Alpine camp:  Where do we go from here? 

Editor's note:  John Mehl, one of three 6th grade teachers who recently co-lead our sixth graders on a three-day outing in late February to Alpine Camp shares his reflections this "mountaintop" experience. 

Mr. Mehl could only describe it as "truly miraculous" when he shared with fellow Foothill teachers the sixth grade experience at Alpine Camp in the San Bernardino Mountains this year. 

Mr. Mehl said that students, parents, and teachers all united to experience and worship God.  The three-day camp included team-building activities, exercises to overcome personal challenges, and opportunities to listen to God's word. 

What transpired were many new and strengthened friendships, victories over physical, emotional and spiritual obstacles.  Most prominent among the young and old alike was an expressed desire to pursue God fervently.

"Now that we are down the mountain and getting back to our 'everyday lives'," Mr. Mehl explained, "students are continuing to ask the question: Where do we go from here?  We do not want to lose or belittle our encounter at Alpine, and want to continue following God's path of righteousness."

Mr. Mehl explains that it's important for students to understand that God is just as good, relevant, loving, and necessary as He was on the mountain...as He has always been.  "We must also continue to regard those around us as our brothers and sisters and do everything possible to love and care for them, just as we did up on the mountain."

If Alpine represented the starting block, then surely the days ahead represent the race to be obedient, running that course and "pursuing the un-catchable and knowing the impossible will catch us."

      "I believe that Alpine was like boot camp and now we are heading out to the true battlefield.  As a class, the sixth grade ministry focus this year has been on the persecuted church.  Our next mission is to take on the issues of the persecuted church, raise awareness of their constant struggle, and assist our brothers and sisters around the world.  We will be taking part in a simulation called "Underground" on April 11th that will give us some idea of what it may feel like to hang on to Christ despite intense persecution." 

      There is something special about those mountaintop experiences.  Often it is during those times that we feel closer to God.  For Foothill's sixth graders, Alpine Camp ignited a greater desire to serve God by serving others.  "Prepared and fueled for the journey He has for us, let's continue to push forward and pursue our Father and the path He would have us take."

Foothill Christian School Students Put Faith in Action 

“Never underestimate the compassion, creativity and willpower of today’s youth,” says Carolyn Kitchel, Vice Principal of Foothill Christian School.  “Our students and teachers are learning what it means to be burdened by conditions in the world that cry out for compassionate action.”

At both Baseline and Grand Avenue campuses, Mrs. Kitchel cited a number of ways that students are making a difference this current school year.  

For starters, the school’s primary students have ministered to the elderly at local rest homes through correspondence and personal visits. Third graders and junior high members of the National Beta Club—which engages youth in various community work projects—collected money and toys to help LA’s homeless children in partnership with Fred Jordan Mission.  Mrs. Kitchel stated that Los Angeles is known as the homeless capital of the nation with an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 men, women and children who sleep on the streets nightly within a 20 square block area of the city. 

Fourth graders showed concern for unadopted animals in LA County by collecting needed supplies for Pomona’s West End Animal Shelter.   Working with the international relief and development agency, Operation Blessing, Foothill’s fifth grade students raised enough money to purchase 5 goats as a Christmas gift to a village in Bulgaria.  

Mrs. Kitchel told how sixth graders, burdened for persecuted believers abroad, recently presented nearly $700 to Open Doors, an international ministry that provides assistance and resources to believers who are persecuted for their faith  in countries where Christianity is outlawed. 

Hearing of the plight of Uganda’s forgotten children, Mrs. Kitchel explained that the entire junior high class sponsored a Christian Rock Concert last November to launch a $10,000 fundraising effort that would include cookie, bracelets and T-shirts sales. Through Invisible Children’s Schools For Schools program, (www.invisiblechildrens.com), they adopted a school in Uganda and have raised over $6,000 since November.  Looking ahead to spring, Foothill’s school calendar already includes a number of scheduled working trips to LA’s Skid Row and communities in Baja California.  Faith and action is a powerful combination, says Mrs. Kitchel.   “We have only just begun to see what God will do when we choose to act and move beyond the memory verses.”