Why We Ask Our Parents to Pay a "Fund-Raising Fee"

The balance between tuition and fees, and a private school budget necessary to provide a high quality education in the kind of intellectually, spiritually and physically safe environment that our parents desire for their children is very delicate.  In the United States, the average cost of a year of education, per student is more than $18,000.  Of course, public schools are funded by taxpayer dollars.  In private education, especially Christian education, tuition is the primary means of financing school operations.  That means that every budget item is carefully considered for its necessity, before putting it in.  

MCA is able to keep tuition and fees at a relatively low rate, compared to other private, religious-based, fully accredited schools for several reasons.  One, as a ministry of Midwest Bible Church, our buildings are debt-free, and we do not pay any lease or rental fee for their use.  We pay our share of the utilities and maintenance.  This saves about $2,000 per year, per student on school expenses.  

In addition to this, MCA is blessed to have many donors who are very generous in their support of Christian school education, including Midwest Bible Church.  Over the past five years, contributions to the school have amounted to over $500,000, which includes all of the funding provided to renovate the school's facility in the summer of 2018.   Contributions from donors to the school adds up to more than $3,000 per student over the past five years, and that's a significant savings to the budget.

All of our staff members make a financial sacrifice to be here.  Our school has achieved full accreditation, which means that all of our instructional staff have a degree in the field, and have completed specific coursework related to the teaching profession.  It also means that our school meets, or exceeds a set of some 85 indicators of excellence in eight categories of our operation and instruction.  We are small, but our academic program is excellent and the sacrifice made by our teachers, believing that this is a ministry calling they are serving, not only makes it possible, but it is a major factor in our low tuition and fee rates.

In the past, to raise additional funds for special projects outside the school budget, MCA held a chocolate candy sale in the fall.  This sale, which required students and families to assist with selling candy and raising money, usually raised about $18,000, of which the school was able to keep about $6,000.  We have used these funds to purchase chrome books, P.E. equipment, music instruments and other items not covered by the tuition budget.  

After doing this for a number of years, parents made note of the fact that a lot of effort was required to sell candy at a higher price than it could be purchased in a store while only realizing a third of the actual profit.  Many families indicated that they often just bought the candy themselves, which was easier.  So we began looking at what other private, religious-based schools do to raise additional funds outside of the tuition budget.  

Most of the schools in our area have a "fund raising option," which means that, for a specific dollar amount, related to the amount of money that the school sets as a goal to raise for one school year, parents can opt out of having to sell items by simply paying the goal amount per-family.  Both of the Catholic schools in our immediate area do this.  St. Patrick's requires students to raise $750 per year, through their school fundraising program.  Typically, $500 is a standard amount asked of parents to raise for specific projects within the school.  

We initially decided to make this an option, rather than a requirement.  Many business and foundation donors look at the amount of money raised from parents within a school community to determine their own level of giving.  When this was an option, we raised only $1,400 from our school community.  Our neighbors in the Catholic and Lutheran schools told us that their results were similar, which is why they went to a specific amount per family, as a fee. 

Every student benefits from these gifts.  The projects to which we apply contributions have included the renovation and refurbishing of the art room, the renovation and remodeling of the gymnasium, the addition of the playground equipment and purchase of additional technology for students.  We have recently added the purchase of an additional 15 passenger vehicle, in order to be able to provide transportation for field trips.  Currently, renting a bus for a field trip runs $500 to $800, which has to be paid by parents.  

We had thought about simply adding these projects to our budget amount and including them in tuition.  However, since they are not long-term, and have a start and end date, we did not want to continue charging tuition in a budget that was flexible.  The fund raising fee makes the contribution immediately applicable to a specific project, and gives parents a tax deduction they can't take on tuition. 

When multi-child discounts are factored in, and our budget is calculated, the average cost per student for one year at MCA is $5,500, which is $1,000 less than the next lowest private school in our area of the city, and almost $4,000 less than Christian schools in the suburbs.  Each of our students receives almost $3,500 in benefits which come from money given by outside donors, the church's contributions and the staff's sacrifice of salary and benefits as they consider MCA a ministry calling.  All of that was taken into consideration when we decided what we would ask of our school community as a contribution to the school.  

