To Know

ToKnow

I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

Proverbs 8:17

What is the King’s Ridge Story?

We were honored to have KRCS founder and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz as the guest speaker at our all-staff meeting this spring. The following is an excerpt from his speech.

I come here with unbelievable humility, and I am honored to speak on your behalf in so many ways. Before I can tell you what King’s Ridge’s story is, I need to give you some background. I think it’s important that you understand what God has done not only in your life but in this school, on this campus.

I came to Atlanta, famously, in the trade. I have a tremendous family; a brother and sister one year apart, and my mom and dad raised a very moral and structured family. We had God, family, school, and sports – and sports were fourth on the list.

But I got to Atlanta in the trade, and I was not a Christian, but I was a good person. That’s what I thought. So, in my mind, I never really did much wrong. I stayed away from all the pitfalls. In fact, I had a very skewed version of what being a Christian was because, to me, a Christian was somebody who lived their life a certain way, turned it over to God, and then was going to tell me how to live my life.

I was on a quest and a mission to be the best baseball player I could be. I was focused, didn’t drink, didn’t cuss, and didn’t do anything that many people find acceptable in my business. I wanted to be on the straight and narrow path to not only honor God with the talents He gave me but to become the best version of myself I could be. I was a people pleaser, and it bothered me if things weren’t said about me correctly.

I was living a roller coaster life in my career, and I didn’t realize that until I met Jesus in 1995 and surrendered my life to Him in a simple way. I had gone to every chapel, gone to church; I was a doer. You’re a doer, and you think that by doing and putting forth good works, that is what God wants you to do, but I didn’t have that relationship, and I didn’t understand what that meant. Defending the Christian faith was not something I came to Atlanta to do. Defending my talent and becoming the best baseball pitcher I could be is what I came to Atlanta to do. And then, of course, a family is born, and the rest is history from that standpoint.

In 1995, I was sitting in a Bennigan’s, of all places, with my chaplain at the time, Walt Wiley. I asked him this simple question: “What prevents me from living my life the way I want to live it, let’s say, until the age of 40, and then I’ll turn it over to Christ?” That was my question because I had prayed the prayer a thousand times, but I didn’t understand what that relationship, that heartfelt contract, meant between Christ and me. I asked him that question, anticipating the answer, and the answer was a gentle reply: “Nothing prevents you from that, except you might not get to your target date.” And I went, “Whoa.” I’m a risk-taker on the mound, and I’m a risktaker on the golf course. I don’t want to be a risk-taker anymore and just play that game of what if. I’ll set my own goals and standards and say at 40, I’ll turn my life over to Christ. That simple answer did it for me.

Fast forward a few years later, in my stern competitiveness to be a rock and to be a warrior for Christ on the mound (that doesn’t mean I was going to be perfect), my life changed in a peaceful way in that I was able to handle success really for the first time. In 1996, I won the Cy Young Award. I didn’t win the Cy Young because I became a Christian. But by becoming a Christian, I was able to handle some of the things that were going to come my way, both good and bad, and it just happened to be in the good that I was able to give glory to God, but even in the bad you should still be able to give glory to God.

Pressure has always been part of my life; pressure on the mound, pressure to deliver, and I love it. Not everyone loves pressure because it gets them out of their comfort zone. I go back to “what did the rest of my life look like as I became a Christian?” Well, it didn’t go perfectly, and life didn’t give me a rosy road to where everything was going to be the way I thought. It got rocky and bumpy.

When I was asked to serve on a school board, I said yes, but I didn’t think I would have any time to actually go to the board meetings. My good and longtime friend Jeff Foxworthy was on this board and asked me to join him on it. I said I know the name, credibility, and money; all that stuff is what you want when you’re getting to the board level because this other school was going to build a school.

