Cumberlite - 2012 Winter
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<strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
To Serve…<br />
Greg Gerard, Principal<br />
Most any GCA student should be able to easily<br />
recite the mission statement of Georgia-Cumberland<br />
Academy—”To Know, To Love, To Serve.<br />
Those six words are the shortened version of our<br />
goal for every student and staff member of this school.<br />
“The mission of Georgia-Cumberland Academy is to<br />
foster an educational environment of excellence where<br />
students, faculty and staff pursue a shared quest: To<br />
know Jesus as Savior and Friend, To love God and<br />
those He Brings into our lives, To serve the church<br />
and society.”<br />
While we could expound on any of those statements,<br />
we want to specifically focus on the third statement—To<br />
Serve—in this <strong>Winter</strong> edition of the <strong>Cumberlite</strong>.<br />
Kids learn by doing. Learning to serve is more<br />
than a theoretical educational experience. We believe<br />
that most of us are not, by nature, service-oriented.<br />
Let’s face it. We live in a “me first” culture. Fallen<br />
humans are first and foremost selfish. To work toward the<br />
accomplishment of the third part of our mission statement,<br />
we offer students the opportunity to learn to serve by serving.<br />
How do we do that?<br />
Every year there are many opportunities for students to get<br />
connected to service opportunities. Some are required, some are<br />
voluntary. Community service days occur regularly throughout<br />
the school year and are organized by our chaplain’s office. In<br />
addition, Sabbath afternoon activities are often service-related,<br />
taking students into the local community to serve and help.<br />
Short term mission trips take place each year: one to serve zero<br />
or low income people in Appalachia with home improvements;<br />
another to the Caribbean or Central America to build churches,<br />
work in orphanages or schools, conduct health clinics and/or<br />
conduct evangelism programming; and the third short term<br />
mission opportunity is a new endeavor to team up with ADRA<br />
Katie Birge and Carolita Claus experienced the joy of service on their<br />
trip to Thailand last spring (see story on pg. 7).<br />
in Thailand and China.<br />
In this issue you will hear about GCA<br />
alumni who are serving in various capacities<br />
locally and around the world. You will also<br />
hear about some of the service opportunities<br />
our students enjoy. While we only have<br />
space to focus on a few of our alumni who<br />
are serving, there are many others who are<br />
making significant contributions to God’s<br />
kingdom and to the world through their lives<br />
of service. Thank you to each of our GCA<br />
alumni who have chosen a life of service!<br />
As you read this issue of the <strong>Cumberlite</strong>,<br />
we hope you will be inspired to think about<br />
your own life and the impact you are having<br />
on the people around you through a life of<br />
service.<br />
This Issue Sweeney’s Garden 2-3 For the Love of Kids 4<br />
Making Deposits 5 “Ok, God” 6 New Ways to Serve 7 GCA Reconnects 9 Alumni<br />
Weekend 10 Alumni Updates 11 Information 12<br />
397 Academy Dr. Calhoun, GA 30701 • Phone: 706-629-4591 • Fax: 706-629-1272 • www.gcasda.org
Sweeney’s Garden<br />
Four years ago the grace of Christ commandeered the lives<br />
of Rustin and Stacy Sweeney and propelled their family to a<br />
place where some in the church might say they shouldn’t have<br />
gone, the “other side of the tracks.”<br />
“We were compelled by the love of Jesus,” explains Rustin,<br />
“to flesh out what it means to be true followers of Jesus as we<br />
moved from one of the more prestigious areas of Atlanta to one<br />
of the more economically challenged areas.” In their choice to<br />
become downwardly mobile they simply wanted to follow the<br />
example of Jesus, who didn’t commute, but relocated.<br />
“These zip codes have the highest rates of addiction,<br />
crime, child abuse, abandoned houses, and displaced<br />
peoples,” Rustin says. “These are areas marked by<br />
economic disparity, unethical practices, and unconcern.”<br />
What would happen when they followed Jesus to<br />
a place where distinctions of race, socioeconomics, and<br />
cultural identity are firmly embedded? Among other<br />
things, their experience has shown the Sweeneys a deep<br />
need for their own souls to be filled with the Spirit of<br />
Christ.<br />
Guests pause for prayer during one of the neighborhood events hosted by the<br />
Sweeneys.<br />
So how did you go from what many might call<br />
a “normal” life to one of Atlanta’s economically<br />
challenged neighborhoods?<br />
Stacy and I had been married for a couple years<br />
and were fully connected to a church. We were<br />
doing spiritual things—going to church on Sabbath,<br />
teaching Sabbath school, spending time with the<br />
young adults, participating in potlucks, talking about<br />
the Bible, planning a seminary stint. But even with all<br />
the church stuff, if you had placed our lives next to<br />
the life of Jesus you would’ve clearly seen that they<br />
looked nothing alike.<br />
Stacy and I started haphazardly praying for our<br />
blended family to receive new eyes and new experiences<br />
that would reflect the prayer in Revelation 3:18.<br />
