Our beginning was an expression of conviction - that children belong to the Lord, that parents have the God-given responsibility and privilege to train their children, and that education cannot be separated from the truth of God’s Word.
Fifty years ago, America was celebrating its Bicentennial, Gerald Ford was leaving office to be replaced by Jimmy Carter, Apple Computer was born in a garage, the first Viking spacecraft landed on Mars, and the cultural landscape was rapidly changing. In the midst of this whirlwind of change, church leaders and Christian parents were asking: What would it take to faithfully educate children? It was to address this challenge that Pastor Ray Marzolf of Grace Baptist Church, now Grace Bible Church, established a school, Grace Academy, where children would be taught not only to think but also to understand God’s world through the truth of His Word.
What began in 1977 with 85 students, four teachers, and one principal was more than the start of just another school. This beginning was an expression of conviction - that children belong to the Lord, that parents have the God-given responsibility and privilege to train their children, and that education cannot be separated from the truth of God’s Word. With this in mind, the school has continuously served as an extension of the home rather than as a replacement for it.
Over the decades, God has been faithfully guiding Grace Academy. For fifty years, class after class of students have sat in classrooms where God’s Word has been opened, truth has been taught, sin has been confronted, character has been cultivated, and young men and women have been challenged to live for something greater than themselves. While the school cannot take credit for what only God can accomplish, we can look back with gratitude and say, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”
Since 1977, approximately 3,500 students have been educated at Grace Academy. They have gone on to serve their families, churches, communities, and workplaces in countless ways. Our alumni serve as doctors, teachers, attorneys, pastors, missionaries, tech specialists, firefighters, EMTs, nurses, engineers, aeronautical engineers, cosmetologists, business owners, tradesworkers, zookeepers, farmers, mechanics, city council members, 911 operators, professors, pilots, real estate agents, service members, police officers, musicians, postal workers, authors, public works personnel, and much more! The variety itself displays a crucial part of the story: Christian education is not merely preparation for a career but for a life lived faithfully before God.
This 50th Anniversary brings us to you! Today’s parents! We are not celebrating just to look backward. We are celebrating God’s steadfast goodness so we can move forward with purpose. What kind of men and women do we want to help parents raise for the next 50 years? The mission has not changed. We remain committed to partnering with parents to provide an education centered on Jesus Christ, firmly rooted in the Scriptures, and purposed to prepare young people to think biblically and live faithfully. We continue to fulfill Grace Academy’s mission: Educating for Life; Impacting for Eternity. Our posture is not one of self-congratulation but one of humble gratitude toward our trustworthy God. We pray that God would find this place as faithful in the years to come as He has proven Himself to be over the past five decades.
~ Natelle Austin
