Having experienced last spring’s junior retreat at Lake Murray, I am humbled and excited. I am humbled to be working at a place that has attracted such wonderful students to the great cause of Christian Education. I am excited because I can see that the flame of hope burns brightly in the eyes of these students. They have captured the vision of Christlikeness through service in an authentic way. Most are ready to implement their vision of service immediately.

    When many adults say they have lost hope because of the seemingly self-centered nature of this next generation, I can emphatically say, given the right foundations, our teens have within them an unlimited potential for good. I wish I could secretly bring parents to events like these. Our time together wasn’t all grand and glorious. Students raised tough questions about how to authentically live a God-honoring life in and outside of our school. They came up with several ways they want to implement that. I believe they are serious and want to really make it happen. The one way that is the most concrete and will have the most immediate impact is that they want to help younger students at OCS through Christlike service. They also want to develop ways to encourage emerging Christian leadership. They even went so far as to challenge each other to think of their 6th hour (which seniors have off) as the time to use for this purpose. What this may look like is, instead of sitting around after their school days is done (about 50 minutes before the underclassmen finish) and waiting for their co-curricular sport or activity to begin, that they use this time strategically to invest in our elementary and middle school students. This may include reading with a second grade student or helping with middle school PE one or more times a week. Each person would contribute (to the Body) according to their gift and according to the need. WOW! How exciting.

    As a group, we discussed quite bluntly obstacles to their vision for service to others on our campus. The big ones are apathy, negative peer pressure, busyness and forgetting about this vision of service as time passes. We even discussed strategies to overcome these obstacles.

    This is so encouraging to me and to the faculty and staff sponsors that attended. It should also be an encouragement to all the teachers who have poured countless hours of dedicated love and service into these students. They, quite literally, want to return the favor with gratitude. The thing that is so encouraging to those who attended is that these propositions were broadly voiced and seemed held with such conviction and determination. Here is just one more example of the unique maturing process that we get to witness at OCS. I’ve taught 7th graders at OCS. Sometimes a 7th grader is a 7th grader is a 7th grader. If you lined our 7th graders up with others randomly chosen from among all our local schools and put them in controlled stress situations, they may not distinguish themselves to any great extent. One would hope they would, but the maturing process is not complete (some mother of a 7th grade boy is saying in her head “amen to that”). I dare say that our seniors are different. If under a similar “test”, what’s inside these students, 1) a heart of conviction to defend what’s right, 2) to “mourn” over sin (Matt 5), and 3) a spirit for service would come out.

    This is yet one example of healthy spiritual formation (Christ formed in you) in the age of entitlement. Did this trip capture 100% of the hearts of students there? Prayfully so, but probably not. Will all the ideas of good intentions be implemented? Likely not. But something is stirring in the hearts of these young people and it is our job to fan the flame.

    Our students and families are facing a complex world and difficult choices, especially with the recent economic times. Anxiety enters the equation. The distinctive OCS offers is a clear focus on Christ-centered education. We don’t just want our students to gain knowledge and understanding (a very important part of the process), but the wisdom that comes when they understand that to gain in life, one must give; to be great, one must humbly serve.

     “Let us not become weary in well-doing, but let us spur one another on to love and good deeds.” Our student, next year’s seniors at least, will be challenging the rest of us to a year of authentic service. Let’s rally around them as they put hands and feet to whole person education.