And then I had to undergo Tommy John surgery, and I’m out of baseball all year for rehabilitation. And I attend every board meeting. I went from having no board meetings to attending every board meeting, and now I’m engaged in this process as I would be engaged if it were Game 7 of the World Series. Every single day, I thought about my role and my opportunity. I can tell you the story of King’s Ridge was born then, and I had no idea that would be the case because that’s not the board I was on. From this story and this journey, my faith was deepened in a tough situation, a situation that never should’ve happened.

I was very unapologetic, brash, and combative because of the leadership of that place, in a way that I felt was wrong; on a board that had way too many people; in a situation where people were so beat down by the pressure and things that were going on in that situation. So, here comes this guy who’s not afraid - I’m not afraid of what I stand for, and I questioned all of it. In the face of leadership, that doesn’t work well when a new person comes in and calls them on the carpet.

It goes in such a bad way that we all get fired. I’m fast-tracking through some of this because it would take way too long. I’m not a church member, but Jeff is, and we’re all devastated. This was absolutely not in the plans that anyone thought would happen. Well, yours truly decides that his competitive spirit will take over and says, “I’ll show you.” I’m being honest. My flesh took over, and I said, “I will show you.” I remember saying to Jeff Foxworthy days later, “We can do this. I’m going to start a school. We went through the whole process, and we know what we need to do, so I’m going to start a school; let’s do this.”

Jeff said, “You are crazy.” I never thought that in 1987, when I got traded over to the Atlanta Braves, I was going to be defending the Christian faith and school the way that I was. I had no ambition, no resume, no desire – nothing prepared me for what I was about to do other than what I’m about to tell you. My flesh went on a mission, and as only I know how, I wrote down my notes. This is what I know I’m called to do. I convinced myself that God called me to do this, so I was going to finish it, and I’m going to follow through.

What I’m about to tell you is that everything I did was in my old self, fleshly way, “I’ll show you.” Don’t think I can make it to the big leagues? I’ll show you. Don’t think I can do this? I’ll show you. In a way that I can see clearly now, God was almost telling me, “No, no - no, let me show you what I’m about to do.”

I set up an initial parent meeting and was listening to a Chris Tomlin song while driving down GA 400, and I think it’s “The Grave No Longer Has a Hold on You,” was the verse that I listened to, and I thought, that’s it, that’s the song I’m going to play at this meeting. I don’t know if five people will show up or 50 people will show up, but I’m holding a meeting to let the parent body know what is going on - not to spill the dirt, not anything other than to guide them.

I think about 200 people showed up at this meeting. I couldn’t believe what I was watching unfold. Fast forward past that meeting, and the school was going to do their thing now that we were all gone. Now it was all up to me to start a board. Some of those people carried over with me and created a board called ACE, or Advancement of Christian Education. Without that board, this wouldn’t have been possible. Many people have poured their heart and soul into starting a school.

I couldn’t tell you anything about curriculum today, 20 years ago, or 20 years from now, and my only goal was to gather people, create this board, create a mission, and start a school - that’s all I thought about. I couldn’t see that God was directing my ways and paths in a way that I couldn’t see then because when you’re in the midst of a forest, you can’t see the trees; when you’re in the midst of pressure, you can’t see your surroundings because you’re so consumed with what you’re doing. God says that when you’re empty, then I can use you. When you get empty of what you think you can do, then and only then, can I use you. Trust me, that happened. When you get empty, and the finances are not there, and they’re not coming in a way that you think that you’re going to make them happen, only then do I believe that God can use you in meaningful ways. I was not the person to do this, other than I had tremendous passion and a competitive desire to say, “I’ll show you.” And when I said, “I’ll show you,” that ended quickly, and it became, “God, please show me and lead me.”

