Five Nights of Prayer

Would you make time to pray for us in October?  The first 5 nights in October we are encouraging our ministry partners to stand with us in fervent prayer for the following:

Night One:             FCA students have multiple needs based on life situations. Pray for perseverance as they each address challenges, reach for new life goals, and take guided steps that will change the trajectory of their lives.

Night Two:            Pray for FCA House parents who work daily with the ones in their care.  Eleven sets of parents from all around the country are called to meet the emotional, physical, social, and spiritual needs of young people.

Night Three:          FCA Family Ministry kicked-off last year by providing life-changing retreats, counseling, and resources for families of our young people.  Pray that God would use this targeted ministry to re-adjust marriages and families.

Night Four:            The FCA Life Coaching program pairs staff with students looking to start the next phase of their lives.  These students need career direction, a clear understanding of their gifts and abilities, and someone to walk through goals to get them across the finish line and set-up for the next phase of their lives. Pray for over 60 adults who are serving as Life Coaches and the senior students being mentored by them.

Night Five:            Counseling plays a major role in our program to children and teenagers.  Some need a little, others need a lot, and a few none at all.  Pray that our counselors will have discernment and godly wisdom as they lead our youngsters through the bumps and bruises of their lives and allow healing to begin.

Advertisements

Harvest Festival 2018

What better way to celebrate the changing of the seasons than a good old-fashioned fall Harvest Festival! October 13, 2018 marks the 67^th annual Harvest Festival sponsored by the French Camp Community Club. The fundraiser benefits the local churches as well as FCA.

The main attraction is the Auction where you can bid on handmade items— arts, crafts, quilts, squirrel feeders, furniture, picture frames, and more. Shop the Country Store for jellies and jams, sweet treats, and other homemade and handmade goodies. The Historical District will be filled with traditional arts and crafts demonstrations. Enjoy watching the sorghum mill before buying some to take home. Children will delight in horseback and buggy rides and lots of good food will be available.

Pictured below are just a few auction items that have already been delivered. Keep watching out Facebook page, French Camp Academy One Fine Place, as new items arrive!

 

Bring your entire family and come join us for this fun day!

Gratitude Changes Everything

 

When new staff member Karen Leach learned part of her job duties would be supervising a daily work crew she was nervous. “I didn’t know what to expect but I knew I wanted to connect with the girls and help them connect with the Lord,” she says.

Karen came up with the idea to create each girl a gratitude journal. Each day when the students arrive at the Welcome Center, Karen greets them with a short devotional and time to write down the things they are grateful for that day. It’s become a great opportunity for the girls on Karen’s crew to refocus and move into their afternoon activities with an appreciative attitude and smiles on their faces.

Celebrating the First Day of Summer

Summer is in full swing here at French Camp Academy with the 2018 Annual Dorm Competition!

 

Regions Bank donates Bicycles

Regions Bank in Jackson, MS provided 10 bicycles this spring for FCA students and staff to enjoy around campus. Pictured from left to right are: Stewart Edwards, FCA president; Monica Owen and Jim Purdie, representatives from Regions Bank; Mitzi Watkins, FCA Wellness Committee; Todd Marion, FCA VP and CFO; and Hugh Potts, Jr., FCA Board chairman.

2018 Outstanding Alumnus of the Year

Karen Winter was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Year recently during Alumni Day at FCA. Karen, FCA Class of 1974, graduated from the University of Mississippi with a BS and later obtained a Master’s degree in Counseling. She also received a degree in Bible and Religion from Harding University.

Though born in Mississippi, her life has taken her to the far reaches of the world. Karen attended the Missions Training Institute and then lived and worked in Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Russia, Romania, Hungary, Africa, and Europe. Her responsibilities included setting up base camps, counseling individuals, setting up medical clinics, working with orphans and teaching college level English.

Returning from overseas, she began working with individuals with mental and physical disabilities and has been doing this work for seventeen years. She currently works with Oxford Counseling Center and is dedicating her free time updating the FCA Alumni Museum.

Pictured with Karen is Alex Lawson, president of the FCA Alumni Association.

Life Coaching at FCA

A new program was rolled out in early August of 2017 spear-headed by Reni Bumpas, an FCA house parent who is joyfully gifted as an administrator, writer, and communicator.  Trained adults are paired with students who can invest time and energy to accomplish a definitive purpose. 

Many young people coming out of broken family situations need an extra measure of grace and guidance to help build a future plan for their life.  If mentoring by loving, wise adults doesn’t occur, then often teenagers move through early adulthood floundering with very little direction.  Staff were trained in the summer of 2017 with new tools needed to walk students down a career path.  The program was launched in August with our senior class.

The new program seems to be paying off according to an early survey at the end of the semester.

• One student said she’s applying for a scholarship that requires a resume, and she had no idea how to prepare one, and had been agonizing over it. At just the right time, Dr. Jeré Littlejohn came in and taught on that, and now she feels great about it.
• One student said it’s gotten her more focused, that she’d been avoiding planning, and that the Career Report was particularly helpful in that regard.
• One student said she would have been behind on the college visits if not for them being required, and she went on to say how the deadlines were good for her and helped her.
• Several students remarked about how they appreciated being able to talk about both personal stuff and getting encouragement and guidance for their future and for life.
• Many students reported that the life coaching had been “very helpful,” that it was “good having someone to track,” that coaches were “good role models,” and that “they would have been behind had it not been for the coaches and assignments.”

Life Coaching at FCA teaches students how to design a resume’ of experiences, learn more about their unique personality traits, develop a “life purpose statement,” shadow adults at work, and much more.

As you think about the young people at French Camp Academy, please pray for the Life Coaching program.  Pray that God will use these vital relationships to provide the God-given guidance and resources needed for our young people to make the right choices moving forward in life.