Cumberlite 2018 Winter
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and candy after chapel, brownies in<br />
the courtyard between classes, and<br />
chocolate-covered pretzels and popcorn<br />
during Sunday classes.<br />
“SMILE events are all about<br />
reminding students that they are<br />
important. Life is hard, and yet God sends<br />
us little glimpses of His love through all<br />
different means. This is just one way we<br />
hope to show students God’s love,” said<br />
Chaplain Kalie.<br />
Tea & Chat/Letters to My Girls<br />
Last year Chaplain Kalie started a<br />
program called Tea & Chat in the girls’<br />
dorm. Once a month she spends the<br />
evening in the dorm visiting with the<br />
girls in the rec room after dorm chapel.<br />
She brings in tea and hot chocolate and<br />
snacks and hangs out with the girls who<br />
want to visit. The girls are invited to<br />
ask questions or just sit and talk about<br />
whatever is on their heart. There are<br />
times of uncontrollable laughter thanks<br />
to the often goofy answers the girls give<br />
to “what if” questions that are used as<br />
conversation starters, and then there<br />
are moments of reflection and deeper<br />
discussions about life.<br />
These events seek to form<br />
relationships that will last throughout<br />
their years at GCA, but the connection<br />
doesn’t end once they graduate. In an<br />
effort to intentionally stay connected<br />
after they leave GCA, Chaplain Kalie<br />
sends out a bimonthly email to graduates<br />
who have requested to be on her email<br />
list. The emails are titled “Letters to My<br />
Girls,” and they are filled with thoughts<br />
on life and growing as a godly woman.<br />
“Like Paul wrote to the early church<br />
when he was apart from them, I decided<br />
to write from the overflow of what<br />
Jesus is teaching me and share it with<br />
the girls who desire to stay connected<br />
even though we are miles apart. I don’t<br />
profess to have all the answers or to be<br />
some exceptional writer like Paul, but as<br />
I’ve read his letters, one message shines<br />
through—he wrote because He loved<br />
Chaplain Josh Woods, ’03, communicates a powerful message on the wall of his office.<br />
Jesus and the church—and I love Jesus<br />
and the girls He has placed into my life,”<br />
said Chaplain Kalie.<br />
Soul Café and Other Spiritual<br />
Programs<br />
Community is formed through<br />
many different avenues, and one of them<br />
is corporate worship. Campus Ministries<br />
plans midweek, vespers, and Sabbath<br />
School each week. “We are always<br />
looking for creative ways to engage<br />
students in worship, and an idea was<br />
suggested to have a ‘café’ style worship<br />
night for midweek in the church<br />
fellowship hall where students could sit<br />
in small groups at tables and enjoy food<br />
and fellowship in a relaxed atmosphere,”<br />
said Chaplain Josh.<br />
Coined Soul Café by the students,<br />
the program is run by a worship team<br />
who leads out in a few songs for<br />
everyone to sing. The team then shares a<br />
short message based on a Christian song<br />
of their choosing, which they sing after<br />
presenting why they chose the song.<br />
After singing the song, a student leader<br />
at each table directs a discussion with<br />
their small group about the song and its<br />
meaning and how it impacts their walk<br />
with God.<br />
Soul Café, along with the other<br />
spiritual programs that Campus<br />
Ministries plans, seeks to create a safe<br />
place for students to worship God and<br />
grow in their relationship with Jesus. It is<br />
in this community of believers that they<br />
can explore their faith and express their<br />
doubts and grow into the person God<br />
wants them to be.<br />
High school is just a drop in the<br />
bucket when compared to all the<br />
living done after a few years at GCA.<br />
And yet, chaplains Josh and Kalie hope<br />
that the lessons the students learn, the<br />
relationships they form, and the God<br />
they experience sticks with them way<br />
beyond graduation.<br />
Life takes many twists and turns,<br />
but we don’t have to go down the<br />
winding path of life alone. God promises<br />
to be there with us through the joyous<br />
moments and the tumultuous times,<br />
and He gives us one another to share<br />
life together in love and support. It is<br />
our prayer that our current students<br />
and graduates grow in Jesus in the<br />
environment of a loving community of<br />
fellow believers. No matter where you<br />
are in life or how many years it has been<br />
since you attended GCA, you have a<br />
community at the school that continues<br />
to pray for you and cares about you.<br />
CUMBERLITE WINTER <strong>2018</strong> 11
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