Our time at the Ladue Road campus is finally drawing to a close. The Walk of Faith was a beautiful celebration of God’s blessing through the history of Westminster. Journalists across our region have been reporting on the last graduation at the Ladue Road campus, our last day of classes and our last baseball game.

As the completion of construction draws near for the new Westminster, we turn our focus to the “firsts.” The first day of work at the new campus will occur this summer, the first day of school will be in August; and so many other firsts – events, games, and performances – are to come.

As Jim Marsh shared in his recent letter to all our generous supporters, the future is now, and the goal isn’t just to complete construction. The goal isn’t just to have exciting “firsts” in a new campus. The goal isn’t just to be able to manage a long-term debt.

We must keep the main thing the main thing. For Westminster this means we will become better before bigger, say yes to enrolling Christian families, and invest in great people, great programs, and great facilities, and make decisions that keep us financially strong as a ministry for generations to come.

The future is now and here is what I need you to hear from me:

• Please give as the Lord enables you to give.

• Every gift given, unless otherwise directed, goes to finish the project, pay off the short-term construction loan and fill the school with great people and programs for next year. Remember tuition dollars are never used for debt, construction, or capital improvements.

• By God’s grace, we reached all key pledge milestones at the end of this past December, enabling us to keep construction going, positioning us to be in the new campus a year early while realizing significant construction cost savings. Our lending partners came through with the $35 million construction loan – no small miracle in today’s economic environment.

• People have been giving toward their pledges, but we need to see $6 million in cash from pledges and new gifts given this year by the end of December 2011. As our construction draws to a close and move-in begins, this year’s goal is critically important.

We continually praise God for His blessings and provision through you. As Westminster embarks on this new chapter, each of us should marvel at the phenomenon of God moving through His people. Thank you for your prayers, your heart for Westminster, and your generous love and support.

After so many years of praying, watching, waiting, working and wondering how the plans could ever come together, it is now happening. Our construction is on track. The details and plans continue to come together. We plan to be in the new campus, fully completed for the 2011-12 school year beginning August 22.

As our construction and moving preparations progress, reaching this year’s cash goal is critically important. We need to receive $6 million in cash from pledges and new gifts by the end of December 2011. This year, we humbly ask of you:

• Pray. Pray that God will move people to continue to respond to the vision for young men and women prepared to engage the world and change it for Jesus Christ.
• Share. Please share the remarkable story of Westminster with your friends, family and neighbors. Perhaps you would like to view and share this video: www.wcastl.org/kmov.
• Give. Give as the Lord enables you: www.wcastl.org/give.

Remember that the goal isn’t just to complete a new campus construction project or to manage long-term debt. We must keep the main thing, the main thing – becoming better before bigger, saying yes to enrolling Christian families at an affordable tuition cost, and continuing to focus on one student at a time.

It is our prayer and hope that God will continue to provide the people and resources needed to move us toward becoming a world-class Christian school, and that people will continue to take huge steps of faith to see a Westminster Christian Academy education provided for new generations of students, for our children and our children’s children.

Since the first of the year, Westminster Christian Academy has been receiving a great deal more attention than usual from people across the St. Louis region and beyond. The reality of a new world-class Christian school campus available to many generations to come is unfolding. Talk of this movement of God through His people is creeping into conversations in every corner of town. This is an ongoing outpouring of God, the Giver of givers, through His people taking huge leaps of faith through their giving and pledging.

We are singing God’s praises. Some of us are trying to grasp what is happening. Many in our region who would not even claim to know our Lord are befuddled and trying to figure out exactly how this is happening.

A tremendous opportunity is before us as a Christian school – one that few schools will ever see. That is, to be a light to a watching world and a picture of education at its best: education with the Truth of God’s word at the heart of every teacher, every family and every experience.

With this opportunity comes the challenge of how to respond to this attention. Do we ignore the media opportunities? Do we shrink from the challenge of telling God’s story to a world that doesn’t acknowledge Him? Do we hide our light under a bushel? Or do we step into broader territory that God may be opening to His people?

I believe we have a responsibility to engage the media and share the stories of what God is doing. This isn’t just about marketing or public relations and it would be a mistake for anyone to think it’s that simple. This is the Truth well told.

