WEBVTT 00:00:11.520 --> 00:00:13.280 Thank you for serving. 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:16.080 That's awesome. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:21.120 At KCC, we believe when you're serving, serving is loving. 00:00:21.200 --> 00:00:23.759 And it's a it's a joy to be able to serve. 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:28.480 And it's a joy to share and communic and love people. 00:00:29.119 --> 00:00:33.840 This week at camp, Pastor Malachi just sent me a few little notes here. 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:38.799 They had over 175 students, the largest uh group that they had. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:47.359 They had seven baptisms and seven children or students uh decided to follow Jesus and accept him as their Lord and Savior. 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:48.240 Amen. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:01:06.079 Uh after giving, now obviously the parents here are cheering a little louder than everyone because all your kids were gone for a few days, which I knew there'd be a few of you here. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:22.640 Um but I know that there's some in the room who are thinking about the next thing, which is uh getting all packed up and all the uh resources uh set up to send kids back to school and get routine back again. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:32.719 And I just want to just clarify here at KCC that uh the next generation is a value to us, is a value to us. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:39.840 It sits at the center of who we are, and it doesn't sit at the edge of who we are, it sits at the center. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:49.760 If we continue and we don't uh impact and we don't reach into the next generation and the generation to come, we're not doing our part. 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:51.039 We're not doing it well. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:02:02.480 One of my greatest joys is actually seeing young people who, even though they may go away and they they come back, and I get to see them over the summer as they come back to KCC. 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:26.879 But when you look at our society and our organization, and when I go through next steps with families uh that are thinking about KCC, they don't uh they're always um sitting there with uh kind of like an eye-opening experience, knowing that uh we have a particular role in education and we value that area of education. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:38.560 So we make room on a Sunday because we feel it's important to actually celebrate what publicly what God has done and what he is doing. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:41.280 And you're all part of that story. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:52.159 And so before we have some of our leaders share today, I want to just anchor this morning in a passage that has a lot to say about years, a lot to say about seasons. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:58.479 It's out of Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 1, it says, For everything, would you say everything? 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:06.879 Everything, there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:09.280 There's a time and a season. 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:20.879 Now, men like we look at time often from the place of seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, decades. 00:03:21.359 --> 00:03:24.479 We look at time in terms of a chronology. 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:30.319 It's uh the chronos time, but God sees time from a different measure. 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:33.359 He sees it in the measure of seasons. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:50.159 Seasons, and when Paul Solomon's Solomon is writing this, he's not trying to sound very poetic, he's trying to actually explain the way God sees life, and seasons may look different between each other. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:54.719 You might be in a different season than the person you're sitting beside. 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:57.840 And that's okay. 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:04.400 And it's important that we realize that planting season may look different than harvest season. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:11.359 And if you try and judge a harvest season by looking at the planting season, how many of you ever seen the fields that are just empty? 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:23.680 And then you go through, and a few months later, you go through, and there's cornfields, and it's fruitful, and there's it's ready to be harvested, that we all go through different seasons. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:38.880 And some of you may be in a different season, and you uh and some of you are in a season where you can actually see the fruit, but both are important, and despite the season, we have a common outcome. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:57.280 So Solomon says that for every there, every individual, for everything, there's a time and a season, but he also says, in that time and season, the outcome in verses 11 is that he makes everything beautiful in his time. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:00.160 Everything beautiful in its time. 00:05:00.320 --> 00:05:02.000 He has eternity in the hearts of men. 00:05:02.080 --> 00:05:08.800 So this is what I want you to carry this morning is that every person in this house, how many of you remember being a kid? 00:05:09.440 --> 00:05:15.680 How many of you remember being a teenager and you beginning to be or a young family? 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:20.400 Everything and everyone has been through a season. 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:28.000 But God's heart is that through every season and in every season, God makes something beautiful in it. 00:05:28.880 --> 00:05:31.200 And He provides something beautiful. 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:39.920 And so we are actually looking at this next season, and we're looking at this next season in the life of the of our students. 00:05:40.320 --> 00:05:55.760 So some of you may be thinking, I'm I'm not involved in education, I'm not, uh, this isn't my part that I play, but if I was to push back a little bit, I would say every one of us was formed and affected by somebody. