Speaker at HCA graduation and AACS Executive Director Dr. Jeff Walton joined his brother, Pastor Gary Walton, this week to talk about life and education.
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Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and our host on this program is Pastor Gary Walton, the lead pastor of Harvest Baptist Church. Every week, we spend these twenty five minutes together telling you the stories of our church by interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We’d like to invite you to join us at Harvest Baptist Church this Sunday. We have two services, the first at 08:45AM, the second at 10:45AM.
We have Japanese and Korean translation during the second service at 10:45 AM That’s also when we live stream at hbcguam.org. This week, Dr. Jeff Walton will be speaking on “At the End of the Day” from Genesis chapter 50.
Let’s begin today’s Harvest Time by welcoming Pastor Gary Walton. Hi, pastor.
Gary Walton: Hey, hafa adia, Chris. This is an exciting week for us on campus at Harvest. It’s the graduation week. So it kicked off Sunday night with our baccalaureate service, which was fantastic. Both of our graduating classes in the academy, 72 graduates and then 12 graduates in the Bible College all gathered together, lots of family and friends, in a in a service that, is sort of the last opportunity we have to have a chapel type of environment along with all of their families.
So that was great on Sunday night. And then graduation week, we had three kindergarten graduations, which is amazing. If you ever want to see something really cool, come to our kindergarten graduation. That happened in the morning yesterday. And then Friday night is the academy graduation.
Sunday night is our, HBBC, Harvest Baptist Bible College graduation. And, it’s just it’s a fun week of celebrating the accomplishments of our students, and even more than that, just celebrating with their families. I mean, many of these families in the academy have been part of, you know, the ministry for for so many years. And so, it’s a it’s a great week together, and, we’re thankful for that. Chris just mentioned, Jeff Walton is, gonna be speaking on Sunday morning.
That’s because, he is here, Dr. Jeff Walton is here as our graduation, our commencement speaker. So he’ll be speaking on Friday night and then on Sunday night, and then we’ve asked him to speak in the service as well in the morning, the two services in the morning. And Jeff’s also my brother. So I’m excited about having him here and, being able to introduce him.
He’s actually with us in studio. So first of all, Jeff, thank you for coming back to Guam, and welcome to Harvest Time.
Jeff Walton: Happy to be here with you for the graduations, and then to be able to share Sunday with your church family and be part of those services also. It’s a great opportunity, and I’m thankful for the invitation.
Gary Walton: Well, we’re glad that you’re here. This is not your first time here. Jeff is the Executive Director of, the American Association of Christian Schools, AACS, is a group of I looked it up online again it’s 40 state, regional, international associations that make up the AACS. Then you said how many schools, Jeff? Seven hundred or?
Jeff Walton: It varies a little bit from one year, but seven hundred twenty schools this year.
Gary Walton: Okay. Jeff has really a lifetime of investment in education, specifically Christian education, as a teacher, principal, state association director, actually a Bible college director, and then for how many years now have you been at AACS?
Jeff Walton: This is fifteen years with the AACS.
Gary Walton: Okay. So Jeff’s been the executive director for the AACS for the last fifteen years. And so in that seat and that responsibility, he’s incredibly qualified to be able to be here and help us with our graduations and be able to speak to our students and our families. So we’re thrilled, for that. You’ve been here a number of times.
In fact, before, you know, Faith and I moved here, you had come maybe with your wife, Judylynn, maybe two or three times, and then this is your second time since I’ve been here, think so.
Jeff Walton: Yeah. This is my fifth trip to Guam. Okay. So three times to the ministry before you were here then twice since you’ve been here.
Gary Walton: Okay. And just as help for our school in particular, but Jeff would also, because of the organization that he leads, the AACS, that’s actually our accreditation body for the Academy, and so he’s been able to be a part of multiple accreditation visits as well as just coming to help out the academy. So you’ve been invested in Harvest, part of our, I think, a part of our success for a long time. So glad to be able to have you come back.
Jeff Walton: No. Very happy to do all that, and, glad that accreditations provided the vehicle for coming here and seeing the ministry and being a part of it.
Gary Walton: Jeff, your wife, Judylynn,
is not with you. Tell us about your family. You’ve got a couple kids and grandkids.
Jeff Walton: So Judylynn and I have been married for forty two years, working on forty three.
Gary Walton: Wow. I think I was there at the wedding. It couldn’t have been that long ago.