This week I had the privilege of appearing on television for a brief segment on a show called Great Day St. Louis. This was one of those special opportunities to partner and advertise with a local media program and briefly tell the story of the new campus. I confess being nearly overwhelmed by the burden of appearing on live TV, speaking to such a broad audience and highlighting God’s story in only four minutes. While the other participants in the show sat offstage chattering with excitement about what they intended to share, I kept looking for a place to crawl off to, needing just one more conversation with God about this task.

But, because this isn’t about me but rather about what God is doing at Westminster, somehow it turned out, and we’ve been blown away by the response. The story, the Truth, the reality of what God is doing just keeps moving people to take notice and take action. The next day, I ran into someone I’d never met, with no real connection to Westminster, and she said, “I just saw you on TV talking about Westminster!” She even shared with me the conversation she had that night with her son after seeing the show, relaying how amazing it was that they live in St. Louis, where such a school is being built.

Call me crazy, but I believe what is happening at Westminster is not normal. People are paying attention, and we need to make sure that we keep giving God the glory in word and deed.

Here’s where we need your ongoing help:

We need you to stay engaged. As amazing as all of this is, the moment God’s people stop seeking His direction for what He is calling them to give and bring to this project, we will be heading down a road to inconsequence and irrelevance.

We need you to help us tell the story. In today’s world, there is often a fear of sharing vision and needs with others. There are already so many other things competing for your time and attention and giving. I know this is true of you, because it is even for me. But we need not fear sharing the story because this is about what God is doing. How will people hear if we do not tell them? Dig deep, be bold with us, and just challenge people to look and see what God is doing.

Help me, my friend. Challenge people to look at the miracle of what happens when God’s Word is lived out, taught well and applied to every aspect of life and learning.

Please share the remarkable story of Westminster with your friends, family and neighbors. Perhaps you will share this video to get the conversation started.

You’ll be amazed at how God will use you!

This past March, Westminster Christian Academy of St. Louis partnered with First Free Church of St. Louis County to host an unexpected luncheon with Dan Cathy, the COO of Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A.

We had three days to plan an event for a short-notice-but-hoped-for total of 200 people. During the first day of promotion, we had to close registration because 325 people (our maximum) had registered to attend. We turned away nearly 100 people and likely could have had as many as 1,000 people if we had a month to plan instead of only three days.

I believe the success of this event has implications for anyone who desires to see people in the St. Louis region more fully engaged in the work God is doing in this generation in our region and world.

This was an unexpected opportunity, and God blessed the efforts of two distinct ministries coming together to serve a broad audience.
You read that correctly above; we only had three days to plan this event. The event was considered a grand success, and it provided a great opportunity for many to hear directly from Dan Cathy as others in our city were busy cancelling his speaking engagements because of controversy over Chick-fil-A’s ongoing support of Christian-based family ministries. What a joy to see First Free church staff and volunteers serving side-by-side with Westminster staff and volunteers, all focused on this special opportunity to serve the broader community.

This is just a glimpse of what God is doing through the broader Christian community of St. Louis.
The family of Westminster Christian Academy encompasses more than 600 churches in the St. Louis area. Take that number and apply it to your church membership or to the number of people in your organization. How many churches and ministry organizations are they connected with? How many are they leading, investing in and serving? The potential of the numbers is staggering!

I was raised in church, I’m a product of Christian schools, and my professional career up to this point has been spent working with ministries, Christian schools and business leaders. Believe me: I know that getting Christians to work together can sometimes be terribly challenging, and for many, exhausting. But, this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t continue to engage in this tremendous opportunity!

I believe the Dan Cathy luncheon embodied the key principles needed to give momentum to those big ideas you and I have about seeing the Christian community of St. Louis becoming more and more engaged for impact:

Speed: One of the best ways to keep negative people and inertia out of a great idea for ministry is to mobilize people fast. Before people can think up problems, excuses or reasons why it can’t be done, the event is over, and countless lives have been impacted for Christ.

Unity: The truth of Psalm 133 has to rule in our hearts. Amazing things can and will happen if the unifying idea of God getting the glory is kept the main thing in our hearts, minds and actions. This is easy to talk about but difficult to live out.

Shared talent: I’m afraid that too much of the time, we limit our impact and momentum because we have too many people wanting to own too much of the work. We must keep our focus on the vision, next identify the needs of the vision, then recruit the talented people with passion for the specific needs and finally unleash them as semi-guided missiles to get the job done. And you’d better stay out of the way of semi-guided missiles!

