Empowerment: Summer 2024

MPOWERMENT

A First Church of God Publication | Summer 2024

Forgetting The Pa s t

PAs t

f u tu re

Beloved

Beloved, I pray that this article finds you not only well, but enjoying what for many is THE most exciting season of the year.

While there may be those who prefer some other season, I think we can say, there is something special about summer. The longer days, the warmer weather and the sense of excitement, all make it a very special time of the year.

One of the traits of summer is travel. These months are filled with vacations, reunions, parties and travel, so let me offer some pastoral advice that may make these months more enjoyable.

1. Be patient. No matter your mode of travel, at some point patience will be required.

2. Keep things in perspective. Wife and I just had a week of vacation and from the moment we checked in, our patience was tried, and things did not go as planned. First Lady and I decided, it is five days, and we can do this!

3. Find pleasure in your time away, even if it comes in unexpected ways and places.

I hope that if you travel this summer that you will be safe, and that you will also enjoy yourself.

Blessings - Bishop

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The Bishop Speaks

- Bishop Timothy J. Clarke

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Empowerment Summer 2024

Bishop Timothy J. Clarke Executive Publisher & Chief Executive Officer

Brother Edmund Davidson Publisher

Sister Deborah Thompson Editor

Sister Qwinita Bell Contributor

Sister Michelle A. Sutton Contributor

Brother Carlin Armstead Contributor

Sister Villia Davidson Senior Advisor

Attention Want to EMPOWER others?

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Please contact Edmund Davidson at edavidson67@gmail.com for more information.

EMPOWERMENT

forgetting the past

“

By Carlin Armstead

Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old.

Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

- Isaiah 43:18-19 (Amplified Bible)

”

We have all experienced events in life that we would like to forget about.

Isaiah 43:18 tells us “Do not remember the former things; neither consider that things of old.” The Amplified Bible version of this verse inserts the word “earnestly.” So, should we forget the past or could we agree we shouldn’t dwell on it consistently?

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One of the definitions for the word “forget” is “to cease remembering or noticing.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) Does that mean we choose whether we remember things or not? Sometimes, in the natural state we live in, remembering the past is beneficial for history’s sake.

We learn from the past, which helps us make decisions in the present and future.

There is a saying that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man). The statement was updated, by Winston Churchill, in a 1948 speech to the British House of Commons: “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Forgiving and forgetting are two different things. There are stories in the Bible that show forgiveness of others from Jesus' sacrificial death to the story of the prodigal son, where a father welcomes his son home unconditionally after the son left and lived riotously.

Spiritually, when we give or surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, we are redeemed, and our spiritual slate of sin is wiped clean by God because of the blood sacrifice of our Savior.

When God looks at us, He only sees the blood of His Son covering us and our sins. The Bible says in Psalm 103: 11-12: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love

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for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

So, does God forget? Micah 7:18-19 (Amplified Bible) states, “Who is a God like You, who forgives wickedness and passes over the rebellious acts of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He [constantly] delights in mercy and lovingkindness. He shall again have compassion on us; He will subdue and tread underfoot our wickedness [destroying sin’s power]. Yes, You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

When something is thrown into the “depths of the sea,” it’s generally lost or can’t be found. In a spiritual sense, this may be God’s version of forgetting following forgiveness. In essence, forgetting as human beings may be a choice because we tend to forget the things we want to forget about. Forgetting can also become a state of mind or mindset to forget and put behind past situations that are not beneficial to our lives.

“

Make the decision—right now—to purposely forget all of the failures, the setbacks, the hardships, that no longer have a place in your life

- Harold Sconiers

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No Sliding this Summer!

By Michelle Sutton

Have you heard the term “Summer Slide”? If you have not, you are not alone. According to Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, nearly 50% of parents with school-age children do not know what it means.

Scholastic defines the “Summer Slide” as a loss of academic knowledge that students can experience over their summer break. In other words, when our children step away from their daily school routine, they can lose a portion of what they’ve learned during the school year. According to an article from Nationwide Children’s Hospital, entitled, Calling All Parents: Do you Know About the Summer Slide? “On average, kids lose a month or more of learning during the summer. The effect is cumulative, and worse for low-income families”. Most parents would agree, they want their children to enjoy their summer break. To expect a parent to recreate the academic rigor their children experience during the school year at home, is not an option. So, what are reasonable ways parents can lessen the summer slide?

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Amy Holley, an educator with Columbus City Schools, is an active wife and mother to 5 adult children.

She sees the effects of the summer slide witnessing it first-hand through her students. Amy stated, “some subjects, particularly mathematics and spelling tend to exhibit more pronounced declines over the summer, compared to others like reading comprehension.” However, when her children were in grade school, she always made sure they were mentally and physically active during their summer break. “By incorporating a mix of activities into my children’s summer routine, I prevented the summer slide while ensuring they had fun during their school breaks. For example, educational field trips, physical activities, creative activities and daily reading to encourage an opportunity to expose my children to a variety of genre of books”.

Amy is a graduate of Tennessee State University, with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Arts in Special Education. She currently works for the Fort Hayes Career Center as an Occupation Skills Instructor Off-Site and teaches intellectually delayed students in her classroom located at Grant Medical Center. After teaching for over 30 years, Amy still has that love and passion to help students learn and she also shows them how to lead. You could call her love of teaching a family business. Amy’s father, William J. Anderson, was a

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beloved educator and principal in the Columbus City School district.