As we prayed, we started getting a better<br />
understanding of what we were supposed to do, and in<br />
the beginning of 2007 we went through the Organic<br />
Greenhouse training that Bill and Jan Levin conducted<br />
for the Georgia-Cumberland Conference [GCC]. (Bill<br />
is the GCC director of global evangelism and church<br />
planting.)<br />
After about a year of working closely with our<br />
family the Levins asked if we would be willing to start<br />
an initiative of planting house churches in apartment<br />
buildings, specifically to reach the large number of<br />
Caucasian urban apartment dwellers, very similar to<br />
where we were living at the time.<br />
I really have to praise God for what happened,<br />
though, because sometime between their asking us to<br />
start this ministry and the time we actually<br />
signed the papers with the GCC, God led<br />
us into this hard left turn to start searching<br />
out apartments that were nothing like us.<br />
That was a pretty big leap of faith.<br />
First, I want to say that a big deal<br />
shouldn’t be made of it—plenty of families<br />
have been living in our area their entire lives,<br />
and no one has ever come up to them, patted<br />
their backs, and said “good job”—perhaps if<br />
we did, it would provide an opportunity to<br />
love more people for Christ.<br />
Second, it’s difficult to describe how we<br />
got where we are because it was such a God<br />
thing. We are just an ordinary family, there’s<br />
nothing special about us, but we have issues.<br />
We don’t deserve to be where we are.<br />
Stacy and I both come from dysfunctional families<br />
that suffered from addiction and alcoholism, and until<br />
we accepted help for our own addictions and “isms”<br />
we had only three choices in life: jails, institutions,<br />
or death.<br />
When I was in academy in 1991, I was [expelled].<br />
I was more likely to desecrate a church than speak at<br />
one. But 16 years later Stacy and I were standing in<br />
the Georgia-Cumberland Conference on my birthday,<br />
signing papers to start a new ministry for the church.<br />
2 the <strong>Cumberlite</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2012</strong>
God started it all by redeeming our lives. It<br />
cannot be explained how people like us end<br />
up in a place like this without some serious<br />
rearrangement of our lives through the power<br />
of Jesus.<br />
How do you bring your experiences—<br />
and your faith—to your ministry and<br />
into your community?<br />
God has called on all believers to weave<br />
into our lives of faith a genuine concern for<br />
the least of these. When I discovered this, I<br />
searched the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy to see if it<br />
was true (see Signs of the Times, Feb. 3, 1890, and Matt.<br />
25:40). I was absolutely floored by my findings. Caught<br />
up in conversations about what people should eat or<br />
wear, we have totally failed to notice that people are<br />
starving, naked, and hurting just down the street.<br />
In Testimonies for the Church Ellen White said, “It<br />
is working together with Christ that is true worship”<br />
(vol. 2, p. 24). Helping the needy, clothing the naked,<br />
bringing the homeless into our house . . . that’s genuine.<br />
And so her statement became what we could call a<br />
mission statement.<br />
Give me a few examples of this in action.<br />
Everything we do is with an eye to bless our<br />
neighbors and community. If I’m taking our boys rock<br />
climbing, then I’m taking the neighborhood kids. If<br />
we’re tutoring the boys in math, then we’re tutoring<br />
kids from the neighborhood. If I pray at my meals and<br />
we’ve got people over, they pray too.<br />
I have a young people’s group called 5:55 that<br />
started because I caught a bunch of the neighborhood<br />
kids smoking. Sometimes I run a young men’s group<br />
called Safe House, which started from a trip I took<br />
eight young men on to see Cirque du Soleil. We take<br />
camping trips, rock climbing trips, air shows, carriage<br />
rides, and visits to the country. This past summer I<br />
Stacy Sweeney with neighborhood kids at one of their special summer events.<br />
was the pool monitor for our apartments—that’s 13<br />
hours a week that I’m earning the right to influence.<br />
This September Stacy handed out cucumbers for<br />
a few days and taught neighbor women out in the<br />
gazebo how to make bruschetta . . . There are literally<br />
thousands of interactions we have had with the people<br />
in our neighborhood, all because we are willing to be<br />
intentional with our time and hang out.<br />
Our goal as a ministry and family is to hold a<br />
monthly event for all the people in our community—<br />
simple things such as a watermelon and peaches<br />
party, Thanksgiving dinner, roller skating and pizza,<br />
a Christmas party (we call it Mas Christ), waffles and<br />
fresh-squeezed orange juice breakfast—anything that<br />
enables us to have more face time with people.<br />
So you have the support, it seems, from the<br />
community. In what other ways do you receive<br />
support?<br />
We have been blessed with the resource of time.<br />
(As a personal trainer, I’m able to make my own<br />
hours.) Most of our operating support comes from my<br />
clients—we give our time, and they help us financially<br />