We continue to pursue a policy of not taking any public funding with any strings attached to it.  Being privately funded is a guarantee of the school's independence and autonomy, which gives us complete freedom to provide a school where the educational philosophy is based on Biblical truth, where our instruction integrates a Christian worldview into each subject area.  As a result, we are grateful to each person whose contributions to the school are a recognition of our ministry.  

Because of the fundraising fee, we were able to complete the gym renovation project without borrowing any money or paying any interest.  The Gies Foundation contributed $150,000, Ozinga Concrete added a generous contribution and the church also paid for the tuck pointing and roof repair.  The balance of what was left, which covered the expenses of finishing the project, came from the balance provided by this fee.  Over $30,000 was contributed by outside donors to purchase and install the playground equipment, the balance will be covered by this fee.  We have received over $20,000 in outside contributions for the purchase of a second 15 passenger vehicle, and this fundraising fee will provide the rest of what we need.  We will not have to borrow one dime for any of it, thanks to those who have contributed, including the parents who are cheerfully giving to this fund.  

Thank you for your understanding.  

Pre-Kindergarten Offers Students Their First "School" Experience

Early childhood education in the United States is the result of an increased number of households of younger families with children in which both parents work.  It is something that has evolved, from providing basic day care and play time for children into some experimentation with the addition of basic learning objectives and instruction in social skills that students would normally learn at home.  The research that was done showed that children as young as three can benefit from an early learning experience.  

There have been some early education programs around for quite a while.  Head Start, which is primarily for children from lower income families, has been operating for over 60 years.  And while many public school systems have only recently added pre-school programs for four year olds, child development centers, early ed programs and "junior kindergarten" or pre-kindergarten programs operated by private, religious-based schools have a long history.  

MCA Operates a Pre-Kindergarten Program for Three and Four Year Olds

Pre-Kindergarten, which was once known as "junior kindergarten," is what we offer in early childhood education at MCA.  We are not a child development center, by definition.  Our program operates under full recognition of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) as an academic extension of our school program.  Our curriculum incorporates basic learning objectives, primarily related to language development and early reading skills through some phonics objectives.  Students also learn to write letters and numbers, identify colors, count, and in the four year old class, do some basic reading.  

The structure of the class provides some practice in learning readiness.  Students get used to being around other students their age, they learn some basic socialization skills, they get used to being away from their parents for a few hours a day which helps prepare them for their school experience and they learn some social skills.  

The Pre-Kindergarten students also participate in the same "out classes" as the older students, including Physical Education, vocal music and art.  

There is research which indicates that being involved in pre-kindergarten education gives students an academic advantage all the way through their educational experience.  Early development of language arts skills leads students to a clearer understanding in all subject areas by improving their vocabulary, reading comprehension and communication skills well above the expected grade level performance.  At MCA, over 80% of our Pre-Kindergarten students are proficient at the Kindergarten level in reading and language arts skills before they enter Kindergarten. That advantage goes with them all through school.   

You Have Chosen a Quality Program For Your Child

MCA offers a high quality early learning program in pre-kindergarten 3 and 4.  And while our program is an academic boost, our primary goal is to provide a Christian atmosphere for students and families, where children are cared for and loved during the day.  Our staff is quite experienced, one of our teachers is now a grandmother, who has more than 20 years of experience in Pre-K instruction, and the other three are long-term parents of students here at MCA, so they are dedicated to helping provide the same kind of caring, safe, nurturing environment they have received for their own children.  

Our school operates on a philosophy of education that begins with the acknowledgement that the greatest commandment is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind," and the second is like the first, to "Love you neighbor as you love yourself."  We desire for all of our students to see the love of God in their teachers.  We have succeeded if we accomplish that goal.

Our academic standards are high.  We have a low student to teacher ratio, with a qualified instructor and a teacher's aide in each classroom, limited to an enrollment of 15 students.  We use Abeka curriculum, which is one of the top providers of pre-kindergarten curriculum materials and which has a language arts program that is aligned with objectives from Pre-K4 through 12th grade.  We see a high level of success among our students in English/Language Arts using Abeka materials.  

