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Before we get to today’s article, I just want to mention that am writing from the perspective of a man that has experienced many of the challenges of which I write…. and those spiritual battles continue daily. The articles are implications of what it means to obey the commandment to raise your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. They require some reflection and are particularly for Christians who, as Peter would say, are diligently seeking to confirm their calling and are making every effort to supplement their faith. Said more succinctly, serious Christians. If you know other believers who desire to walk more faithfully with the Lord, please forward an article to them and tell them to sign up for future articles. Thanks so much!

This is the fourth article in a series of four. Please refer back to Chapters 1, 2 and 3 if you have missed them.

When my daughter recently suggested that I write about my background and testimony, I was not sure what I would write. God has done so many things in our lives since we became Christians that I almost feel like we are cheating Him of His glory by leaving so much out. In any case, here we are in this last chapter of a 4 chapter testimony to God’s goodness. If you are diving in for the first time in this article, I encourage you to go back and start with Chapter 1. And so, let’s continue…. 

We were still very young in our new faith and as we learned more from the Bible, we were compelled to make many personal and family decisions. After just a year at our first church, we were quickly getting plugged in to the ministries of the church and were enjoying teaching Sunday school to 4th graders and participating in Evangelism Explosion, when a bomb was dropped into the laps of the leadership- the senior pastor was getting a divorce. In the weeks and months that followed we were confident that we understood the Biblical requirements for elders and that the senior pastor would step down. He took a leave to pray and think about all of it and when he returned, he shocked us with the announcement that he felt he was called by God to stay in his role as senior pastor. We had no choice but to leave and find a new church.

As God weaves His world for our good and His glory, we soon found a small church closer to home that aligned more closely with what we believed the Bible taught. In addition to the church, we were also introduced to the small school that they were running during the week, called Cherokee Christian School. Of course, as new Christians we didn’t really understand the impact on the minds and hearts of children through education. But as time went on, we learned that what was happening every day of the week in our local public school was not God glorifying. The straw that broke the camel’s back was sex education in 6th grade. We tried to speak with the school’s leadership and review the curriculum, but our efforts were rebuffed. And even though the tuition at Cherokee Christian School was an expense that didn’t fit into our budget, we went ahead and enrolled them out of what we believed was obedience to the Lord.

Our relationships and involvement in the church continued to grow and soon I was asked to serve on the Christian school’s board. It didn’t take long for my convictions about education to grow stronger and I came to the point where I believed the necessity of a school environment that teaches Christ was non-negotiable. However, running a Christian school was hard. We were part of a small church and the school had virtually no money, no assets, declining enrollment, and seemingly a dim future. Two years later, the board agreed that in order to survive (not necessarily thrive) we needed to build a new school at a new location. 

That decided, the challenges that were ahead were daunting and telling the stories of God’s faithful and kind deeds would fill a book. So, I will just bullet point a handful:

  1. Our plan was to form a new corporation and buy land separate from the church. This was a hard thing to ask the elders of the church to allow as they felt responsible for the well-being and theology of the school and separation would mean loss of control. However, the elders of the church not only agreed to allow us to separate, but also offered to sell the school 10 acres of land that they had purchased for a future church location for a very reasonable price!
  2. We had hoped to raise enough money to qualify for a loan. Working against us was the low morale of the school parents. Unfortunately, they had tried to build a new school several years earlier but were able to raise very little money and the money they did raise, went to the fundraising company! Just getting folks to believe that it was possible was challenging, but in the first 90 days of our campaign we raised about $600,000. Gifts were being given in various forms, including a house that a recently minted millionaire no longer needed!  
  3. We had momentum and were raising money for a new facility, but we had no other assets. I clearly recall how foolish I felt when we had to fill out a commercial loan application for 2.2 million dollars. Basically, no assets, no cash, and no credit. However, a week later we received the approval letter in the mail. I know that this does not fit a true definition of a miracle, but it was clearly the work of the Lord.
  4. We can do this! Wait? We actually are doing it? This is what happens when you say you believe, but you’re still holding something back to kind of protect your heart in the event that whole thing fails. We had encouraged and cheered each other on to believing that God would enable us to conquer this incredible mountain of poor morale, a school in decline, and seemingly no resources. And then, He did it and we were flabbergasted.
  5. Staying in budget. We could only afford to build half a gym, but when the contractors heard about it, they decided to donate labor and materials so we could build a full size gymnasium!
  6. A Godly contractor and benefactor. Having a contractor that was a trustworthy, honest, and generous for a group of people (us) that were in uncharted waters was huge. 

It was a couple of months into the campaign to build the school that we began a search for a Headmaster. Long story short, we could not find the man that we were looking for, so I offered to jump in for some time, likely a couple of years until we found a permanent replacement for me. However, I stayed for the next 22 years and experienced some of the hardest and the most wonderful times of my life. Through those years, God enabled us to buy more tracts of land, build a high school and add other additions so we could offer the community a fine academic education wrapped in a Biblical worldview.  

Christian schools are interesting organizations. It is a unique blend of business and ministry. Christian parents come together with the school to partner towards a godly education for their children, but unlike a church, the members of the school might represent as many as 100 different churches in the community. Therefore, it is an opportunity for those who work at the school to get a significant insight into the theology of the local churches through the school parents and their children. And in terms of what the churches are teaching and how professing Christians are actually working out their Christian lives, I am not afraid to say that the state of the church in America is abysmal (https://www.cherishephesians64.com/state-of-the-church/).

As a person who passionately believed in Christian schooling, I encouraged and pleaded for Christian parents to put their children in a faithful Christian school or Christian homeschooling and learned that there are many objections to doing so from Christian parents and church leaders. You can read about those objections and my responses on the CherishEphesians64 website https://www.cherishephesians64.com/failure-parents/ but in a nutshell, most objections to Christian schooling are rooted in a love of this world. By the way, I do not believe that Christian schools are THE answer to producing Christian kids and I also don’t believe that Christian schools are some kind of holy bubble where kids can escape the world we live in. But I do believe in obedience. I do believe every Christian parent should obey Ephesians 6:4 and how you decide to educate your children plays a huge role in this.

About a year ago and fast approaching my official retirement from Cherokee Christian School, I still had no idea what I would be doing after the final day on the job. One of the suggestions that I received from friends was to do some writing and when the day arrived, it was settled- I would write and share articles about Biblical Christian parenting. What? Not Christian schooling? Sure, that is both my experience and my passion. But, upon further thought, I realized two things: Christian education is just a subset of a larger issue (Christian parenting) and Christian parenting is a subset of how the church teaches what it means to think and live out the Christian life. 

Therefore, with Biblical Christian parenting as my lighthouse, I have seized on the great verse from Ephesians 6:4 – Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. I believe that obedience to this verse has vast implications that will resound into the culture and for God’s glory. My prayer is that both parents and church leaders will move towards a greater emphasis on this wonderful commandment, but not just that Christian parents need to understand and obey Ephesians 6:4, but actually cherish the commandment because it comes from a good God and obedience can only bring good for us. Hence, the name of the ministry is CherishEphesians 6:4. 

I hope you will join me on a thoughtful journey as I ask the tough questions of myself, you, and church leaders. 

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Last modified: November 11, 2022

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