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:15.760 And if we were to take a moment and step back and look at our life, there was a parent, a teacher, a Sunday school teacher, a coach, someone who uh maybe in this even in this building, but everyone or someone in your life invested in you. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:23.440 And that is part of our our our value that we continue passing on to the next generation. 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:30.480 So this morning I get to introduce two people who actually carry this promise every day. 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:39.280 And uh they had a little bit of a break, perhaps over the summer, which is always great, but they carry this in their heart and they carry it uh close. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:50.160 It's uh Sarah Krausier is our head of schools, and she holds the vision of the day uh realities and the responsibilities and what happens in all of our classrooms, it's a big job. 00:06:50.320 --> 00:06:54.080 And then Craig Kwiakowski, who's our chief executive officer. 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:55.680 How many of you know that? 00:06:55.840 --> 00:06:57.680 Let's give him a hand today. 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:08.160 How many of you know that if you have vision but you don't have utility or people, then it just becomes a wish. 00:07:08.320 --> 00:07:10.240 You just have a bit, it's just a big wish. 00:07:10.400 --> 00:07:16.000 But and if you have utility but you don't have vision, then it's just a machine that runs without a heart. 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:23.600 So these two complement one another in actually bringing the vision forward and making a difference in the place of education. 00:07:23.760 --> 00:07:25.360 We're just so grateful to have you today. 00:07:25.520 --> 00:07:26.960 Thank you for being here. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:29.280 Thanks, Bertie. 00:07:33.200 --> 00:07:36.480 Um, it's a real privilege to be able to share with you this morning. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:51.040 I know it's not kind of your typical Sunday morning, and so I appreciate uh um you you taking the time just to to maybe think a little differently than maybe you normally would on a Sunday and hear some thoughts around a really important part of our organization. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:56.720 Um, this is now the third year that Sarah and I have been able to share on this Sunday at the end of August. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:22.640 And the reason it's this Sunday uh is because next week we've got uh 400, over 400 staff that will be filling this room for four days as we do our annual Renew Ed conference where we kick off the year and have all of our staff here for a time of vision casting, inspiration, coming together as a community, praying together, worshiping together, and then setting a mark for the year to come. 00:08:22.960 --> 00:08:30.400 Um and there's many new faces here since the last time uh we we spoke last year, and I know KCC just keeps growing and growing. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:32.080 So we want to just take a quick moment. 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:34.159 Actually, Brody already introduced us. 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:39.919 I think he actually even promoted me in my title accidentally, but um I'm the chief operating officer. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:52.320 Um not not chief executive, but um and uh I've been here for almost 19 years now, working here in the organization, been in this place all my life since I was three. 00:08:52.560 --> 00:08:58.639 Um and as Brody said, my role is to oversee the operations and then uh yeah, my name is Sarah Krauser. 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:03.440 I actually live in Langley most of my time, and I live here one week a month. 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:14.399 And when I come to um lead the schools and be a part of programming, I've worked at HCOS for the last 16 years, and I've worked in leadership partnering with Craig for the last nine years. 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:28.000 My role is to oversee the educational programming and implementation across our school systems, so Heritage Christian Online School and also Flex Academy, and also to provide accountability to the Ministry of Education for the delivery of services. 00:09:28.160 --> 00:09:36.240 Together with Craig, we set the vision for the schools and we steward the mission of the schools within the oversight of Kelowna Christian Center Society. 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:44.160 So, as I said, Christian education's been at the core of coup Kelowna Christian Center Society is for 40 years now. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:52.800 Some of you know that, some of you may not know that, but very since the beginnings of this place, that vision was part of what the founders had in mind. 00:09:53.040 --> 00:10:01.200 Um, from those early years, we started a brick and mortar school way back in 1986, which happened to me my first day of grade one. 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:04.720 I was there the first day the school opened, way back then. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:27.440 Um parent and church volunteers, a self-paced curriculum, 50 students, and now we what we have here in this organization is actually the largest school in Western Canada, public or independent, and a thriving hybrid school just across the parking lot, which is really pushing the new frontiers in education, and it's drawing attention from all over. 00:10:27.680 --> 00:10:33.440 Um, and all of this is really growing into part of a flourishing Christian school movement. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:42.240 So I'm the COO, so for all the numbers and data nerds, we'll do a really quick update of where we are as a school. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:47.440 Um, this just shows the graph here, um our full-time student count. 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:51.600 This last year we had over 5,000 full-time students in our school. 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:53.840 And this is across BC. 