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GACS
students plan spring break
as mission to five areas of world
By Barbara S. Perkins
Public Information -- GACS
Special to GwinnettForum.com
"While only 34 students accompanied by 10
faculty and parents went to Mexico, our entire campus has been transformed
by the 44 hearts that returned forever changed after Spring Break,
1997. God will bless even more lives, both in Mexico and at GACS,
as the second mission trip is planned for Spring Break '98."
MARCH 5, 2002 -- School President Dr. David Fincher spoke these
words in April of 1997 as the first Greater Atlanta Christian School
missions team returned. Five years later, nearly four times the
number of GACS students and faculty are planning mission trips to
five different countries in April, 2002.
Since 1997, the GACS has expanded its mission outreach to include
areas in the United States as well as in four other parts of the
world. Taking to heart its responsibility to serve others has been
a focus for GACS since its doors were opened in the fall of 1968.
Much has changed over the years as that first student body of 150
students has grown to over 1,600, but the commitment to serving
others has not.
These trips have become regular ways in which GACS as a school
has discovered it can give back just a portion of the abundance
of its rich blessings. GACS also hosts other involvements, such
as the Atlanta-area Special Olympics and Jump Rope for Heart in
Gwinnett County.
Dozens of GACS students will travel in five different directions
in April. They will go to:
- City of Children in Ensenada, Mexico on the Baja Peninsula,
our sixth return visit: March 30 - April 5, Melaney Cost as Faculty
Leader.
- Amacuapa, Honduras, fourth visit: March 28 - April 6, with Angie
Fann as Faculty Leader.
- Brno, Czech Republic, second visit: March 28 - April 5, with
Matt Elliott as Faculty Leader.
- San Diego, Calif. and Tijuana, Mexico, second visit: March 29
- April 5, Daniel Cline as Faculty Leader.
- Vienna, Austria, first visit: March 28 - April 6, with Mike
Glenn as Faculty Leader.
The students will be organizing and directing vacation Bible schools,
helping with construction and landscaping work, delivering supplies,
and along the way, developing lifelong relationships with these
various groups.
Since last fall, faculty leaders at GACS have approved student
participation and directed extensive training sessions involving
their student teams. Once a student's application is accepted, he
then signs a contract pledging his commitment, dedication, and support
of the work ahead. Part of the process for students has to do with
fund raising to cover the cost of the trips and the collection of
donated goods to be taken to those in need.
The annual mission trips speak directly to the fundamental mission
of GACS, "Working to help students grow as Jesus did, in wisdom,
in stature, and in favor with God and man." In keeping with
that mission, students at GACS learn to give back to their communities
both locally and abroad.
The future of our great nation is largely dependent upon the educating
of our youth and the development of strong moral character. The
dual concentration of academic excellence in a Christian environment
remains front and center at GACS.
For more info. about GACS Missions contact GACS Chaplain Matt
Elliott at mattel@gacs.pvt.k12.ga.us
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