“Without regular academic stimulation, students may forget a portion of what they learned during the school year”, she says. “And if there is deficiency in the students' academics, that even widens the academic proficiency even more”.

Nationwide Children’s Hospital says incorporating learning in the summer doesn’t have to cost a lot of money.

Take your children to free programs at your local library; go to city parks.

Try low-cost hobbies like gardening or learning a new sport. A poor diet can impact a child’s ability to learn, and many children have limited access to food in the summer. Take advantage of free summer meal programs in your community.

In the end, parents must play an active role to help their children lesson the summer slide. Amy adds, “Parental involvement is pivotal in encouraging academic growth, even if it is remedial, to strengthen fundamentals in the students’ subject matter. Access to academic resources (like) the library, has programs and tutoring to continue to engage in educational activities”.

What could your kids gain (or lose) this summer?

Summer Learning

Summer Loss

-2.6

Guidance & Care by

Parents Parents play a key role in filling the gaps for the child over the summer.

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Jul-Aug

Months

of subject focused learning is all it takes to improve specific skills.

Months in Math

Students will lose 2.6 months of math computational skills over the summer.

-2

Months

in Reading

Students may lose 2 months of reading skills over the summer.

Consistency has a huge impact on student progress x

Progress of a student that continued learning during summer months.

Progress of a student that discontinued learning during summer months.

Accumulated Summer Learning

y

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18 Months

6th

Grade Level

6th

Grade Level

Months

By 6th grade, students can lose more than 18 months of learning due to summer learning loss.

Doing a little bit every day - even in the summer - is one of the cornerstones of the Kumon Method, and leads to long-term success!

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Graham, A.; McNamara, J.; Van Lankveld, J. (2011). Closing the summer learning gap for vulnerable learners. Early Child Development and Care.

Volume 181, Number 5, 575-585. doi: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03004431003646525

Alexander, K.; Entwisle, D.; Olson, L. (2007). Summer learning and its implications. New Directions in Youth Development.

Issue 114, 11-32. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.210

Slates, S.; Alexander, K. (2012). Counteracting Summer Slide. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR).

Volume 17, Issue 3, 165-185. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10824669.2012.688171

Alexander, K.; Entwisle, D.; Olson, L. (2007). Summer learning and its implications. New Directions in Youth Development.

Issue 114, 11-32. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.210

Anonymous

Let’s Work Together With the upcoming presidential election, we decided to publish an article from Fall 2020 in which random people were asked what their top priority would be if they were elected.

Have you ever thought about what you’d do if you were ever elected president of the United States of America? The 2016 elections were the subject of much debate over who would make the best president.

There are many people who don’t feel like the right person was elected and have speculated extensively on whether he’s up for the job. Of course, there are plenty of people who are glad he was given the job over the other candidate. Do you think you could do a better job?

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If I were president, the environment would become a top concern. People would be motivated to recycle and reuse things so that landfills could be kept from taking over their communities. Research dollars would be allocated toward developing environmentally friendly fuel sources and people and companies would be compensated for choosing solar panels and other things that are better for the environment.

Protecting our world is important for future generations and educating the public about what they can do to help would be a top priority.

If I were president, kindness would prevail and people would treat those around them with love, respect and basic courtesy. There wouldn’t be any resources wasted on petty arguments and fights between neighbors or family members.

I know I might be wearing rose colored glasses, but if people truly treated others as they want to be treated, the world would be a better place for everyone.

If I were president, education wouldn’t be so controversial. Parents would support teachers and teachers would support parents. Neither would be against the other and each would be focused solely on the education of the child and ensuring that he or she has a bright future. Funding would be pulled from politicians paychecks to help pay for the needs of every school. Teachers would be properly trained to work with students of all kinds and would be paid accordingly. After all, the future of the world depends on today’s children so shouldn’t our money be going to that over anything else?

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If I were president, I would take the emphasis off of racial ethnicity and class and place it back where the Constitution began, which is that everyone was created equal. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you look like, we are all people and all deserve the same rights. At the same time, America is a welcoming country and people should be taking the proper steps to become a legal resident of the country. If this were the case, there would be fewer people who have trouble with minorities because they wouldn’t be using resources that belong to American citizens when they were not legally entitled to them.

If I were president, children wouldn’t go hungry. Those with enough would be compelled to share and those who were lacking would get the help they need.

The amount of food that is thrown away in America is appalling when so many people are going without a meal.

Grocery stores could give their surplus or less than perfect looking produce to food banks. Restaurants could donate end of the day leftovers to food kitchens or homeless shelters. Never again would a child have to feel the pains of being hungry.

Not everyone can become the president, but if those that do were better at doing what the people need and trying not to be ruled by money, every citizen of the country would benefit in a big way. If we all come together and do what’s best for the nation instead of one population or individual, the United States would be an even better place to live.

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AS EASY AS

1.

2.

VOTE

VOTE

On November 6, 2020 at your designated voting polls

CHANGE I VOTED

The country with your vote

. . . THANK ME LATER.

V TE Don’t be invisible.

I x A M >> H U M A N W A T C H M E V O T E No matter how you do it or what you say, just.....

VVVVV VV OTE

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