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:57.840 Uh and then the next slide shows uh we also have what's called cross-enrollment. 00:10:57.920 --> 00:11:02.160 So these are students who maybe at other schools but take one or two courses through us. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:07.840 And so we had about another 2,600 cross-enrolled students uh come to our school last year. 00:11:08.160 --> 00:11:12.800 For this upcoming year, 26-27, uh, we're expecting growth again. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:17.120 Uh, 5,400 full-time students, 2,500 cross-enrolled. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:26.560 When you combine all the students overall on the Heritage Christian online school side, we'll be serving, it'll be about 8,610 students this coming year. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:30.960 And this is uh and it's exciting because this is something that you're all part of. 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:32.960 This is coming out of this place. 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:43.759 Um, and then, as I said, right across the parking lot, we've got Flex Academy, uh, formerly known as Heritage Christian School, which was that original school back from 1986. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:48.560 It's rebirthed in a new iteration as Flex Academy is a hybrid school. 00:11:48.800 --> 00:11:55.040 Um, and you can see the teal color shows uh Heritage's numbers, and then the gold is Flex's numbers. 00:11:55.120 --> 00:11:59.040 And you can see that since the model change, it's really been thriving. 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:04.560 We're now going to be pretty much near capacity in our existing facilities this coming year. 00:12:04.800 --> 00:12:13.600 And so for the 26-27 year, Flex Academy expects about 305 full-time students, which is another 12% growth from last year. 00:12:13.680 --> 00:12:17.680 Uh plus we have a junior kindergarten program as well, which is preschool. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:21.279 Um, 50 of those students are new, 11 new staff. 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:24.480 We just keep growing and growing and growing, which is really exciting. 00:12:24.560 --> 00:12:30.480 And so, overall, between the two schools, we'll be serving about 9,000 students this coming year. 00:12:31.920 --> 00:12:34.800 And then, yeah, it's really exciting. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:43.680 And to serve all those students, as I mentioned, uh, we've got a bunch of staff coming here this next week. 00:12:43.920 --> 00:12:48.240 We're gonna have about 800 staff this coming year across the province. 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:56.399 Um, most of them live all over regions all over from Fort Nelson to Vancouver Island to Cranbrook. 00:12:56.560 --> 00:12:59.920 Um, while we're based out of Kelowna, our staff are spread all over. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.879 So it's a big deal to bring about half of them, just over half of them here on site. 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:08.800 One time a year we get to do it, and that's what this upcoming week is. 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:17.360 Um what you see on screen here is uh this is just a visualization of where what we call the HCOS uh ecosystem. 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:20.320 If you can just skip the next slide, that'd be awesome. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:21.519 Perfect. 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:30.240 Um and uh this includes Flex Academy, and so this is our attempt to visualize everything that's going on in these schools. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:31.680 There's a lot. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:37.759 Um, every number dot on this graphic represents a whole department or program within the schools. 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:47.840 Um, and the important thing to know, and we'll unpack this a bit more in a few moments, is that everything that we do educationally falls on the spectrum of personalized learning. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:14:06.480 From traditional home learning in heritage to online courses, to in-person learning camps, to in-person one-day-a-week classes, all the way through to the hybrid model in Flex Academy, all of it is rooted in that course core concept, and we'll share more about that in a moment. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:28.240 Really quick before we do, the next step for us as an organization, as a school, is this real sense that we have a call to open up our doors to help further influence shifts in the education system, to come alongside other schools to support them, and making steps towards that personalized education I mentioned. 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:36.320 There's a real hunger out there right now in the education systems, and we're especially seeing it in Christian schools all over. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:40.960 Um a real recognition of a need that something needs to shift and change. 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:48.000 And often schools know that something needs to shift, but they don't necessarily know what or how that looks like, or it feels really daunting. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:15:03.759 And so we feel called with our experience and the capacity that we have just because of our size, that we can step into that gap, that we can come alongside small, medium, large Christian schools and help them also move in some of these directions. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:20.399 To do this, we're building the Nexus for Innovation Education, which is a purpose-built facility that'll be that flagship hybrid school, and also a place for thought leaders and innovators to come and learn and get trained in how to move more in a personalized learning direction. 00:15:21.040 --> 00:15:24.399 Um, I'm gonna pass it over to Sarah now, and she's gonna talk. 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:28.720 That's enough, that's the end of sort of the summary of the info and the data sort of a thing. 00:15:29.040 --> 00:15:43.200 And now we're gonna move into what we hope to share with you this morning, and she's gonna talk about our mission statement and how it contains the components of why we believe education, um, what we believe education is needed in our students today. