CEA SPRING NEWSLETTER

MARCH, 2008

The mission of the Christian Educators Association is to inspire and support Christian educators and encourage community by providing opportunities for spiritual and professional growth based on God’s Word.

Letter From the CEA President

As the winter months draw to a close, I am glad to report to the CEA membership that the Governing Board has been hard at work to make our association and our annual convention even better. Here are a few highlights of the work we’ve been undertaking:

• After investigating alternate locations for the convention, including an in-depth look at Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, Illinois, we have decided for now that the costs of such a move outweigh the potential benefits. We have committed to South Bend for the next few years. At the same time, we have also committed to a renewed effort to keep our conventions fresh, inspiring, and exciting.
• We have been experiencing rising costs as an association. We are working to contain costs while still providing an excellent convention and a very fine Christian Educators Journal. We have set dues for next year at $80, a nominal increase from the price of the last two years.
• We are striving to create a new, more flexible and more efficient way to govern our association. A restructuring of our convention-planning committee and our governing board could allow better long-range planning for both conventions and for the association’s work as a whole. We are still in the discussion stage right now, but we anticipate moving toward some changes in the next year.
• Finally, we are looking forward to a terrific convention in 2008. Walt Wangerin, Jr., will be our keynote speaker, and the theme will focus on social justice and Christian education.

We on the Governing Board wish you a blessed finish to your 2007-2008 school year. As always, if you have any questions or concerns about the association, please feel free to contact any one of us on the board.

Jeffrey DeVries

Future CEA Convention Dates

o 2009 – October 22 & 23 – South Bend, Indiana

o 2010 – October 21 & 22 – South Bend, Indiana

o 2011 – To be determined – South Bend, Indiana

o 2012 – October 18 & 19 – Grand Rapids, Michigan

Convention Planning Committee Report

2008: Redeeming Lives: Do Justice, Love Mercy
2009: Reclaiming the World: Walk Humbly

CEA Planning Committee is busy at work preparing for our next South Bend reunion. We are pleased to announce that author Walt Wangerin, Jr. will present our keynote address in 2008. We are starting a two year theme based on Micah 6:8. This year we are Redeeming Lives: Do Justice, Love Mercy; and in 2009 we will be Reclaiming the World: Walk Humbly. This fall, our primary focus will be on social justice, and our theme sectionals will all be speakers who are in the world working to do justice and love mercy. We are also excitedly working on a “green convention” for 2009, where our keynote speaker Cal De Witt will help us find ways to “walk humbly” through God’s Creation.

We welcome any suggestions of speakers or sectionals to help us explore these themes. If you have an idea for a sectional that you would like to present, whether focused on the theme or on exciting work happening in your classroom, please contact your CEA delegate, or Brenda VanderPloeg. Often our highest rated sectionals are the ones where YOU are sharing what you are doing in your classroom. Your best lesson could be an inspiring one to share with others. We will also be asking CEA members to serve in the role of sectional chairperson. This job is an easy way to give back, and important to helping our convention run smoothly.

CEA is an organization that encourages us to remember who we are. We are not merely individual teachers; we are more than just individual schools. We are teachers and administrators joined together across many miles to share God’s world through textbooks, conversations and life experiences with our students and with each other.

Come- get ready to worship, fellowship and praise our wonderful God!

See you in South Bend!

Professional Standards Committee Report

The Professional Standards Committee (PSC) is a committee that is here to serve fellow members of CEA by acting as a sounding board for concerns that may arise and by recognizing members who deserve recognition.

A copy of the CEA handbook is available on the CEA website. Some of the issues that are addressed in the handbook are teacher responsibilities, class sizes, personnel relations between teachers, administrators and boards, and many other matters. Our committee recently decided to meet less often and do more of our work electronically. We are giving one another feedback through e-mail and Google groups.

The committee is responsible for maintaining the contents of the website and our goal is to make more of the convention information available to you in this way. Look for new and exciting things to be posted on the website.

It is also our privilege to honor CEA members who have reached 25 and 35 years of service in Christian Education. The committee puts together the slide show for the 35 year honorees and takes care of the other details associated with the presentations. We are looking forward to honoring many more of you who have reached these milestones in Christian education at the 2008 convention!

CEA Book Club

The CEA book club will be returning to Convention 2008. The one hour sectional will be split into two half hour discussions of two great books. Plan now to read They are Blood of the Lamb by Peter DeVries, and The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy. We are looking forward to a great discussion of these books in October.

CEA Instrumental Ensemble

We are also looking forward to our teachers returning to the mass meetings with their instruments to lead us in worshipping our great God! Music teachers and brass players are warmly welcomed back to the ensemble, but you don’t have to be a music teacher or a brass player. What used to be called the brass ensemble is now called the instrumental ensemble. We are inviting any teacher or administrator who can play an instrument to come and share your gift with us! Simply bring your instrument and your music stand and come a few minutes early to the mass meeting for a quick rehearsal and join in!

CEA dues for the 2008 - 2009 school year will be $80.00.

CEA Email – cea@ceateachers.org.