Use your god-given Talents and Professional skills to 去产生影响 为着福音的缘故

“Cheryl and I (Walt) Spicer met at Calvary University. I was an education major and Cheryl was a nurse. We believed God called us into missions, specifically in the support role of teaching missionary children. We joined New Tribes Mission (now called Ethnos360).

We believe that God called us to serve at Faith Academy and it has become our home: Cheryl grew up attending Faith Academy, starting first grade at FA and graduating from FA, having many fond memories of FA and the dorm; this is where all five of our children attended and graduated, and this is where we still serve–myself as the Deputy Head and Cheryl as a school nurse. It is only by God’s grace that we continue to serve, but we are confident in the school’s vision and mission. It is aligned with God’s Word and our calling in life–worthy to give our life for.”

“From the time I was born until I was 12, I lived overseas as a missionary kid, first in Kenya and then in the Philippines. In fact, I went to 5 different elementary schools on three continents, including four years at Faith Academy.

Transitions and new experiences were all I knew, it was what I felt formed my identity. However, when I was 12, my parents sensed God calling them to stay in the United States. My life as I had known it changed completely – I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my friends and life here at Faith Academy because the decision was made while we were on furlough. Needless to say, as a young teen uprooted from all I had known (even as that had changed so often), I became angry at my parents and at God. I felt that if there even was a God, surely He must not love me, since I had such a hard middle school experience. I did not understand my classmates in the US, most of whom had rarely been outside the state of Colorado, and they did not understand me, this strange girl who had lived all over the world. God used that hard transition in my life to make my heart tender towards the transitions missionary students go through. God also gave me a heart for middle schoolers, even though I first vowed I would never teach that age group, because of my own negative Middle School experience. But God knew those experiences would lead me to seek out the hurting and left-out students while working with their classmates to include them.

That is why I came to Faith Academy in 2013; I hope I can be a consistent person in students’ lives and identify with them through their struggles. When I share my story with my students, especially new middle schoolers, they seem to breathe a sigh of relief that someone understands what they are going through. I love being an encouragement to them and seeing them become more comfortable with the community here at Faith.

The students are what I love the most about Faith. I love how they bring such a richness and diversity of thought to their studies. I love how they are so grateful and that I can build relationships with them on multiple levels, both inside and outside of the school day. I pray that God can use me to show students that their identities don’t come from being a missionary kid, or a business kid, or even a Faith Academy student, but that their identities are rooted in the fact that they are beloved children of the King of Kings.”

“Music is part of my DNA, having come from a musically inclined clan. As early as 18 months old, I was singing songs with the right words and tune, and as I grew up, music became the language of my heart.

When I was 15 years old, The Lord called me to use my gift of singing to be part of our church’s praise and worship ministry. I may have loved music and singing, but I did not like doing it in front of a crowd. I was very shy and nervous, and did not think I was good enough to be singing in front of hundreds of people. I struggled and argued with God at first, unsure if this was what He really wanted me to do. He confirmed… many times, so I trusted Him and obeyed. I learned that if I am willing and obedient to His call, God will use me to accomplish things beyond my capacity and what I can ever think or imagine. With my obedience, the Lord opened many opportunities to serve Him through music.

在过去的10年里，我作为Gloryfall 乐队的一员 Gloryfall Band致力于通过敬拜培训、带领、以及福音外宣将真正的崇拜带回基督的身体。我们通过器乐/声乐训练帮助教会装备敬拜团队，并教授他们《圣经》中的敬拜原则。我们已经创作并发行了10张专辑，通过这些歌曲，我们能够用上帝的信息和爱触碰到世界各地的人们。如果你们想免费收听或下载我们的歌曲，我们的网站是 gloryfall.net.

信心学院一直是一个贴近我心灵的地方。我第一次来学校是在2000年，当时我的男朋友（现在是我的丈夫）带我参观了他所毕业的学校。我不敢相信居然有一所如此美丽的学校，场地广阔，维护良好，教室里展示了如此多的创造力和才华。在校园里走来走去的孩子们以及我遇到的老师都非常友好，他们彬彬有礼，在这个传讲基督的地方每一个人都表现出无与伦比喜乐的神情。我当时想如果能被呼召在信心学院这样的学校服事将会是一件很棒的事！我不知道的是，18年后，上帝会为我打开这所学校的大门，让我成为了其中的一员。

This school year, I started teaching Elementary Music at Faith Academy. I get so much joy and excitement to see children’s faces light up when I tell them we are playing with musical instruments in class or we are going to learn a new song. It is also an honor to teach the students not only the technical aspect of music, but to be able to share with them the heart of worship. It is a blessing to share with the children how God can use music powerfully in their lives just like He did in the Bible through the lives of David, King Jehoshaphat and many others who won battles through music offered in praise and worship to God!”

“On my first day in the Philippines, July 16, 1990, there was a massive earthquake in northern Luzon. In Baguio City, where I was going to be working, more than 2,000 people died as buildings collapsed. There are three main roads that lead to the mountainous city and it took a week to get one of them open. So the first time I saw Baguio, it was a disaster — all of the major hotels had collapsed and they were still digging bodies out of the rubble.

余震不断（截至8月底超过1000次），人们很难找到食物，大多数人都只能住在搭在房子前或公园里、街道上的帐篷中。花了一些时间，这个城市才被清理干净，而我最终在那里生活了22年。

People have asked me if I ever considered just getting back on the plane and going home, but it truly never occurred to me. God called me to the Philippines, so why would I leave just because it was difficult? Maybe this initial experience–seeing God work and heal and save after the earthquake–helped me see all future difficulties in the same light, and I really do; when something hard or tragic happens, I’m always watching for how God might use it (and me) to accomplish something good.”