School Ministries: Reaching Children through Released Time Bible Education

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News from School Ministries, Inc.

June 2010

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In this issue
-- New Board Members Welcomed
-- 2010 SMI Conference Best Ever
-- Webinars Available
-- Looking for the Right Curriculum?
-- TIPPS Features RTBE and SMI
-- Welcome VWRE!
-- Chamber of Commerce Opens Doors
-- Statistics Corner
-- Hearing from Our Students
-- Research Agenda
-- Conference Reports
-- SMI: Did you know...

Share the good news! The Report Card. Please forward this issue to your volunteers and anyone else you think should know about RTBE (Released Time Bible Education). Anyone can sign up to be on the e-mail list for future copies by registering on the SMI website at www.schoolministries.org

 

New Board Members Welcomed

 

Three people have recently been appointed to the Board of School Ministries (SMI). Collectively they bring to the Board decades of experience from the worlds of business and Christian education as well as wide experience in building and offering Released Time Bible Education programs. School Ministries Board Chairman, James F. O'Bryon said, "It is with pleasure that we welcome these people to our Board as they bring with them a dedication to and expertise that will strengthen our efforts to grow into a truly national organization."

Join us in welcoming Hunter Howard, Laura Hucks and James Swezey to the SMI Board.

S. Hunter Howard, Jr.
After managing his own CPA firm, Mr. Howard served as a member in the SC House from 1974 to 1982, was appointed Chairman of the SC Tax Commission by two governors, and served as President and CEO of the SC Chamber of Commerce. He joined Scott McElveen CPAs in 2008 as their Corporate Advisory Partner. Mr. Howard has received numerous awards including the Order of the Palmetto and the Outstanding CPA in Business & Industry Award from the SC Association of CPAs. He served as chair of the national Council of State Chambers and currently serves on a number of boards and councils including the SC Commission on Higher Education Business Advisory Council, the US Chamber Accreditation Board, the Clemson University ICAR Economic Development Advisory Council, and the S.C. Association of Nonprofit Organizations. He resides in Simpsonville, SC, with his wife Martha. They have four married children and four grandchildren.

Laura Hucks
Laura Hucks was introduced to School Ministries in 1999 and established Horry County's first released-time class which began in 2001. It grew and eventually was renamed Coastal School Ministries. Over the last nine years, Ms. Hucks has passionately worn every released-time ministry "hat"-from founder and board member to bus driver and teacher. For four years, she has taught the high-school level for-credit released-time class. Ms. Hucks is actively involved in ongoing discipleship opportunities where she is a participant as well as a teacher in her home church, Palmetto Shores. She has a love of God's Word and a passion for bringing the hope of Christ to teens that makes her a natural fit for released-time ministry. She graduated Cum Laude from Miami University where she received her Bachelor of Science in Education Degree in Special Education. She moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in 1991. After eight years of teaching special education in Horry County public schools, Laura resigned to stay at home with her own children.

James Swezey
Dr. James Swezey is on the faculty at Regent University in Virginia where among his duties he teaches courses on philosophy of education, biblical integration, leadership, and apologetics. He received his doctorate in Educational Leadership from George Fox University. Over the past 20 years he also served as a pastor with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, a high school Bible and history teacher, and a Christian school administrator. He has served on several accreditation teams, conducting program evaluations, for the Association of Christian Schools International. He is a regular presenter at leading education research conferences and regularly publishes articles related to K-12 and higher education in peer-reviewed journals. He is married to Jolene and has three teenage children.

 

2010 SMI Conference Best Ever

 

Saving Lives for Eternity was the theme for the 2010 annual School Ministries conference, and participants left the event inspired by the challenge of theme speaker and SMI Board member Dr. Glen Schultz that "Those who want children the most will win them!"

Those who turned in their feedback forms echoed the above. All but one respondent rated the conference as excellent in terms of the overall quality; and all but two rated the conference as excellent in terms of usefulness to their effort. (Ratings and written comments on all segments of the event will be studied as a foundation for planning next year's conference.)

A special time each year is when affiliates report on how God is working through their programs followed by small group prayer. One evaluator wrote: "The reports were so diverse but so directed by God - We are all in the same boat and that is a comfort! The prayer time was so powerful. The Holy Spirit embraced the room."

A long list of appreciation notes was given out to participants and is too long to repeat here. However, special thanks must again be given to our presenters as well as Janice Butler and her Greenville team who hosted this event. The planning committee was made up of Janice, Mack Edwards, Ailena Geddes and SMI staff member Patricia Breivik.

