School Growth

Centerville:

“Can you search out the deep things of God?  Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?” Job 11:7

God is doing great things in Centerville, TN!  

The enrollment of Centerville Christian School has increased from 3 students in May of 2020 to a projected enrollment of 58 students for August 2024.  This is “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20

As I contemplate this amazing growth and try to explain how it happened, I am overcome with tremendous awe.  God has done this!  “Can you search out the deep things of God?  Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?” Job 11:7

I will never be able to fully explain how God, in just four short years, transformed a struggling one-teacher school on the brink of closure into a growing three-teacher school bursting at the seams.  All that I can do is list a few things we humanly did to cooperate with God.  

First, the church at large prayed!  The members of the three constituent churches prayed for their dying school.  They had a strong desire to have a school and were prepared to fully cooperate with God.  When I came on the scene, I merely had to make a suggestion and the school board rallied together to make things happen.  For example, at one of my first board meetings with CCS, I asked for a small garden for science class.  Within two years we had two indoor growing racks, 16 raised-beds, and a 50’x16’ hoop house!  We even hired a gardening coordinator and adopted the Acquainting Agriculture curriculum.

Secondly, we embraced our home school families.  Rather than seeing our homeschoolers as prospective students and pressuring their parents into supporting the school through enrollment, we recognized our homeschooling parents as fellow educators and their children as fellow students.  We created a weekly Homeschool Day program in which our homeschool students joined us for chapel, choir, art, and PE.  Again, God exceeded our expectations! The projected 12 students quickly grew to over 60 homeschool students!  These are our kids, too; they claim CCS as their school and refer to the staff as their teachers!  The homeschool parents are active volunteers and are a vital part of our ministry.

Thirdly, we have covenanted to serve the children of our community regardless of denomination.  Less than one-third of our enrolled students are associated with Adventism; less than one-fifth are from constituent families. Each day we have the privilege of sharing the love and knowledge of God with our community children. They have become part of our family; their parents are part of our team.

Finally, we have a growth mindset.  Each May all three of our district churches meet at ICC for a Visioning Retreat to discuss ways that we can improve our ministry. CCS is far more than just its teachers. We are a united band of church members, school families, and community members. Our next big challenge is to expand our facility to accommodate the rapidly growing enrollment.  This is an amazing adventure for a school that was expected to close just four years ago.  

Where will God lead us from here?  I can only imagine!  “My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and Your salvation all the day, for I do not know their limits.” Psalm 71:15

God is doing great things!

(Sheila Jones-Head Teacher)

Lawrenceburg:

Last May, we had six students who were pre-registered for the 2023-2024 school year. We needed at least 10 students to be financially stable. Prayer was the secret to the growth of our school’s enrollment. We asked God that while we needed 10 students, we wanted Him to send us the number of students that needed to be at our school. 

The middle of July came and we still had our six students. As we were getting ready for registration day, God answered our prayers. Isaiah 65:24 says that “before we call He will answer and while we are still speaking He will hear. “ This is exactly what happened to us. A couple of families had approached me about sending their children to our school months before we started praying, but we never heard back from them. All of a sudden, these families and three others showed up days before registration. Our enrollment went from six to fifteen. In January two students withdrew from our school, and God sent us two more students. Then, it happened again at the end of February. Another student withdrew and two weeks later, we welcomed another. 15 is the number of students God intended for us to have this school year. 

As we are getting ready for the next school year, we are again depending on God to send us the number of students that need to be at our school. In faith we have hired a second teacher for next school year.  Through community services and marketing strategies, we are reaching out to our community and letting ourselves be known. In the end, we know that God’s name will be glorified again.

(Brahiana Chingo-Head Teacher)

Murfreesboro:

We are so thankful for how God is working in the Murfreesboro Adventist School.  We reopened in 2021 after being closed for 18 years.  Amazingly, we reopened during the pandemic.  We began in the church's fellowship hall with 7 students.  The second year we also had 7 students. We added an agriculture program to our existing art and music program.  We spent one half of the year in the fellowship hall and then transitioned to our newly renovated school building.  The third year our enrollment rose to 17 students. We added a 9th grade and were given Junior Academy Status.   We began feeling a bit crowded in our building.  We now added a gymnastics program, headed up by an alumnus of our school.  We are now in our fourth year of being re-opened.  Our enrollment has grown to 30 students.  We have continued all of our programs and have added another full-time teacher, plus 2 paid aides, and a volunteer aid.

The Murfreesboro Church has a vision to see our program continue and expand.  The Murfreesboro Church Business Meeting just voted to build a new school building with the dream of growing into a K - 12 school.  To help us reach this goal, we are joining the Atlanta Adventist Academy, which has a distance learning program, to our pro 2024/2025 school year for our four - 11th grade high school students. 

The ground has been cleared and architectural drawings have been drawn up for our new school.  We see God working in a mighty way in Murfreesboro.  We pray that our school will be used to lead precious children to an experiential knowledge of our God and Savior!

(Linda Dickinson-Head Teacher)