MCA is an Illinois-Recognized private school meeting ISBE standards, and operates our Pre-K as an academic extension of Kindergarten for ages 3 and 4 as a religious-based school program.  As such, our staff is fully qualified under those standards.  We do not offer specialized programs or instruction in social skills such as might be found in a school labelled as a child development center.    

MCA is also fully accredited by the Commission of the Association of Christian Schools International, which is nationally recognized, and which offers dual accreditation through NCASC, MSACS and SACS-CASI, and Cognia.    

Midwestern Christian Academy Begins it's 68th Year of Service on August 26

In Christian school education in the United States, schools that have been operating for 68 years are not all that common.  In 1956, when MCA was founded, private, religious based schools not affiliated with the Catholic, Lutheran or Episcopalian churches numbered fewer than 300.  There is not a lot of information available about how many, or where, Evangelical Christian schools were located in the city of Chicago, but from what we know about our fellow schools in the city, only MCA has existed continuously since 1956.  Any of those that existed back then, or prior to that date, are now closed and gone.  

MCA was started as part of the Youth for Christ movement, founded by the pastor of Midwest Bible Church at the time, Torrey Johnson.  The church had established Phantom Ranch Bible Camp in Wisconsin as a ministry to children and youth two years earlier and establishing a Christian school in Chicago on the church campus was the second part of that ministry's growth.  Billy Graham's ministry also started as he worked with Youth for Christ, and he preached his first sermon on the radio from what is now our Pre-K building. 

The Ministry of a Christian School

From the scripture, we can discern five clear functions of a Christian church, a local body of Christ, made up of believers in him who have confessed their sin and their acknowledgement of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, and have been transformed by the renewing of their mind, and sanctified by the cleansing of their souls with the blood of Christ into the Kingdom of God, his church.  Churches worship God, they make disciples of Jesus by educating their members in scriptural principle and practice, they reach out to the world with the message of the Christian gospel as a mission of evangelism, they provide ministry to their members and to others based on their spiritual needs, and they come together in fellowship.  

The primary ministry of a Christian school is Christian education, which meets the discipleship function of a church.  We also introduce students to the Christian gospel, which means that evangelism is also one of our functions.  

Over the 235 years since the Constitution was ratified, and the almost 200 years of existence of public schools, a series of court rulings based on the first amendment's establishment clause has created a public school system that does not provide any religious instruction.  Since the public schools are supported by public funds, the courts have determined that the establishment clause of the first amendment prohibits those schools from providing religious instruction.  The sectarian nature of American Christianity would make it impossible for a public school to properly and accurately teach all aspects of every religion practiced by all students.  So it takes a position known as "religious neutrality," by not providing any religious instruction to students. 

Christian schools were founded to come along side parents and help them provide the kind of Christian discipleship and education for their children that would help them grow and develop into mature believers in Christ.  It is difficult to counter the influence of the secular humanism that dominates public school curriculum in just a few hours of activities in the local church during the week.  So Christian schools have been providing instruction which not only includes Biblical studies and worship each week, but which integrates Biblical principles into all aspects of education where it is relevant.  

Generally, Christian schools also provide a solid, quality academic experience for students.  We don't have a lot of "bells and whistles," but our curriculum objectives focus on skills, leaving the social issues and social philosophy to parents.  We spend seven solid hours a day in mastering academic objectives and our students excel in the measurements used to determine the level of their progress.  Our most recent measurement of average yearly progress shows that 89% of our students are proficient in reading and English-language arts skills, and 87% are proficient in mathematics, which is considerably higher than the public education system achieves.  

There Are No Guarantees

Evangelical Christian churches have been struggling for the past four decades as membership and attendance have been in a steep decline.  Since the later years of the 20th century, more than 70% of the children and youth who have been raised in our churches, involved in our youth groups and attending our children's ministries will leave the church entirely by the time they graduate from college.  It has become very difficult for churches to provide the kind of discipleship ministry necessary to compete in the "marketplace of ideas," and keep the interest of those who may not be solidly committed before they graduate from high school.  

But among the children and youth who have attended a Christian school for at least five years of their grade school educational experience, that figure turns almost completely around.  More than 70% of those children will remain engaged in a church, and become active in its ministry, into adulthood.  Part of that is the time invested in studying the Bible, and engaging in fellowship with other Christians in the same school definitely has a strong impact on their faith.  At MCA, every student is involved in a study of the scripture every single day.  And they are taught critical thinking skills which help them find a way to apply what they read and are taught.  