(For additional information on three of the program sessions, see the conference reports at the end of the newsletter.)

 

Webinars Available

 

For the first time, several webinars were filmed at the annual conference and are available for post-conference viewing by SMI Affiliates through SMI's Members' Zone website. The three sessions are: the conference key note presentation, Keeping it Legal and Keeping it Safe (insurance).

These webinars consist of the filming of the speakers and the showing of PowerPoint presentations for two sessions where PowerPoint were used. The webinars were created to allow conference participants to review sessions they attended and to share the presentations with other staff and/or board members. They can be helpful as kick-offs for discussions at staff and board meetings.

To access the webinars, just go to www.schoolmi nistries.org and log on to the Members' Zone where indicated. (If you are an Affiliate but have forgotten your logo address and pass code, call Cindy at 803-865-5665.)

 

Looking for the Right Curriculum?

 

Are you thinking about a curriculum change? Are you looking for a better curriculum? Do you have curriculum material that works well for your program? If your answer is yes to any of these questions, you will soon be invited to complete a curriculum review form to include in a new webpage service to be made available to School Ministries (SMI) Affiliates late this summer.

This curriculum review service will be an outgrowth of Affiliates' requests for recommendations on curricula that have worked well in other programs. A curriculum workshop last October developed a list of criteria on which Released Time Bible Education (RTBE) curricula should be measured, and this list was finalized at the March SMI conference.

This service will also alert Affiliates to new curricula. From time-to-time SMI receives curriculum materials that seem promising for use in RTBE programs. When this happens, the materials will be reviewed by several Affiliates and a pre-use review will be provided from their combined comments.

Affiliates will receive notice when the SMI website is ready to receive reviews. Then it will be up to Affiliates to complete forms on materials they have used in their programs. We want to have reviews on all the materials your program has used highlighting both the strengths and the weaknesses of each. Bottom line is that, with Affiliates' help, we can save RTBE programs lots of time and effort in seeking the right curriculum for their programs.

 

TIPPS Features RTBE and SMI

 

SMI Board Chair, James O'Byron, recoded several one minute interviews with Dr. Bill Ziegler on April 20 for a program called TIPPS (Teaching in Public and Private Schools). The TIPPS program is a ministry outreach of the Christian Educators Association International (CEAI).

Each one minute interview involves a brief discussion on an aspect of School Ministries and Released Time Bible Education. Ziegler sends these interviews to CEAI's headquarters in Westlake, OH, for editing and distribution for broadcasting in nearly every state in the USA.

It is not known when these spot announcements will be aired but current TIPPS radio spots can be heard online at www.billziegl er@gmail.com. Please pray that these interviews will help raise national visibility for RTBE and inspire many people to initiate new programs.

 

Welcome VWRE!

 

School Ministries newest member is the Virginia Weekly Religious Education Association. Released Time programs were initiated in the United States in 1914 and came to Rockbridge County, VA, in 1938. Currently 20 local VWRE councils are supported by donations from churches, civic organizations, businesses and individuals. Together they are providing Biblical instruction to more than 12,000 students in 85 elementary schools in Virginia.

Many of those at the March SMI conference got the opportunity to meet several VWRE leaders. Participating in the conference were the VWRE Board of Directors President Roger Goughnour and his wife, Mildred, as well as JoAnne Shirley who serves as State Director and Teacher Advocate.

 

Chamber of Commerce Opens Doors

 

The Cherokee County (SC) Chamber of Commerce continued a tradition begun last year as it held its January "Business after Hours" for the purpose of focusing on non-profits. The event was held at the First Baptist Church in Gaffney. Thirty not-for-profit organizations from Cherokee County were invited. Cherokee School Ministries (CSM) was one of those invited.

CSM Board Chair Phyllis Jones says that they were able to showcase their contributions to the community by handing out new promotional flyers and answering questions. It was a great opportunity to meet with representatives of the non-profit sector and members of the business community who did not know about the ministry. CSM personnel met people who were interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities and spoke with a couple of folks from other churches that are interested in assisting their program.

Does your local Chamber of Commerce sponsor a nonprofit event each year? Is your RTBE program included? If not, you might want to find a champion to start such a tradition.

 

Statistics Corner

 

From time to time, SMI Affiliates look for reliable quotes they can use in documenting the environment that confronts our young people. In response to those needs, a Statistics Corner will be included in this and future issues of this newsletter. Please alert us to statistics that you have found useful, so we can share them with other RTBE personnel.)