Location, location, location: We are really passionate about this at Westminster, and I know First Free is as well. God didn’t provide you with a great location or a great facility just for people to show up at your events. We need to have a bias toward using our physical locations to be an indispensible asset to the larger community, 365 days a year, seven days a week, and around the clock as much as possible.

People who get things done: It’s tragic that many of our best opportunities never come to fruition because we have so many God-loving, sweet people involved who don’t want to do the work. God expects our full attention and energy, and that sometimes means getting up early, staying up late, returning phone calls and going the second mile past where the other person might have dropped the ball on their way to choir practice or the gym. I know that sounds harsh, so please give me some grace. But we sometimes forget that this life is our one shot to serve the Lord, even when we are tired, grumpy, weak or busy. We have an entire eternity of life abundant with Him ahead of us. This life, here and now, where the struggle is, is our opportunity to push hard through the resistance of the Enemy and to make a difference for our Lord.

Let us encourage one another to bolder visions, warmer hearts and unifying ideas. Let’s find ways to come together by the thousands to bring the resources that God has given us to bear to reach deeper down and farther into our region. Let’s move faster, trusting God’s Word to be that sharp and double-edged sword that will cut through those reins that hold us back.

In the words of Charles Spurgeon:

“Brethren, do something; do something; DO SOMETHING. While Committees waste their time over resolutions, do something. While Societies and Unions are making constitutions, let us win souls. Too often we discuss, and discuss, and discuss, while Satan only laughs in his sleeve … Get to work and quit yourselves like men.”

I overheard a guest at the Dan Cathy luncheon say it best: “This luncheon just blessed my socks off!” Westminster Christian Academy and First Free Church of St. Louis County partnered together to host a lunch and presentation with Dan Cathy, president and chief operating officer of Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A.

This truly was a “bless your socks off” experience. What a joy to see First Free church staff and volunteers, serving side by side with Westminster staff and volunteers, all focused on this special opportunity to serve our community. This is an embodiment of our desire to build strategic partnerships that impact our city, region and world. The spirit of the day reflected the verses God put on my heart for this event:

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.” Psalm 133:1, 5

I thought I’d share with you just a few of my takeaways from yesterday and how they relate to the mission and vision of Westminster.

1. The concept of family defines our society for better or worse.

As a family-owned business, family is obviously a big deal to Chick-fil-A. But, it goes deeper than just the Cathy family. As Dan shared about the biblical definition of marriage and family, and the way biblical wisdom and values are transferred to the next generation, I was reminded that the stakes for our culture are so very high. At Westminster, we make a big deal of our commitment to enroll and serve families, so much so that we don’t talk much about enrolling students; we keep our focus on enrolling families. This is key to how we do what we do. At Westminster, we must continue to meet families where they are as God moves their hearts to enroll, but we must also challenge one another as a community to go deeper in our relationships with God and with one another. Our school culture and our world will be shaped and defined by the depth of relationships in and among our families.

2. Transferring biblical values must be a family and organizational priority.

This one is a touchier subject, and Dan really challenged my thinking. At one point, he referred to Chick-fil-A as our nation’s largest etiquette training program. They use the structure of work training to raise up young men and women who understand the values of respect, honoring others, serving others, putting others first and speaking graciously to one another. He mentioned how many parents try to get their kids jobs at Chick-fil-A so they have this opportunity. It struck me that Chick-fil-A could easily just say, “Well, we only get the teenagers you parents bring us; this is as good as it gets.” But instead, they engage in shaping the values and habits of these young people. I was convicted as a parent that my own efforts in this area may be so behind the curve that I desperately need a Christian school or a Chick-fil-A to intervene, and I fear I’m not alone. It is clear that the blessing of coming together as parents and teachers in a Christian school community is that we can have a shared vision for our young people. Both family and Westminster can and should be actively engaged in the challenge of raising young people who set a higher standard in this world of mediocrity, sarcasm, disrespect, and ungratefulness.

3. God calls each of us to serve with all our hearts in every work, not just church work.

This one gets to me every time I’m around my friends at Chick-fil-A. Ask a Chick-fil-A executive what they do for a living, and they will usually respond, “I sell chicken.” But, they view their work as a ministry, a calling, a God-given opportunity to bring all their gifts and talents to bear. So many of the men and women that I’ve met from Chick-fil-A are focused each day on bringing their best to their work, all for the glory of God.

