Happy Thursday!
I wanted to share with all of you a fun story I heard a few weeks ago. This story and picture were given to me by Illiana alum and current parent Steve Hoeksema. In 1980, Timothy Christian put on a large addition and George Hoeksema, an Illiana supporter and Steve’s dad, had the contract to paint the new addition. As he painted the walls, he added a little Illiana spirit above the drop ceilings where no one would see it. Fast forward to this year, Steve’s uncle, Tim Hoeksema, is now the principal of Timothy. Timothy just started a whole school remodel project and discovered the Illiana graffiti above the ceiling tiles. When this was discussed at a board meeting, Tim connected the dots. George did about 13 of these above the lockers. So for nearly 40 years, there has been a little Illiana love literally hanging the heads of our rivals at Timothy. Go Illiana!
This story demonstrates the passion with which this community supports what we do at Illiana. It is more than just a place we go to school. We are coming up on the two-year anniversary of our Groundbreaking Ceremony at the new campus. We have come so far in these two years from a bean field ready to be harvested to a school building full of students eager to learn and grow. For all that this community has done, I say “Go Illiana!” However, let’s not forget that we have more to do. We have hearts to grow and minds to build. I ask for your prayers. Please lift this place and the students and staff up in prayer. Pray that Jesus Christ will transform the hearts and minds of these kids. So I want to say “Go Illiana” in another context. Go and pray Illiana. We covet your prayers. There is a Moms in Touch prayer group that meets at Illiana on Monday mornings a couple times a month. However, in addition to that, I am looking to start a prayer ministry here at Illiana. I would love to gather adults and kids to boldly pray together as an Illiana community for the people and needs of our community. I have ideas of what this could look like, but if anyone would like to help me shape this vision of this ministry, please contact me at ldavids@illianaweb.org. I want this new building to be a house of prayer. So go pray Illiana!
– Lance Davids, Director of Advancement, Vision, and Spiritual Development
