I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me. O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me… so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I give thanks to you forever. (Psa. 30:1,2,12, NRSV)

Last night I went to an alumni event at the small, private, Christian high school I graduated from, Fairton Christian Center Academy (FCCA). It was a fortieth anniversary gala and everyone who had ever graduated from FCCA during that forty-year period was invited. My 1983 graduating class had only six (that’s four of us up there)! When your graduating class has only six, it’s easy to be the star of the basketball team, the chess champion, or to graduate Salutatorian.  When I got to college, I had a rude awakening, learning quickly I used to swim in a very small pond!

Of the six I graduated with, I was the only one present at the reunion. Candidly, some of my fellow graduates no longer appreciate their Christian roots or, at least, that brand of Christianity. For others, it may have been shame due to choices made or circumstances that happened since graduation. Still others may view their educational experience at FCCA as “Mickey Mouse”. For all of us, the steps we take after graduation—including those ordered by the LORD (Psa. 37:23)—give us unique perspectives.

Of course, my distinct lens is more like a locket over my heart. I open it and see the love of my life, Pamela C. Austen.  It was at FCCA where we first met and became high school sweethearts. In fact, last night we were honored for being married the longest among the alumni: thirty-one years.

Why did I go to the reunion when the rest of my classmates didn’t? Besides the fact that Pam wanted to go, I desired to honor the man who had been the founder of the school, Pastor Woodson “Woody” Moore. He was recently diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer due to exposure to agent orange while in Vietnam. The alumni reunion was primarily organized to celebrate his legacy and encourage him.  I wanted to be part of that encouragement. Woody, three of my FCCA teachers, and a youth leader associated with this church-school—most attending that evening—had been healing agents in my life.

Driving to the event, I reminisced: In coming to FCCA in September 1982, my family had just left a physically and sexually (although this surfaced later) abusive, shame-based church: Berachah Bible Baptist. It was difficult for my parents to leave as their lives were intertwined with various ministries and leadership roles. When they finally did leave, it was secret and severing: making sure the church was empty, they dropped a letter and a bunch of stuff off, giving no reason for our family’s departure.  Of course, any reason would be used against them; however, giving no reason caused the church to invent reasons. Many of the rumors of why we left were cruel; we were shunned by those I thought were my extended family and friends. At seventeen, this hurt a lot—especially the lie that I had gotten a girl pregnant and that this was the real reason my parents left.

Before our departure, I had been going to Berachah’s school. I had worked hard to graduate a year early and this would be my senior year. After Berachah, my parents enrolled me in FCCA because it used the same Accelerated Christian Education (A.C.E.) curriculum Berachah used. This would allow me finish with continuity and graduate on time. Again, amid major relational transition, I was hurting.  The lies that I had gotten a girl pregnant went deep and I shared this with my new school’s headmaster and pastor, Woody. He listened deeply and with empathy. Later that week, we went for a walk outside the school building.  He opened the book of Psalms and showed me several passages about how, in the face of lies and enemies, God guards our name and reputation. I don’t remember the specific verses, but the effect brought healing.

Coming from a legalistic, no-movie-theater-going, we-are-the-only-REAL-Christians, fundamentalist Baptist setting, I learned a lot from the Pentecostals at this Assemblies of God school.  They loved me.  They respected me. I saw in many of their eyes the love of Christ. They helped me feel God’s love and read the Bible through a more relational and less rule-based lens. Failure was viewed as something you could learn from. Although we didn’t agree on all points of doctrine (no tongues for me, please- I was still a Baptist), they respected the authentic work of the Holy Spirt in me.  Our common ground was found in statements like this from the late Keith Green: “The only true marks of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life are holiness and love.”

The school now soldiers on toward its golden anniversary. Woody and his wife, Shirley, have poured their lives into this setting, leaving an uncommon, steady legacy in a difficult, economically depressed area. I honor them with this post and thank God for the things I learned from them and others at FCCA. They loved me and gave me their best.

Today, amidst prayers for my own growth, I ask God to give you increased love—that you would be an instrument of His healing, and have a lifetime of joy and faithfulness in your various family, vocational, and ministry roles.