This illustrates the heart of our vision for Westminster graduates. We want to see young people graduate who love the Lord with all their heart and are committed to walk with Him and know that God created them with purpose and that He has gifted them for a life of service to God and others. We want to see these young people take that heart, commitment, and all their gifts and abilities coupled with a daily life of service to others to become leaders, parents and workers in every field imaginable – maybe even the chicken- selling business. Their life of ministry should be just that: a life. Not just what they do in their church.

So we pray, we work, we hope, and we keep asking God to enable us to get better. If this company that “sells chicken” takes family, service, mission and their calling so seriously, how much more should we?

I’m often known to say that what God is doing at Westminster is big work. We continually pray that God will bring people with big hearts for this big work He is doing at Westminster and throughout the St. Louis region, and that they will pour out their best and trust Him to use it for generations to come.

Thank you for being a part of how God is answering our prayer! And as Dan Cathy would say, “It is my pleasure to serve you.”

Click here to hear Dan’s talk.

We’ve been hosting ongoing small group tours of the construction of our new campus; but to accommodate the folks who don’t live nearby or are unable to schedule a personal tour with us, we’ve done our best to take what is special about “being there” in person and put it in a video tour.

Please share this with others who might be interested in taking a tour with me of our new campus. You can really get a glimpse of how all this is coming together and it doesn’t take much imagination to see the campus bursting with kids for generations to come.

Please also continue to pray that people will continue to give and pledge to ensure we finish the construction and fill the school with great people and programs. And of course, please keep helping us reach out to people who might be new to the Westminster story!

Thank you for your ongoing support of Westminster and for investing in our mission and vision! We have come a long way, but we believe God still has much more planned for us!

Reaching the $20 million campaign milestone was the key step that will allow us to be in the new campus a year early. But with a construction loan of $35 million, we are praying that our ongoing capital campaign will result in addressing every dollar borrowed. Our goal is to become debt-free by 2020; a Westminster education should be world-class, sustainable and attainable for a new generation of families.

The For Such A Time As This campaign has always been about more than a building. It’s about shaping the future of Westminster Christian Academy. Please keep sharing the Westminster story with everyone you know, and ask others to pray for God’s continued provision. Challenge friends, colleagues and family across the country to consider what God is doing at Westminster and take their own step of faith to support the vision.

Stay tuned for updates as we move forward in 2011!

We are grateful to report on this first day of the new year that God once again poured out His blessing on our school and community: we reached the $20 million milestone. At the close of the day yesterday, December 31, the For Such A Time As This campaign totaled $20,040,343. God is good!

Achieving the $20 million pledge milestone will enable us to continue on the accelerated construction schedule and move into the new campus for the 2011-12 school year, as well as realize significant savings along the way. It is most evident that God has uniquely prepared and positioned Westminster to start and complete this project at just the right time.

God has obviously blessed the Westminster community in an amazing way, and He has worked through His people. You prayed and encouraged others. You shared the story in the car pool line, the neighborhood coffee shop and your local church. You opened your home for Community Meetings. You came to hear the Westminster story, and you followed our updates and requests. Most of all, you made a decision, taking a step of faith to give and pledge and be a part of what God will accomplish for generations to come at Westminster Christian Academy.

Thank you for all you that have done and are doing. Please join with us in praising God for His provision and blessings for every step taken in pursuit of such an important and exciting vision for the future of our school and its people. This is a big vision: to prepare more young men and women to engage the world and change it for Jesus Christ. Let us move forward together, praising God for blessing each of us with the privilege to live and give and serve together in His work, for such a time as this.

In His service,

Jim Marsh

“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”

Ephesians 1:15-1

With two days remaining in 2010, we are $359,651 in pledges away from the $20 million milestone.

These are indeed remarkable times for Westminster Christian Academy. We began this year with a campaign on hold — waiting on the Lord. We now have a campus fully under construction, and we have nearly $19.7 million in pledges.

If we reach our $20 million pledge milestone, Westminster will be at the new campus next school year.

Remember: this vision and project are fueled by people praying, giving, and making pledge decisions. We are witnessing an amazing movement of God through His people.  So many are taking steps of faith with us by giving and pledging. People are prayerfully seeking God’s direction for their giving, and it is all adding up to something extraordinary.

Two days remain. How might God use you?

Will you pray for Westminster? Will you give? Will you pledge?
So many are already praying, giving, and pledging, and I want you to know how very grateful we are for all you are doing.  Thank you!

We need your prayers and support as we trust in God to provide us with the resources needed to continue Westminster’s journey and “prepare more young people to engage the world and change it for Jesus Christ.”