Last term Jack Gilbert and I launched our Tuesday, weekly prayer meetings. At our first meeting, 30 people packed out our music room, sacrificing their morning break to come before God.
At Covenant I have been blessed to be surrounded by hundreds of people from hundreds of churches and have always valued that environment. Our heart for our prayer meetings is to see students and teachers from all church backgrounds join together in prayer, and during the past few weeks, that’s exactly what we have seen!
Each week at our meetings Jack and I have a theme. Over the last weeks the themes have been; school life, families, health, passion in our walk with God and salvation of friends and family. The purpose of our themes is to bring a sense of direction to our meetings. We start each meeting with a short message from one of the students and then launch into about 15 minutes of prayer, short but sweet (and powerful)! At our last prayer meeting for the term our theme was Thanksgiving for Easter.
My heart for Covenant is to see a school that is consumed with zeal and passion for God's house, his Kingdom and his purpose. I would love to see, more then anything, Covie overflowing with young people who know their God and are 100% committed to Him and his will.
I never what to take for granted how blessed we are to be in a school that not only allows but supports students starting a prayer meeting. And I am so excited that in the midst the school's busyness, students and teachers are prepared to stop and come together and remember the Lord.
Jack and I would like to extend an invitation to all high school students and teachers to come and join us in the music room each Tuesday at recess. However close or far from God you feel you are welcome to come and check us out.
I am eager to see what God does in this coming year and beyond as we continue to prepare a place for young men and women to come before God.
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
As we trekked through a knee deep, 100 metre long puddle in torrential rain I don’t think any of the year 9 girls were truly sure of what the rest of camp had in store for us. So far we had been climbed a mountain, been bitten by leeches, been scared to death by Miss Hales “deadly leeches” - very funny Miss - and fallen in rivers. And that was just in four hours. By the end of the hike we were all too exhausted to make any sort of hysterics over the fact that yet another leech was climbing up our legs. I can honestly say that I am no longer bothered by leeches which is pretty darn impressive coming from an all-round nature-phobe.
That night we cooked noodles and learnt that no matter how hard the leaders try mineral turpentine cannot be used as gas. Most of us got around 2 hours of sleep and listened to choruses of High School Musical or played musical tents instead. We woke in the morning to a scene, which can only be described as beautiful, but most of us were too sleep deprived to notice. As we left to go back to the cabins there was one thing running through all our minds … showers.
That day we tried, and failed, at archery. We were drenched when it rained yet again at BMX riding and went surprising well at low ropes. But the highlight for most of us were the night games. We played Princess Billionaire and Dodgeball. I’m proud to announce us girls beat the teachers and leaders 3 out of 3 times. After we were all thoroughly exhausted we bunkered down for bed. Miss Hale read us a Max Lucado picture book and we all said goodnight. We had a plan to all meet in one room but that was soon wrecked.
***FLASHBACK TIME***
It’s 10ish at night. The door closes.
“Mrs Downing? Mrs Downing?”
“She’s not here!”
“I know I was just checking!!”
Mrs Downing: “aren’t you supposed to check for Miss Hale to?”
Sufficient to say, our party plans were wrecked.
The next day, after a rather more wholesome night of sleep we woke up to a sunny day. We had devotions and then the guys came back from the campsite. Once they had showered and we finished our devotions we played a massive game called stratego. Most got it, others didn’t. Those who didn’t just stayed out of the way but it was fun. Running around like mad people is thoroughly enjoyable.
As we drove back to Covenant the bus was noticeably quieter. Half of us were asleep. Despite the rain we managed to make the most of it and all of us took away many funny memories. So I leave you with one word. Nigel.
Bob Mendelsohn of Jews for Jesus came today and spoke at our Senior Assembly. He was entertaining and engaging and told his story of how he grew up as a moderate Jew and later became a Christian… although he says he is still a Jew, but one who has found the Messiah. He gave us some real insights into Jewish thinking and how and why they do certain things.
He said that after high school he became a hippy in the 60s and searched for peace and meaning in his life. He met some Christians who wanted to talk to him about Jesus and he said that he was happy to “take them on” and debate with them, aiming to show them “why they were wrong”. After spending some time talking with them and asking questions, he stumped them on a few issues, but their humility in not having to have all the answers impressed him and left him thinking. They told him to ask Jesus to show him directly who he was, which was a foreign thought, as in Jewish culture you don’t actually bother God with those sorts of things, but just talk to a Rabi or someone else about it. He did this and was amazed by what happened to him.
He also started to read the New Testament and discovered that it too was actually written about Jewish people and by Jews about the Jewish Messiah. He later accepted Jesus as his savior. Bob said “I found it in Y'shua," which is Jewish for Jesus. At the time his family then disowned him and he was rejected by all his Jewish friends. He said it was tough, but God has brought him through.
He now works for Jews For Jesus and spends his time speaking to all sorts of groups of people. He encourages Christians to reach out to their Jewish brothers and sisters who do not yet know Y’shua. He is still a Jew because He said Jews often will only listen to Jews and so it is important for him to maintain his heritage and his customs.
He said that sharing Jesus is like having a banquet laid out in front of you by God. You turn up, grab the platter, serve yourself and then pass it on. He prayed that we would have a heart to pass on the food so that others can eat, particularly those who are Jewish that we know.
Bob was great and we pray that he continues to bear fruit in his ministry to the Jewish people.
Last Thursday morning Covenant Christian School was filled with the delightful smell of bacon and eggs cooking on the barbeque. Mr. Smithies and the Student Council sold bacon and egg rolls and hash browns to the high school students. The money that was raised is being sent to a Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia to support the hospital and a family from a local Sydney church who run the midwifery college there.
