Hopefully we caught you on your lunch break, and we can encourage your day. For almost 40 years, OCA has experienced spiritual impact and growth! You may have heard stories of where and how it all started and what we’ve walked through, or maybe you roamed the learning centers and classrooms for yourself, but now you can get a glimpse of where we’re headed.

OCA Nostalgia 101

Everyone wanted that four-color ballpoint pen because black ink is soooo boring, and it is “the pen” used by teachers at OCA . . .

Raise your hand if you also made one letter red, one letter green, one letter blue, and one letter black. It might take you 20 minutes to write down one note, but it sure looked COOL.

🟥🟩🟦⬛️

Remember when back-to-school shopping was your favorite season? The excitement that a fresh school planner, gelly roll pens, the iconic rainbow tiger pencil case, cute folders, squishy pencil grips, and rolling backpacks brought? Priceless. Oh, and a Magic School bus sticker for your notebook. Because Ms. Frizzle was the coolest teacher ever and you always wished you could be in her class . . . or just ride on a magic school bus. The memories are flooding back.

Share this with a friend who enjoys looking back through pictures of good times from OCA 🙂✏️📒

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Greetings!

Happy Monday, OCA! We just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for a wonderful start to the school year! It was a blessing to have all of our students engaged and ready to focus on academic studies and gain spiritual learning, pursuing both of these to the fullest. They are given the opportunity to really look at what helps them stay on the path and so many opportunities to explore and deepen their academic interests. They become part of a team that is close knit and connected to the purpose and heartbeat of the church and a team who is there to love and support each other.

Weeks before the start date, our staff were busy preparing and looking forward to helping our students rise to the challenge and thrive this year. It’s invigorating to think about our children and young people reengaging in the pairing of academic knowledge with instruction from the Bible, the very kind of expansive spiritual and academic education that defines OCA. When considering our most important aims and values, we look to one place — the Bible.

Our conviction that the church needs the minds and hearts of young people who are taught in the truth and foundation of the Word has never been stronger than in this day and time. They are literally the next generation coming up through the Church, so it’s important to pour into, teach, and plant them on the right foundation to ensure the Church continues to move from strength to strength, individually, and as one generation fades into the next. We greatly appreciate our teachers. Each one plays a vital role.

OCA Nostalgia 102

Brother Nobles opened Sunday evening service a couple weekends ago talking about our school. The year our school opened, he had just completed his junior year in public school and was on the wrestling and football teams as well as other activities that he very much enjoyed. Elder LaFleur told his mom, Sister Marie, to not make him go, but to give him the choice if he wanted to attend. He chose “yes”, so he spent his senior year at our Christian academy the first year it opened. One other thing . . . his hair (back in the day) may not have exactly met school standards, so that was another adjustment he had to make, but he was willing so that he could spend his last year of high school in a Christian environment that offered him far more than all the friends or extracurricular activities he was leaving behind.

Brother Nobles was OCA’s first graduate, and now He is the Chief Administrator.

As he said, “Our school is not a separate entity. It is part of our church.” One of the greatest things it offers? It keeps our children out of all the turmoil and negative influence in the world that would weigh them down and could jeopardize their spiritual lives.

Students

Go for it — we are here cheering you on! Go the extra distance in Bible class and reading; take time to be kind and help out a younger student; go hard studying for that test; make new friends; get to know your scriptures; embrace electives—it would be a waste to pass them up; and why not help out the teachers when they need you! School is the best place to learn, grow, and share your hope and faith in the Lord with other students. It will build a positive and cohesive environment. So count yourself in, not out!

Walk into this week refreshed and knowing you are equipped for the year ahead!

Teachers

Whether you have had the experience as both a student and now a teacher, or coming in as a teacher, it is a delight to return and join the team. I think we are always blown away by the positive growth in our church and how it flows over and directly reflects life at OCA — and how it still feels as challenging and inspiring as ever. It is affirming to see how our school strives, on many levels, for the standards we expect in our students and teachers.

Clear Eyes, Open Heart, Can’t Lose!

Let’s pray that each student will hear the instruction they need as they create durable, formative educational experiences and relationships that foster a lifetime commitment to loving the Lord and learning what they need to succeed and to stay on the path . . . and that their lives will never be the same.

When we teach, support, and love our students, everything will move forward. This way of life will become who they are, and it will be God’s people with whom they identify. Raising our youth to take ownership of their spiritual lives is key because then, living an overcoming life will be truly home to them. As they are given the tools they need, they will naturally and organically find their personal relationship with the Lord, and what is more beautiful and worth it than that?

As children grow and the Lord opens their eyes to what He is doing, they will realize they are part of:

• The most fun and exciting thing that can be found on this earth
• The greatest challenges — as well as victories
• A people on fire for God and in love with Jesus and His Church

Also, as the Lord opens their eyes, they will know . . .

They are in the greatest place for young people to be part of ever!!!