when we hold bigger events, such as Mas Christ or<br />
our Thanksgiving dinner. I have clients that said they<br />
would never support a Christian organization no matter<br />
what, but they donate every year. It’s interesting—God<br />
didn’t remove me from the wealthy area of town; I still<br />
work there about 20 hours a week. There is something<br />
about our story that speaks to my clients about real<br />
Christianity.<br />
I have to ask, since it is one of the first things<br />
you started in the community as a way to bring<br />
people together. What is your favorite thing<br />
about the community garden?<br />
I don’t like gardening. It’s not in my DNA, and<br />
I have no prior gardening experience, so it is a real<br />
struggle for me. I hate the hot Atlanta summers, the<br />
pests, the lack of knowledge I have, but God has told<br />
Continued on page 8<br />
<strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2012</strong> the <strong>Cumberlite</strong> 3
While we often equate service with selfless acts<br />
for causes far from home, many of our alumni find<br />
ways to serve in their local communities, churches<br />
and neighborhoods.<br />
Three local alumni have found ways to make a<br />
difference in the lives of young people by volunteering<br />
their services at GCA.<br />
Travis Epperson (Class of 1999), and Clint and<br />
Shannon (Courey) Higginbotham (Classes of 1999<br />
and 1997, respectively) have been volunteering with<br />
GCA sports programs for<br />
several years now and<br />
their service is greatly<br />
appreciated by both staff<br />
and students.<br />
Coach Wally Fox,<br />
long-time athletic<br />
director at GCA, taught<br />
Travis, Clint and Shannon<br />
when they were students<br />
in his P.E. classes and<br />
now enjoys working with<br />
them as peers. Coach Fox<br />
knows that we couldn’t<br />
offer the range of sports<br />
opportunities for the kids<br />
if it weren’t for volunteers.<br />
Recently he reflected on<br />
the impact these three<br />
individuals are having.<br />
“Travis Epperson has<br />
spent many hours working<br />
with the gymnastics team.<br />
For the Love of Kids<br />
Shannon (Courey) Higginbotham<br />
loves volunteering at GCA because<br />
of the relationships she is able to<br />
build with kids.<br />
He was head coach of the team for some years and has<br />
assisted for a few more years, volunteering his time to<br />
help us produce a quality gymnastics program.<br />
Clint and Shannon Higginbotham have both given<br />
an unbelievable amount of time to the sports programs<br />
at GCA. Clint has served as head coach for our soccer<br />
team for several years and has also been assistant coach<br />
of the gymnastics team, while Shannon has assisted<br />
with the gymnastics team. Their volunteer work shows<br />
an amazing dedication to the young people at GCA<br />
and I am greatly appreciative of their help!”<br />
When asked why they give their time and energy<br />
to help out with gymnastics and soccer, Clint and<br />
Shannon replied, “Shortly after getting married in<br />
2003 we offered to volunteer with the gymnastics<br />
team. Following the death of Brandon Moor (a former<br />
task force chaplain who was killed in a car accident<br />
while on the staff at GCA), who organized the soccer<br />
team in 2004, I (Clint) received the invitation from<br />
Coach Fox and some of the players to become the<br />
new soccer coach—an invitation I eagerly accepted.”<br />
Recalling the influence of young adults on their<br />
own lives when teenagers, Shannon and Clint agreed<br />
they would like to be that influence in kids’ lives, too.<br />
“After we were married we agreed that this was a<br />
mission we wanted to do. Working with<br />
the kids has been such a great blessing for<br />
both of us.” They love the relationships<br />
they build with kids that lasts through the<br />
years. Shannon says, “I love the way the<br />
team becomes part of our family every<br />
year!” Clint loves how the kids keep him<br />
on his game and make him feel younger.<br />
“Who doesn’t love that?!”<br />
Travis Epperson, who has worked with<br />
the gymnastics team almost continually<br />
since 2000, gives of his time because, “First<br />
and foremost I love coaching! I started<br />
because I loved Acrosports, but quickly<br />
realized that my true love was coaching.<br />
The excitement that the students get when<br />
they learn something new or do well in a<br />
performance is catching and I love every<br />
minute of it. I also<br />
love the interaction<br />
with the students.<br />
Those relationships<br />
often last long after<br />
they leave GCA…<br />
and it’s an amazing<br />
thing to be able to be<br />
a part of their lives<br />
and to have helped<br />
them grow in some<br />
way. I am blessed by<br />
the opportunity that<br />
I have in being able<br />
to help out at GCA.”<br />
Travis Epperson volunteers his time and<br />
Bruce Boggess,<br />
expertise with the GCA gymnastics GCA teacher and<br />
team because of his love of coaching and gymnastic head coach<br />
the relationships he is able to build with<br />
young people. Continued on page 8<br />
4 the <strong>Cumberlite</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2012</strong>
Making Deposits in the Lives of People<br />
Stuart King, Class of 2004<br />
Stuart King, Class of 2004,<br />
at his Peace Corps swearing-in<br />
ceremony.<br />
