New Partnership Involves Many in the Congregation
College Street Baptist Church’s Congregation Serves Local Schools
Leaders: Duke Lee, Kathy Alexander, Rhonda Barker, Vanessa Conway, Carol Stine, Rhett Frady and Kyle Stephens
Last spring, Duke Lee began to put action steps to his vision of seeing College Street Baptist Church serving Walhalla Elementary and Middle School in a Heart4Schools ministry. He had heard first-hand of the impact a church could have on the lives of students and teachers from his wife who taught at Seneca Middle School. They were being loved, encouraged, treated, and served by volunteers at Hopewell Baptist Church.
Duke wanted his church to do the same for their local schools. To learn more, he reached out to Randy and Sharon McManamay, church members who had previously attended a Heart4Schools training and had begun connecting with their local elementary school the previous year. He planned an informational lunch meeting after a Sunday worship service and had 55 adults sign-up! There was an overwhelming interest in serving.
When Duke asked attendees, “What would you be interested in doing?”, four ladies responded by saying “I will help in any way I can”. These ladies became the leadership team. Each one leads a different facet of the ministry: PET (Teacher Support – Pray, Encourage, Treat); First Year Teacher Encouragement; Monthly Birthday Cupcakes (for students & staff); and Tutoring/Mentoring. Duke says, “God equipped us to launch this.”
Eight volunteers began the year by serving during Grandparents’ Week. Each day, one grade level invited grandparents to visit the school. For six days, serving kindergarten through fifth grade, three volunteers would serve as substitute grandparents. They would sit at a table, read and play math games. This was a special time for students and volunteers!
When asked what has excited them most during this first semester, Kathy responded, “It is the response of the teachers. They are emailing us, saying ‘thank you’ and asking for prayer.”
This team has several goals for the year: 1) Growing their relationship with the school in general; 2) Getting to know teachers/staff; 3) Being an encouragement to teachers individually. Each of them has either taught school in the past or presently has a family member teacher. They understand that teaching is hard and they want to be a blessing!
Vanessa expressed that this is way for them to show that the church cares for students and teachers. “Teachers can’t believe you are doing this. We do it to show the love of God.”