When the time comes and a child or young adult experiences the conviction from the Holy Spirit of their own sinfulness, we hope that the time they have spent in Christian school will have a big influence over the decision they make at that point in their lives.  We also hope, through this study, that they realize God does have a purpose for their life, and that he will provide a way for them to fulfill that purpose.  Whether that is serving as a missionary in a foreign country where people may have never heard about Jesus, or as the pastor or a leader in a local church, or if it is to be the Christian who sets an example by their life in the office where they work, we want them to be ready for that experience as a result of having been taught here.  

There are few Christian schools located in the urban areas of the United States.  So even though we are a small school, we have an opportunity to have a big impact.  Pray for our students, as they come each day, that they will become aware of God's calling on their life and respond.  That is our mission and purpose, and what we hope to achieve each school year.  

Scripture Theme for the 2024-5 School Year: Matthew 22:36-40

 "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"  

He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself..  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."  Matthew 22:36-40. 

When I first went to seminary, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect when it came to the course content and the requirements for a Master's degree in Christian education.  The course requirements included a hefty dose of theology courses, including a six-hour, full year course called Systematic Theology, a full year, eight hour course surveying the scope of the entire Bible, Old and New Testaments, a course on the Life and Teaching of Jesus Christ, and eight different electives covering individual books of the Bible.  

That sounded like an awful lot of heavy reading and serious study.  But it turned out to be the single best period of discipleship in the word of God in my entire life, prior to, and since that time.  

There were many of those "Ah Ha!" moments as things I'd heard taught in Sunday School and preached in church suddenly connected with something that explained them in detail, and opened my eyes to a clearer understanding of something about which I either didn't understand at all, or had questions that needed answers.  It became clear why one of the courses was called, "systematic," because the scriptures which God inspired 40 different authors to write lays out, in careful detail, the movement of God through a period of history during which he revealed to his human creation his perfect means for redemption from sin and restoration to the relationship for which he created humans in his own image in the first place.  

One of the keys to understanding the whole of scripture is understanding that because Jesus was God in the flesh, and, as Paul tells us in Colossians, "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him," the words of Jesus are the primary key to understanding and interpreting all of the rest of the Bible.  

"Jesus is the criterion by which all scripture must be interpreted," I can remember several of my professors emphasizing.  So that sets us up to understand the meaning of these words from Jesus, recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, and what they reveal to us that we can learn through the school year as a theme.  

1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." 

Jesus says this is the greatest commandment, one of two on which he says "hang all of the law and the prophets."  What is meant by that, is that this is a life priority.  It is essential for us to be faithful believers and followers of Jesus, who has removed our sin and provided us with forgiveness, to make the adoration of the God who created us a priority in all of our life.  And if we have this priority straight, it means that we are committed to living in a way that worships God by giving him glory through the life we live.  If this commandment is followed, everything else follows.  And without getting this straight, it is not possible to be obedient to any of the others.  

2.  And a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Translating the phrase "is like it" from the original Greek text gives some insight into what Jesus meant.  He is equating the two commandments, not elevating one above the other.  It is not possible to love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and not love another human being who is also created in his image.  The term "neighbor" has a fairly specific meaning, according to the way Jesus used it, and defined it.  It is not just having affection or appreciation for humanity as a whole, though that is part of what he intended.  It is also not just those who live in our immediate proximity.  It is all other human beings with whom we share community, those whose lives we interact with and touch, and who touch and interact with us at all times across the scope of our lives.  

A church is a "community" full of people who are, by definition, our neighbor.  So is our school, including the parents, students and school staff who work there.  For some of our students, it may be the other participants in the summer program in which they are engaged.  It is all of one's family members, and it also includes those who fit the smaller definition of "neighbor" by living in close proximity.  

The term "love your neighbor" is equal to "love the Lord your God," because these two concepts are linked by Jesus.  If one does not love his neighbor, then he cannot love God.  Likewise, if one does not love God, he cannot love his neighbor.  