Service often looks<br />
a lot like the coin jar<br />
we keep on the corner<br />
of our desk. Deposits<br />
aren’t usually planned<br />
nor do they occupy any<br />
significant portion of<br />
our daily thoughts. But<br />
with time, the clearing of<br />
that annoyingly loud and<br />
surprisingly heavy metal in<br />
our pockets begins to fill<br />
the jar, and our personal<br />
economy gives us a hint of satisfaction.<br />
I knew at a fairly young age that service needed<br />
to be more than an afterthought. I didn’t know how,<br />
but I wanted to put myself in situations in which life,<br />
work, and service were one and the same. My family<br />
roots stretch deep into the medical field so that would<br />
have been a good place to start had the sight of blood<br />
not made me queasy. Instead I settled on the wonderful<br />
world of business, finance, and statistics. How exactly<br />
this would get me to where I wanted, I wasn’t quite<br />
sure.<br />
While in college I would often tell people I<br />
was interested in international development. That<br />
sounded like service to me and would usually elicit<br />
an agreeable response, but at that point I had no clue<br />
what international development was or how a young<br />
college kid could get involved.<br />
My solution to the service question and getting a<br />
professional service career off the ground led me to the<br />
Peace Corps. I made the decision to join as I finished<br />
up my last semester at Southern Adventist University,<br />
simultaneously submitting my<br />
applications to the Peace Corps<br />
and graduate school. I was<br />
accepted to the University of<br />
Denver, and after an internship at<br />
World Vision, I began my studies<br />
in Global Finance, Trade, and<br />
Economics. In my final quarter<br />
at Denver I received my official<br />
invitation to Peace Corps to serve<br />
as a Community Development<br />
volunteer in Ukraine. I accepted<br />
and cold weather preparation<br />
began immediately.<br />
Stuart with host brother, Yura and his host<br />
mother, Natasha.<br />
I arrived in Ukraine in March 2011 to culture<br />
shock that has only slightly subsided and a seemingly<br />
impenetrable wall otherwise known as the Russian<br />
language. After three months of intensive language<br />
training and four months at an English language<br />
camp on the Black Sea coast, I finally made it to my<br />
permanent work site of Izmail, Odessa Oblast. Izmail is<br />
a city of 70,000 residents situated in the far southwest<br />
corner of Ukraine on the Danube River and Romanian<br />
border. My hosting organization is the Izmail Fund<br />
for Entrepreneurship Support, and my primary job<br />
responsibilities include English training, grant writing,<br />
and program design and management. Planned projects<br />
for this coming year include a community-wide<br />
HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaign, the<br />
construction of a new playground for mentally and<br />
physically disabled children, and the opening of a<br />
resource center to teach valuable life skills to children<br />
at the local orphanage.<br />
Ukraine is a land of rich culture, history, and<br />
tradition. I do not even pretend to understand it all and<br />
have learned to eat whatever is put in front of me without<br />
asking where it came from (you learn quickly that once<br />
you know it’s raw pig fat it becomes ten times harder<br />
to swallow it down). Peace Corps’ work in Ukraine is<br />
unique in that Ukraine is a transitional economy, and<br />
thus much more developed than places such as rural<br />
Africa. This means I have hot water, electricity, and<br />
even high-speed Internet, but it also means the fruits<br />
of my labor aren’t so easily observed. I’ve often asked<br />
myself what kind of difference I am truly making in<br />
the lives of the people I work with. I might not be<br />
changing the world, but I trust the spirit of Peace Corps<br />
service will influence those I come in contact with and<br />
will foster a stronger human bond<br />
across cultures. I am proud to be a<br />
Peace Corps volunteer and serve<br />
my country. It comes with sacrifice<br />
and a slew of personal challenges,<br />
and even though failure is more<br />
common than success, Peace Corps<br />
service has given me exactly what I<br />
was looking for.<br />
Stuart King can be reached at<br />
sdking49@gmail.com should you have<br />
further questions about his work with the<br />
Peace Corps or if you would like to access<br />
his blog.<br />
<strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2012</strong> the <strong>Cumberlite</strong> 5
“OK, God”<br />
Andrea Keele, Class of 2000<br />
Although Andrea Keele, ‘01, is not a risk taker, she is loving where God<br />
has led her.<br />
I don’t cliff-jump. I hate roller coasters. I avoid<br />
anything that says “extreme” in front of it. But somehow<br />
God is good at shoving me out of my comfort zone.<br />
All I have to say is, “ok,” and life gets pretty exciting.<br />
The first time I remember saying “ok” was the<br />
summer before I turned 17. I looked around at<br />
my mom, dad, and brother in our family room in<br />
Washington State, and realized they were all much more<br />
excited than I was about moving to Georgia. Yet I also<br />
distinctly felt God inviting me out of my comfortable<br />
world into a journey of faith. I took a deep breath and<br />
