Denise Bufton

Mrs. Bufton graduated from Cornerstone University. She loves middle school students and sharing with them her love for God and showing them how He is central in all we learn and do! Mrs. Bufton was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She loves to read, write plays, walk her dog and spend time with family and friends.

It is an honor to be able to be involved in molding and shaping the lives of children for God’s glory as I prepare them to impact this world for Him.  In order for my students to be able to impact their world for Christ, they need a strong Biblical foundation of knowing who God is and what God expects from His children.  From Day One in my classroom, I want kids to know how amazing God is. I begin by sharing with them what God has done in my life by saving me, keeping me, and walking with me through this life.  I want my students to see that God has made a difference in the way that I live, speak, and interact with them and others.  I must be “real” with my students, and share with them that, despite my imperfections, God still loves me, and that, “He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it.” (Philippians 1:6)

We are commanded to Love the Lord our God with all of our hearts. Therefore, He must be central in our classroom.  I strive to accomplish this in many ways.  We begin each day with devotions and prayer.  Getting to know my students’ hearts as I hear them share prayer requests and pray for each other builds unity and trust within our class.  By caring about the students’ lives out of the classroom, I build loving relationships with them within the classroom.  They know that I care, and they begin to care about what I know as I teach them.

Throughout the day as we learn, we discover that the God we love is TRUTH.  All that we can learn about that is true comes from God.  The beauty of creation, the wonder of numbers, the advances of civilizations throughout history, the ability to communicate through our words and our writing, all originate in God.  I want students to realize that God is so much more awesome than they can ever imagine. I encourage the kids to read God’s word for themselves.  We have a Bible Reading Challenge.  Kids are challenged to read one chapter of God’s Word each day.  By getting to know God better as they read it for themselves, they begin to love Him more.

We are also called to go and make disciples of all creatures.  As a class we try to be involved in sharing Christ’s love with others.  Each year we try to do something to help others in Jesus’ name.  One year we adopted a soldier and prayed for him and sent him letters and a huge care package at Christmas time.   Another year, we raised money and bought a goat and some chickens for needy people through Samaritan’s purse.  This year we will be visiting a nursing home, spending time with the folks, singing to them and sharing cards with them with scripture inside.  We are Christ’s hands and feet and when we do these things for the least of these, we are doing it for Christ.

Teaching is this and so much more.  I am humbled to be able to share nine months in the life of a student.  But I truly hope and pray that the lessons learned and the love shared during those nine months will have a lasting impact on those students as they go out into this world and impact it for Christ.