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FEATUR E By Sara Halliburton Hendrix
hooray for C H C A! “You should probably choose someone else”... those were my words when the desire to start a school was planted on my heart. “God, I don’t know how to start a school.” Even after 11 years in education, this seemed like way too big of a task for me. I immediately started to disqualify myself—I simply didn’t feel equipped for the task at hand.
But that was April 2019, and now, over a year later, it’s my privilege to share with you about Chapel Hill Christian Academy. There wasn’t a handbook on how to make it happen, but the story of how this school came to be is a story of God’s love and faithfulness. I pray that by sharing it, you will see just how faithful and alive He is. Perhaps you will read through this and God will begin to call you to join our CHCA family. Or maybe you will finally find the encouragement you need to go for that super risky dream He is, or has, or will plant in your heart! "He who calls you is faithful, He will do it." 1 Thessalonians 5:24 As days of this desire stirring around in my heart and head turned into weeks, and then into a month, my prayers began to shift. I began to change my prayer from, “choose someone who knows how to do all of this,” to “okay God, if this is from you—if this is what you're asking me to do—show me how. Lead me step by step and God please give me the wisdom I will need to learn.” “For we walk by faith and not by sight… Through the past few months, God you have shown me the need for a school—one that is faith-based and Spirit-filled. God I pray for your next steps. How? Where do I begin, Lord? Starting a school sounds HUGE, but you have given me this vision for it—I can see it—but how Lord God? God nothing is too big for you—I know you have the plan—every step. God I pray for your wisdom and guidance. I pray for you to place those people along my path. Help me find the right next step or person to get this going. I feel the need. I have the desire. I want to step out of the boat and do this. God, will you show me? Go with me. I can’t do this without you Lord.” –personal journal entry, April 2019 God is so sweet, and continued to gently nudge, to stir, to grow the idea of starting an independent Christian school here in our community. Over the past year, I have followed his lead by meeting with different people He would place on my heart or by visiting other private Christian schools around the Middle Tennessee and Kentucky area. Each meeting led to another person I should contact, or a school I should go
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and visit. It’s been incredible to see how God has orchestrated all of these little details. Through my early morning quiet times, God has been showing me little details of what this school would be like and I have been praying and crying out for his wisdom, his will, his eyes and heart to see what He has planned for CHCA. I began to take steps in researching and learning more about planting an independent school, spent intentional time in prayer to learn more about His vision and plan, and took big leaps of faith in trusting that this was exactly what He was calling me to do. It is with such a joyful heart that I am able to announce the start of a new choice in education for our city, for our children, and for the generations to come. Chapel Hill Christian Academy will offer an interdenominational preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten through fifth grade education, with an option for hybrid homeschool students. Here, students can receive an incredible education to prepare them for their future and a school that partners with families to build the foundation and nurture a relationship with Jesus Christ. With an average class size of only 10 to 12 students, teachers will be able to minister to the whole child, seeking to enrich students spiritually, intellectually, and socially as they help each child establish their unique identity in Christ. You might be wondering how the name of this school came to be? Chapel Hill Christian Academy has a special meaning behind it—one that will set the foundation for how our school operates and what, rather who, we focus on each day. The meaning behind the word Chapel is the priority we will set on starting and ending every day with God. Chapel at our school will be a time to come together to praise and worship our Father, to pray with one another, and to learn who Jesus is so we can center our day around Him. Along with morning Chapel, students will receive daily Bible instruction, and every opportunity will be taken during the course of the day to share and apply Biblical truth. As we finish our day together, CHCA will take intentional time to end in a time of reflection and gratitude. Our goal is to cultivate gratitude in our students by keeping a “gratitude journal” in which they will regularly record the things for which they’re grateful. This time of gratitude helps reach the heart of our students and inspire them to be the woman or man of God they are made to be, while strengthening their awareness of God’s presence in their lives and the power of prayer.
Clarksville Living
