Agape Boarding School

June 13, 2010

Dear Dads:

The 2010 Agapé Boarding School Father Son Golf Tournament will be held September 13, 2010 at Silo Ridge Country Club in Bolivar, Missouri. Golfing costs $75 per person, which includes the range fee, cart, and a prime rib dinner.

Only students who enrolled before January 13, 2010 and are eligible for a second visit or above will be allowed to participate. No student who is a yellow, orange, or brown shirt will be allowed to golf; no exceptions. Even if a student is eligible up until a few days before the tournament but becomes ineligible because of behaviors, he still will not golf with us on Monday. To reiterate the point of this paragraph, only burgundy shirt students will be allowed to golf.

Fathers may arrive anytime on Saturday, September 11, through Monday for a free visit with their sons. If you have already had your third visit, then your son may be eligible for an overnight visit. All other students may go off campus during the days but will be required to attend church and chapel. Please contact the office to ask Ma’am if your son is eligible for an off-campus or overnight visit, which must be pre-approved. (These visits do not count against your regular visits.) Church attendance on Sunday morning is mandatory for all students regardless of the type of visit.

On Monday, we will meet at the school at 7:30AM, have early registration, and head out to the course for a 10:00 “shotgun” start. We have a limited time to play, so please play “ready golf.” Plan on being there all day, so do not schedule flights until at least Monday night after 8:00PM. For those of you without clubs, the course does not rent clubs, but we do have a limited supply at the school.

Parents, this event is for fathers only! This is an important time for fathers and sons to bond. We also expect you to follow the rules just as you expect your son to follow your rules. Failure to follow this rule could jeopardize future visits, so please, Moms, let the men fellowship for this one weekend.

Please call the office and let us know if you plan on coming. Money will be due in the office by September 1, 2010.

Feel free to call me if you have any questions, and I look forward to seeing many of you there!

Rich

Spring has finally arrived, and with it, we plan some exciting activities for the next few months.

By now, you have probably received information about our annual Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser.  You can find more information at http://www.agapeboardingschool.org/donate.php#WalkForTheFuture or you can call the school and ask for Scott Smith.  This year’s fundraiser will help with the outdoor amphitheater which is used for our rodeos and 4th of July festivities.  Please check that link if you can help.

Graduation will be held June 4-5, 2010.  If you have questions regarding graduation, please call Mr. Lenze, the school principal.  Our speaker for this year’s graduation will be Dr. Ray Young, the President of Hyles-Anderson College in Crown Point, IN.  We  look forward to seeing you there!

Pics from the Father Son Golf Tournament in Bolivar. Enjoy!

The Administration has decided to cancel the rodeo for Saturday, September 5, 2009, due to the rainy weather. Parents may call their sons at the regularly scheduled times.

We will make up the rodeo day sometime within the next couple of weeks, probably on a weekday.

Thanks for your understanding!

The summer is drawing to a close, school is in session again, and everyone is getting back to somewhat of a normal routine.  Within the next month we will have several activites, both on and off campus, that begin our school year.

First, our last Saturday rodeo will be held September 5.  This is the last of the monthly summer rodeo series.  The final rodeo events will be held from October 5-10, 2009 and will close out the 2009 rodeo events.  Please continue to pray for safety for the riders and the helpers during these times.

Stockton’s annual Black Walnut Festival will be held September 23-26.  The staff select students to help with parking and trash cleanup issues for the festival.  Of course, the boys that work the festival get to go off campus and eat plenty of junk food, so they enjoy being able to work at the festival.

Basketball season begins on October 1 with our pre-season tournament, which is held in Lebanon, Missouri.  Basketball season lasts from October to February and includes two away tournaments, one in Oklahoma City and the other in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  I will post the finalized schedule in a few days.

Before you know it, June graduation will be here!  I am sure we will  have to endure a major snowstorm or two, but that is the fun of living in southwest Missouri!

Rich

Okay, I am working on getting pictures up on our site.  So here is the first try.

These are from the June 2009 Rodeo!  Enjoy!

I will continue adding more over the next few days.

The 2009 Agapé Boarding School Father Son Golf Tournament will be held Monday, September 14, 2009, at Silo Ridge Country Club in Bolivar, Missouri. Golfing costs $65 per person, which includes the range fee, cart, and a prime rib dinner.

