Dear ECS Family,

As you know, Monday, September 5th is Labor Day. We will not have school. Classes will resume on Tuesday, September 6th. Enjoy the three day weekend!

We are pleased to announce the release of our 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin (see attachment). These coins are for sale in the School Office for $12 while supplies last. They are 2 inches by 2 inches, and come in a PVC pouch. We thank God for granting us 50 years of working with students and families to deliver a Christian education.

Dear ECS Family,

As you know, Monday, September 5th is Labor Day. We will not have school. Classes will resume on Tuesday, September 6th. Enjoy the three day weekend!

We are pleased to announce the release of our 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin (see attachment). These coins are for sale in the School Office for $12 while supplies last. They are 2 inches by 2 inches, and come in a PVC pouch. We thank God for granting us 50 years of working with students and families to deliver a Christian education.

Dear ECS Family,

Welcome back and thank you all for a great first week!

We have an update on the HOPE Scholarship situation. The WV Supreme Court of Appeals did not grant a stay of the injunction. However, they did grant expedited review of the case, and have taken jurisdiction of the case from the Intermediate Court. While we would have liked for them to grant the stay (Justices Armstead and Bunn would have granted it), we are excited they granted expedited review. That review will follow this timeline:

Our early enrollment period ended with very strong numbers! Thank you all for your attention to that. We are now in open enrollment! If you know of a friend or family member looking for a classical Christian education please refer them to our new website (www.emmanueleagles.com). Speaking of our new website, our school spirit store is open! You can find a variety of ECS-branded casual wear, accessories, and other items. Next year we will have school spirit day on Fridays, and students will be permitted to wear spirit wear (from any era in ECS history) on those days.

Our 8 oz Easter Egg fundraiser ends next Friday, March 18th. Please make sure all forms and payment is turned in by this date. The 3rd quarter (9 weeks) also ends next Friday, March 18th. Please ensure all missing work is made up and turned in. Report cards should be distributed the following Friday, March 25th. Re-enrollment remains open, and we have begun accepting applications for new students. Note that when re-enrollment is completed by March 15th (this upcoming Tuesday) the re-enrollment fee is waived and the existing tuition schedule is locked into place. Our standardized testing is scheduled for April 11th-15th. It is imperative all students be present that week. Only medical absences with a signed doctor's note will be excused during the week of standardized testing, and then the testing will have to be made up.

We are well into re-enrollment! Please note that March 15th is the last day to re-enroll under the existing tuition schedule AND to have the normal enrollment fee waived. Thank you to all who have re-enrolled! Please spread the word about our school to your family and friends who may be looking for a Christian education. As we continue our transition to classical I believe you'll see the benefits of this approach. To that end, I am attaching our Logic and Rhetoric School curriculum map, so you can see what we are working toward. Note that it's a work in progress, but broadly represents our goal as we pursue ACCS accreditation. If you have any questions or concerns about re-enrolling, please contact us. Our objective is to partner with you for the entirety of a child's education. Once our Grammar School curriculum map is more complete I'll be sharing that as well.

Dear ECS Family,

As you know we have a scheduled noon dismissal today, Friday, February 25th, 2022. The early re-enrollment period remains open through March 15th. Please let us know about any questions you have with respect to re-enrolling.

Conflict is inevitable, there will always be some type of conflict until Christ returns and all things are restored and made new. There is simply no way around it. Conflict, on its own, is not evil. There are conflicts that God Himself has commanded, such as the conflict good people will fight with evil, the conflict between the Christian and his flesh, the conflict between faithfulness and unfaithfulness, and so on. We must engage in such conflicts if we are to obey Christ and His commandments.

I have previously discussed the nature, necessity, and content of family worship. What I want to do here is simply list several potential family worship resources, with short annotations. I will break these resources up by category.

In my first post in this series, we discussed the nature and necessity of family worship. Family worship, as we defined it, is the cultivation of love for the Triune God, through singing, prayer, and reading and instruction in Scripture, as a husband and wife (and children when applicable). This post will be more practical, discussing the content and structure of family worship. It answers that nagging question, “what do we do in family worship?”

One of the great difficulties in writing about family worship today is the fact that so few people even know what it is. It is not the case that many people are strongly opposed to family worship, but rather that most simply have never even heard of such an idea. If a Puritan were to approach us today and ask “Do you lead family worship?” we would be like the Ephesian disciples of Acts 19, saying “We haven’t even heard that there is such a thing as family worship.” What was once required for church membership is now not even nominally promoted among most Evangelical Christians

There has been something of a kerfuffle regarding certain contributors over at The Gospel Coalition lately. Tullian Tchividjian was planning on leaving TGC in August, but his departure is being hastened. I am in no position to speak about individuals or ministries involved. I simply do not know enough about what is happening or why, and I’d rather not wildly speculate at this point. However, Tchividjian has made some comments that are worth reflecting on.

I’m frequently asked who my favorite author is. This is one of those questions that happens to be a good one, but one that is also very difficult to answer. Thus, I’m not going to answer that question. Rather, I’m going to answer the question of which authors have been the most influential for me, particularly in my theological development. This has the advantage of allowing me to give several names, whereas with a “favorite” I can only have one.

For this post, I have slightly modified a short essay I wrote on the topic of the Galileo Affair. My main aim in this essay was to demonstrate that, while Galileo’s trial did involve religion, it is not indicative of a necessary conflict between science and religion as such.

In the previous post I addressed certain foundational issues in the relationship of science to religion. Namely, religion can provide a metaphysical foundation for the practice of science. This is in contrast to the popular zeitgeist that pins science against religion like the two are mortal enemies.

The above quote reflects what is the assumption of Western culture: There is a deep and necessary conflict between science and religion. To adopt a religious perspective is to cease to be scientific, to be scientific is to abandon religion. Faith and science, it is assumed, are antonyms. Like many assumptions of our popular society, this one is widely accepted, often repeated, has an aura of intellectual respectability, and is entirely wrong.

One area American Evangelicals need to grow in is thinking more deeply, and not thinking so much. I know this may seem contradictory, but only on the surface. What I mean is we need to grow in thinking more deeply about things that actually matter. And we need to stop spending so much time thinking and debating about things that do not. We need to think more deeply about worldview questions and their implications in our culture. We need to spend less time micro-analyzing everything that might represent some disagreement on a second or third-tier issue.

Without the Trinity, there is no Christianity. Far too many Christians think the Trinity is some an out-of-reach doctrine with very little importance for the Christian life. Why does the Trinity matter in how I live? Can’t someone have faith in Christ even if they don’t get the Trinity? We have ignored these questions for too long.

One painfully obvious mark of modern Christianity is division. Theologically speaking, we Protestants have about 20 or so doctrinal/liturgical traditions that represent thousands of different and distinct organizations classified as denominations. Interestingly, there is no shortage of apologists for our Protestant liturgical melee. Denominational variety is good, we are told, so that everyone can find a denomination that suites their needs or wants. This thinking is sinfully anti-biblical.