Jeff Walton: No. You must have been, like, three years.
Gary Walton: Very young. Yeah.
Jeff Walton: So so almost forty three years married, and we have two children who are both married and four grandchildren. So a grandson in Virginia and three grandchildren in Indianapolis, Indiana. And gonna see all of them in June. Got a rented a beach house for a week, and
the whole family’s getting together in North Carolina for a week.
Gary Walton: Let me back us up a little bit, Jeff, and, talk a little bit about background because it’s connected to mine too. So maybe let me ask you this, to begin with. Tell me about growing up as a Walton.
Jeff Walton: So I’m sure you would say similar things, but, you know, my dad was beyond a doubt the greatest influence in my life, And I have tried to model a lot of what I’ve done in ministry after the example that he set. You know, growing up in a pastor’s home, growing up in a ministry household just gave me a lot of opportunities and set the tone and the direction. There are people who grow up in ministry homes who will say that somehow that turned them against ministry. And not at all true in our home. Not a flawless home, but a home where mostly the influence of dad was just very sincere and his ministry to the church and his home life and his life with his kids was all very transparent and sincere and set the set the table for those of us in the family who followed him into ministry.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Seven kids in our family. Jeff’s in the in the older set of four. I’ve got three older brothers and an older sister, and then I’m kind of the, the second set of of me me and then two younger sisters, but all all very close. In fact, I, yeah, maybe say a little bit about that in a minute.
But our our parents really were remarkable, loved each other, you know, deeply, grew up in just such a loving home. And and, you know, by God’s grace, seven kids that are following Jesus and, you know, to the best of our ability, trying to serve him faithfully. Yeah.
Jeff Walton: So like many families, I guess, where there was a set of kids and then a little gap in a younger set, we do feel mom and dad were a lot easier on the younger set.
Gary Walton: I mean, they did try some things out on you, and you guys broke them in a little bit. So
Jeff Walton: show them what worked and what didn’t, I guess.
Gary Walton: Yeah. That’s exactly right. You talked a little bit about dad. Maybe let me just ask a little bit more. You know, as you look back on growing up, you know, our church family hears different stories from me about our parents.
Hope I don’t talk about it too much. But we really did have a remarkable family. What are the some of the things, mom and dad together, that you are very poignant to you and on their investment in our family, that, you know, I think made eternal differences for us?
Jeff Walton: You know what stands out to me in a family with seven kids and busy ministry and mom was her health wasn’t good. Mhmm. And so, you much of my childhood, mom was pretty sick.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Jeff Walton: And so dad carried a lot of burdens and he carried all of that very graciously and patiently. And then it stands out to me that in all of that busyness of ministry that he made it a point to carve out time for each of his kids individually. So when he went to the grocery store to pick something up, he would invite one child to go with him. And so he would get a little bit of time with that one child. And one of the memories that stands out to me, I I did a lot of backpacking in the The Rockies when I was a teenager.
And between my senior year in high school and my freshman year in college, dad went up with me to the Reiwa Wilderness Area for a week of backpacking with just dad and I. And so very special week and very special memories. And today, you know, mostly special because I know that he carved out time from a very busy schedule to have some time alone with me.
Gary Walton: Mhmm. And mom had a big capacity for love as well. And even as you mentioned, a lot of sickness, and so that affected us, you know, affected our family. But we never there’s just never any question about mom mom’s self force. In in fact, I think a couple of us talked about my mom our mom’s been she passed away twenty five years ago, and the time surrounding her death is still pretty vivid, you know, after these years.
But I do remember the the day before, her funeral, just a family time together, probably at the funeral home. And I remember talking about the fact that, all of this was sort of joking, but it took me until that time to realize, I mean, all along for those, you know, fifty years of my forty some years of my life, I thought I was mom’s favorite. Until we got to that point and I realized that you guys all thought the same thing.
Jeff Walton: Yeah. So she had a really special gift of making
Gary Walton: Right on.
Jeff Walton: Everybody that she was with feel very special Yeah. And loved. Yeah.
All of our wives would say something similar Yep. That that mom made them feel very special. And when you were with her, she was very present.
Gary Walton: Very present.
Jeff Walton: Yep. Absolutely. And so that was a gift that she wasn’t distracted by other things. She was focused on you and present with you, and that was a real gift that God gave her. Yeah.
