We’ve all been there. On a given day, you planned to have an amazing standards-aligned lesson plan with a compelling essential question, an engaging hook, and genius scaffolding. But…last night your baby didn’t sleep, your teen needed to be talked off their latest emotional cliff, or your parent fell and needed you to take them to the hospital, or fill in the blank—life happened. Now here you stand in front of your students, winging it like a jazz musician without sheet music.  

I don’t know about you, but while of course I had my share of duds, some of my best classroom experiences happened in times like these, where, honestly, I prayed a little harder, listened for His leading a little more intently, and was forced to trust a little deeper. His mercies are new every morning. 

As a writer of a monthly column, I come to you in a similar situation. Family obligations have hit hard these last couple of weeks, and here I am on deadline without a Free to Teach column in the can. As I push through my insecurities and fears and do my best to listen, I sense the Lord’s invitation to set aside my usual public policy analysis and open up the hood a bit on what we do here at Christian Educators to support our members and many other Christian educators in public schools.  

So, here is a sampling of projects on which we are hard at work…

Membership:

• LGBTQ training: We are actively working with our California members to obtain religious accommodation opt-outs for LGBTQ training that requires them to affirm ungodly beliefs.
  
  
• Colorado Law: We are in discussions with a prominent public interest law firm to recruit members in Colorado willing to serve as plaintiffs to challenge a state law that affirmatively mandates transgender name and pronoun use (no avoiding pronouns allowed).
  
  
• Membership: We are working hard to restructure our membership offerings to better serve our members and simplify engagement with CE. Stay tuned for a big announcement this summer! 
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Ministry:

• 28 states!: Including our first-ever Nebraska LIFT event on April 11, we now have 28 states with active CE ministry teams hosting events! (Of course, we have members in all 50 states.) Are you in a state without an active CE team? Maybe God is calling you to step up for the sake of educators and students in your state?
  
  
• More AWAKE?: We are developing a one-day training called “AWAKE Overflowing” that seeks to answer the question, “How can we experience the ‘streams of living water flowing out of our hearts’ that Jesus promises as public school educators?” This is a follow-up to our current AWAKE Experience. We are piloting “Overflowing” in Phoenix and Vancouver, WA, in April.
  
  
• New York City!: Speaking of AWAKE, we’ve hosted 24 events around the nation this year, including one just last week at Times Square Church in Manhattan! Our New York team has been praying for a few years to see this happen. 
  
  

Media:

• Socials: Our social media team has been doing amazing work at increasing engagement with important content—the best we’ve ever produced. Have you checked out our Instagram or Facebook feeds recently?
  
  
• Top Secret: I’m not really allowed to say this yet, but we are working on a Christian Educators podcast! So if you want to whisper any ideas to me on the down low, I’d love to know your thoughts on what topics or programming features would make compelling listening/viewing for you. 
  
  

Ok, now that we’ve been “under the hood” at CE, there is one particular newsworthy event I am compelled to mention…

You probably heard about the story of Jason Hughes, a beloved math teacher and coach at North Hall High School in Gainesville, Georgia. On March 6, he was tragically killed while running out to playfully “catch” his students who were toilet papering his house. Sadly, Jason tripped as he ran into the street in the rain and was accidentally run over by one of his students. 

Hughes’ impact as a Christian educator is clearly seen in the life of the very 18-year-old student who was sadly driving the truck that killed him. Jayden Ryan Wallace, who had been mentored by Hughes, stated, “I pledge to live out the remainder of my life in a manner that honors the memory of Coach Hughes by exemplifying Christ. He will never be forgotten.”

Indeed, Hughes had powerfully and effectively lived out his Christian witness at his school, serving as an FCA adviser as well as running the NG3 mentoring and character development program. He was a spiritual father to many students. Sean Pender, the school’s football coach, said that Hughes tutored players and led a weekly Bible study for other coaches. Pender explained, “What made Jason so special was the way he did it. He never judged. He never forced anything on anyone. He simply loved people well. He met people where they were, lifted them up, and reminded them that they mattered.”

While five students were initially facing criminal charges, Hughes’ wife, Laura, lobbied for them to be dropped:

There was no ‘confrontation’. Jason knew the students were coming, and he was excited and waiting to ‘catch them’ in the act. It had been raining, and he accidentally slipped and fell into the road in front of the vehicle as they were driving away, and was hit. The students immediately tried to provide aid until paramedics arrived. Jason loved these students, and they loved him too. Our family fully supports getting the charges dropped for all involved. This is a terrible tragedy, and our family is determined to prevent a separate tragedy from occurring, ruining the lives of these students. This would be counter to Jason’s lifelong dedication to investing in the lives of these children.

What a testament to the love of Christ! I’m happy to share that in response, prosecutors dropped all charges against these students, and they are free to grieve this tragedy without fear of criminal prosecution. Please pray for them.

And please also join me in prayer for his wife (also an educator at North Hall High School) and their two sons. The outpouring of love and tribute to Hughes includes a GoFundMe started for his family that has raised nearly $500,000.

As we grieve this tragedy, let it remind us of the difference we are making in the lives of our students. Jason Hughes clearly loved his students (and colleagues) and served them with contagious joy and love. May his example encourage us to “not grow weary in doing good” as ambassadors for Christ in our public schools.