Why am I committed to Aletheia Christian College and the ministries surrounding it? Why do I keep coming back to a school which has more teachers than students? Let me introduce you to my vision of and for Aletheia Christian College, Liberty Christian Academy, and the church in southern Idaho. The vision statement for our school has a focus on local churches, national revival, and international Christian education, and there is so much room for an individual to join with us, to commit to seeing that vision grow, to make it their own. This is the reason that we have adjunct faculty waiting to teach classes with us in multiple countries and continents. This is the reason we are building relationships with schools and groups of Christians in the United States, Indonesia, Egypt, Haiti, Namibia, Columbia, Peru and a host of other smaller contacts.
What is my calling in this vision? There is so much to discuss, where do I begin? I love teaching the poor and disenfranchised in Jerome. I love teaching refugees, taking them into the fields, and teaching them to provide for themselves through gardens, micro-farming and gleaning in the large commercial agri-industry here (Potatoes!). I love going up to summer camp and watching the Holy Spirit transform a group of rowdy, disrespectful teenagers into a group of on fire youth desiring to change their world. I love teaching mathematics to those who have fallen through the cracks in our modern factory society, where everything is big, including the schools where students who don’t “get it” fall further and further behind and get more and more frustrated. I love when I can give them time and explain the work differently, I love to cover the fundamentals, and give them the freedom to learn as an individual.
One of the philosophical methods of education which we use at ACC and at Liberty Christian Academy, our model school, is called the Principle Approach(R). The first principle is “God’s Principle of Individuality” and this principle teaches that we are, each one of us, unique and need personalized instruction, personalized leadership and a vision of where we are going. I teach kids who have been convinced that they can never do math because they don’t know how to infer algebraic formulas and principles from the world around them. I love seeing their eyes light up as I explain how we infer numbers, algebra, geometry and other maths from the world around us and use them to communicate. Suddenly, young teens who love relationships and only saw math as cold and analytical see the purpose of learning to communicate through math, one of the most beautiful and universal of languages. This is why I am here.
When we first met the Nepali, it was in a cold October following one of southern Idaho’s random fall snow storms. My friends were wearing open-toed sandals without socks, walking to school. With some donations from local business people and humanitarians, we bought them socks and shoes and taught them how to dress in a climate different from where they had spent the last 20 years. But, most rewarding to me was watching as we helped them get driver’s licenses, jobs, and become self-sufficient. I treasure my memory of walking onto my friend’s property they are renting and dodging the chickens under-foot while observing an entire cellar of potatoes which they had gleaned from the southern Idaho fields. I love teaching people to be self-sufficient and use the property they have to develop and improve their own lives.
And my personal passion, the drive that brings me back again and again over the last five years, in the face of poverty, uncertainty and extreme competition from a large tax-supported system is my passion for the love-glory of God. To see God work in the lives of youth is what makes me stay awake praying after feeding my son at 2 in the morning. To experience the Holy Spirit working through the lives of students, of faculty and staff, of the churches we minister to, of the youth who come to our summer camps is the greatest joy of myself and of those I work with here at Aletheia Christian College. Sitting here now with the snow swirling outside the window behind my head I remember a summer a few years back. I remember the dry dusty cabin, as I lead a teenage boys small group. I tremble as I remember listening to one of the youth describe a moment when his mom had tried killing him with drugs. I remember with regret one of the “Christian” youth there mocking this young man. I remember it breaking my heart and I challenged this youth to be a true follower of Jesus Christ and to neither mock nor lie concerning his own life and struggles. By the end of that camp I watched these same two young men hold hands and pray for each other with a passion and a depth of love which I have only seen as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit’s work in an individual’s life. If someone would ask me what is the most important aspect of our work here, I would say it is that mockers become prayer warriors and friends of those they mocked. I would say that our desire and vision is to change the way people think, and changing the way they think, change their lives for the glory of God. I would say that our goal is our students learn to love God, love others and love themselves. This is why I come back to work in the face of uncertain economic times, and this is why I ask all who read this to join me, to pray for us, to take classes and learn a way of thinking which brings glory to God in all aspects of life, and to come and join us as a volunteer or staff member, and to pray for our financial provision.
The love and wisdom of God, this is Aletheia Christian College’s vision and passion, and this is what I want to leave with you.
Nathanael Davis
Chief Financial Officer
The Principle Approach® is a registered trademark of the Foundation for American Christian Education.