I I mentioned earlier, I think, it it wasn’t a flawless No. Home. Yeah. And I’m not gonna tell tales on mom and dad, but for families out there who might be thinking, you know, boy, those guys must have had some really idyllic parents. No, it wasn’t really that way.
It was just very sincere. Yeah. And, you know, there were there were difficult times, but the love and concern was always understood. Mhmm. You know, there was never any question that you were wanted and loved and and in the family itself.
You know, you and I are about ten years apart. Mhmm. So I probably, you know, don’t have any scars from you. But David, who’s a year younger than I am, and Bob, who’s two years older than I, I’ve got a scar on my ankle from a knife thrown at me by David. Know, we’ve we’ve we’ve all so it wasn’t idyllic.
It’s just boys being together. Yeah. But it was a great home to grow up in. And the way mom and dad parented and loved their kids,
Gary Walton: helped to turn all of our hearts toward God. Yeah. And, actually, you know, Jeff, you mentioned that you you’re about ten years older than I am. I don’t know that that was mom and dad’s influence or just God’s work in you guys, but I I also, in addition to, you know, godly parents, I’m thankful that God gave me, godly older brothers that, you know, I was in upper elementary school when you you and Dave, Bob, were, going to college, and, you know, you guys cared about me. In fact, I was gonna tell, two quick stories.
So this is interviewing you, then I get to tell stories on you, so that’s how it works. But, I I remember two things specifically in that upper elementary time, specifically with you. One was, I think I was in fourth or fifth grade when I had to get glasses. And, dad took me to get glasses, and he was practical and we didn’t have a lot of money. And so he’d already had three boys wearing glasses through sports and all kinds of other things.
All of the broken glasses, all of those things. I can remember you guys’ glasses getting taped up and all of that. So he’d been through that already. So by the time I came around, we went to get glass frames, and dad found the biggest, thickest pair of brown, you know, frames that he could find that were indestructible, and that’s the glasses that I got. And I remember I hated those glasses.
I still have trauma, from them. But, and I had to start wearing glasses, and which was at a time when that was not cool. I mean, was kind of wire rim and that was a different thing. But I still remember being in my room, so upset, crying. I’m like, I am not ever gonna wear those glasses.
And I remember you coming in. You were at college, home for the summer or something. You came in, sat down with me, talked me off the ledge, and said, it will be okay. I think you might have said something. The girls might still like you or, you know, down the road, but, it was, you know, actually an example of older brothers that really did care for me.
And the other story is that about the same time, you started playing basketball with me almost every day. I remember you were working for the railroad or something. I don’t remember what your shift was, but you were home for the summer working actually, I think you had to sit out.
Jeff Walton: Yeah. I sat out for a year. I worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad, and I worked the midnight shift. So I worked nights and I was home days.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Home during the days. We had a little basketball hoop out in front and I was and you play and you set it up that I’d get four points for every basket and you got one, and then you’d play me hard. So you wouldn’t be nice to me. And, I think we had some battles out there.
Jeff Walton: And then I remember, you know, when you got to be college age, and then I only had to spot you two to one. That’s the way I remember it Yeah,
Gary Walton: it was something like that. No. I’m I’m thankful for you and Dave, Bob, my older sister, Sherry, all of them God used as a influence, on my life. AACS, American Association of Christian Schools. What’s the main mission?
Jeff Walton: So the mission of AACS is to support the success of Christian school teachers and leaders by providing the services that schools need. So we’re a service organization, but the the purpose of those services is to help teachers, Christian school leaders succeed with their mission, which is evangelizing and discipling young people. I tell our staff all the time, if we ever forget that the mission is a straight line to affecting the lives of children in Christian school classrooms, then we’ve lost track of what’s really important. So we have a government relations office in Washington D. C.
That does really important work, we think, in trying to protect the religious liberties and freedoms of Christian school ministries. We provide a number of services that support academically what schools do, that help to save them funds in some of the services. But all of that is directly about helping teachers and school leaders succeed in what they’re doing with families and children.
Gary Walton: Yeah. It’s really interesting, and I agree. Very important work that, you know, you have, given your life to. Your your life has really been invested in education, specifically Christian education. What are you seeing as challenges in the educational landscape?
Jeff Walton: The challenges in education today are largely about the decay in our culture and the decay in families. And so teachers, school leaders, dealing with kids who are coming from very challenging circumstances very often. And and so the, you know, the challenge for teachers and school leaders is to build a school culture that supports and helps kids and helps them to grow academically, but also, you know, supports and helps families. So schools have to see the significance of what they can do, not just in the classroom, but to affect the lives of kids and through them the lives of families.
