The Grand Opening of the Brockway Campus

On Saturday, May 9th at 11:00 am Westminster Christian Academy and Westminster Presbyterian Church celebrated the grand opening of their new Brockway campus at 237 Johns Road with a Ribbon Cutting ceremony attended by over 700 people. Representative Parker Griffith, Mayor Tommy Battle along with other local officials and representatives of the church and school cut the ribbon that officially opened the first academic building of Westminster Christian Academy at the Brockway campus, a ministry of Westminster Presbyterian Church for 45 years.

Even though the rains came and the power went out briefly, the enthusiasm could not be dampened as the crowd came and kept coming. Eventually the rain gave way to the sun and the power returned just at Mr. Curry Knight, chairman of the Westminster School Board, stepped to the podium to begin the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. Mayor Battle, Rep. Griffith and members of the school and church all made meaningful remarks directed at the school's desire to educate students in Christ and in excellence and to be a meaningful part of the community. The ceremony went better than expected and ended with the cutting of the ribbon and the official opening of the Brockway campus.

As the sky cleared, many took advantage of the dry weather to walk the campus and take in the recent additions. Coach Dick Spybey, Director of Athletics at Westminster, gave tours of the new field house, in progress, and painted the completed picture of Van Dyke Stadium with bleachers and track which will be completed sometime in late June.

We give great praise to God for the wonderful things taking place at Westminster. Below, you can find my remarks from the ceremony. We thank you all for your prayers and support. Blessings!



Comments on May 9th:

On behalf of all of us at Westminster Christian Academy, welcome! I would like to extend a special welcome to the WCA school board, the WCA Building Committee, specifically, Mrs. Vicki Boren, Mr. John Cyr, Mr. Jim Service and our building committee chairman, Mr. Keith Johnson, our architect, Mr. Rob Mercer and our builder, Mr. Bruce Mullin. Thank you all for your hard work put in on behalf of the school.

As we stand here before a building that was not here a year ago, we give great praise to our God who has sustained us not only this past year but throughout our 45 year history. Today, we celebrate what God has done and is doing in the life of Westminster Christian Academy, and in that celebration we rejoice with everyone who has been used by God in the school’s 45 year history. Every single person has contributed in some way or another to today’s reality.

What you see before you is a testimony to a Holy God. It is a building of 26,000 square feet on two floors with 23 state –of the –art classrooms, an atrium with concession stand, a 1000 seat gymnasium with a maple flooring system found at many Division I colleges including the likes of Duke and Vanderbilt, and double locker rooms… what you do not see yet are two custom designed modular buildings created to blend in with our new academic building that will become home to our library, our band/choir room and our administrative offices.

As we take residence of our new Brockway campus and all of our new facilities, I am excited about all of this, but I am also excited about what God is doing inside the walls of Westminster. Motivated by I John 4:1 which commands all of us to, “not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God,” we have examined our graduates and asked the questions: will they be prepared to further their education in the college or university of their choice? Will they be able to discern and think critically in order to distinguish God’s absolute truth from falsehood? With these two questions in mind, we believe a Westminster education begins with a foundation rooted in the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Upon that rock solid foundation, our goal is to produce graduates that can think critically and in higher categories, work independently and do so successfully, and finally, engage their culture in a loving, logical and articulate way while never wavering in their faith in Jesus Christ. We believe in an education that prepares graduates to be in a position to do whatever or go wherever the Lord calls them. We believe in an education that prepares graduates to think critically and discern in order to root out the false prophets and the wolves in sheep’s clothing. This is Westminster Christian Academy, education that is distinctly Christian and excellent in all things.

As I close, I leave you with one of my favorite quotes; it is a quote by G.K. Chesterton that I believe communicates the spirit of a Westminster education. Chesterton once wrote,

"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it."

At Westminster you can expect an education that teaches your children to swim actively against the current toward God and not just float aimlessly with the current away from God. This is the essence of an education that is in Christ and excellence in all things!

On behalf of all of us at Westminster… thank you for being here today to celebrate with us the great things God is doing in our midst. Blessings to all!