by Adam Kronberger / Superintendent
Earlier this month over 150 CCS students and staff spent a collection of days off-campus at the annual Middle School and High School retreats. I recall spending one evening in worship and prayer as a united student body experiencing community together with our awesome God. The night included games, food, a bonfire, and plenty of laughs and joy. Halfway through the evening, I stepped out of the chapel onto the wooded 160 acre campus. A herd of deer casually trotted across my field of vision. The entire experience that day was simply magical. But a few hours later, as the breakfast bell rung, my next morning was greeted with sore muscles, an aching back, and sleep deprived eyes. My magical evening had suddenly fallen out of the sky and landed back in reality. By the look of the slow-moving boys in my cabin, I was not the only camper feeling like an old man. While the bacon, sausage, and fresh maple bar did little for my newfound sinus infection, the warm breakfast certainly lifted my spirits. Before long, the joy of retreat found its way back into my heart, while at the same time the longing for my bed at home grew stronger. God chose to clothe our spirits with physical bodies and a range of emotions. Our bodies and our emotions are generally on the front lines as we engage with our surroundings. The senses of our body help explain our environment, while our emotions are indicators of how that environment is impacting our spirit. Collapsing at the end of a marathon, soberly attending a friend’s funeral, or cheering for your favorite Civil War football team are all emotional and physical experiences known to us. As believers, it is often our emotions that can drive our relationship with God, as we desire to feel his presences. The apostle Paul understood that our bodies and emotions experience a wild roller coaster ride throughout one’s life. Yet faith in Jesus Christ provides lasting transformation in all areas of our lives, not only smoothing out the ride, but providing purpose and calling. Paul doesn’t describe the path of transformation as a result of physical effort, somber reflection, or unrestrained elation. In Romans 12:2, Paul notes that transformation is a result of “the renewal of your mind.” I am thankful for a physical body full of emotional wonder and it’s God-given place in our lives. But at the top of my list of priorities in my life and the lives around me is transformation built upon faith in Jesus Christ. The school’s secondary retreats certainly succeed in developing unity among the student body and a better understanding of the purpose of the school’s mission. But it is the renewing of the mind that takes place in the classrooms and conversations in our community that provides lasting transformation. Minds that fully grasp the majesty of our Creator, the depravity of the Fall of man, and the power of Redemption in Jesus Christ, have the ability to transform a person, a community, and a culture. Continue to pray daily for our staff, students, and families as our minds are renewed on the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. – Adam Kronberger / Superintendent by Adam Kronberger / Superintendent
The beginning of a new school year often brings the beginning of new routines. One of the best routines is choosing to be a part of daily conversations with your children. It’s one of the best ways to cultivate trust and be used by God to disciple our children. As parents, we often know what is best for our kids, therefore the temptation is to talk at them instead of listening to them. One of the best tools for increasing the effectiveness of your conversations is active listening. Our ability to actively listen to our children may be the biggest influence on our relationship with them. It will build trust, foster an environment of honesty, and build empathy with their situation, emotions, and feelings. Here are some tips on how to be an active listener: 1. Give them your full attention: Silence your smartphone, stop looking at your computer, and try to focus on what they are saying, instead of what you want to say next. 2. Choose your body language intentionally: 93% of communication is nonverbal. Lean forward slightly, do not cross your arms, make eye contact with them, nod, remove physical barriers between the two of you, and make facial expressions that reflect the emotions of what they are sharing. 3. Do not immediately judge or evaluate: Lecturing can often prematurely end a conversation. Attempting to understand what they are saying is not the same as agreeing. Your willingness to suspend your judgment will allow the conversation to continue. Do your best to take a deep breath and remain calm. You want your child to see you as safe. An extreme reaction will communicate the opposite. 4. Cultivate Awareness: It might feel like just an ordinary conversation about recess or the soccer game, but if you model listening to the mundane well, your child will be more prone to come to you about deeper topics. 5. Paraphrase back what you heard: Choose non-judgmental language to reassure them you heard exactly what they were trying to communicate, such as, “So what I hear you saying is that you feel frustrated about our boundaries with smartphones,” as opposed to, “So what I hear you saying is that you want no accountability with your smartphone.” 6. Ask open-ended questions: Instead of asking closed-ended questions that require a mere yes-or-no answer, ask questions that demand a meaningful answer like, “What was the best part of your day?” or “How did you feel when she said that about your hair?” 7. Define Expectations: Try to avoid immediately reassuring, explaining, suggesting, or sharing about your own experiences. Communicate respect by asking something like, “Would it be most helpful for me to just listen right now, or are you looking for help or advice?” *Adapted from AXIS, a discipleship resource for parents. – Adam Kronberger / Superintendent by Molly Dillon / Keizer Campus Principal