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:49.040 So it's really fun to see you celebrate all your students going to CAP this summer. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:16:02.639 And we believe that Christian education is a partnership with families, um, and that's really the core of who we are, and we believe that Christian education at its root is celebrating uniquely who God has designed children to be. 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:14.960 And that's a real core of who we are in our school, and we think it's the root of why our schools have been so successful and why families keep bringing their children to us. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:36.160 And so when we formed our mission statement, that's what our talk is going to be centered on today, because we really think that when we formed our mission statement, we looked at the mission statement first of KCCS, our society's founding scripture, Isaiah 61, and then we asked ourselves as school leaders, what does it look like when we're doing our best work? 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:42.800 And today we're going to walk through what this mission statement looks like in action, because it's not just words on a slide. 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:48.080 We ask our staff to walk out this mission in the way that we work with families in our daily work. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:59.440 It's how we do Christian education, and we believe it's vitally important for how we prepare this generation of young people to be prepared for their futures in their this day and age. 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:09.200 So our mission statement is to develop innovative, Christ-centered educational opportunities for learners to explore and embrace God's unique purpose. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:23.279 So every single thing we do in education, regardless of where a student is in the province, who their educator is, who their educational assistant is, whether they're at Flex Academy or HCOS, this is how we walk out Christian education in our school. 00:17:23.360 --> 00:17:31.279 And it's very particular in how we do it, and we believe it's all around how God has uniquely designed every individual to be. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:35.360 So the first part of our mission statement is the word innovative. 00:17:35.600 --> 00:17:40.079 And why do we believe that the best possible Christian education should be innovative? 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:47.360 I think if you were to look at most fields of work that you were in 100 years ago, think about your own field of work. 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:52.799 And think about if you were to step back a hundred years, would it look the same as it does now? 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:56.720 You probably would see substantives change, right? 00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:00.000 Think of like manufacturing or farming. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:01.839 The changes have been significant. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:09.120 You couldn't walk into a car manufacturing plant today and expect it to look like it did a hundred years ago, right? 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:11.279 It looks wildly different. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:20.319 But if you were to look into a school classroom a hundred years ago and walk into a typical school classroom today, it would largely look the same. 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:27.519 Children at desks, listening to teachers speak from the front, and then consuming the knowledge that is given to them. 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:31.039 And we don't think this model is serving this generation well. 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:40.160 We don't think it's providing them with the quick critical thinking skills that they need to navigate a world where it's hard to know right now what is even true. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:47.600 Think of when kids look on a phone or they watch a reel, is it even real what they're looking at? 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:49.039 They can't even know. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:53.440 I think of all the things my mom will say, Did you see this on the internet? 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:57.759 And the amount of times I have to say to her, Mom, that's not even real. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:18:59.440 And she doesn't know. 00:18:59.600 --> 00:19:01.600 She can't, she doesn't know how to tell. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:08.319 And do you think our eight-year-olds, when they watch something on a on the phone, how do they know how to tell what's real? 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:14.720 And they also don't know how long something will stay true anymore. 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:20.799 What is true now and what is true next week is often changing so fast. 00:19:21.120 --> 00:19:26.480 Our pace of advancement, knowledge transmission, and change is so quick now. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:38.480 We thought the introduction of the internet was disruptive, then came social media, and now this generation is grappling with artificial intelligence, which is iterating at a mind-blowing pace. 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:53.680 And the risk that we run with sticking to a traditional education for this generation is that we risk sending them out into the world with a toolbox full of tools that don't work on the set of problems that they need to solve. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:20:07.680 When they reach into their toolbox with their tools from their K-12 education, what do they have to grab onto that will hold them steady, to use to grapple with the complexity of their generation's issues? 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:14.400 We're doing them a disservice if we don't start to rethink which tools we place in their toolbox. 00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:16.160 Are they adaptable tools? 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:21.039 Are they perhaps multi-tools instead of single-use tools? 