President's Perspective The Comforts of Home

It is always good to come home. Even if we have had a grand time away, it is a good and comforting feeling to arrive safely at home. This year we welcomed many more young ones to their homes here at French Camp. We are thankful the Lord has sent them, and we look forward to the opportunities of challenge and growth that will occur in us and them!

Over the past few years, many of us have experienced a great deal of hardship and loss. It seems that the world we have known will never be the same. Something I truly enjoy in my role as president of French Camp Academy is the opportunity to get to personally know those who support the mission of French Camp. Over the years, these relationships have grown, and many have moved to deeper levels of heart-felt friendship and care for one another. Recently many of our dear friends have departed for Heaven. We have felt and experienced that loss, and it hurts.

Dr. Joe Martin came off the Brazilian mission field in 1988 to lead Belhaven University’s ministry program. This was my freshman year at Belhaven and Joe and I hit it off! Over time Joe became so much more than a professor and friend. He took on the role of being a spiritual father to me. We enjoyed trips to Brazil, many hunts (including jaguar), fishing in the Amazon, and two-man volleyball. We called ourselves “Thunder and Lighting” on the court. Joe, too, went to Heaven this year after a battle with lung issues.

Through this loss and pain, God has been merciful to reveal to me that I had a fearful and self-centered heart. I was stepping back from entering meaningful relationships because of self-protection of being hurt again. Through a crazy chore of removing a holly bush stump for a friend, God showed me that roots are vital for growth even though some of my larger roots were earthly severed. There are young people at FCA that need relationships (roots) they have never experienced. That hit me like a ton of bricks! After this realization, I asked for God’s forgiveness and for Him to provide what I need to start building roots again with those He brings into my life.

French Camp TODAY

French Camp TODAY (USPS 210-100) is published quarterly in March, June, September and December each year by French Camp Academy, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. Periodical postage paid at Hattiesburg, MS and all additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to French Camp TODAY, One Fine Place, French Camp, MS 39745-9703.

F. Stewart Edwards, Jr.

God created us for relationships—a relationship with Him and others. In so doing we fulfill Jesus’ command in Matthew 22:37-38—Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength and your neighbor as yourself. Seeking meaningful relationships with others without a relationship with God is difficult. The fullness that can be experienced with others cannot be realized without God. When we first seek to establish a relationship with God, He gives us Himself. With Him in our lives we now have a guide and coach that leads, corrects, and trains us how to have real meaningful relationships with others. His power invades our being and by His indwelling Spirit, He gives us the capacity to love, care, and truly serve others from a pure heart.

This is what is happening at French Camp! Staff have been loved by God and now want to love others through Him! Maybe you have experienced hurt from a past relationship. Like me, you may be selfprotecting in the way you relate or choose not to relate. I do not remember who said this, but I heard a statement that goes something like this— If it is by relationships we are broken, it is by relationships we will be healed. This statement, in the view of Jesus living in me, is certainly true! It is also true that God desires to encourage, comfort, protect, and grow us through relationships with others. He never meant for us to live this life on our own. We need each other. This is one of the beautiful aspects of His body—the church.

As we welcome 38 new residential students to their new home away from home, please continue to lift us in prayer! Pray that He would be pleased to grant many a new eternal home with Him in Heaven.

There is no subscription charge for French Camp TODAY; it is financed by voluntary contributions from friends of the Academy and is printed by Roberson Advertising Services LLC, Bogalusa, LA. Graphics/photographs/text by FCA staff and students. The mailing list of French Camp TODAY is confidential and is not shared with other organizations.

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Reporting in French Camp TODAY is intended to inform readers of the life and work of French Camp Academy, a Christ-centered home and school serving young people and their families for the glory of God. French Camp Academy is accredited by the State Department of Education, Jackson, MS.

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French Camp Academy

One Fine Place

French Camp, MS 39745-9703 662-547-6482 or 662-547-9464 www.frenchcamp.org

Board Of Trustees

Sharkey Burke Brandon

Scott Castleman Ocean Springs

Dave Fair Oxford

Vivian Farris Oxford

Glenn Galey, Secretary Hattiesburg

Toxey Hall III Canton

G. Carey Hauenstein Laurel

Lee Lampton, Vice Chairman Jackson

Chuck McBride Madison

Brooks Mosley Jackson

Tommy Peaster, Vice Chairman Flora

Hugh Potts, Jr., Chairman Kosciusko

F. Stewart Edwards, Jr., FCA President

Mission Statement

French Camp Academy, a Christcentered home and school, exists to serve young people and families for the glory of God.

Kawsu Sillah, FCA Class of 2010, spoke to our residential students on Sunday night, August 20th. Kawsu is from Sierra Leone, West Africa, and has lived in the United States for the past twenty years. After graduating from FCA, hee enrolled at Mississippi College and graduated with a Kinesiology major. Today, he sees himself as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ and finds great joy in serving the Lord by giving back to his community in Memphis, TN where he serves as a dorm parent at Binghampton Christian Academy.

Peter Reid (General Director of Torchbearers International) was the keynote speaker for FCA’s “Spiritual Emphasis” week in August. His biblically grounded messages were just what our staff and students needed to kick-off a new academic year. Approximately, ten students professed faith in Christ. PTL! Pictured here with Peter Reid is his encouraging wife Gaby, along with Stewart and Rebecca Edwards. Torchbearers International has 25 centers around the world providing biblically sound, gospel rich discipleship for those interested in growing in their faith. v

The Power of Cooking!

Life-on-life ministry is something we talk a lot about at FCA. Connecting relationally to students provides openings for deeper conversations about life, the things of God, fleshing out faith and practice, and next steps.

Preparing meals in the kitchen offers opportunities for house parents to unpack the emotional baggage some of our young people bring. The sweet smell of oven baked cookies, the warmth of the oven or stove, the sizzle of bacon frying in the pan, the aromas of a variety of recipes that we sometimes make up together, are often exactly what is needed to open the mind of a young person.

When students ask a house parent to bake alongside of them, this may be a signal that something deeper is going on. Relationships and counseling can certainly happen in a kitchen. v

Staff Member Spotlight

Faith Lawson graduated from French Camp Academy in 2017 and began serving in its Maintenance Department three years ago after graduating from Hinds Community College with a degree in plumbing. Faith attends Bethsaida Baptist Church where her father, Alex Lawson, also an FCA graduate, serves as pastor. Faith is described as helpful, willing, and has the heart of a cheerful servant. FCA is grateful for her influence and sacrificial work with young people which is why her peers at FCA chose Faith to receive “Staff Member of the Year” in August. FCA Alumni earlier in the summer at Alumni Day in May chose Faith as its “Young Alumnus of the Year.” v