said, “Ok, let’s move.” And God gave me two years of<br />
beautiful friendships and experiences at GCA in return.<br />
A few years ago, after the tragic loss of a<br />
Southern Adventist University student missionary<br />
in Yap, Micronesia, I felt God again interrupting my<br />
comfortable life. I was just finishing up a Masters in<br />
Christian Psychological Studies at a Christian graduate<br />
school, and working in the Student<br />
Missions office at Southern parttime,<br />
and felt drawn to the struggling<br />
school. God opened all the doors,<br />
and in about a month I found myself<br />
teaching 2 nd graders at a Seventh-day<br />
Adventist school on the tiny tropical<br />
island of Yap. I had so much to learn<br />
about teaching and Yap life, but once<br />
again I found God’s arms were strong<br />
enough to hold me. The students were<br />
lively, but loving, and quickly found<br />
their place in my heart. My fellow<br />
missionaries and student missionaries formed a closeknit<br />
community that constantly comforted and inspired<br />
me. I could never have imagined that God could bless<br />
me so much through that one simple “ok.”<br />
After returning to the States, I had some time to<br />
think over what to do next. I felt God stirring my heart<br />
to go back to Yap, and started praying and checking for<br />
open doors. The process was slower and more gradual,<br />
but just as clear that God was leading. In August of<br />
2011, I stepped off the plane once again on that little<br />
island, and said “ok” to being the new registrar at the<br />
same Seventh-day Adventist school. That also meant<br />
“ok” to challenges like starting the school year shortstaffed,<br />
helping student missionaries through health<br />
and emotional difficulties, and even my own health<br />
adventure with Dengue fever. After spending a few<br />
months at home recovering, I am again saying “ok” to<br />
get back on a plane for Yap in a couple days. But I am<br />
also saying “ok” to the smiles of “my” now-4 th graders,<br />
as they tell me stories about their day; to hearing high<br />
school students sing<br />
worship songs in<br />
beautiful harmony;<br />
to laughing my<br />
head off with my<br />
fellow missionaries,<br />
and seeing God<br />
answer my prayers;<br />
to sitting out on the<br />
deck at the school<br />
that overlooks the Even with her busy missionary schedule,<br />
hills, the sea, and Andrea finds time to enjoy one-on-one time<br />
the sunset. And with one of her young friends.<br />
over a decade after that first “ok,” I feel very rich.<br />
Yap Adventist<br />
School is a K-12<br />
school on the<br />
island of Yap. For<br />
more information,<br />
visit the school’s<br />
website at: www.<br />
yapsdaschool.webs.<br />
com.<br />
6 the <strong>Cumberlite</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2012</strong>
GCA Offers Students New Ways to Serve<br />
Serge Gariepy and Abby Robbins<br />
Last spring GCA students and staff<br />
helped dig a trench to bring clean water<br />
One year ago<br />
Georgia-Cumberland<br />
Academy launched<br />
new opportunities<br />
for service when we<br />
teamed up with the<br />
Adventist Development<br />
and Relief Agency<br />
(ADRA), taking a small<br />
group of students and<br />
faculty to Thailand<br />
where we worked on a<br />
to a remote village in Thailand.<br />
water project in a remote village.<br />
After graduation May <strong>2012</strong>, a group of students,<br />
parents, and staff from GCA will travel to a small village<br />
in central China. While there, we will partner with<br />
ADRA to construct and install biogas tanks in several<br />
village homes. Each tank will provide access to clean<br />
methane gas that<br />
the families can<br />
use for cooking<br />
and heating their<br />
homes.<br />
In His<br />
ministry here on<br />
earth, Jesus met<br />
people where<br />
they were—<br />
Children enjoy the clean water that<br />
physically and<br />
is now being piped into their village,<br />
spiritually. All<br />
thanks to the ADRA water project.<br />
around the<br />
world, ADRA helps bring the basic necessities<br />
of life to people in need so that they can be<br />
more receptive to the Gospel. This summer in<br />
China, our GCA students will have a groundlevel,<br />
hands-on view of this mission.<br />
Serge teaches math at GCA and is the<br />
coordinator of the ADRA mission trips.<br />
A Student’s Response to<br />
Mission Service -<br />
Ever since I was little I have always<br />
had the influence of missionaries<br />
in my life. When I was three I had<br />
my first real mission experience in<br />
Pohnpei, one of the Micronesian<br />
Islands, where my family lived and<br />
worked for a year.<br />
My brother is older than me and I was able to<br />
watch him as he was in academy and participating in<br />
mission trips. I look up to my brother and because of<br />
his influence, I try to do mission trips whenever I can.<br />
I came to GCA in the fall of 2009 and was able to go<br />
to Guatemala during the spring break mission trip. That<br />
experience made me realize my desire to be a missionary,<br />
to help people, and expand my knowledge of cultures.<br />
During my sophomore year one of my teachers at<br />
GCA decided to plan a trip for a small group of students<br />
to travel to Thailand. The idea automatically appealed<br />
