Trinity Spotlight: Dr. Lois Schaefer
Dr. Lois Schaefer is a dearly loved individual at Trinity, especially within our alumni community of Education graduates.
Having taught at Trinity since the early 80’s, she first helped establish and develop the Secretarial program, and then went on to be a key figure in Trinity’s Education program alongside her husband, Dr. Jim Schaefer (1974 founding faculty member who continued to teach at Trinity until 2010).
Recently, Dr. Lois Schaefer wrote a book for children, “Timeless Treasures Retold”.
This book features well-known Bible stories with a creative twist: she places children into the scenes and tells the story from their point of view. This book is truly a treasure and a labor of love born out of a passion to serve Christ and reach children. Observing a trend in many Bible curriculum materials to underestimate a child’s ability to grasp the deeper truths of the Bible, she was compelled to create material that a parent or teacher could easily use to teach young children.
“By the time a child is three or four years old you would be amazed at what they can understand. We have lots of great things to challenge teenagers, but we need to reach them before they get to that age! These days children are formulating conclusions about what they believe about God as early as fourth grade; they watch adults and see what they prioritize.”
Her greatest desire is for parents to use the book to spend time with their own children, reading and teaching them about God.
“Teaching children to love the Lord must begin in the home! I know a lot of really good parents who want to do that, but they just don’t know how. That’s what I’m after with this book; to give parents something they can read with their children, and they’re all stories that the children can relate to… I’ve already had so many people tell me that children are asking lots of questions!”
From her earliest memories, Dr. Lois recalls having a desire to work with children.
As a young lady she volunteered in Sunday school with the little ones. As she pursued college, she first earned a business certificate and then a B.S. in Elementary Education at Bob Jones University. She explored the idea of going to Germany to work in an orphanage, going back to earn her master’s in Christian Education to meet the necessary qualifications. It was then that she met her husband, Jim Schaefer. They married in 1960 and were open to God’s leading in their life wherever that may take them. They spent a year serving in a church in Rochester, New York, and then in 1961 they moved to Jacksonville, Florida to work at Trinity Christian Academy.
In all of this, God was working behind the scenes, setting the stage for the family He was preparing for the Schaefers.
They both loved children dearly and within a few years they adopted a little boy. That soon turned into a second adoption, and then a third… this time a sibling group of 4! The sibling group came to them from the same family with whom they had served in Rochester. By 1973, the Schaefers had adopted a total of 9 children. Their final adoption was a baby boy. The doctors explained he had severe disabilities and his life would be full of challenges. In God’s providence and under the Schaefer’s care, he defied expectations, thriving in ways the medical community never imagined possible.
It was while raising her children that Dr. Lois Schaefer began to realize the importance of differentiated learning.
As a parent of nine, she noticed how each child learned best in slightly different ways, especially her two children with learning disabilities. It became apparent to her that a one-size-fits-all learning system was not a beneficial approach for anyone.
“God made us all different, so we all learn differently! There’s no right way and no wrong way to learn! We all process things differently.”
Not only did she feel passionate about helping her own children be successful in learning, but also those in the academy and the college where both she and her husband invested their professional lives. She noticed that many individuals came through the college who would benefit from the same accommodations that had been so helpful to dozens of children she had worked with over the years.
In those days, there were few resources available to those with differentiated learning abilities.
Often, those who learned differently were ostracized or considered unfit for higher education.
At the time, Trinity was a much smaller school that focused primarily on Ministry programs. She noticed that often, “preacher boys” who were intelligent and talented would become discouraged when they were unable to memorize or otherwise perform well in their coursework. This prompted her to seek out methods of study and learning that best fit their individual learning styles and abilities.
She recalls working with one young man who had poured over his sermon for days and still had overwhelming difficulties presenting it in class. She coached him in different methods of memorization and study and saw immediate results.
“You should have seen the look on his face – it was all the reward I wanted. He said, “I can do it, I can do it!” It made all the difference in the world for him. He went on to get a master’s degree, too.”
When these results consistently proved differentiated learning methods effective, it opened the door for more opportunities to support students with learning differences. Eventually, this prompted her to earn a master’s degree in Special Education from UNF, and she went on to establish the “Ability to Benefit” program at Trinity, which continues to this day. This program underscores the reality that higher education should be committed to academic rigor and every person’s calling is worth the investment. This being the case, it is right for accommodations to be made available to those who may require it due to a unique learning style.
Dr. Lois Schaefer changed the lives of hundreds who benefitted from her expertise in Education and Special Education and her ultimate desire to reach children with the gospel.
The many Education graduates who learned under the Schaefers were excellently prepared to lead classrooms that nurtured children academically and in the Word of God. Furthermore, students in other programs discovered their own unique ways of learning that enabled them to be successful in their college career and beyond. Many went on to earn advanced degrees. In recognition of these and other innumerable contributions to the college and to the success of the students, she was granted an honorary Doctorate from Trinity in the early 2000s.
During their time at Trinity Dr. Jim and Dr. Lois Schaefer had deep influence across all of Trinity Ministries. While their professional calling centered on academic education, they poured their hearts into children in any way God allowed them to do so. This included writing and developing widely used Sunday School curriculum (still in use by several ministries today and even translated into Spanish), leading in children’s ministry, volunteering weeks upon weeks of time at the Trinity Youth Camp and children’s camp each summer, teaching in the Academy and then in the College, and writing for periodicals. They have been an invaluable resource for others who sought advice on adoption. Their large, joyful family was a glowing example of how God uses willing people to care for others. Dr. Jim and Dr. Lois Schaefer led the kind of unsung but world-changing lives that display the power of faithfulness in the service of Jesus Christ!
She published “Timeless Treasures Retold” just a few months ago, in response to what she describes as the prompting of God.
Her burning desire to see as many children come to Christ as possible has never faltered. She recently celebrated her 91st birthday. Some might say that she has earned the right to sit back and let others do the work. But she believes that while God has her on this earth, she has something to give. The only question in her mind has been, what could she do to continue to bring children to Christ?
“I can no longer get on the floor and play with little ones. Can you imagine me trying to chase down a toddler?” she asks with a chuckle. “So, working directly with children was out. But I kept asking God, ‘what can I do?’”
It was then she rediscovered a few stories that her husband had written years before. The idea for a children’s book began to take shape. Inspired by the handful of stories Dr. Jim had written all those years ago, she sat down to write. By the time she was finished, she had a total of 56 Bible stories (including six written by her husband). Each re-written in a way that engages the innate curiosity of a child’s mind.
This book truly is a treasure that introduces children to the wonder of the Bible, God, and Jesus’s love for them. It shares timeless truths that help lay the foundation for the gospel to take root and flourish.
Dr. Lois Schaefer says there are plans in the works to translate her book into Spanish, and possibly even into Japanese. Her hope is that this book will support teachers and parents who dedicate time with the children in their care to focus on the Gospel and God’s Word.
You can find and purchase Timeless Treasures Retold on Amazon here.
We encourage you to purchase your own copy and use it to introduce the children in your life to Christ!
Dr. Lois Schaefer lives in Jacksonville, Florida. Her husband, Dr. Jim Schaefer, went home to be with the Lord in December of 2020. They are blessed with 9 children, 24 grandchildren, and 34 great grandchildren. The college community where they served for many years and the hundreds of alumni who learned under their expertise love them dearly. It is with deep gratitude Trinity College of Jacksonville honors Dr. Lois Schaefer for her decades of service to the Lord through education, through ministry, and through her personal life testimony. She has faithfully lived out their life calling: untold numbers of children have come to know Christ through her (and her husband’s) tireless, unwavering work with children and educators alike.
