I am often reminded of our school’s theme verses for the year, Psalm 145:3-4. The Lord is great. He is “greatly to be praised and His greatness is unsearchable.” As the Lord continues to provide for Berean Academy on a daily basis, I love to “declare [His] mighty acts” to our Berean families and alumni.
This year, Berean received several large gifts from life-long supporters of the academy who recently went to be with the Lord. A portion of these gifts has been added to a small (but growing) endowment fund, which is intended to provide income for future operating expenses. Giving to the endowment fund is an excellent way to support the ministry of Berean Academy for many years to come.
We also were able to set aside a portion of these gifts to help with the cost of the next Kingdom Building Project at Berean - likely an extension of the existing elementary school wing. The Berean Board’s building committee continues to look into the feasibility of this project with a special focus on what will be needed to gain approval from the state fire marshal’s office.
Our parent survey from last spring highlighted growing parental concern over the condition of our track, which is now over 40 years old. Many parents would like to see it repaired, or better yet, replaced with a new synthetic track. We collected several bids to repair the existing track (repair the cracks and add several inches of new asphalt) as well as a bid to replace it with a new synthetic track.
Unfortunately, a new synthetic 6-lane black track will cost approximately $500,000 and would require continual maintenance. The best estimate to repair the existing track and resurface it was $80,000. Because of the significant difference in cost, the board has decided to move forward with repairing/resurfacing the old track as soon as the funds can be raised through gifts.
Again, the Lord has provided several unexpected gifts this year, which have been a tremendous encouragement to the Berean staff and board. As we look forward to a possible elementary building expansion and the repairing/resurfacing of the track, we know the Lord will provide as He has in the past, which will give Berean another opportunity to “declare [His] mighty works!”