Commencement Speech

Hope Academy

Good Evening my name is John Moore and I am grateful for this wonderful privilege and great responsibility to be standing before these amazing graduates. Thank you Ms. Simmons for inviting me. And I would like to thank the faulty here at H.O.P.E. Academy for all there hard work and dedication, and how they invested in these young men and women.

Thank you parents, family, and friends for showing your support for these young men and women who worked so hard to be here today. Truly it has been a pleasure over the last three years to welcome you and your children to school each and every morning. "If I've learned anything" while working at H.O.P.E. Academy, come rain or shine there will be morning Chapel service and I believe the parents get more out of it than the students. You see, in the morning Chapel service the philosophy of the school is being reinforced , reminding all students that no matter their race, culture, or nationality they were made in the image of God and they have value.

Parents you could have sent your children anywhere. You could have sent your children to a place where they only focus on academics. Placing no importance whatsoever on the moral conduct of a student, but you didn’t. You could have sent your child to a school that requires them to have master Algebra 1 upon graduating from the fifth grade, but you didn’t. You could have sent your child to a school where they have adopted various grading systems that insure no one ever fails, virtually eliminating your child’s incentive to work hard, and to pursue true excellence, model good behavior and self control, But you did’t.

By sending your child to H.O.P.E. Academy you chose to invest not only in your child’s education but their spiritual formation as well. You recognized that your child is not just an individual with a mind to be formed, but a one of a kind masterpiece. Design by God, made in the image of God and created to serve God with their whole lives. They’re spiritual beings with deeply impressionable souls and a future ripe with potential. So they’re not just students who learned lesson to graduate, no they are men and woman who lives are God ordained and specially set apart to make a difference in their world. So, it is impossible for me to over emphasize the necessities of a Christian Education, because rather than learning about the world around them from a secular point of view, these graduates have learned to see the world from a Christian perspective. As such, they learn to appreciate the beauty of God's creation from an academic and a spiritual viewpoint.

Graduates make sure you surround yourself with like-minded individuals. And parents you must assist in this process. Teach your children to select their companions or peers wisely. Solomon wrote, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed” (Proverbs 13:20). Parents you must take the offensive on this. If you do not help your children select, and help them learn to select for themselves, the right kind of companions or peers, the wrong kind of companions or peers will inevitably select them.

As a Police Officer for 33 years, whether in the Drug Unit or the Child Abuse Unit I have observed that peer pressure is what leads to lot of juvenile crime. And I have also observed that friends exert a strong influence on their peers, including in matters of gender Identity. The apostle Paul wrote, “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits’ ” (1 Corinthians 15:33). Your kids’ personal moral standards, the language they use, and the activities they engage in, will probably not rise above the lowest common denominator of their companions’ standards. Rarely does a child have the capability to elevate himself beyond the the peers he or she hangs out with. Parents Don’t let your children surround themselves with the wrong kind of peer pressure. Instruct them how to choose companions who will lift them up.

In closing, Investing in your child’s education is important, but when your child experience real pain through unforeseen heartbreak and unbearable peer pressure there education will not provide an escape. There good grades will not deliver them from depression and anxiety. Only there relationship with Jesus serves as a compass leading home. So, invest in there education, but make sure you influence them for Christ. Because at the end of the day that’s the only thing that will keep them. Not you, not there scholarships only Jesus and Jesus alone. So teach your children that Jesus loves them and wants to be there best friend. Parents let them see it you.

Thank you, and God bless.