Students lead worship Wednesday during Spiritual Emphasis Week. (Mary Alford/ABN)
SHERWOOD, Ark. – It’s Spiritual Emphasis Week at Abundant Life Christian Academy (ALCA), and students are putting “theology into action.”
The theme of this year’s Spiritual Emphasis Week, March 17-21, is The Gospel Everywhere.
Throughout the week, ALCA brought in various speakers – such as Matt Hall, Baptist Collegiate Ministry minister at University of Arkansas in Pine Bluff; Daniel Williams, a church member at Central Baptist Church in North Little Rock; Brett Dickson, senior pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Searcy; and Robert Jose, youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Cabot – who shared with students how the good news of Jesus Christ goes with them into their homes, friendships, jobs, and eventually with them to their college campus.
Additionally, the students spent the week out in the community, serving at food pantries, cleaning up parks, and being encouragers in the nursing homes. A few of the service projects throughout the week included serving at Hesed Food Pantry, the Sherwood Animal Shelter, The Grove (Graves Memorial Baptist Food Pantry), Willow Grove Nursing Home and Caring Hearts Pregnancy Center.
On two of the days, they also partnered with others in the community to provide lunch for the Sherwood Public Works Department and the Sherwood police and fire departments.
“What we want to do is serve those who serve us in our community and then also serve those who can’t serve us,” Head of School Joshua Townsend said. “We want them to see ALCA. We want them to know who the owls are, but we want them to know all of this is formed through His Gospel and that is what infuses us and powers us to do it all.”
Taylor Cain who serves as the associate pastor at First Baptist Church in Sylvan Hills and Bible teacher at Abundant Life Christian Academy, said the desire at ALCA for this week is to pass on the teachings of Jesus and to be His hands and feet. He said this “week is a bigger view of what we do August through May.”
Abundant Life Christian Academy’s mission is to nurture the heart with Biblical truth, equip the mind through academic excellence, and train Christian students to make disciples for Jesus Christ.
For more information on Abundant Life Christian Academy, a ministry of FBC Sylvan Hills, visit alca-owls.com.