Michigan Camp Meeting 2016: The Harvest is Great

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Education

Diane Barlow

The Core of Adventist Education is Not Common

Jeremy Hall

The Three-legged Stool - Part #1

The Three-legged Stool - Part #2

Judy Shull

School Success

Father in heaven, we thank you so much for Adventist education.

We thank you for the impact that it has on the lives of so many young people.

We pray, Lord, that as we discuss today, as we talk together about the very important elements that can help Adventist education be successful, that your spirit would guide us.

Pray that you would speak through me and that the words that I say would be from you and not from myself.

As you have probably seen from the seminar booklet, we have 2 days.

We'll get into a little bit of what that means a little later.

But the first part that we're going to talk about today is the distinct aim, focus, and outcome seen in Adventist education, practically applied through something that we're calling the Key 3.

1 of the things that I've heard people say before is that the book education, which is our blueprint, is wonderful, it's phenomenal, but it's very philosophical.

And it's difficult sometimes to take some of the practical elements from that book and apply them and see how they would look and see how they would function.

So today we're actually gonna be taking some of the philosophical framework ideas from the book Adventist Education, the philosophical overview, and condensing them, synthesizing them down into 3 key principles, operational benchmarks that we can see in Adventist education for success in our schools.

A little personal introduction, my name is Jeremy Hall, and I have the privilege of serving with Diane Barlow, my superintendent at the Michigan Conference Office of Education.

And I am a product of Adventist education.

I'm also a product of homeschool Adventist education, because homeschooling is Adventist education as well.

And I went to Adelphian Junior Academy as a young person, and then I had the opportunity to come to Great Lakes Adventist Academy right here.

Although I have to be honest with you, math and I never got along, and so it's interesting how I'm sitting in the, teaching in the math classroom right now.

But just had a wonderful experience here and then went to Andrews University.

And then I actually came back to work here at this very academy as the boys dean.

And I did that for 5 years and then I transitioned into teaching religion and being the campus chaplain.

And then I went to Indiana Academy where I came to know the Currier family.

I was there for 3 years and then came back and just about to my third year at the Office of Education.

And I work with the secondary schools primarily, although I'm doing all kinds of different things in the education department.

So that's a little bit of an introduction of who I am.

As I talked to you a little bit before, I think it's important to set before you a purpose, something that will guide where we're headed.

The next 2 days, we'll attempt to synthesize the key philosophical objectives of Adventist education into 3 basic goals.

We have this ideal, philosophical ideal, of what Adventist education is, and we're going to basically try and synthesize that down into 3 basic goals.

And we're gonna show, specifically more so tomorrow, how the home, the church, and the school can work together to accomplish them.

That might give you a little hint of why the title of this seminar is the way that it is.

So on day 1, we're going to examine the philosophical framework of Adventist education synthesized into 3 basic concepts.

Day 2, we're going to look at how the home, church, and school can collaborate together to accomplish these 3 goals.

And as a teacher, I want this experience to be interactive.

If you have a question, if you have a comment, if you don't understand something that I'm saying, as a teacher 1 of the worst things you can ever do is to be talking on and on and on and people look at each other like, I don't have a clue what he's saying, right?

So I may not have the answer to your question, but I'll take your email address and I'll figure it out for you by God's grace and email it to you, but I want you to feel comfortable sharing, asking questions if you need clarification or wanna contribute to the process, Okay?

It is unique when compared to all other forms of education.

Public school education is definitely not like Adventist education.

Other Christian private parochial schools are not like Adventist education.

We have some specific key benchmarks that help frame what Adventist education is and what it's meant to be in the life of a young person.

Look at some of these quotes that may be familiar to you, coming from the first chapter of the book, Education.

Our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range.

There is a need of a broader scope, a higher what?

True education means more than the pursual of a certain course of study.

It means more than a preparation for the life that now is.

The whole being and with the whole period of existence possible to man.

It is the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, the spiritual powers.

It prepares the student for the joy of service in this world and for higher joy of service in the world to come." Wow, welcome.

In a knowledge of God, all true knowledge and real development have their source.

Wherever we turn in the physical, mental, or spiritual realm, in whatever we behold apart from the blight of sin, this knowledge is revealed.

Whatever line of investigation we pursue with a sincere purpose to arrive at truth, we are brought in touch with the unseen, mighty intelligence that is working in and through all.

The mind of man is brought into communion with the mind of God, the finite with the infinite.

The effect of such communion on body and mind and soul is beyond what?

It means you can't sit down at a calculator and create an equation that will be able to estimate its value.

So truly then we have a different aim in Adventist education.

We also have a different focus, don't we, in Adventist education?

Through sin, the divine likeness was marred and well nigh obliterated.

Man's physical powers were weakened, his mental capacity was lessened, his spiritual vision dimmed.

By infinite love and mercy, the plan of salvation had been devised, and a life of probation was granted.

To restore in man the image of his Maker, to bring him back to the perfection in which he was created, to promote the development of body, mind, and soul, that the divine purpose in his creation might be realized, this was to be the work of redemption.

This is the object of education, the great object of life.

So you see what our focus is, to restore in man the image of his maker.

Then, consequently, we have a different outcome.

So we have a different aim, we have a different focus, and we're looking for a different outcome.

Isn't that the reason why we put our young people into Adventist education?

We want the end product to look different than what secular society is putting forward.

I mean, that's what we wanna see in our young people.

That's why we invest so much of our church budgets.

That's why we invest so much of our personal budgets, to help our own children to be in school, to help other people's children be in school.

Such an education, Adventist education, provides more than mental discipline.

Note this, it strengthens the character so that truth and uprightness are not sacrificed to selfish desire or worldly ambition.

Instead of some master passion becoming a power to destroy, every motive and desire are brought into conformity to the great principles of right.

As the perfection of his character is dwelt upon, the mind is renewed and the soul is recreated in the image of God.

Now we've been reading through a number of quotes, but the reason why I put these in here is because it's important for us, before we move forward, to have an understanding of what our philosophical foundation is.

Okay, so these quotes are some of the most, I believe, powerful quotes that lay the framework, the foundation, for why Adventist education exists.

So just to summarize, so we have a different aim.

Our aim is the harmonious development of the physical, mental, and spiritual powers.

Series

Education

The Three-legged Stool - Part #1

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Education

The Core of Adventist Education is Not Common

1h 5m

SPARK: How to Start a Fire for the Lord in Your Church

SPARK: How to Start a Fire for the Lord in Your Church- Part 3

1h 1m

Intensive: Implementing True Education

2. Implementing True Education: Practical Principles

1h 5m

Session 1

Solving the Institutional Farming Dilemma

57m

Beyond the Tithe: Practical Lessons on Personal Finance

6. Lay Up Your Treasures: Earning Interest in the Bank of Heaven

1h 10m

Education

The Three-legged Stool - Part #2

1h 6m

How the Papacy Was Able to End the Protestant Reformation

36m

Corinthians: Message to a Contemporary Church

Corinthians: A Message to a Contemporary Church - Part 1

1h 14m

Preach the Word

01 Giving the Message

1h 1m

End Time Education

53m

What Kept You in the Church

01 What Kept You in the Church

53m

Sabbath School and Personal Ministries: Getting the Most Out of BSO

02 The Power of Personal Ministry

58m

Sound Doctrine