For many years in Christian education, we’ve said you will seldom significantly affect a child’s life if you don’t affect the whole family. And so having a ministry that not just tries to provide the academic skills to kids, but that reaches past that to support and help families to be, you know, better places for those kids to live and grow up in. Now those challenges are are a lot more significant than they were when our culture was different thirty or forty years ago. You know, there there are other challenges with cultural decay and the things that that families face and schools face, but, you know, the the root of that is, trying to help kids and families in a in a very post Christian culture.
Gary Walton: It’s really interesting. And, you know, just thinking about education in a more holistic manner, family related, of of course, you know, we’re gonna connect it to what God has done here at Harvest Christian Academy. Over the years, you’ve been involved with that as well. But, you know, the academy really is, not just about that student in the classroom. Of course, that’s a focus.
Parents are putting their kids there for the education, for the life mentoring, the development there. But we do recognize, that, you know, the ability to affect our our culture, our island long term doesn’t only rest in those kids. It rests in their families and their ability to be successful, you know, together is is connected with that. And frankly, you know, we we talk about this a lot here in the leadership levels for sure, but we’re burdened for education across the island. Of course, we have a very specific mission and stewardship of the, you know, nearly a thousand students and their families that attend here.
But we’re affected by our, you know, our whole island, and and we care about the kids all the way across this island. We can’t educate all of them, you know, here, but we’d love to see the educational opportunities to grow in ways. And frankly, the the church particularly is caring about that family part of it. You know? If there’s ways that we can help families across our island, you know, to grow and and address some of the brokenness in families, it does help the kids together.
Jeff Walton: I tell school leaders all the time when we’re talking about thriving schools that the first thing that you need to understand is that if you’re a Christian school, you have to do both parts of your name really well. Mhmm. So do the school side really well. If you’re not doing the job academically and if kids are not learning and you’re not gonna thrive as a school, but you’re not because you’re not serving children and families well. So so do the school side really well.
Do the academic side really well. And then do the Christian side really well too. A Christian culture, a loving culture, a culture that, as you said, cares about more than what’s happening in our classroom but what’s happening outside our classroom, cares about education in our community and families in our community. That’s a part of what being a Christian school is about.
Gary Walton: It’s one of the great things about graduation week, which is kind of how we started this conversation, is you get to hear so many of those stories. You know, we have 72 kids graduating from the academy, 12 from the from the Bible College, and you hear them other times, but very intentionally, you know, at graduation, parents are saying, thank you. One of the best decisions that we made, you know, the investment that we made here, and that’s always, you know, so satisfying and fulfilling, I think, in the call here. Just for you personally, maybe I would kinda want to end on this, asking you specifically, again, because I’ve had the privilege of watching your life. Could you just kinda tell us a little bit about about spiritual growth, what that’s, meant for you over a lifetime?
Jeff Walton: May maybe this would be an encouragement to some of the of the young people who have grown up in Christian homes. I grew up in a strong Christian home, and I can not really look back at any time in my life when I wasn’t at least trying to follow Christ, follow the Lord’s leading. I I don’t have a testimony of years when I wandered away from the Lord and rebelled against my family and anything like that. And I’m so glad for that. You know, God has blessed my life in many, many ways because of that.
With the family, with the ability to look back at years of ministry with no regrets. Happy that my life has been invested that way. I do feel like I have matured as a Christian through that and have increasingly come to realize that it’s only God’s grace that anything good has happened. More today than when I was younger, realize that I am very incapable, and that if any good comes out of my life and ministry, it’s God’s grace. Grateful for that and grateful for the people who have poured into my life, and then try to return that by pouring into the lives of other people.
And it’s an incredibly rewarding thing.
Gary Walton: Jeff, thanks for for being here. I’m glad that you’re here looking forward to God’s blessing on the weekend. Happy to be here.
Chris Harper: Well, thank you for listening to this Harvest Time. Of course, at this point in the program, we always wanna personally invite you again to services at Harvest Baptist Church. Two services this Sunday, 08:45AM and 10:45AM. We have Japanese and Korean translation during that 10:45AM service, and that’s also the service that we broadcast live here on 88.1 FM and khmg.org. We hope to see you this Sunday.
Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.