 

Recently SMI staff read some startling statistics that underscore the importance of Released Time Bible Education programs in reaching unchurched children and their parents. These quotes are taken from "Lost in America: Helping Your Friends Find Their Way Home" written by Tom Clegg and Warren Bird. Their article appears in the Winter 2001 issue of the Journal of the American Society for Church Growth.

  • "...half the churches across the United States did not record the conversion of one person last year."

  • "In America, it takes the combined efforts of eighty-five Christians working over an entire year to produce one convert."

  • "Here on American soil, every other religion is gaining converts while Christianity is losing them."

Hearing from Our Students

 

Nothing warms hearts more than hearing the testimonies of students about how God is working in their lives through Released Time Bible Education. Please keep sending those quotes in!

Here are a few reported last December from students in the Coastal Ministries program.

  • I now know what my faith is all about... Kiely

  • I have been in released-time since the 6th grade and it has had a big impact on my life. It has taught me a lot about God and has brought me closer to Him...Aspen

  • You don't know how much released-time has changed my life. At a young age I was discombobulated, but released-time introduced me to Jesus...Mason

  • I really feel like my walk with Jesus has strengthened...Margaret

Research Agenda

 

One of the important roles School Ministries plays is to initiate research related to Released Time Bible Education (e.g., how does RTBE impact on students' academic performance) and to locate and share with Affiliates independent research on RTBE Now with support from its Board, School Ministries is defining a research agenda for the decade.

SMI Affiliates are encouraged to share their ideas about research topics of particular interest to their programs and to report on any local research projects they may be conducting. Just email Patricia at patricia@schoolministries.org.

 

Conference Reports

(This year for the first time, volunteers - all from the Christian Learning Center of Greenville County - were recruited to serve as Conference Facilitators for parallel sessions. Their responsibilities included "hosting" conference presenters, making sure that sessions started and ended on time and providing short reports on the session discussed. Reports that have been received appear below, and we are grateful for the work done by these Conference Facilitators.)

 

Session: Understanding Insurance Issues
Presenters: Andy Cooley & Jeff Darling, Cooley and Darling Insurance Agency
In his presentation, Mr. Darling stated that insurance is a process. He answered the following three questions: Do I really need Insurance? Do I really need all of that Insurance? Do I really need to pay that much for Insurance? Mr. Cooley's discussion covered risk management involving analysis, control, financing, and program implementation. This was a very informative and worthwhile session. --May Ann Kennedy

Session: Counseling Students to Salvation
Presenter: Woody Simpson, CEF ministry Greenville, SC
This was an excellent presentation on how to know when a student is ready to receive Christ. Mr. Simpson gave the necessary questions for a teacher to ask in order to determine if the student is ready to have that personal saving relationship with Jesus Christ. After determining if a child is ready, then Mr. Simpson gave the steps in presenting the gospel. Follow up plans were given to aid the student in growing in his new relationship with Christ. --Faye Thompson

Session: RTBE Programs: Key Issues
Presenter: Jennifer Miller, SMI Ohio State Director
Issues that were raised for discussion included:
Finances; Cooperation-State/Local; Curriculum; Publicity/Community Relations; and Transportation. Finances - Jennifer described a program that had a $6,500.00 budget which increased to $18,000.00 in a year. The following are some of the things that worked.

  • Good communication with the churches & supporters.

  • Public appearances- bringing a student with you when possible.

  • Publicity/radio.

  • Cooperate with other ministries that have same interest.

  • Don't underestimate the power of prayer! If it is of God, God will provide.

  • Several people had questions concerning a newsletter. Ken suggested no more than once a month, because of costs of staff time involved and costs of mailing.

Curriculum - To enhance teaching/learning the following were suggested.

  • Cut things that are not contributing to main point.

  • Stick with one main point.

  • Building relationships with students is very important.

  • Some kids are not as churched as others which makes it hard to reach everyone.

  • Repeat and then repeat again.

  • Ken recommended Communicating for Change by Andy Stanley as a great book on effective teaching.

  • Titles in hymnals can be a source for coming up with new topics.

Transportation - Jennifer suggested going to School Ministries for information on this subject. --Mary Beth McWhorter

 

SMI: Did you know...

 

Contact Information

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email: newsletter@schoolministries.org

web: http://www.schoolministries.org

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