to me because it was on the other side of the world, so<br />
I began raising money so I could participate in the trip.<br />
When the time finally rolled around to leave I<br />
was beyond excited. When we got to Thailand and the<br />
mission part of the trip I realized how touching it is to<br />
participate in a culture that is completely different from<br />
your own.<br />
The experience I had in the village is indescribable<br />
because I saw how appreciative most people are for<br />
simple things such as songs, company, little toys, blankets,<br />
clothes, and, most importantly, water. Our main goal for<br />
going to this village was to dig up 3km of dirt and insert<br />
a pipeline so the villagers could receive clean water. On<br />
the last day we were<br />
able to complete<br />
our goal. The joy<br />
the villagers had for<br />
what we had done<br />
was amazing and it<br />
made a huge impact<br />
on me.<br />
While we were<br />
there working with<br />
ADRA, the reality<br />
of what people do<br />
to commit their life to God and<br />
His mission really impressed me.<br />
Ever since going on this trip I have<br />
decided that I want to devote my<br />
life to mission work and helping<br />
those in need.<br />
Abby is a junior at GCA and<br />
serves at the chairperson of the<br />
student senate.<br />
GCA students experienced the joy of serving others during<br />
their ADRA mission trip to Thailand.<br />
<strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2012</strong> the <strong>Cumberlite</strong> 7
For the Love of Kids continued from page 4<br />
has been very impressed with the faithful service of<br />
Travis, Clint and Shannon. “Having Clint, Shannon<br />
and Travis volunteer with our team raises the level of<br />
our program tremendously. Clint is a motivator and<br />
pushes the guys to be better. He can be tough, but the<br />
guys know he cares about them. Shannon is always<br />
encouraging and knows how to bring the best out in<br />
our ‘flyers.’ Travis has a creative mind and has a knack<br />
for figuring out sequences to improve our routines. He<br />
has a great technical knowledge and is a great teacher,<br />
yet is always looking to learn more.”<br />
Bruce has been amazed by the faithfulness of Clint,<br />
Shannon and Travis. “I’ve had volunteers in the past,<br />
though no one has ever matched the commitment<br />
of these three. Volunteers usually have a hard time<br />
committing for that much time, but Clint, Shannon<br />
and Travis are the<br />
exception. They love<br />
GCA and they love<br />
the Acroflyers.”<br />
Thank you,<br />
Travis, Clint and<br />
Shannon, for making<br />
a difference in the<br />
lives of GCA students!<br />
Clint Higginbotham<br />
(holding the trophy) with<br />
the GCA soccer team.<br />
Sweeney’s Garden continued from page 2<br />
us to start gardens, so we started a community garden.<br />
It took me a year just to clean up all the trash and junk<br />
back there and then a couple more years to get decent<br />
soil. I don’t like it, but I do it because I know that Jesus is<br />
trying to provide for our people and that He is teaching<br />
me valuable lessons.<br />
The best thing about that garden is the connections<br />
God has developed through it. We pay a small amount to<br />
Rustin Sweeney with a group of kids for their weekly “5:55” meeting.<br />
a friend named Harvest, who helps me with upkeep. As<br />
we have gotten to know Harvest’s family and to share<br />
the heart of God with them, they have been slowly<br />
transforming. As we have continued to try to be a<br />
blessing to this beautiful family, Harvest has been such<br />
a blessing to me. Without fail he helps me maintain the<br />
garden and never asks anything in return.<br />
The greatest thing I have learned is how hard it is<br />
for God to work in the garden of my heart, how often<br />
pests, disease, and weeds crop up and how difficult<br />
it must be for Him to have to go over the same soil<br />
over and over. I have a real respect for the amount<br />
of work it takes for His Spirit to take a person like<br />
me and transform my heart, but I also have a real<br />
respect for the lesson that I’m learning about how<br />
that heart is transformed. It takes working together<br />
with Christ; nothing can happen in that garden or in<br />
our communities if we are not actively seeking ways<br />
to plant. If I stay in the house one summer, nothing<br />
grows. If I’m “detached from the soil of community,”<br />
how can I expect people to come to Christ?<br />
*(This story is excerpted from an interview conducted with<br />
Rustin and Stacy Sweeney by Kimberly Luste Maran and<br />
appeared in the October 13, 2011 issue of the Adventist Review.)<br />
8 the <strong>Cumberlite</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2012</strong>
GCA Reconnects With Kids over Pizza<br />
Whenever November rolls around again, we know<br />
it’s time for the annual Southern Adventist University<br />
(SAU) Young Alumni Pizza Party, which means free<br />
pizza for our recent grads who live and attend school<br />
in the Collegedale, Tn. area and a chance for GCA<br />
staff to re-connect with their former students.<br />
While free pizza is the draw, we hope to provide<br />
an opportunity for each of our young alumni to step<br />
back in time for an hour or two to reconnect with<br />
former classmates who they may not see as much now<br />