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:30.960 Or perhaps we now need to teach them how to create their own tools, teaching them the components of good tools that can be put together in varying ways. 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:41.600 We owe it to our young people to equip them properly for their future by not being complacent ourselves, but by creating, iterating, and innovating along with them. 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:45.039 So that's our first goal, to be innovative. 00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:52.079 Christ centered. 00:20:52.799 --> 00:21:05.519 Never in history have the minds of our kids, as Sarah was alluding to, had such wide-ranging information ideologies and affirmation of ideas and belief systems as they do today. 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:13.279 And the cultural push into ideologies that are counter to God's design are prevalent, dominant, and relentless. 00:21:13.600 --> 00:21:36.079 The ideologies present in the world today, whether they're long-standing religious ones, sexual identity, value on humanity, or the variety of age-old self-focused pursuits, all of them are relentlessly pursuing the discipleship of their followers, constantly building a foundation of ideas that take root. 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:39.039 Christian schools aren't immune to this. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:51.120 And the purpose is never to attempt to build a fortress because that things that these ideas can't get into, both because it's impossible and because that's actually not our calling. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:22:08.319 What is vital about an educational journey centered on Christ as the foundation is that it provides students with a framework and worldview and value system and belief system that lays a foundation which roots them even when they stray. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:10.480 And sometimes they stray so far. 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:12.079 It's heart-wrenching. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:18.000 It provides an additional place of safety and love for kids to learn, grow, and fail. 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:22.640 It's not about protectionism, it's about foundation building. 00:22:23.360 --> 00:22:31.039 As a parent, I hold on to this promise so often up on the screen, Proverbs 22, 6. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:38.000 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:46.559 I remind myself constantly that this does not mean there won't be a season of departing, and it could be a long, painful season. 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:50.240 Ultimately, this of course first starts at home with parents. 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:54.720 But all of us who have raised kids know how vital it is to have a village. 00:22:54.960 --> 00:23:00.559 We've all experienced saying something 27 times and it's simply not registering. 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:08.400 And suddenly one day they hear the same thing from their teacher or pastor or auntie, and it's like they're hearing it for the first time and are convinced. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:17.039 While that can be maddening as a parent, it's also so relieving to know that there's other adults who deeply care and are speaking into our kids. 00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:23.759 So every year, our school director team meets for a few days of strategy and vision casting. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:29.519 During this time, we pray and discuss and come up with a school-wide focus for the coming year. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:32.000 So it's on the screen here. 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:36.880 This is our school-wide focus for this coming 26-27 school year. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:42.480 Christ is our firm foundation in every moment through every story. 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:44.880 This school has a story. 00:23:45.120 --> 00:23:54.240 The story has many ups and downs, triumphs and devastations, moments of peace, moments of peril, through it all, and we've said this over and over. 00:23:54.480 --> 00:24:05.759 This is not our school, it's not the staff's school, it's not the student's school, it's not the government's school, it's not the board's school, it's not the membership school, it's God's school. 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:10.880 His will is what we long for in this place, and it is what will happen. 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:14.640 Christ is our firm foundation as a school. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:35.039 Through every moment of the 22-year story of this place, speaking of Agecoast in particular, when we remember and when we forget, it's the foundation that has allowed for beautiful, complex educational structures to be built on, and it's withstood every storm, every earthquake, every fire, every expansion. 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:43.680 So our deeply held belief is that without Christ as the foundation, even the best education is missing a vital component. 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:53.920 The next aspect of our mission statement is to develop innovative, Christ-centered educational opportunities. 00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:55.839 So, what do we believe about learning? 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:59.440 We believe it should be fun, exciting, riveting even. 00:24:59.600 --> 00:25:13.279 There are so many ways to learn, and our education system as a whole is actually largely stuck in that old modality with limited recognition of all the ways of learning that takes uh place outside of our traditional classroom. 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:23.200 But thankfully, there's a movement growing, and we think we're actually a pretty big part of it, biggest school in Western Canada, remember, that we're trying to genuinely change this. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:25.120 I don't know what I just did. 00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:28.720 I just made all these crazy things pop up on the screen. 00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:29.759 There we go. 