Imagine for a second that you own a 50 or 60-acre farm, and I knock on your door and ask if your farm is for sale because I want to build a Christian school. That’s what I did. I walked to people’s properties. When you’re telling a story, and this goes back to my dad, as a true salesman, he owned his own company, and he played in a band. My dad was so proud of me that everywhere he went (he traveled all the time and never met a stranger that wasn’t a friend), he would tell everyone about me. Do you know how I knew that? He created his own baseball cards of me when I was in high school, and he handed them out like business cards to everyone and said, “My son is going to be in the big leagues someday.” I begged him to please stop. I’m running into people who say, “I ran into your dad. You’re never going to believe it – oh, I know!” What I realized from that is that he never stopped telling the story. When I was part of the first King’s Ridge Board, I said, “Do not stop telling our story. Don’t let a minute go by without telling somebody about this new school we’re building. You never know where it’s going to go.” And we never stopped telling our story.

And as life happens, as you all know that life has happened really in the last two years, that story can get lost and this building and everything that’s here - most people can say “it always was here, it always is, and always will be,” but for you teachers, the lifeblood of this school, without you there’s no chance. This is the essence; this room is the lifeblood of why these buildings get built because, without you, there’s no chance of equipping our children with a chance to fight on their

own with the full armor of God when they leave this campus. If they’re given the blueprints and the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18), if they don’t get a chance to fight on their own, they’re going to be gobbled up by the way the world entangles them to teach them their ways. That’s why it’s so important. I didn’t know this when I got here in 1988, but I never wanted to stop telling the story. So, what happens? We created the school in less than ideal circumstances. If it weren’t for three good friends, Joe Jilson, Mike Nixon, and Tripp Rackley, who helped with the financial burden, this school was not supposed to be here. There was never any intention that this school was supposed to be here.

By God’s incredible journey (“He’ll show me”), every door that was closed, another door opened. And the door that opened was always better than the one we were trying to open. But through litigation and everything that you can imagine, we had 100 acres somewhere else that we had secured. We started in a former grocery store, and I’ll never forget getting ready for my first day, thinking, “This is never going to work.” But I promise you, never once did I doubt that it wouldn’t work. I would be lying if I told you there were times when I didn’t know how we would figure it out. But I never guessed that it would take the route that it did.

I remember starting in a former grocery store, going to the gymnasium with half-moon backboards, which don’t exist today, instead of the square ones. I complained to our athletic director at the time, saying, “Don’t schedule this anymore; we have no business playing in this gymnasium with these backboards. The kids can’t even shoot a bank shot.” He said, “John, I’ve been dreaming of a gym like this.” When you start in a grocery store, and you don’t have any of the facilities, and you beg, borrow, and try to create as many opportunities as you can, perspective is everything. And that was a moment of clarity for me.

When I started a school, I didn’t even know if my kids would go to the school. I didn’t start a school for just my kids. As a matter of fact, I sat through some incredible meetings with politicians where they questioned my sanity every day, basically because I was making life miserable for them at the time because of zoning and all these different things. I spent about 2,000 hours meeting with people and foundations trying to create energy and passion, and you know what, that was not a good feeling for a guy who loves to compete, who doesn’t like to lose, and I got shot down all the time.

My name got us in the door. I understood that, but I never thought it wasn’t going to get us out of the door, as in “you’re not ready.” Meeting after meeting, relationship after relationship, so many people had a hand in this school. This story, which started in a former grocery store, to where we got moved to this property through God’s incredible grace and another door opening when a lawsuit was taking us away from building our school on 100 acres, all the way creating and empowering people to defend the Christian faith so that one day, with all of this campus built out, people could say, because of that school, look what my son or daughter was able to do.

When it comes to King’s Ridge, I can’t help but think of the number four. I’m talking about four brave students that came to us at the board level (with some help). Four brave students who, if it weren’t for them, a lot of this might not have been possible the way it is today. Imagine at the board level, when you’re having a hard time meeting your financials, and you’re week to week sometimes on bills. You’re trying to figure out how to get out of a grocery store, so the meat department isn’t necessarily your stage, and the loading dock is our gymnasium that kids think is the Taj Mahal...all those things that everyone grew to love because it was intimate, and everyone knew each other. Four students came to the board and delivered a letter that said, “Let us be the first. We want to stay here and be the first high school class to graduate.” It didn’t make any

sense financially to have a school that four more years doesn’t really work in your budget plan when you’ve only got four students (that turned into six; two more were added).