and to be reminded of the people at GCA who still<br />
care about them and pray for them.<br />
Pastor Don Keele enjoys visiting with young alumni at the pizza event.<br />
I love how no matter how much time goes by it’s<br />
always easy to reconnect with GCA family. We truly<br />
are like family!”<br />
Don Keele, pastor of the GCA church, attends the<br />
event every year and he sees it as a great opportunity<br />
to reconnect with kids. “I always love seeing where<br />
kids are in their journey since leaving GCA.”<br />
GCA alumni enjoyed reconnecting with friends over pizza at the<br />
recent young alumni pizza party.<br />
This year the pizza event was held on Sunday<br />
evening, November 20 and about 60 kids showed<br />
up to enjoy food and fellowship. Several staff from<br />
GCA were able to come up to SAU to eat and hang<br />
out with the recent grads.<br />
Matt Durante, Class of 2010, has enjoyed the pizza<br />
party each of the two years since his graduation. “I<br />
really enjoyed myself at the party this year. It was<br />
really good to spend time with friends and faculty.<br />
Reconnecting with GCA faculty and friends (not to mention the free<br />
pizza!) brings smiles to the faces of young alumni.<br />
We will keep driving up to<br />
SAU each fall, ordering pizza, and<br />
hanging out with our young alumni.<br />
Hopefully our continuing investment<br />
in the lives of these young people<br />
will keep reminding them of their<br />
years at GCA, the people who love<br />
them and the things they learned<br />
while there.<br />
Approximate 60 GCA alumni turned out for<br />
the annual fall pizza party.<br />
<strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2012</strong> the <strong>Cumberlite</strong> 9
ALUMNI WEEKEND<br />
April 6-8, <strong>2012</strong><br />
“Amazed by Grace”<br />
Steve Martin, ‘77, will bless<br />
us with music at the Friday<br />
evening vesper program.<br />
Litch (with wife, Shelly Litchfield),<br />
former GCA chaplain, will be our<br />
speaker for the Alumni Weekend<br />
church service.<br />
Friday, April 6<br />
Golf Tournament: Barnsley<br />
Gardens Resort, 9 a.m. $90<br />
per player, $55 for students.<br />
For more information<br />
call Nancy Gerard at<br />
706.625.7166 or email her<br />
at nagerard@gcasda.org.<br />
Vespers, GCA Church, 7:30<br />
p.m.: Start the weekend<br />
off with the inspiration of<br />
music and testimonies of<br />
God’s grace at work. Steve<br />
Martin, ’77, will be our musical guest and Rustin<br />
Sweeney, ’91 and his wife, Stacy, will be sharing<br />
their story of being transformed by God’s grace<br />
and obeying His call to share His love in the inner<br />
city of Atlanta.<br />
Rustin, ‘91, and Stacy Sweeney will share their story<br />
at vespers on Friday night.<br />
Saturday, April 7<br />
Welcome Home Breakfast and Registration:<br />
9:30 a.m. in the GCA Church Fellowship Hall.<br />
Visit with friends, sign in at your honor class<br />
registration table and enjoy a delicious continental<br />
breakfast.<br />
In the Word: 10 a.m. Sabbath School lesson study<br />
with GCA Principal, Greg Gerard, in the GCA<br />
Church sanctuary.<br />
Church Service: 10:45 a.m.<br />
in the GCA Church. The<br />
service begins with roll call,<br />
so be there to join your<br />
classmates in reserved seating<br />
(for honor classes). Sermon<br />
by Litch (LeClare Litchfield,<br />
former staff) and alumni<br />
participation in music and<br />
testimony.<br />
Honor Class Photos and<br />
lunch: Immediately following<br />
the church service.<br />
Then Lunch is on Us. Join everyone in the<br />
gymnasium following the church service for a free,<br />
quickly served, tasty lunch.<br />
Reunions following lunch will be held in various<br />
campus locations. Join friends and former staff<br />
for a great opportunity to visit and reconnect.<br />
Sports Events will take place following sundown.<br />
Call Coach Fox at 706.629.4591, ext. 4037 if you<br />
would like to participate in softball or basketball.<br />
Sunday, April 8<br />
Ride for GCA Motorcycle Event: Registration<br />
at 9:30 a.m. and the ride begins at 10. To pre-register<br />
call or email Nancy Gerard at 706.625.7166 or<br />
nagerard@gcasda.org<br />
10 the <strong>Cumberlite</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2012</strong>
Alumni Updates<br />
Barbara (Cummings) Willis, Class of 1968, was<br />
named a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) by<br />
CFRE International this past May. Individuals granted<br />
this credential have met a series of professional standards,<br />
as well as passing a rigorous written examination. Barbara<br />
serves as the Director of Development for Holbrook<br />
Seventh-day Adventist Indian School in Holbrook,<br />
Arizona. Before serving at Holbrook, Barbara taught at<br />
GCA for many years.<br />
Yung Lau, Class of 1980, was recently named as<br />
the first recipient of the Thomas Carruthers Endowed<br />
Chair in Pediatric Cardiology. He and his wife Carmen<br />
(Wilson) Lau, Class of 1980,have three children;<br />
Christopher (Class of 2007), Carissa (Class of 2009), and<br />
Sarah (Class of 2015). The Laus live in Birmingham, Al.<br />
Alison (Wurl) Prusia, Class of 1980, recently<br />
accepted a position as the Director of Marketing and<br />
Recruiting for Forest Lake Academy. Alison lives in<br />
Apopka, Fl. with her husband and two boys.<br />
