Highlights from the Grade 12 Retreat

Grade 12 students led chapel at Smithville Christian High School, sharing stories and music from their three-day retreat to Silver Lake Camp last week.

Chapel began with Grade 12 student praise team leading in worship with “Multiplied,” “My Redeemer Lives” and “Hallelujah – Grace Like Rain.”

Spiritual life director Gord Park then took over, thanking the Grade 12 students for the privilege of playing, worshiping and growing with them.

“You are an awesome group of people,” Park told them, urging the students to allow the spirit of community and cooperation from the retreat to infuse the entire year.

Park described the great weather, team-building activities and healthy food they enjoyed at the camp, and shared a few photos from the trip. 

(See more photos in the Grade 12 Retreat album on Facebook).

As part of the worship time at the retreat, students had an opportunity to share what God is doing in their lives. Sabrina accepted the invitation to share her story again for the whole school, at chapel.

She spoke of a ministry trip she made this summer to Los Angeles, working as a volunteer at the Dream Centre, helping at a local food bank and praying with people who requested prayer.

Sabrina said she was profoundly affected by the experience, and knows that “God is calling me back. So that is what I am going to do, go back for nine months,” she said.

Sophie shared a devotion about relying on the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, in good times and bad.

“On our grade 12 retreat, we talked about being in relationship with God and what that meant,” Sophie said. “The pivotal point of being in relationship with someone is communication. Good communication involves asking and answering questions, as well as listening to the other person speak. In your faith walk with Christ, it is so important to remain connected with Him. He speaks to us in personal ways, we only need to make ourselves aware of His voice and how He chooses to connect with us.”

Sophie urged students to dig into God’s word, to worship him and be used by him “in radical ways.”

“Awesome things can happen,” she said.

The Grade 12 student praise team led in two more songs, “Build Your Kingdom Here,” and “Thrive,” inviting their entire class forward to join in leading.

Mr. Robb presented Jay and Sam with their prizes for reading the New Testament this summer.

Oh, and Mr. Robb also shared two stories from his recent trip to Israel. He said while he was in the Holy Land he met a mathematician who hated negative numbers. He said the mathematician hated them so much, he would stop at nothing to avoid them.

Robb also said that in the airport he met a young boy who had a box of animal crackers. Instead of eating the crackers, the boy was lining all the animals up. When Mr. Robb asked the boy what he was doing, the boy replied that he was looking for the seal. Why? Because a warning on the box said “do not eat if seal is broken.”

Chapel is (usually) held on Wednesday mornings at 9 a.m. All are welcome.