At that point, we were a Pre-K - 8th grade school, and we were going to stay that way. Tears, pain, and prayer allowed that to happen. I’m so thankful for that, even though that was one of the hardest decisions we’ve ever had to make, to allow those four to continue. But each day after that process started, we began to tell the story of King’s Ridge. Most of you never knew that, but we began to think about how if everyone knows the story of King’s Ridge (God is in it, for sure), you can continue to tell the story and build on this mission of what really has worked when the board set out for painful months to create a mission to live by.

I told my board a long time ago that I have no problem passing the baton and watching others do the work that God used me to do, but I’ll be darned if you’re not going to have a 6’3” 225 lb. gorilla coming down your throat if you ever change the word “Christian” in this school. I’m proud today to say that has not happened. This is a school that is making a difference, and you’re part of the story.

I was interested to hear this when I looked at the numbers: 21 staff members have been here for 15 years or more, 30 have been here for 7 years or more, 20 have been hired since 2019, and 28 were hired in 2021. So half of you have no history of this story, of where it was, but half of you are going to continue this story and bring more energy and build this campus and see this as if one day, 30 or 40 years from now, they’re going to say “King’s Ridge always was.”

But it’s important to know the story so that each and every one of you, through the pressure of what you’ve been through in these last two years, can’t imagine what that’s been like – but I want to encourage you that we are building something greater than what our own abilities think we can do. Lean into what God has called you to do, even if it means change. Be comfortable being uncomfortable because that’s where change happens. You can’t be part of this process and be afraid to get out of your comfort zone.

I told our board that all these things would happen to us. We’re going to lose kids, we’re going to lose athletes, we’re going to struggle, but that’s okay. If we tell our story and if we get kids to make it difficult for that parent who, through their eyes, sees through a different prism and a different goal for their children, we want our children to say, “I don’t want to leave.” There’s something special going on in that field, there’s something special going on in that classroom, and they’re going to tell the story that this is where they want to be.

In closing, we started this school during 9/11. There is no worse time than 9/11 to open a school. What happened? God delivered. We built this school during Hurricane Katrina. It has

never cost triple to build this school when we didn’t have the money. God delivered. We have gone through some really tough times in our culture, and we have gone through the hardest time we have ever gone through at this point. It is as if God is doing something to allow this place to shine. I’m as fired up right now as I was back then. But I’m fine being in the stands, and I’m fine passing on the baton, helping to tell the story of King’s Ridge, and helping in any way we can. This school will be built in God’s time, this school has God’s hand over it, and we will be transitioning people to deliver certain gifts that weren’t there 15 years ago or 20 years ago.

When it comes to athletics, let me touch on this. I know that it’s going to be hard for you to believe, but when I was part of this school I wanted nothing to do with anything specific to athletics because of this: I didn’t want it to be known as a baseball school or a football school or a basketball school.

What I wanted it to be known for is that playing sports is one of the greatest things you can do, and it embodies a name on the jersey but shouldn’t embody “look at me” on the jersey. If we can teach that through one of the most visible names in sports, when it says King’s Ridge, if we can teach kids through athletics, fine arts, and, obviously, academics, the opportunity to stand tall, stand firm, and defend what you believe, and more importantly, defend King’s Ridge in a way that would bring about unity.

Building this school was a longtime vision. Getting in the moment with all the issues can feel very shortterm, where you feel stuck, and it’s hard to see the forest for the trees, but understand God already knows, and lean on Him.

I wish you the very best. I pray for you, and I will continue to pray for you as this school grows. I’m honored, honestly, to be a small part of that.

Thank you.

