High School Blog

At CCS Junior High and High School, we began second semester with our Spiritual Emphasis Week (SEW). We use this three-day week to reset our focus on our spiritual theme and ultimately get our eyes fixed on Jesus in the hope that He would do a work in the hearts and lives of our students. Our blog will highlight some of the student experiences throughout this week.

Wednesday – Optional Prayer

Students gathered in the Valley to pray with and for one another. Students were prompted to express gratitude to God, spend time in confession, and pray for the lost, for our families, and for our school.

Thursday – All-School Chapel

This chapel is the largest gathering of CCS students worshiping together throughout the entire school year. In addition to our junior high and high school students, our sixth graders from all three campuses joined us. We worshipped the Lord through prayer, singing, reading His word, and listening to a message from Bethany Baptist lead pastor, Josh Hatlestad. Three big takeaways from his message were:

• Everyday decisions we make either build up unity or destroy it.
• Words aren’t neutral: They build up or tear down.
• Unity doesn’t start when we agree on everything; unity starts when we let Jesus shape our lives.

Friday – Worship & Biblically Based Conversations

We concluded the week with a unique day designed to provide our students with opportunities to grow in their faith through conversations or experiences regarding specific topics of interest. We began the day worshiping through music and singing. From there, students got to choose three different sessions to attend. Each session was focused on a biblical topic or set of questions. A few examples of these sessions were:

• Creation and Science
• Skeptics Welcome
• Having Difficult Conversations with Love
• Responding Wisely When Emotions Rise
• Living Out the Fruits of the Spirit

Overall, SEW provided space for students to encounter God, build community, and take steps forward in their spiritual journeys. We are grateful that we have a community that makes this incredible opportunity possible. God is good! 

When choosing this show during the last school year, we (student directors Matt Dewey and Joeli Kramer) knew it stood out among the rest. This was mostly because it reminded us of a show we were part of in the past. When we were freshmen, we performed The Play That Goes Wrong. Both plays are over-the-top comedy/murder mysteries that don’t take themselves too seriously. As seniors, we thought it would be fun to have an experience like that again, this time as directors working with an amazing cast of junior high students. It also feels like a full circle moment to have both of these shows open and close our time as a part of this spectacular program.

The cast of this show has worked hard over the past two months. We truly could not have had a better group of actors and actresses to do this show with. We are glad to know that after we have both graduated, the CCS Theatre program will be in good hands with these students.

From released convicts to secret passageways and… dancing ghosts? Murder At Aunt Agatha’s, by Teresa and David Hockman, is a hilarious murder comedy that you will love. After the death of Aunt Agatha, all her nieces and nephews come together one last time for the reading of the will. But Aunt Agatha has one last laugh by forcing her relatives to compete for her inheritance in a game that lasts through the night. However, when people start dying left and right, no one knows who will still be alive by morning.

—Matthew Dewey, Student Director

In choosing this show, Matt Dewey and I (Joeli Kramer) fell in love with how over-the-top Murder at Aunt Agatha’s is. Every exaggerated moment of the play provides both laughs and an opportunity to think deeper. While it is a comedy, this play depicts how detrimental greed can be. Due to greed, many characters make choices that lead them into very unfortunate circumstances.  

Thankfully, Christians have a different way to walk, as modeled by Jesus. We are called to, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God,” (Ephesians 5:1–2). We hope Murder at Aunt Agatha’s is a show that will cause you to think deeply and laugh even harder.

—Joeli Kramer, Student Director