Joel Rodgers
On Jan. 19, however, kindergarten through 12th-grade students came together for a special chapel in which they were encouraged by Joel Rogers to allow God to transform them into the people they’re meant to be.
TCPS students, staff and faculty first met Rogers when the upper school students assisted the Salvation Army during their Angel Tree program, which provided Christmas presents for more than 500 children.
Youth director with the Cleveland Salvation Army, Rogers was thrilled to be chosen as a chapel speaker following his initial interaction with TCPS students and faculty.
He began his chapel talk by discussing some of his own past. For years, Rogers pretended to live an exemplary life, while planning to truly live for God when he grew older.
Then he came across 1 Timothy 4:12. Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, it reads, But set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
Rogers said he realized he could and should live for Christ at that moment.
His message to students? Begin loving God and others today. He told students they don’t have to wait to be adults to be leaders. Instead, as stated in 1 Timothy, they should lead in their conduct, love, faith and purity.
Rogers continued to state that to help others in the community begin to take their Christian walk more seriously today, the Salvation Army is opening “four.twelve” — a coffee shop in Cleveland with credentialed counselors available until midnight.
The goal of the coffee shop, like Rogers’ chapel talk, is to mentor young men and women as they grow in their Christian faith.
TCPS is a PreK-12, Christ-centered, interdenominational, state-certified school that offers parents in Cleveland/Bradley County and surrounding areas an alternative for the education and formation of their children. TCPS is not affiliated with or sponsored by any religious denomination or church.
