God is Moving at GRACE

GRACE family, it has been an amazing start to the 2024-2025 school year. On both campuses and with our parents we are hearing stories of incredible ways that God is moving. In September, we were able to take our High School students to Camp Oak Hill for our annual Ignite retreat. This is a time each year when we get our students away from school to spend time connecting with each other and being challenged by the truth of God’s Word. This year, our students were challenged to ask themselves if the Gospel has truly changed their hearts and to check and see if they are living their lives more in line with Jesus or with the world. Since returning, we have seen great fruit in the form of deep, meaningful conversations and increased interest in both student-led and teacher-led Bible studies. Our students are showing a hunger for God's Word and a desire for a deeper relationship with Him.

Additionally, at our annual See You at the Pole time, we had a larger turnout than we’ve had in many years. This included both students, teachers, as well as some parents. The greatest thing about that morning was one of our young ladies prayed to trust Christ as Savior! 

Please continue to pray for the seeds that have been sown this year. Pray for Gospel fruit to be produced in God’s timing that will bring Him the greatest glory. Pray for continued boldness and compassion from our students. We are excited to see how God is going to move throughout the remainder of the school year!

The Lower Campus has already seen God move in some amazing ways in this first part of the school year. We had our second annual Lower Campus Christian Emphasis week on August 26-30.  Our featured speaker, Austin Matthews (Next Generation Pastor at Peak City Church in Apex) did a fantastic job unpacking our theme verses, Ephesians 4:1-3. In addition to our guest speaker, GWT led a couple of worship songs each day and the students also enjoyed daily skits, performed by Lower Campus staff, to go along with the messages. We culminated the week with a Lower Campus hotdog cookout where the Men of GRACE came to cook and serve lunch to the students. Fifth-grade teachers reported 4 students who indicated they accepted Jesus as their Savior for the first time, not to mention the countless Gospel seeds that were planted in the hearts and lives of our students.

Another way God is moving in the lives of our students is that 27 6th-grade students signed up for 6th-grade discipleship groups. The students have been divided into 5 single-gender groups who meet weekly to study scripture and pray together.   

God is not only moving in the hearts of our students but also the lives of the parents. Our Moms’ Bible Study groups are growing every semester. We have 2 groups that meet on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Each group was capped at 13 and both sign-ups are full, which means we have 26 GRACE moms studying 1, 2, & 3 John and praying together every week! Look for the sign-up for our Spring study, which will be included in a January edition of Amazing GRACE.

This school year, we have had 52 total ladies attend one (or more) of our Moms in Prayer meetings - most of them mothers and grandmothers of GRACE students and alumni. During our weekly prayer times, we pray for each GRACE student by name – usually one grade a week. By the end of the school year, we are usually able to pray over each child three times. In addition to praying over our students, we pray for our teachers’ prayer requests, pray for each other and pray for our world. Currently, we are studying a small devotional on Psalm 91. We will move on in the second half of the year to a Women of the Bible study. Moms and grandmothers are welcome to join us! We meet at the Upper Campus on Wednesdays at 8 am and at the Lower Campus on Thursdays at 1:45 pm. If you have a specific prayer request, you can email [email protected].  

The Men of GRACE welcomed a large group to our first Donuts for Dad of the year in September. It was encouraging to see so many dads (and granddads) - old and new - come out for a time of fellowship. Join us the first Friday of every month after morning drop-off. We meet at the Upper Campus Activity Center.