This event is for fathers only! This is an important time for fathers and sons to bond. We also expect you to follow the rules just like you expect your son to follow rules, both yours at home and ours here. Failure to follow this rule could jeopardize future visits, so please, Moms, let the men fellowship for this one weekend.

Fathers may arrive anytime on Saturday, September 12 through Monday for a free visit with their sons. If your son is eligible for an off-campus visit then he may go off campus for those two days. Please contact the office to ask Ma’am if your son is eligible for an off-campus or overnight visit, which must be pre-approved. (These visits do not count against your regular visits.) Fathers may arrive on Saturday, September 12 at 8:00 AM to enjoy our regular Saturday morning breakfast. Then on Sunday, we encourage the fathers to attend Sunday school at 9:40AM and church at 11:00AM. Church and chapel attendance for all students is mandatory regardless of the type of visit.

On Monday, we will meet at the school at 7:30AM, have early registration, and head out to the course for a 10:00 “shotgun” start. We have a limited time to play, so please play “ready golf.” Plan on being there all day, so do not schedule flights until at least Monday night after 8:00PM. For those of you without clubs, the course does not rent clubs, but we do have an extremely limited supply at the school.

Please call the office and let us know if you plan on coming. Money will be due in the office by September 1st.

Feel free to call me if you have any questions, and I look forward to seeing many of you there!

The Agape’ summer schedule is only a couple of weeks away, but one thing that we have planned is our Agape Rodeo series. On one Saturday a month during the summer we will have rodeo events such as bull and bronco riding, mutton busting, calf roping, and team events. You should receive mailers regarding the rodeo and information from your son when you call. If not, please feel free to contact Bro. Jackson at the school number.

The schedule for the rodeo is as follows:
Saturday, June 20
Saturday, July 4 (followed by a fireworks show that night)
Saturday, August 1
Monday through Saturday October 5-10

You can view a short video of last year’s rodeo on our Media page at

http://www.agapeboardingschool.org/why_agape.php#media.

Just click on the 2008 Rodeo link and enjoy!

Due to the recent outbreak of the H1N1 virus, commonly called the “Swine flu,” the Agapé administration is taking the following steps to minimize any potential problems:

First, we routinely encourage the students to wash their hands using either soap and water or products such as Germ-X and are again reminding the students to do this. This practice, along with covering coughs and sneezes, is the best protection against exposure to the virus. In fact, these are the first two pieces of advice that the Centers for Disease Control lists for parents (http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/parents.htm).

Second, since we have approximately 250 people in close quarters, we usually have several students each year catch other types of the flu, so our staff routinely deal with mini-outbreaks. We have the ability and the facilities to quarantine sick students once they become symptomatic. The heightened awareness of the “Swine flu” alerts our medical staff to watch for the symptoms and enact the policies already in place to take care of these students.

Lastly, we work closely with the doctors in town, so if a situation were to develop (and there have been no cases in Missouri to this point) we would contact the local health department and the local doctors for further instructions. Communication with these agencies has been and will continue to be the basis for our medical care for the students.

Please rest assured that we are watching these developments carefully and working towards minimizing any problems. If you have any questions regarding our policies, please feel free to call me at (417) 276-7215.

Rich

Like many of us, the students get a little antsy during the month of February.  Whether it is the lack of sunlight, the realization that the school year still has 4 more months, or the fact that it is COLD all of the time, February just seems to be another of those dark times.  However, we can look at it from a different perspective….spring is just around the corner, regardless of whether or not Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, the school year is ONLY 4 months longer, and pretty soon it will warm up.  (It did get up to 60 today!)  Just a minor tweak in thinking but it makes all the difference.

Many times we all get a little down from the circumstances in life (the economy is down, the Cardinals lost the Super Bowl, my 401(k) is non-existent, or other concerns) but we can always remember what God has done for us.  Psalm 18:29-30 states,

” For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.”

God gives us the strength to overcome the enemies that fight against us and the ability to clear the obstacles that block our way.  We should always remember that His way is perfect and that the way to succeed is to trust Him.  Anybody can feel depressed about the negatives in life, but a Christian can and should look to God for deliverance.