Our school is also a community, one in which students spend more time than anywhere else except at home.  So everyone in it, by definition, is the neighbor of everyone else.  There are some neighbors with whom each student spends more time, namely their own classmates and teacher.  But the commandment applies to all, though it becomes more difficult to be obedient among those who wind up getting to know us best.  

The Essence of God's Nature is Found in His Creation 

God created the world and everything in it.  But out of all that God created, it was humanity alone that he created "in his image."  Since God is infinite, and does not have a physical body, what is meant by being created in his image has to do with who we are.  Jesus tells us this in the first part of this verse, when he says that we must love God with all our heart, soul, and mind.  Heart represents the physical body, sustained and nourished by the blood that the heart pumps through the arteries, veins and capillaries.  The soul is the essence of our being, our identity, that part of us which makes us human, has emotions and feelings, and senses the presence of God's indwelling spirit.  The mind represents our intellect, what we are able to know as we have this gift of being created in God's image, so that our body, soul and spirit are one being with the intellect to understand and the free will to make decisions regarding our own life.  

Every human being has the image of God in them.  And that is exactly why Jesus made these two commandments equal.  It is not always easy to see God's image in others, but there are times when it is not easy for others to see it in ourselves.  But yet, that's our responsibility and purpose as a human being, created by God in his image, to reflect the nature and character of God.  And we do that when we demonstrate love to our neighbor.  

It does not take much in the way of observation to see human beings, all around us, who do not love their neighbor as themselves.  But, in the community of a Christian school, shouldn't it make some kind of difference?  Our school is a place where we can teach this biblical principle and then be able to observe the difference it makes to each of our students, compared to being in a community where loving their neighbor is not a priority for anyone else.  

John Piper in Desiring God: Parents, Require Obedience of Your Children

Desiring God: Parents, Require Obedience of Your Children, John Piper 

John Piper is the founder and teacher of desiringgod.org  and is chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis for 33 years and is the author of over 50 books.  

One of the best things we can do for our parents as a Christian school is to point them to resources from within the Christian church that will help them raise their children, in accordance with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  There are many resources available, from electronic media as well as multiple books by authors which will help parents understand, interpret and apply the principles found in the Christian gospel that provide guidance and expertise when it comes to raising children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord".  

The philosophy of education of Midwestern Christian Academy is based on scripture, and it includes recognition of the role of the school engaged in a partnership with parents when it comes to providing necessary educational skills to their children.  Most parents do not feel fully equipped to teach their children the wide variety of complex skills across a broad spectrum of subjects in addition to providing them with emotional support and spiritual guidance.  Recognizing the impact of education in their children's lives is a first big step in raising them and making sure they get a full and clear understanding of who God is, and how they can be redeemed and live a life according to his purposes, and choosing a Christian school as an educational partner acknowledgement of the importance of knowing God's will for their lives.  

We have developed a parent-school covenant which defines the role of the school in providing an education to students from a distinctively Christian perspective.  The expectations we lay out as a condition of enrollment include the way that we will support the role of parents by providing instruction that includes respect for, and obedience to the authorities which two of the early church apostles, Peter and Paul, define in general terms for the church.  This includes the governing authorities, and all of the ways in which they carry out their responsibility.  

For students in our school, at their age and grade level, this includes developing respect for, and obedience to, their own teachers, who are given authority by God over their classrooms and the students in it; respect for law enforcement, like police officers, and other public servants whose responsibility is to keep us safe, like firemen.  They learn that those in authority over them are responsible for their safety and protection, as well as responsible for providing them with basic skills and critical thinking necessary for them to become responsible for themselves.  

And one of the most important understandings involved in respect for, and obedience to, authority is the recognition that liking or disliking the manner in which someone who has been given authority chooses to exercise it doesn't change the responsibility of the student to be submissive.  The early apostles did not distinguish between authorities with whom we agree, and authorities with whom we disagree and did not permit disagreement to change the order of authority.  When they were writing about the governing authorities, they were including all forms of that authority, including the Roman government, which had conquered their country and which was ruling over it.  

In fact, it was the obedience of Christians to the words spoken by Paul in Romans 13:1-7, and by Peter in I Peter 2:13-17 that led to the growth and strengthening of the first century church. One thing is clear in both passages, and that is that there are no exceptions given.  The early church endured some of the worst, most cruel persecution Christians have ever experienced, yet they remained obedient, and as a result of the testimony of faith that gave to the pagans living around them, by the beginning of the third century, the church had overtaken the population of the Roman Empire.  So obedience, the opposite of rebelliousness, is one of the most powerful testimonies of a sincere Christian life. 