Steve McKnight, Class of 1989, is living in the<br />
Collegedale area with his family. Steve works for Amplex,<br />
a company that ships trees throughout the Southeast.<br />
Rustin Sweeney, Class of 1991 (Att.), and his wife,<br />
Stacy, were featured in the October 13, 2011 issue of the<br />
Adventist Review for their work in Atlanta’s inner city.<br />
Read their story on p. 2 of this issue of the <strong>Cumberlite</strong>.<br />
Cheryl (Austin) Beucler, Class of 1999, and her<br />
husband, Philip, welcomed 8 lb. 5 oz. Charlotte Elise<br />
to their family, on October 4, 2011. Cheryl and Philip<br />
recently relocated from Anchorage, AK to Portland,<br />
Oregon, where Cheryl is working part-time in Nursing<br />
Administration at Portland Adventist Hospital and Philip<br />
is a meteorologist for an air quality consulting firm.<br />
Mindy (Smith) Salyers, Class of 1999, and her<br />
husband, Jason, welcomed Brynlie Cate to the world on<br />
September 25, 2011. Brynlie weighed 6 lbs 8 oz.<br />
Joshua Woods, Class of 2003, finished his master<br />
of Divinity degree at the Seventh-day Adventist<br />
Theological seminary and is serving as pastor of the<br />
Oglethorpe and Warner Robins (Georgia) churches.<br />
Steven Wilson, Class of 2003, was recently married<br />
to Helen Ross. The ceremony took place on Sunday,<br />
November 27, 2011 at the Dawson Creek Seventh-day<br />
Adventist Church in Dawson, British Columbia. Steven<br />
serves as a mission pilot in S. America.<br />
Shaunda (Helm) McNeil, Class of 2004, was married<br />
to David McNeil on December 28, 2011 at the Calhoun<br />
(Ga.) Seventh-day Adventist Church. Shaunda is in her<br />
final year of law school at Duke University.<br />
Ismaias (Lemmy) Recinos, Class of 2006, graduated<br />
this past December with Highest Honors from the<br />
Georgia Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Civil<br />
Engineering.<br />
Allison (Gerard) Handal, Class of 2007, relocated to<br />
the Austin, Tx. where her husband, Albert, is pastoring<br />
one of the local SDA churches. Allison is working and<br />
has applied to graduate school for next fall.<br />
Alumni Weekend Reunion Organizers<br />
Class of 1967 Bob Coolidge 386-956-3465 trnstrtrk@bellsouth.net<br />
Class of 1972 Sonia Thompson Gott 865-233-4545 soniagott@charter.net<br />
Eldon Carman 806-335-5151 carmane@bellsouth.net<br />
Class of 1977 Julia Herndon 850-933-1845 floridajewels1959@yahoo.com<br />
Class of 1982 Steve and Carol Martin 770-502-0905 cmartin_2@charter.net<br />
Class of 1987 Chris Hudson 865-740-5219 chris@gemitchellco.com<br />
Class of 1992 Michael Whalley 864-680-1262 mwhalley1@gmail.com<br />
Class of 1997 Jennifer Herndon Bergherm 407-733-1967 bergherm@hotmail.com<br />
Class of 2002 Melissa Harper Blackwelder 423-280-5790 melisskay@gmail.com<br />
Kristi Cook West 423-505-9789 mrskwest2006@gmail.com<br />
Class of 2007 Jenessa King 678-986-9319 jenessaking@gmail.com<br />
<strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2012</strong> the <strong>Cumberlite</strong> 11
Georgia-Cumberland Academy<br />
397 Academy Drive<br />
Calhoun, GA 30701<br />
www.gcasda.org<br />
NONPROFIT ORG.<br />
U.S. POSTAGE<br />
PAID<br />
Chattanooga, TN<br />
PERMIT NO. 1114<br />
Editor:<br />
Nancy Gerard<br />
Layout & Design:<br />
Frank Strack, College Press LLC<br />
Photography by:<br />
Laura Chase, Chris Donavan,<br />
Serge Gariepy, Greg Gerard,<br />
Nancy Gerard, David Kim,<br />
Rustin Sweeney, Stacy Sweeney<br />
Georgia Taxpayers –<br />
Don’t Miss This Opportunity!<br />
If you are a Georgia resident or own a Georgia-based business and pay state income taxes, you need to know about a relatively<br />
new law which allows individual and corporate taxpayers to contribute to approved Student Scholarship Organizations (SSO’s) and<br />
receive a dollar-for-dollar credit against their income tax liabilities.<br />
This is an amazing way to pay income tax, get the money back, AND help private education in the process. In 2011 we had<br />
approximately $108,000 donated through this program and these gifts made a significant difference in the lives of students at GCA.<br />
Here is how the process works:<br />
1) If you want to participate in this program you must first apply to the Georgia Department of Revenue and become<br />
approved as a donor. (Forms are available online at the GCA website, the Georgia-Cumberland Conference, or<br />
through the Georgia Department of Education website. Or call us and we will provide the forms and walk you through<br />
the process.)<br />
2) Following your approval from the state, you will make a gift to an approved Student Scholarship Organization. GCA<br />
has a relationship with two approved SSO’s: The Institute for Educational Advancement and the Georgia-Cumberland<br />
Conference.<br />
3) Please let the SSO know your contribution is intended to benefit GCA.<br />
Let us help you take advantage of this great tax opportunity! Please call or email Nancy Gerard at 706-625-7166 or<br />
nagerard@gcasda.org.<br />
PLEASE NOTE: It is anticipated that the state’s cap on this program ($60 million) will be reached well before the end<br />
of the calendar year. DO NOT delay in submitting your application to donate through this program or you may miss this<br />
opportunity!<br />
Georgia-Cumberland Academy<br />
397 Academy Drive, Calhoun, GA 30701<br />
Phone: (706) 629-4591 • Fax: (706) 629-1272 • Email: nagerard@gcasda.org • www.gcasda.org