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:41.839 Um we think that we are seeking out an educational path that provides a variety of learning opportunities that can bring an increased level of satisfaction and a desire to learn for our students. 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:49.279 Our belief is that God has given both students and educators a dream of different kinds of gifts. 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:55.039 And if we can empower those gifts in our educators, if we can say, Can you dream of a program? 00:25:55.200 --> 00:26:11.519 And we empower them to do it, we empower them to actually grab onto those gifts God gave them, that we can empower different kinds of programming and opportunities that they can explore with students, then they will create learning opportunities that are truly inspiring and exciting. 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:20.000 And that will ignite and awaken a love of learning, a desire to explore God's creation, wherein God will reveal his character. 00:26:25.120 --> 00:26:26.559 And that is what we see. 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:35.360 We see Christian educators pouring their best into kids, drawing them towards Jesus, one lesson, one experience at a time. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:53.600 Because when educators are doing what they love and they're going into it wholeheartedly, kids can't help but be drawn into that too, because they see someone that loves what their craft, that's doing their best in their God-given gifts, and they just can't help but get drawn into that enthusiasm. 00:26:53.759 --> 00:27:01.600 And then when kids are allowed to pursue the things that they love within the context of school, then learning is no longer a battle. 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:03.759 We don't have to force the lesson. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:06.799 We ask kids, what do you want to learn more about? 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:11.839 And then we help them to build educational programming around that. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:24.400 And we see kids fall back in love with learning as they do something like build a guitar from scratch, write their own novel, create works of art, start small businesses, join ecology networks. 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:30.559 They try to learn something in who God has created them to be, then that is amplified. 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:33.680 Who they are is amplified in their unique design. 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:38.000 When they get to explore their interests, and they even get school credit for it. 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:48.960 It's been amazing to watch that kind of like unique design, that nugget of who God has built them to be in their character, amplify and flourish and grow. 00:27:49.120 --> 00:27:52.240 And then when they get school credit for it, it's all the better. 00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:54.319 On to the next slide. 00:27:55.759 --> 00:28:02.240 So we develop innovative, Christ-centered educational opportunities for learners to explore and embrace. 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:13.120 When you give kids a space while being guided to explore their learning in all areas, you result in a much higher likelihood they will end up actually embracing truth. 00:28:13.360 --> 00:28:20.880 At our schools, we try hard to find the balance between telling kids the truth and letting them discover the truth. 00:28:21.120 --> 00:28:27.200 We think it's really critical for students to genuinely own what they believe and learn. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:42.000 If belief systems stay as their parents or as their families and they don't transfer to their own, what we worry about is that they will flounder and not survive in their early working years and their early post-secondary years. 00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:45.839 Those are actually really crucial years in kids' faith. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:52.240 The first few years after K-12, their first years of working and their first years of post-secondary. 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:54.160 They're really crucial years. 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:58.720 Many young people walk away from Christianity in those few years. 00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:09.200 So what we hope is to be able to be a part of helping to provide the foundation that students can take with them out of K through 12 and into those years. 00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:15.680 Christian education provides a safe place for those foundational belief knowledge building to happen. 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:23.519 We encourage, especially in upper high school years, for students to read, to view, and to debate things. 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:27.440 Not only what they agree with, but things that they disagree with. 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:31.920 In our courses and with our teachers, we try to test kids' knowledge. 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:38.400 We ask them to learn the theories, yes, the Christian theory, but also all the other belief systems. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:41.680 Read them, learn them, debate them, answer them. 00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:47.200 It's important to know what you believe, but it's important to know what you what others believe. 00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:50.559 It's important to engage well with topics. 00:29:50.799 --> 00:30:01.519 It's also important to learn to disagree charitably, so that eventually you can help to be an influence for truth when you do become a person with influence. 00:30:01.759 --> 00:30:11.920 So that's a way we hope to partner and help kids to become thinkers so that when they leave, they leave with a faith with a strong enough foundation that it can remain intact. 00:30:13.600 --> 00:30:20.960 And then the final part of our mission statement is speaking about God's unique purpose. 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:31.200 The core belief behind our pursuit of personalized learning is that it matters because God has designed every single human being as a unique individual. 00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:33.759 No two people are the same. 