In Ethiopia, alone, there are an estimated 100,000 women suffering with untreated fistula, and another 9,000 women who develop fistula each year. Due to poor health standards many girls who give birth develop a fistula which can lead to permanent damage of her internal organs. The hospital is able to treat women with this ailment, their cure rate is over 90%.
For more information http://www.fistulafoundation.org/index.html
Thank you to everyone who supported the this cause. Get ready for more BBQ breakfasts!
The Rostrum Voice of Youth is an national public speaking competition which showcases some of Australia’s most articulate young people. This week, Covenant senior students participated in the Sydney heats at International Grammar School, Broadway. Simon Swadling, Matthew Walter and Grace Fitz- Gerald were outstanding representatives of the school, speaking about some very pertinent issues with a great deal of confidence and thoughtfulness. Grace was awarded runner-up.
Each of our students are commended on their fine speeches.
Covenant recently introduced Early Childhood as an elective for students. One of the great advantages of having a Preschool to Year 12 school is the students doing this course can gain practical experience by crossing over the playground. The Early Childhood students have been visiting Kindy classes.
One exercise was to help the Kindy students write a sentence about a picture they had drawn. Another was where they had to find out how the students felt when they started school and did a drawing to express their ideas. Then they had to express how they feel now. They did this by making a face on a biscuit and thoroughly enjoyed eating it!!!
The school today conducted a Fire Drill to ensure our evacuation procedures were known and understood by staff and students. With so many new students and quite a few staff this is an important lesson. At least two fire drills are conducted each year. An emergency such as a fire is signaled by a siren or a continuous ringing of the fire alarm. On the alarm, each teacher with a class marshaled pupils out of the room and proceeded by the safest direct route to the allocated area and line up in class groups.
One child in Kindy wanted to know when we would see the drilling, so was probably a little disappointed with the lack of real action. Junior classes assembled on the tiered grass area outside Transition (Little England). Secondary classes went to the school oval and assembled in Home Class groups. Student rolls were then checked by their Home Class Teacher.
Fire wardens are responsible for checking each building prior to going to the evacuation areas. After each fire drill a review is conducted to see where the exacuation procedure can be improved.
In
the event of a fire at Lunchtime or Recess, everyone is to assemble in
the same areas. Naturally for a Lockdown the procedure is different and drills for this will also be conducted during the year.
Year 7 this year welcomed 38 new students so three days spent at Lake Macquarie on camp was a great way to get to know each other. Students enjoyed a range of activities and challenges.
Here are some comments from students:
I liked the activities because they gave us the opportunity to do things that we couldn’t do at home. The activities were great, but not too extreme.
I didn’t like building the raft because it collapsed when we put it in the water. Then everyone fought over whose idea we should use for the second attempt.
Fishing
If you weren’t mature enough you wouldn’t be able to stand the showers or the cabins! The cabins could be lighter with more cheerful colours! Also, they needed more ventilation.
The leaders at camp were so friendly. The discussion time was good because coming from a public school with camps to an amazing Christian camp is really good.
The day activities were all fun and I conquered some of my fears. My favourite moment was when I went down the wall at abseiling, because I hate heights, but I still did it.
There was much excitement at Covenant Christian School to celebrate Pi-Day. This is becoming a regular fixture on the calendar. There were some students and some even more excited teachers looking forward to having a go at some group problem-solving activities in Mathematics today all in honour of circles and that wonderful number Pi (π = 3.1415926535897932384626433832….)
And so we celebrated the festival of all things circles one day early this year! If you didn’t know, Pi Day (π = 3.14…..) is celebrated on the 14th of March. (For the record, we know this is the US way of writing the date, but unfortunately the Aussie Pi-Day (22/7) falls in the middle of our July school holidays this year.) In any case – who needs a reason to eat yummy desserts?!
Our Year 8, 9 and 12 Mathematics classes had a wonderful time working in groups to complete some fun problem-solving activities, and then enjoyed eating some Pie and Cheesecake afterwards. The students saw the relevance of what they were learning in class in a practical context, learned how to work in a team, and had a good time doing it. The students were sent home with some tasks to complete over the weekend as well. A number of teachers also took on the challenge in what was a most enjoyable Friday! Can’t wait for next year…
Mr P Muddle (on behalf of the Mathematics Faculty)
On the 9th of March, Year Ten, Eleven and Twelve art students arose with excitement as we all made our way into the great City Of Sydney to see Art Express and the Archibald. I woke up in the darkness of the morning to meet at the train station for 7am, with the help of coffee and the smiles of my friends we headed in early to get some delicious French pastries for breakfast. At 9am the whole group came together and we excitedly headed to the Art Gallery of NSW; we went into art express and were pleasantly greeted with the level of creativity, talent and original ideas of prior Year Twelve students' pieces.
Everyone seemed to really enjoy the video art, along with the photography and drawings. I particularly liked the sculpture with all different old books which has been cut up, burnt, and manipulated to give them personality and meaning. Everyone received each others feedback as we sat outside enjoying some lunch under the sun so we could be rejuvenated to see the famous Archibald.
This year's Archibald was overflowing with Australian talent and everyone enjoyed seeing some well known faces being displayed, a favourite amongst the group was the little Aboriginal boy who was painted with a staggering amount of realism, my personal favourite was Anthony Bennet whose style I fell in love with and consequently voted for him for people choice! After soaking up all the art works from the day, I think everyone walked out of the gallery more inspired for their own artworks and were ready to either take their tired feet home, or frolic around the city a little longer.
ticipated in the Sydney heats at International Grammar School, Broadway. Simon Swadling, Matthew Walter and Grace Fitz- Gerald were outstanding representatives of the school, speaking about some very pertinent issues with a great deal of confidence and thoughtfulness. Grace was awarded runner-up. 
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