Jacque Olson is the new Middle School Bible teacher. The one main thing she wants to communicate with her students this year is that God is faithful, especially during this current season. So many people are wondering: “Is God faithful enough to bring us through this?” or “Are things really to going to be okay?” She says that the greater test of faith is to continue to trust God when it doesn’t make sense. That’s something Jacque knows from personal experience.
Jacque started her career as a middle school teacher nearly a decade ago in the Philippines. She taught Bible and some music classes to children of missionaries. It was the first time she was able to use her passions and her theology background all at once. However, Jacque didn’t think she could find a job like her international one when she returned to Minnesota.
It wasn’t until six years later, after taking on many different roles that didn’t ever seem to feel right, that she discovered the position at New Life Academy as the Middle School Bible teacher. She knew instantly that this is what she had been waiting for.
Jacque loves to teach middle school Bible because it can be unpredictable, and it keeps her humble since you always run the risk of not having the answer. With the Bible, there’s always something to learn and you won’t master it all. “We get to learn and grow together in the questions that matter to them [students]. So much of the life of faith is realizing God is the only one with all the answers anyway; we should be turning to Him with our questions and we don’t have to rely on our resources. I get the opportunity to model that every day as well as model repentance and forgiveness when mistakes happen.”
Jacque didn’t grow up in a Bible-teaching home or with a solid Christian community, so she recognizes the value of what her students have. “I count it an ENORMOUS privilege to step into the everyday lives of the next generation and meaningfully talk about core beliefs, especially with an age group that is learning to spread their wings and find independence.”
“I’m so glad that I didn’t trust in my own plans,” Jacque remarked. “The series of events in my life had to happen the way they did in order for me to end up where I am now. God never wastes anything.”