Chapel: Get Outta Town

Beacon graduate Raymond VanGeest was today's chapel speaker. Highlights about his experiences getting "Outta Town" at discipleship school will be coming soon, but here are some photos from chapel and a link to his blog: http://raymondvg.wordpress.com/ 

Be sure to watch Raymond's video entitled "Outtatown Souvenirs and Memories," which can be found on his blog.

Click here for a video from the student praise team leading worship with "Days of Elijah."

Grade 12 Leadership Class: Survivor Challenge

Here are some photos from a culminating project in Mr. Bender's Grade 12 leadership class. The students planned and hosted a week-long survivor challenge. It was "awesome!"

See more photos on Facebook.

Praise Team at National Music Festival

By Mr. Lammers
Praise Team Coach

Congratulations to the members of the Smithville Christian Praise Team for a gold medal performance at the National Music Festival in Ottawa on May 16! Congratulations also to Brandon V. for receiving an honour award for musicianship and leadership. Well done and well deserved on both counts! There were many favourable reviews, not only of the performance but also of the "Live Out Loud" shirts the students wore. Many people asked where this team was from, so I had the opportunity to explain to them where the very important municipality of Smithville is located and how they could find out more about our school.

The adjudicators were very impressed with both the excellence of the students' performance and the message they communicated through it. Well done!

The team performed, "God's not dead" (Daniel Bashta), "Arms open wide" (Sam Knock) and "Freedom is here" (Scott Ligertwood and Reuben Morgan). Check YouTube later for recordings of these pieces at chapel.

Who's on your team?

Today’s chapel celebrated some recent sports victories.

Our boys and girls soccer teams are both undefeated so far this season.

For the third year in a row, our school was overall champion of the Ontario Christian Secondary School Athletic Association badminton tournament held April 27 and 28 at Brock University, with Lauren V. and Dean O. winning first in junior mixed doubles, Jill P. and Matt V. winning first in senior mixed doubles, and Mitchell H. winning first in junior boys singles. Isaac S. and Travis F. were second in senior boys doubles. Third place victories went to Alydia V. in senior girls singles, Andrea D. in junior girls singles and Mark K. and Adam V. in junior boys doubles, while Dan T. was fourth in senior boys singles and Emily D. and Tallia B. were fourth in senior girls doubles.

Jill and Matt are heading to OFSSAA this week!

We also celebrated some recent track and field accomplishments, including Joe Z.’s first place jump at the OCSSAA meet on Tuesday at York University.

Being part of a team means you are part of something bigger than yourself, said Mrs. Slump-Houwer, who delivered today’s chapel talk.

“A key part of track and field is working towards your ‘personal best’ or PB,” said Slump-Houwer. “It’s all about pushing yourself harder and pressing onward to make individual improvements in time, distance or height.”

1 Corinthians 9: 24, 25, Paul says “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 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.”

Slump-Houwer described the training and accomplishments of her son, Adrian Houwer, who played varsity football for Wilfrid Laurier University for five seasons. “The team members had strict training and high protein, high carb diets,” she said. They practiced six days a week in rain, sleet, wind or snow. But in his final year with the team, the Laurier Golden Hawks won varsity football’s top Canadian honour: the Vanier Cup. “It took many years of commitment and self-discipline, but they did win the prize,” she said.

Another one of her sons, Leonard, was an accomplished hockey player, and a member of the Welland Triple A Tigers who won an OMHA championship, in addition to coming home “with many trophies and medals over the years.”

Her youngest son, Sean, plays basketball on a team where the coach encourages co-operation and teamwork, rewarding the athletes with chocolate bars on days when every member of the team is successfully set up to score a basket. Even the fans get in on the excitement, knowing that the final member of the line-up is going for “the chocolate bar basket,” she said.

All of her six sons are athletes and all of their athletic successes “have been very exciting,” she said. There are many good memories of victory and there are shelves in their house full of trophies and medals.