I hope you take the time to read this article from Desiring God by John Piper, and are blessed by the principles that are given.  

Scholarship Opportunities at MCA for 2024-25; Open House Thursday, February 29

One of the scholarship opportunities we have at MCA that is open to all parents, and can be used multiple times, is the one we give for family referrals.  If one of our current families refers another family to MCA, and that family enrolls their children for the following school year, the family making the referral receives a $500 scholarship.  This is the one scholarship that can be given in combination with other discounts, and can add up, as there is no limit on the number of family referrals that can be made.  

We give more referral scholarships than any other kind, except new family discounts.  In order to receive the scholarship, the new family needs to mention that they were referred to MCA and who it was that referred them.  Sometimes they are referred by more than one family, and if that's the case, we can split the scholarship between the families who were named.  

We have an Open House for Prospective Families scheduled for Thursday, February 29, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.  This would be a good time to invite your friends, fellow church members or even relatives who are looking for a good, academically sound Christian school for their children.  

You Have School Choice

Christian schools exist because, over time, court interpretations of the establishment clause of the first amendment as it applies to a tax-funded, public education system, have moved from religious neutrality to religious opposition and hostility.  At MCA, the primary belief at the core of our educational philosophy, is that an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present God created the universe, and humanity, and his spiritual presence and power is the only means we have for salvation from our sin.  

The public education system, because of its position of "religious neutrality" mandated by the establishment clause, does not teach or acknowledge the existence of God at all.  The basic educational philosophy rests on the belief that human intellect is the highest power in the universe, and that the means to resolving all human problems, or as we refer to it, salvation from sin, is education of the intellect.  The natural extension of that belief into the curriculum is that science will eventually discover all of the answers to the origins of the universe, that mathematics is the only perfect system of measuring the universe, that the acquisition of language skills resolves conflict which results because of a lack of clarity in communication, and that social studies will remove the cultural, racial, religious and social barriers that create the inequity in economic prosperity that we see as poverty.  

Keeping in mind that children, from age 5 to 18, spend up to eight hours a day, five days a week, at least 180 days a year in a school classroom where this is systematically taught and reinforced.  If a child is part of a family committed to living out their Christian faith as part of Christ's church, they may spend as many as 3 hours a week with their church family, but most are engaged with the church, and consequently the spirit and the word, far less than that.  So when they make their own decisions, based on their own convictions, the primary influence they will have in their lives to give them a sense of direction will be their public school experience, not their church experience.  

That's why we exist.  

We want to teach our students that God exists, that he created them and that through the sacrifice he made through his son, Jesus, they can have forgiveness of their sin, and a purpose for their life.  Their worldview, based on the truths of scripture, will lead them to glorify God with the life that they live.  Of course, there are no guarantees, but at least the curriculum objectives, and the school atmosphere, will support the parents' desire that their children be raised "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 

At MCA, You Already Have a "Scholarship" 

In Chicago, the cost of a year's worth of public school education is $30,000.  That includes the ability of the school district to provide everything a student needs to go to school and have a chance of meeting the objectives for one year.  It maintains buildings, pays teacher, administrator and staff salaries, provides materials, funds programs aimed at improving the quality of instruction, provides transportation, testing and psychological evaluation and counseling, and other educational necessities.  For all of that, fewer than 40% of the students demonstrate proficiency in math or reading, and two thirds of them score below grade level expectations.  

At MCA, the actual "cost" of a year's worth of education is about $14,000.  But the average tuition rate, per student, is less than $6,000.  That's possible because of several factors: 

• MCA is a ministry of Midwest Bible Church.  We do not pay a lease for the use of the facilities, since they are jointly owned, and debt free.  This results in a $2,000 per year savings.
• MCA's teachers all give a testimony to their teaching as a ministry calling.  They are making a sacrifice in salary and benefits equal to that parents make when paying tuition.  The value of the sacrifice teachers make to each individual student is about $3,500 in tuition cost, if our teachers earned just the minimum salary paid by the public education system. 
• We have a number of generous donors who provide for needs at the school that have, over the past five years, included renovation of the gym, addition of the playground equipment, facilities upgrades, including the art room and Pre-K classrooms, and the purchase of computer equipment. 
• Midwest Bible Church has contributed over $500,000 over the past five years to various projects, including the remodeling and repurposing of the main building, and the classroom annex above the fellowship hall.  

