian Education
  Wayne Baker – Cumberland Christian School, Vineland, NJ
  

Workshops

The Convention Committee has planned over 100 workshops during the two-day convention. There is something for everyone! Take a good look at the preview booklet and plan now to attend the 2009 MACSA Teachers' Convention!

See you there!

Another Year of Blogging

Welcome to another year of blogging with MACSA. Our desire is to post articles and information that will be helpful to you. The goal is to post twice a week - information, inspiration, encouragement! Please feel free to comment on our posts - we would love to have your feedback.

MACSA Teachers and Administrators - this is YOUR blog!

• Administrators - do you have a word of encouragement to share? A devotional you shared with your faculty/staff that would encourage other MACSA schools?

• Teachers - do you have an idea,thought, encouragement that you would like to share with other teachers?

Please contact Nancy DeHaan (ndehaan@macsaonline.org ) if you have something that you would like to submit.

One last thing - please use the Update Subscription link at the bottom of the "New Post" email that you receive from FeedBlitz. This is the best way to keep your email up to date!

Thanks for blogging with us - and encourage others to subscribe!

How to Apologize

Dr. Barrett Mosbacker
Superintendent: Briarwood Christian School, Birmingham, AL
Author: The Christian School Journal

One of the mistakes we are prone to make when challenged by parents, staff, or board members is to become defensive. This is an unfortunate tendency of fallen humans dating back to the Garden of Eden. Our sinful pride and our fragile self-images propel us to make excuses, to explain away, or to protect ourselves.

While it is right to defend ourselves against false accusations and misinformation, too often we become defensive rather than listening to what may be valid criticism of ourselves or of our schools. Young teachers and administrators are particularly prone to make the mistake of being defensive, which inevitably damages their credibility.

Click here to read the full post!

What Did You Write Today?

Nancy R. DeHaan
MACSA Executive Director

When was the last time you wrote a letter? Not a quick note to a parent or an email to a colleague or a “note” on your Facebook page – but a real honest-to-goodness letter – on paper, with ink, in your own handwriting?

I am a big fan of electronic media. I appreciate the “almost” instant communication of email and instant messaging – and I am learning how to text message, too! But getting an email is not the same as getting a letter – there is something “missing” in the electronic communication.

This concept hit home for me several years ago when my son returned from an 11 month deployment to “The Sandbox” in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He had pretty regular Internet access during his deployment and we were able to exchange email and IM – a great way to keep in touch while he was half a world away. When he returned home, he hadn’t printed out and saved any of my emails, but . . . he brought home a packet of letters – handwritten by his great-grandmother (who was 100+ years old at the time). She wrote to him every week – for the entire deployment. The letters had been opened and read – and re-opened and reread – many times over. Letters have a sense of permanence that electronic communications do not.

In his second letter to the church at Corinth, Paul refers to the Corinthian Christians as “his letter of recommendation . . . to be known and read by all.” It was a letter written “not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” (2 Corinthians 3:3) The changed lives of the Corinthians testified to the work of the Spirit in their lives (individually and as a church) as a result of Paul’s ministry.

Back to the opening question – When was the last time you wrote a letter?

· Every day in your classroom, you are writing a letter – not with ink or crayon, but with the Spirit of the living God.

· Every day in your classroom, you are writing a letter – not on the back of the lunch memo or the bottom of the spelling paper, but on the hearts of your students – individually and as a class.

· And . . . every evening at home, the parents are reading your letter.

So . . .

What did you write today? Was it a letter of recommendation – to be known and read by all? Was it a letter dictated by the Spirit of God and written on the hearts of your students? Was it a letter worth reading today – and tomorrow – and for many years to come?

May God bless you this year with 180 days of great letter writing!

And . . . sometime soon, recover the lost art of letter writing. Sit down with pen and paper and write a letter to a loved one – fold it, seal it and mail it – and know that your time and effort will be appreciated.