For quite a while God has been whispering to me “rest” and “listen”. I tend to fill up my days and weekends with lengthy to do lists, leaving precious little time to focus on a refreshing quiet time in God’s presence. God didn’t have binge watching my favorite shows in mind, or leisurely scrolling through Pinterest for fashion advice or ideas for my next home improvement project. For me, kayaking slows me down enough to rest and listen. When I’m out on the water I’m far removed from my daily routine and all environments that keep me busy or distracted. Rivers are my favorite place to kayak. They provide rich variation in scenery and abundant opportunities for leisurely exploration as I soak in God’s masterful creation. Amidst my summer of kayaking and slowing down to focus on listening to God I spent time praying about how to fully comprehend and operate according to God’s vision for CCS. The vision of Crosshill is “A world of graduates eager and passionate to fulfill both the First Commission (Genesis 1:26-28) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). A world of graduates engaging in cultures for the redemption of souls and the redemption of entire societies to the glory of God.” Keeping such a profound vision at the forefront can be a challenge, to which God provided a most fitting analogy. In an article I read recently, the author conveyed that a person or organization’s vision serves as a riverbank, where “every decision that needs to be made is made with the intention of flowing in the same direction and staying within the bounds of the vision.” God's vision for Crosshill extends beyond the school grounds and into the homes of each family. It's a shared riverbank, and we’re all navigating the river of life together, traversing the rapids, floating in the peace and love of a godly community, and sometimes just keeping our heads above water. As we strive to move in the same direction we must be mindful that each decision made by a student, parent, teacher, pastor or administrator, no matter how large or small, impacts that vision. Our decisions either stay within the bounds of fulfilling the First and Great Commission or jumps the riverbank. I have been inspired by families of both campuses who have made vision-impacting decisions this past summer. Many have wisely invested their vacation time and resources on mission trips, sharing the gospel in other countries. Others have made financial decisions to provide opportunities for new families to be brought into the vision of CCS. Even more have been involved in activities that have taken their discipleship to a new level. I want to encourage and challenge us all to spend time meditating and praying into the verses that are the foundation of our vision: the First Commission in Genesis 1:26-28, and the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. It is through the practice of immersing ourselves in the Word and listening to God that we will receive the wisdom and understanding to grab hold of our purpose, use our gifts to their full potential, and realize the vision. And when we find ourselves “up a creek without a paddle”, we’ll be able to trust that He who is faithful with lead us in the right direction. – Molly Dillon / Keizer Campus Principal by Adam Kronberger / Superintendent
It always seems about this time of year that I get a little depressed about the absence of college and professional football. It’s been awhile since the Superbowl and other bowl games, and the preseason is still a ways off. While I may only watch a couple of hours of football each weekend in the fall, it often produces positive memories with family and friends. Included in those memories is attending Beaver football games. There is a open-air staircase that we generally take to get to our seats. Though it seems to spiral upward infinitely, it is not a chore to climb through the various landings as we anticipate the exciting view at the top. CCS has its own Superbowl going on this Friday. Students of all grades will be participating in valuable activities. Preschool and Kindergarten students will participate in the CCS All-Star Meet hosted on the school’s south campus. First through Sixth-grade students will compete in the Santiam Track Meet at Linn-Benton College. Seventh and Eighth-grade students will actively serve at both of those events. High School students will be off-campus continuing their worldview training and engaging the community of Salem through prayer and the proclamation of the gospel. The school’s mission of making disciples includes the alliterative phrase discover, develop, deploy. Naturally, much of schooling and parenting is often focused on discover and develop. Students are constantly encouraged and given the opportunity to learn truth and assimilate it into their daily lives. The greatest truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ alive and powerful in the hearts of students. Yet to focus alone on discovery and development would be tragic. It would be similar to climbing a spiraling staircase that simply went around and around, but never gained elevation to a destination. The grand purpose of training students to discover and develop is so that they can be deployed in God’s Kingdom. This Friday’s events are an excellent depiction of the spiraling growth disciples are charged with. Students in the primary and elementary grades will continue to discover and develop their character through cooperative activity and competition. Middle school students will grow in selflessness as they focus on demonstrating love for others. High School students will consider God’s call for them in His creation, and actively engage in the redemption process He started at the cross. While the views at the top of God’s spiraling discipleship process are breathtaking, the staircase always leads upward further. All of us are constantly in the discipleship process, choosing to discover and develop in new ways to be deployed in ever-increasing degrees. Whether it is our homes, neighborhoods, or community, Jesus asks us to, “lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest” (John 4:35). – Adam Kronberger / Superintendent |
Adam Kronberger
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