All of this combines to keep tuition costs low.  These things are worth about $6,500 per year, per student.  

So if your children and your family have been blessed by being at MCA, share the blessing with other families.  Our open spots are limited, in virtually every grade level from Pre-K 4 to 7th grade, with just one or two open spaces for new students.  Of course, Pre-K3 has openings at the present time, but we expect that to reach capacity this spring.  

Milestones

The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility goes before honor.  Proverbs 15:33, NRSV

One of our faculty members is celebrating a career milestone as a teacher, in her classroom with her students here at Midwestern Christian Academy.  Mrs. JoAnn Saunders, wife of principal Lee Saunders, first started her teaching career in the 1981-82 school year at the Broadway Baptist School on the far east side of Houston, Texas.  Broadway Baptist was, at the time, one of the oldest Christian schools in Texas, founded as a pre-kindergarten program before the Second World War.  By 1981, when Mrs. Saunders arrived on campus, it had over 600 students in pre-school through 12th grade.  Altogether, Mrs. Saunders has now spent 40 years serving as a classroom teacher, with all but two years of that in Christian school ministry.  

Mrs. Saunders grew up in St. Louis, Missouri.  She says she always knew that she wanted to be a teacher, and got her first experience at age 11, helping out with vacation Bible school in her home church, Lafayette Park Baptist Church, which was known for its summer outreach and ministry programs that included a very large VBS at the end of the summer.  She worked as a volunteer in the church's bus ministry as well.  She served during the summer as a volunteer in the church's "Cartoon Bus" outreach ministry, where the bus would park in a neighborhood, or near the housing projects, and show cartoons and have a puppet show, then teach Bible stories, and have refreshments.  That was how she decided she wanted to teach. 

She graduated from Southwest Baptist University in 1981 and shortly after summer graduation, she and her college roommate headed for Houston, to find jobs and start their teaching careers in Christian school.  They both landed jobs at Broadway Baptist.  While she was teaching there, Mr. Saunders came to Broadway to teach in the high school.  They were married in December of 1989 in the Broadway Baptist Church in front of an audience made up mostly of former and current students.  

After getting married, Mrs. Saunders moved to Ft. Worth, Texas where she enrolled in graduate school at Texas Woman's University to be a special education teacher.  Her teaching career included a self-contained special education class at Springtown Elementary School in Springtown, Texas, resource special education at Irving Elementary School in Cleburne, Texas.  After a short hiatus, she became family resource coordinator at Oakland Elementary School in Oakland, Kentucky.  

She returned to Christian school ministry back at Broadway Baptist in 1995, before taking an elementary teaching position at Fort Bend Baptist Academy in Sugar Land, Texas, a Houston suburb, where she taught first grade for sixteen years.  When Mr. Saunders became lead administrator at Portersville Christian School, in Portersville, Pennsylvania, in 2010, Mrs. Saunders thought she was going to get a break, but when a second grade teacher decided to quit just two weeks before school started, the board convinced her to take the position, which she held for 8 years.  This being her sixth year at MCA, that brings the total of her teaching years to 40, with 37 of those years being in the service of the Christian school ministry.  

She served as the cheerleader sponsor for both middle school and high school while working at Broadway Baptist, and was also cheerleader sponsor for one year at Portersville Christian School.  The number of basketball games she has attended with her husband, who was a coach, are too many to count.  

Having had the privilege of living and working in five different states, former students, the oldest of whom are now in their late 40's, are scattered all over the place.  She still keeps in touch with many of them.  The Christmas tree in her home is a memory tree, with many of the ornaments give to her and Mr. Saunders by their former students over the years.  Every Christmas, when decorating the tree, they talk about the students who gave them the ornaments, and wonder what they are doing.  

Her greatest joy in teaching has been seeing her students come to faith in Christ, and grow up to serve him through his church.