Campaign Message from Superintendent Dr. John Walker
Each one of us can look back and think of a teacher who impacted our lives for the better. We forget who won the Super Bowl in 1999, the Masters in 2005, or the World Series in 2013, but we don’t forget the names of those teachers who made an immense impact on us. Christian education makes an immense impact on lives.
Believing now is the time to invest in the future of Christian education, our school’s board of trustees, school leadership, and a few stakeholders met to conduct strategic planning for the school. We sought how to be excellent financial stewards and sustain the school for the next 74 years. After praying for the Lord’s direction, Central Christian School began the FORWARD Campaign, an effort designed to pay off debt, fund capital improvements (classrooms and hallway completion and paving the parking lot), and support the Central Fund.
First, in Phase I of the capital campaign, the Lord provided funding to pay off the school’s entire $464,000 debt. Not only that, but the Lord provided a great start to Phases 2 and 3 of the campaign. Phase 2 is raising funds needed to complete the new classrooms project that began in the late 1990s and to pave the school’s parking lot. Phase 3 will provide financial support to the Central Fund which meets needs central to our mission: student scholarships, faculty development, facility maintenance, and the general fund. All of this will help ensure that this present generation and future generations will have access to a biblical worldview education.
In our goal to raise $3.2 million in the FORWARD campaign, $1.7 million is allocated for classroom completion and paving the parking lot and just over $1 million is included for the Central Fund. With half the work already completed on the classrooms, why should we wait? And without a plan, how will we succeed? Don’t we teach our children and students to plan so that their plans can be established and completed? This is why, from day one, we have strived to bring these requests before the Lord, asking Him to establish our plans and our steps.
You may think the classrooms and parking lot projects do not pertain to you: “My kids are in high school or have graduated, and they won’t benefit.” However, I would challenge you to think about it this way, “If it weren’t for the donors of the past, my child wouldn’t have had the same opportunities they currently have.” Someone else’s gift from long ago made this school possible today.
Now we are the ones who have the opportunity to build upon the foundation that was laid by those who went before us. It is our responsibility to move forward, plan for the future, and pursue excellence.
Recently, donors offered to support a match opportunity for the parking lot. Through those donors, the Lord is providing a $125,000 matching gift challenge for donations given by June 30, 2022 toward the parking lot. In addition, the Lord has already provided over $135,000 toward the classrooms completion project and over $219,000 in donations toward Phase 3’s Central Fund. We are so thankful for the way the Lord is working in all of this!
To show you how meeting our campaign goal of $3.2 million is possible, if CCS receives one gift of $500K, two gifts of $250K, four gifts of $100K, nine gifts of $50K, sixteen gifts of $25K, twenty gifts of $15K, thirty gifts of $10K, forty gifts of $5K, and fifty gifts of $2.5K, we would meet our goal. You can track the campaign’s progress HERE.
A part of the FORWARD Campaign is networking with people you know who could be interested in giving. We encourage you to let us know who those people might be.
Our goal is to complete the FORWARD campaign in three years or as soon as possible. We move and build at the speed of money, and a major gift now would help bring the campaign finish line into clearer focus. Ultimately, we are praying for the Lord’s perfect timing. The Greek word for this is kairos which means the right time or the appointed time. The Lord’s will is what we are after, kairos time, which dictates fulfillment; ’not chronos time, the quantitative time of calendars. Jesus taught us how we ought to pray, “. . . not My will, but Yours be done.”
The FORWARD Campaign has progressed as the Holy Spirit has worked in and through the hearts of donors, potential donors, and friends. We would love to celebrate the successful completion of this campaign by the school’s 75th anniversary weekend, which will be in September 2023. Please join me in prayer, that at the appointed time—at the right time—this campaign will be successfully completed.
Over the past 74 years, Central Christian School has been sustained by the faithful support of parents, alumni, staff, and friends, all of whom have been invaluable to the ongoing mission of the school. Generations of former CCS students are now impacting the world for Christ, having been equipped with a biblical worldview education.
The school’s remarkable history has given us a strong foundation and offers hope for a bright future. Your investment today will make a difference tomorrow and lead to future returns as we pursue our mission to be an excellent Christian school. Certainly, we thank you for praying alongside us in this endeavor. Thank you, too, for considering how you may support the FORWARD Campaign.
To God Alone Be the Glory!
Dr. John Walker