W HERE A RE THEY NOW
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Kirk & Amanda Van Zandt Craig Kirk and Amanda Van Zandt Craig both started at SBS in Pre-Kindergarten and graduated with the Class of 1996. Kirk graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in economics and Spanish, and he attended Wheaton College for graduate school. Amanda studied Christian education at Wheaton College and social work at the University of Houston for graduate school. Kirk and Amanda are co-founders of Agape Development Ministries. Kirk serves as executive director and Amanda serves as spiritual counselor. Agape Development Ministries has been in existence for Kirk’s advice to SBS students: “Soak up all the opportunities, make a broad set of eight years in Houston’s Third Ward. friends, kindness is better than popularity, “It is my great privilege to be transforming our service more important that status.” neighborhood by preparing Christ-following, independent, community-minded adults. We have had many experiences of individual transformation, including first generation college students, first generation faithful fathering, first time sports teams, first time exposure to the gospel, and first time racial reconciliation. We have been changed in the process. I can no longer gloss over passages like Isaiah 58 and 61, calling for the people of God to care and work deeply for the benefit of the poor and the marginalized. In the same way that Second Baptist School was a village for my wife and me, we want Houston’s Third Ward to become a village for every child born within its borders,” said Kirk. While at SBS, the Craigs enjoyed Key Club with Mr. Phillips, bombardment, blind pitch ball, Hoedown’s Grand Square (for the truly elite square dancers) and Jamestown. One of Kirk’s favorite memories as a student was running out of school on a snow day in 1994 and then playing ultimate frisbee on the school field in the cold ice and snow. When asked about teachers that made an impact on him, Kirk said, “There are so many...Ruth Ann Jones, John Victery, Becky Larkin, Mrs. Butler...each of these saw my strengths, saw my weaknesses and challenged me to grow. They all allowed the consequences of my actions to land squarely on my shoulders.” The Craigs have a great legacy at Second Baptist School. Four generations of the Craig family have been involved in SBS and three generations have been SBS students. Dialtha White, Amanda’s grandmother taught fifth grade for many years and Amanda’s mother and father both graduated SBS in eighth grade in 1963 (at the time there was no Upper School). “I’m most thankful for the community of friends and teachers. Some people call that a bubble, but I think of it as a village shaping and raising me. There is a proverb that says it takes a village to raise a child, and in the United States we have too few ‘villages.’ Safe places with watchful, intentional adults pushing the children to adulthood in a healthy, guarded manner,” said Kirk.
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Cliff Young Cliff Young is a 1991 graduate of Second Baptist School. He attended Texas Christian University, as well as Houston Baptist University. Currently, Young is the creative media and communications department director and associate pastor for Second Baptist Church. He has also served as the executive producer for the Really, Really Big Christmas Show at Second Baptist Church. In addition, he serves as board member for the Dalit Freedom Network, a human rights, non-governmental organization that seeks to emancipate the socially oppressed Dalit people in India. Young is also a founding member and vocalist for the band, Caedmon’s Call. He is married to Danielle Glenn Young (‘94), also a graduate of SBS and has five children. During his time at SBS, Young enjoyed playing basketball, participating in the school musicals and having Becky Larkin as a teacher. “She was passionate about what she did,” said Young of Becky Larkin.
January 2014
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