June 11, 2020
So God created man in His own image,
in the image of God He created him,
male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:27
Precious Parents,
Although it has only been eight days since school has officially ended for students, faculty, and staff, it seems as though it has been months. The past weeks have been filled with life-changing, life-altering events. First, COVID19 totally changed the way we did school almost overnight! Then the tragic event of George Floyd losing his life at the hands of someone trusted to protect life. Again, both events are life-changing and life-altering events not just for our country, but also for our community and our school. Many of you have sent me emails asking why I have not released plans for how the school will meet the CDC requirements for COVID19 and what school will look like in 2020-2021. I want you to know we are working on it! As soon as we have something concrete, we will send it out.
Over the past couple of days, I have received emails and messages asking why I have not issued a statement of solidarity or spoken on the events that have touched the hearts of our NTA families in the past few weeks. It is definitely not because I have not been thinking about it. My first gut reaction was that I had to be prepared to help our students deal with the horrible events that have taken place in our country. And so I have been busy compiling ideas to bring unity and understanding. I apologize if my silence appeared to be my stance, for that truly was not my intention. I wanted to be able to say the right things—I wanted to make sure that I did not speak out of ignorance but out of understanding. I wanted to make sure that everything I said was based on the very Word of God. I had made plans to release a video during the week of the 18th to address the issues at hand. However, I now understand that my delay has been hurtful to some, and for that I am deeply sorry. Dr. Taylor, the president of ACSI, made the following statement in a webinar on racial reconciliation, and it expresses the way I feel and have felt over the past few weeks. He said, “I’m not smart enough or wise enough to have all of the answers, but I do know pain and hurt when I see it.”
The motivating factor for every believer in Christ to speak out at this time in history is very simple. It comes from 2 Corinthians 5:13, “the love of God compels us.” Again, I don’t confess to know everything or understand everything that African-Americans are feeling at this time, but I want to understand because “the love of God compels me.” No believer should have a difficult time saying, Black lives matter, because Black lives matter to God. I know “all lives matter” to God, but love demands that we have compassion, empathy and love for those brothers and sisters who are hurting right now. So when people—who were created in the image of God—are hurting, it must be the love of God that compels us to help bring healing. Every generation since Adam has needed racial reconciliation. Jesus came to earth and lived in a time of great ethnic division, yet His message was very clear.
God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only son…John 3:16
I look forward to sharing more through video next week and will be putting together NTA Round Table Discussions. We, as a Christian school, will work to bring hope, healing and understanding.
In Jesus,
R McLamb