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:41.839 So instead of kids fitting into our system, we flip that and ask how do we build a system that fits each kid? 00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:46.000 Now, of course, there are all sorts of things that everyone does need to learn. 00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:56.319 But there's also so much room for nuance and difference of emphasis and deeper exploration of areas of passion and opportunities for choice in the middle of learning. 00:30:56.559 --> 00:31:00.240 And the breadth of support students need is not all equal. 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:11.279 It's something that we see a huge impact of in our schools, both HCOS and Flux Academy, is the ability of the model to meet kids who need additional supports. 00:31:11.600 --> 00:31:16.640 And also to meet the needs of kids who are gifted and thriving and excelling in an area. 00:31:16.799 --> 00:31:20.400 Often traditional models can feel like it's holding those kids back. 00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:21.440 They get bored. 00:31:21.600 --> 00:31:24.400 And then there's other kids who need added support. 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:33.200 And we've seen how many of those students come to our schools as a place where they're able to find success even in the need of those supports. 00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:56.880 David was ahead of his time in the revelation he had of who God was and how God saw us. 00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:02.079 The Psalms are a profound collection of these understandings. 00:32:02.160 --> 00:32:10.240 And Psalm 139 in particular speaks to how God forms and designs and cares for each and every one of us. 00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:12.160 I'm going to do something a little different. 00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:27.920 And I'd like to ask that you take a moment and close your eyes and just listen to these words that David speaks, knowing that this is how God sees you. 00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:37.440 And it's how he sees every child in your world, whether you're a parent, a grandparent, uncle or aunt, friend, mentor. 00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:40.079 This is about you. 00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:42.559 This is about every one of those kids. 00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:58.079 God, I ask as I read your word that these words rest in our hearts today, both for our own understanding of who you of how you see us, and that we see others in this way as well. 00:32:58.799 --> 00:33:00.480 So Psalm 139. 00:33:01.120 --> 00:33:04.079 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:07.759 You know when I sit and when I rise. 00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:10.799 You perceive my thoughts from afar. 00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:14.319 You discern my going out and my lying down. 00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:16.880 You're familiar with all my ways. 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:21.279 Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely. 00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:26.559 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:32.160 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:35.200 Where can I go from your spirit? 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:38.000 Where can I flee from your presence? 00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:41.039 If I go up to the heavens, you are there. 00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:44.480 If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 00:33:44.799 --> 00:33:55.440 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 00:33:55.920 --> 00:34:08.719 If I say, Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you, and the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 00:34:09.039 --> 00:34:15.360 For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother's womb. 00:34:15.679 --> 00:34:20.079 I praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 00:34:20.399 --> 00:34:24.159 Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:32.079 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 00:34:32.319 --> 00:34:35.039 Your eyes saw my unformed body. 00:34:35.359 --> 00:34:40.879 All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 00:34:41.279 --> 00:34:47.279 How amazing are your thoughts concerning me, God! How vast is the sum of them. 00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:51.439 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. 00:34:51.679 --> 00:34:54.559 When I awake, I am still with you. 00:35:01.279 --> 00:35:18.399 That view of how God sees us is why we believe the extra effort is worth it that takes to help every unique student have a learning plan, have a learning journey that sees them as a uniquely designed individual by God. 00:35:19.279 --> 00:35:23.439 And it's what makes the extra work to do that so worth it. 00:35:33.839 --> 00:35:36.159 You can go to the last slide there, Deb. 00:35:37.679 --> 00:35:42.959 There's been ups and downs, profound successes and difficult failures. 00:35:43.279 --> 00:35:52.399 But to see over 800 staff from all over the province coming together to pursue this mission is incredibly rewarding. 00:35:53.119 --> 00:36:03.519 And now we get to see the beginnings of an opportunity to share this approach on education even more broadly with other schools all over, which is really humbling and exciting. 00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:19.039 So, on behalf of every one of our staff and the students and families they serve, thank you for being a community that places such high value on the establishment and pursuit of an innovative Christ-centered education. 00:36:19.679 --> 00:36:35.759 So that every learner who comes through our doors, whether they're physical doors, virtual doors, they encounter passionate, caring teachers and mentors intent on leading them on a journey of discovery of who God has uniquely designed them to be. 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:37.279 So thank you. 00:36:54.319 --> 00:36:57.359 How many of you are inspired today? 00:36:58.079 --> 00:36:59.279 What God can do? 00:36:59.519 --> 00:37:01.039 We kind of joke about it. 00:37:01.199 --> 00:37:04.159 We're not Langley, but we're Rutland. 