But Adrian’s diamond-encrusted Vanier Cup ring hurts his fingers and his Play-of-the-Game Rolex watch is uncomfortable to wear, she said, and many of Len’s trophies are stored in boxes.  Her boys have learned that there are many ways to define athletic success.

Sean’s coach says “it’s not about the chocolate bar or the medal, it’s about encouraging kids to work to their fullest potential, to support, uphold, trust and build confidence in each other as team members,” she said. Leonard and his wife, Jen, have raised thousands of dollars for cancer research as Jen battles Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Adrian popped a surprise proposal to his fiancee at a workplace fundraiser. She shaved his curly locks, and the duo raised over $2,000 for cancer research in one afternoon.

“These are all chocolate bar moments in life,” said Slump-Houwer.

Being part of a winning team is great, said Slump-Houwer, quoting Max Lucado. When your team wins,  “something very special happens. You don’t even have to be the best player on the team. In fact, you can be the very worst player on the team and it still happens as much for you as for the team star. When your team wins, you are a winner too. You share in the credit for the good work of someone else, simply by being on the team.”

That’s the way it is with Jesus, said Slump-Houwer. “What your sports team does for you on game day, your Lord does for you every day. Because of his performance, you cross the finish line of each day with a perfect score.” You are given the prize, not because of what you do, but because of who you know. Being part of a team of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is being part of an unbeatable team, she said. “A better team doesn’t exist.”

Slump-Houwer started the chapel by asking every student who had ever played on a sports team to rise. The entire school got to its feet. She ended the chapel by asking students to rise again.

“You are God’s team,” she told them.

“He made you. He created each one of you with a variety of gifts and talents: athletic, spiritual, intellectual, artistic, musical, social and many more. Encourage one another to strive for your personal best, to achieve your fullest potential. Go beyond the gold and obtain the crown of eternal life. God can work mightily in you.”

Here are students having a chocolate bar moment at the end of chapel -- thanks to Mrs. S-H!

The presence of the Spirit

Check back soon for an update on today's chapel.

You are God's hands

This week’s chapel was led by Mr. Neale Robb, who was at his “corny” best. Upon learning about a student’s recent entry in a hair competition he said he thought he might enter a hair competition too , “but I left it too late.”

He also told a joke about a man perched on a roof, praying to be rescued from a flood. A neighbour paddled up in a canoe, but the man declined the offer of help, saying he had prayed and was counting on the Lord to save him. Another rescuer came by in a motor boat, but the man declined. As the flood waters rose, a helicopter came but again the man declined, saying the Lord would save him. Unfortunately, the man drowned. When he got to heaven, he asked God why he hadn’t saved him. God replied: “What do you mean? I sent a canoe, a motorboat and a helicopter! What more did you want?”

“Sometimes we are so busy looking for God to do the miraculous that we forget to observe God at work in the ordinary,” said Robb.

The same is true for serving, he said. It’s not just about going on mission trips to faraway places or being a preacher.

“God most often calls us to serve him in the ordinary tasks of life,” Robb said, citing Proverbs 3: 27 and 28.

“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.  Do not say to your neighbour,  ‘Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you’ — when you already have it with you.”

“Your hand is God’s hand,” Robb told the students. “Don’t withhold good. Never walk away from someone who deserves help.”

You could help a classmate who is struggling to understand, he said. You could offer to babysit for a neighbour who needs a break. You could do odd jobs for someone down the road who is sick and needs yard work done.

The passage also warns against procrastination, he said, and encourages us to see ourselves as God’s hands.

He used the example of a stranger who showed kindness to him when he was a young student on the way to seminary. The man offered a simple act of hospitality, but to a weary student it was the hand of God at work.

“God worked through him and his wife to encourage me,” he said.

Robb quoted C.S. Lewis: 'Do not waste your time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor, act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love.'

“Don’t worry about your feelings,” said Robb. “Do good, and the feelings will follow. Be on the lookout to be God’s hands and feet.

“It’s amazing that God would entrust his work to you and me,” he said, “and a lot of times it’s just in the ordinary things.”

Watch a video from chapel: the praise team leading in worship with Every Move I Make.

The most awesome thing