My family left our comfortable home in McComb, OH and moved to the hot climate in Costa Rica when I was in 6th grade.
My life as a TCK began to take shape at Sojourn Academy, a small school where there was one junior-high teacher that tought 7th and 8th grades.
This image says it all. Not many American freshmen can say they have seen Incan ruins, but these very experiences potentially isolate the TCK from peers when he/she returns to the home country.
My family left our comfortable home in McComb, OH and moved to the hot climate in Costa Rica when I was in 6th grade.
TCK Dave: My Experiences as a TCK
I understand the need for ministry to TCKs first hand. I (Dave) am a TCK. I lived in Costa Rica for a year and in Ecuador for two years. While I did not have the life-long experience of living overseas as a child, I was submersed in different cultures such that when we came back I felt a tremendously alienated from people in the United States of America. This was enhanced by the fact that my TCK experiences were during the critical early-teen years. I experienced first hand what life is like to attend international schools dedicated to TCKs.
In Costa Rica and Ecuador I was heavily influenced by a number of my teachers. At Alliance Academy I was mentored
by teachers in ways that I have never experienced since. These students spend five days a week with their teachers. This gives teachers incredible power to influence the students for better or for worse. Fortunately, my teachers encouraged and equipped me to better serve Jesus Christ. I know it was because of the challenges presented me by teachers in Latin America that I had the vision to partner with Youth For Christ and start a campus ministry at my high school in McComb, Ohio.
Jenn and I are committed to being that kind of positive influence and mentors for the students at the International Christian School of Budapest. We will do this by encouraging and equipping the students who are already believers to own their faith and the mission God has given them. We will also live the gospel before those students who do not know Christ, through our actions and in words.