By Dr. Carrie Turner, Administrator

One week before Christmas. One hundred young GOCS faces staring straight ahead, eyes bright and wide, hands clapping, toes tapping, and voices lifted high while singing "Jesus, The Light of the World," could not have held a more captive audience.

As I sat and listened to the students sing, the word "Light" kept standing out in my mind. I thought about Jesus' Words, "...let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matt. 5:14, 16) I also thought about the many ways GOCS students have shone their "Light" throughout the year.

One such occasion was their assembling fruit bags to take to two local nursing homes before Christmas. As they dutifully placed fruit in each bag, the joy expressed on their faces was out matched only by the joy on the nursing home recipients' faces as they received their gifts.

Our Earth Angel Penny Campaign affords our students an even greater opportunity to shine their light. This campaign is about helping others. It's about showing compassion to two of our students, a 5th grader who has attended GOCS since Nursery 3, and a 6th grader, a newcomer. These students are chronically ill; the first suffers from sickle cell and the latter from multiple sclerosis.

Each Friday, students are putting wings on their prayers by donating pennies to the special fund. We praise God that these students are shining in their demonstration of compassion towards one another. Our goal is to fill the ten-gallon barrel by the end of school and divide the funds between the two students. Meanwhile, our two students are doing very well, and for which, we are most thankful.

Please pray that God will heal these children, and that each of our students will continue to be a light for Christ to fellow students and in the community.

GOCS' ultimate light was the annual Father/Son Luncheon, designed to foster parental involvement in the academic and spiritual lives of their children. Parental involvement helps fathers to fulfill spiritual, moral and legal responsibilities to their children. The luncheon is also an opportunity for parents to interact with TMM staff and chief officers, getting to know them on a more personal level.

A special highlight was the dawning of summer with our youth in a hubbub of academic enrichment and recreation activities. Our hearts rejoiced that we had yet another opportunity to affect the lives of so many youngsters. A reflection of the loss of several young lives in our community helped us to realize the urgency of gathering souls for Christ.

Our Christian Youth Leadership Development (CYLD) and Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) were instruments and catalyst through which God affected change in these young lives. The twenty CYLD participants (ages 14-21) and nearly 200 SEP participants (ages 5-17) were actively engaged in a series of creative and structured events. These youth learned much about God's plan for their lives, in addition to learning how to work with each other.