World Impact Highlights

Daniella Jean Pierre and Mercidieu Alexis (M. J.) are delightful recent seniors at GCA. They just graduated and have high hopes of attending college. Both of these beloved students have worked diligently in and out of the classroom, and both played significant roles on GCA’s High School soccer teams. They are from Haiti and live with the McGinnisses, a GCA family who founded The Hands and Feet Project. The Hands and Feet Project is an organization that does excellent work in orphan care and education in Jacmel, Haiti. (handsandfeetproject.org)

During this year’s World Impact Week, it was such an honor to have Daniella and M.J. visit and speak to Ms. Hope’s Kindergarten class. It was a beautiful experience and exchange to see two seniors speaking to wide-eyed Kindergarten students. The little ones asked all kinds of questions. Daniella and M.J. shared their hearts about Haitian culture, language, food, and what they like to do outside of school. They spoke so eloquently about their faith in Christ, their experience at GCA, and the opportunities that God has given them. It has been such a tremendous blessing for our school to have such loving and exceptional students like Daniella and M.J. We eagerly look forward to seeing all the unique plans that God has in store for them.

From our hearts to yours - God Bless you, Daniella and M.J.!

When I saw that there was an option for Serve Day to go to Freedom Reigns, I was so excited! I have been a volunteer at Freedom Reigns ranch for the past year, and it has blessed my life immensely. When the morning of GCA’s Serve Day came around, a great group of students and teachers gathered around and headed that way. Upon arrival, Carissa (the ranch director) and her playful dog Ember greeted us, along with a few other ranch volunteers. The students were divided up into groups to help with various activities around the ranch. Some students helped dig trenches in the dirt, while other students helped clean off saddles, and another group cleaned out water troughs. We then moved onto a game that involved two blindfolded students in the arena, two horses, and two other students to help guide their way! The blindfolded students were to find rings that were placed throughout the arena, and stick them onto poles to win the game. Both teams used teamwork to try to communicate with their teammates, who shouted from the sidelines, while also maneuvering around two large horses who were also in the arena-ha! Afterwards, both teams gathered around to discuss what they learned from this game, and how it might apply to life at GCA. The students shared many insightful answers about trust, teamwork, communication, and ultimately about their faith in God. The students also got to hear about a few of the rescue horses’ stories and about their journey's from hopeless to hope. The students got to love on them too! I am always amazed at how God uses Freedom Reigns and everyone there to teach us so much about His heart. I am grateful for the day we had to enjoy some fresh air, work together, and serve this amazing ministry! Looking forward to the next time!

In this course, students use the book When Helping Hurts: A Small Group Experience to explore a different framework for thinking about poverty and its alleviation. Rather than simply defining it as a lack of material things, the book addresses the roots of the issue: broken relationships with God, self, others, and the rest of creation. Students learn about the workings of a non-profit and their roles in our community and the world, hear from guest speakers, and actually serve our local community monthly by volunteering with a local agency.

The class served at One Generation Away in Franklin. One Gen Away currently distributes healthy foods to families throughout Middle TN that currently do not have access to food sources due to economic and physical barriers. As a class, they sorted and organized donated food in the warehouse so that it would be easier for the teams to pack emergency food boxes for people in need. It was a quick and easy way to serve our local community and our students did it with a great attitude!