00:37:04.799 --> 00:37:07.919 And uh good things can come out of Rutland. 00:37:08.159 --> 00:37:08.799 Amen? 00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:28.239 And uh what I'd like like I know that um I know that this may just seem like numbers, but out of a small place, and and don't the we know that the scripture says don't despise small beginnings. 00:37:28.480 --> 00:38:01.759 But there may be 9,000 students this year, but each student is affecting a brother, a sister, a family member, and uncle, that literally across uh BC today, there are tens of thousands of people who are being affected with a God-centered, Christ-centered approach to education, and they're bringing it home in some of the stories that like that I have of uh family members who have known of our school and sent their kids to the school, and the parents don't know Christ. 00:38:02.319 --> 00:38:08.959 And the the daughter comes home and she's sitting with her parents and she's teaching them how to pray at the table. 00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:15.599 And they're teaching she's teaching them how to sing the song of worship that they were learning in a chapel set. 00:38:16.079 --> 00:38:27.279 And so these kids are becoming the teachers to the parents, and the parents are having to like get ready to answer some of the questions that the kids have, as the kids are like, Mom, dad, did you know? 00:38:27.519 --> 00:38:31.359 And they're like, Yeah, so the teeth the kids are becoming the teachers. 00:38:32.719 --> 00:38:42.079 And God is using the mouths of the babes, mouths of the children, to affect families and homes in such a natural and brut and beautiful way. 00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:52.000 God's doing a beautiful thing, and uh you are a part of it, and we thank you, Craig, we thank you, Sarah, for your work and your effort toward this end. 00:38:52.159 --> 00:38:55.039 We bless you and we support you. 00:38:57.119 --> 00:38:59.519 Would you stand with me today? 00:39:00.319 --> 00:39:07.119 Let's just take a moment and uh if the band can come, they can come up while we pray. 00:39:07.279 --> 00:39:09.679 But Father, will you let's just bow our heads? 00:39:09.759 --> 00:39:22.079 And if you're thinking of a student today, maybe there's uh a child, a grandchild, uh a neighbor who's uh who's who's out there. 00:39:22.319 --> 00:39:29.039 Lord, would you place on our heart the same value for that unique design that you placed in us, Lord? 00:39:29.119 --> 00:39:32.959 Would you give us your eyes for others? 00:39:33.679 --> 00:39:36.799 To see others, Lord, the way you see us. 00:39:37.359 --> 00:39:51.039 And so today, Father, we open up our heart to receive from you, Lord, that that mindset, that eye, that perspective, Lord, that we are wonderfully made. 00:39:51.439 --> 00:39:54.559 We were put together in the secret place. 00:39:54.719 --> 00:40:04.559 Lord, you have a design and a purpose for each and every one of us, from the youngest to now the oldest, Lord. 00:40:04.719 --> 00:40:12.559 We have all been created for with that particular design, that unique design, and you've made it beautiful. 00:40:12.799 --> 00:40:17.119 You've set eternity in every heart and in every soul. 00:40:17.279 --> 00:40:27.439 And despite the season that a child or a student or a family member may be going through, Father, we know that you make all things beautiful in your time. 00:40:27.759 --> 00:40:29.919 And so, Father, today we lift them up. 00:40:30.079 --> 00:40:33.279 Would you just lift up that person that's on your heart today? 00:40:33.439 --> 00:40:39.519 Even if it's a child or a grandchild, just call them by name right now. 00:40:39.599 --> 00:40:40.799 Just bring them before God. 00:40:40.959 --> 00:40:42.959 Lord, we lift them up today. 00:40:43.199 --> 00:40:45.439 I lift up my kids, Father. 00:40:45.759 --> 00:40:50.399 Evangeline, Caden, Judah, Lord, I lift them up before you today. 00:40:50.639 --> 00:40:52.480 Thank you for the unique gift. 00:40:52.639 --> 00:40:55.039 May I see them the way you see them. 00:40:55.359 --> 00:41:10.000 May I inspire and encourage and cause them to be uh cause them to explore your heart, Lord, through your spirit where the deep calls them to deep. 00:41:10.639 --> 00:41:15.439 And they understand you in a richer and more fulfilled way. 00:41:15.679 --> 00:41:19.039 We thank you, Lord, that we're loved by you. 00:41:19.279 --> 00:41:22.159 We thank you that your banner over us is love. 00:41:22.639 --> 00:41:26.959 Lord, you have a purpose and a beautiful plan for each one of us. 00:41:27.199 --> 00:41:31.679 And we thank you, Lord, that this isn't the end, it's the beginning. 00:41:31.919 --> 00:41:35.519 You're you're working things out to completion. 00:41:35.759 --> 00:41:37.839 You do a good work in us. 00:41:38.239 --> 00:41:40.480 We are your workmanship. 00:41:40.879 --> 00:41:44.799 We are made by the the master's hands. 00:41:45.279 --> 00:41:50.319 Father, we are we're put together by your will and your way. 00:41:50.719 --> 00:41:55.199 And Father, may we operate, may we move in that direction. 00:41:55.279 --> 00:42:04.799 And today, Lord, we lift up our those teachers, we lift up those staff members who are coming into this place to in the next week. 00:42:04.959 --> 00:42:10.480 We're filling every room and every all the gymnasium and the classes in the field. 00:42:10.719 --> 00:42:31.839 Father, as people flood this place, Lord, may your spirit anoint them to be instructors, to to to push and to invest and to impose your spirit, imprint your spirit on the hearts of these young students that are across BC. 00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:34.639 May their lives, Lord, be affected. 00:42:34.799 --> 00:42:44.719 And may they sense, Lord, your spirit with them and walk with you and co-laboring with you, Lord, to support families in our province. 00:42:44.959 --> 00:42:46.399 In Jesus' name. 00:42:46.639 --> 00:42:48.879 We thank you, Lord, for your word. 00:42:49.119 --> 00:42:50.719 We thank you for your work. 00:42:50.879 --> 00:42:59.679 We thank you for the beginning of something, Lord, that's continuing to grow and continue to uh develop, Lord, in this place. 00:42:59.839 --> 00:43:18.000 May your hand and your wind of your spirit be behind it, Lord, to push it forward and disrupt, Lord, the current education models of today, Lord, so that your focus, the foundation of Christ, may be imposed on education. 00:43:18.239 --> 00:43:19.679 In Jesus' name. 00:43:19.919 --> 00:43:21.439 We thank you, Father. 00:43:21.759 --> 00:43:22.399 Amen. 00:43:22.959 --> 00:43:26.799 Let's just take a moment and close in song today.