AthleticsSpring Highlights

Basketball

Varsity Boys Basketball – State Championship Runner-Up All-Region – Avery Adkin, Micah Hoover, Bella Martin, Isaac Martin All-State – Micah Hoover, Isaac Martin Players to Achieve 1,000 Career Points – Isaac Martin, Zak Thomas

Lacrosse

Varsity Boys Lacrosse – Sweet 16 First Team All-State – Jack Deady, Robbie Walker Second Team All-State – Dean Giacobbe All-State Honorable Mention – Brant Satterly US All-American – Robbie Walker (Ist KRCS student-athlete to receive this honor) Area 5 Select Team – Cali Bryan, Emma Decker, Ellie Racki, Abbey Walker 1st Player in KRCS Girls Lacrosse Program to Reach 100 Goals – Abbey Walker Middle School Boys Lacrosse – Metro 10 Champions and 3rd Place Newtown Senior Select Relaunched Jr. Tigers Girls Lacrosse Through Partnership with Omnilax

Tennis

Varsity Girls Tennis – Sweet 16 First Team All-Region – Ivey Bowling, Cali Bryan, Lexi Kittredge Second Team All-Region – Ansley D’Meza, Ryan Sammons

Soccer

Varsity Boys Soccer – Sweet 16 First Team All-Region – Kate Ares, Davis Bryan, Jack Strickland, Hudson Zawodzinski Second Team All-Region – Yale Jacobi, Grady Johnson, Sophia Johnson, Grace Kester, Neil Kohls, Annika Smith, Celia Steinberger

Golf

First Team All-State and Area Champion – Jack Schoenberger

Baseball

First Team All-Region – Mason Adkin, Owen Adkin, Charlie Jones, Nate Kittredge Region 6-A Player of the Year – Charlie Jones

Track & Field

100M State Champion and 200M State Champion – John Robinson 4th Place Finish in Pole Vault at State Meet – Oli Clark 5th Place Finish in Long Jump at State Meet – Josh Flynn Qualified for State Meet in Pole Vault – Bryden Miller, Nathan Walker (Alternate)

Bass Fishing

State Championship – Cole Bradley and Jackson Thomas

Gymnastics

Varsity Girls Inaugural Season

Class of 2022 Committed Student-Athletes

Kate Ares – Bates College, Volleyball Haley Castano – University of Georgia, Dance Dean Giacobbe – Rollins College, Lacrosse Charlie Jones – United States Air Force Academy, Baseball Ethan Joseph – University of Arkansas, Football John Robinson – UCLA, Track and Field Jack Schoenberger – Belmont University, Golf Noah Smith – Johns Hopkins University, Football Alexa Whittaker – The University of Mississippi, Dance

Fine ArtsSpring Highlights

GHSA Dance A-AA Hip Hop State Champions 2022 Varsity Tigerettes Dance Team

GHSA Literary Region and State Team Champions 2022 Plus 3 Individual All-State Titles

State Champion – Roxanna Karim, Essay-Personal State Champion – Alessandra Cawley, Girls Solo State Champions – Cailin Dickey, Lily Gardiner, Roxanna Karim, Girls Trio

State Runner Up – Mckenna Edenfield, Oral Presentation-Humorous 3rd All-State – Lukas Holliger, Extemporaneous Speaking 4th All-State – Brooke Partridge, Extemporaneous Speaking

Region Champion Team Members: Quartet – Garrett Bye, Marques Muscott, Logan Rawson, Ryder Thomason Guys Solo – Garrett Bye Oral Presentation Dramatic – Kate Lazewski Oral Presentation Duo – Roxanna Karim and Logan Rawson Essay Rhetorical – Marques Muscott Essay Argumentative – Ryan Sammons Coaches – Jenny Piacente and Joel Terning Music – Kathy Winchell, Acting Essay – Katie Layton Extemporaneous Speaking – Bob Rumble

Spring Performances