Closing Ceremonies Highlight Missions Emphasis 2018

One of the unique and most anticipated parts of the school year is our missions emphasis weeks that take place in the spring. Over the past two weeks, our students and faculty have volunteered their time to serve others, learned from missionaries, collected supplies to help those in need, and much more. These efforts were celebrated today in the closing ceremony (missions celebration chapel) of this year’s Olympic-themed missions emphasis weeks. 

Students, faculty, staff, family, and friends gathered to see and hear about what God has been doing the past couple weeks. Mr. Clum started the closing ceremony by reviewing what the Olympic rings represented. Blue – Know God, Yellow – Love God and the lost, Black – Build relationships, Green – Pray for opportunities, and Red – Tell others. The whole community recited our theme verse together, 1 Corinthians 9:25, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”

A slideshow was presented with photos from some of the activities our students participated in the past couple weeks. Watch it here: 

Several students were able to speak about their experiences during missions weeks and what God had taught them. One student gave her testimony of how she was able to tell her Muslim neighbor about Jesus. They had a great discussion and she was confidently able to teach her neighbor about God and His Word. The neighbor wanted to learn more about God because of their conversation. She mentioned that even though her neighbor didn’t accept Christ that day, she knows God has a plan and she is looking forward to talking about God more with her neighbor. 

After the student testimonies, school dad and Kids Alive representative, Mike Busch, then commissioned and prayed over our father/son and mother/daughter teams who are going to serve in the Dominican Republic this spring. Mr. Burgess presented the new Big Map which features WCGS alumni serving God around the world full-time – which includes many current school families!  

Our main speakers of the chapel were two Olympians – Nancy Swider-Peltz Jr. and Jeffrey Swider-Peltz Jr. Unfortunately, they were traveling the day of this chapel, so they willingly came to WCGS earlier this month and pre-recorded their presentation. It focused on how to train for the ultimate prize as an athlete and Christian, while also enduring hardships with God by their side. Watch it here: 

Mr. Burgess concluded the ceremony with his personal testimony and a reflection on the life of Billy Graham. He spoke on how Billy Graham followed God’s calling and challenged the students to think about how God is calling them. “We need to be Christ’s ambassadors to the world,” said Mr. Burgess.

Typically at the closing ceremony, the Olympic torch gets extinguished until the next Olympics. But we are not extinguishing our flames and light for Christ. We will continue being Christ’s ambassadors and shining His light to others.