Last blog, I alluded to the idea of changing my approach to a big event that I was invested in and resolved to give it a try for Open House at the school, which happened on Tuesday March 8. I decided to look forward to event, to imagine how it would feel to be successful, and to enjoy the fruits of our labours (I have some great help).
The thing about an Open House is that you really can't have any idea how many people are going to come. I read a scripture in the morning from Acts 2 that mentioned the countries that people came from who were gathered in Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost, who carried the messages they heard that day back to their own nations - a pre-internet information superhighway. I occurred to me that God has the power to gather to our Open House in Chilliwack whoever needs to be there to spread the story of our school to wherever it needs to go. A phrase I learned in Phoenix at Lifelink: God is God and I am not.
I had a blast that day. Our visitors were spread evenly over the day, with a bulge in the afternoon, which we have never had before. I relaxed and enjoyed every visitor I met, asked questions, listened to the answers, took some folks around the school myself just for fun, enjoyed the concerts. Students involved in performing, serving, touring and playing basketball had a blast and felt ownership in their school. The day ended for me with two visits that can only be described as divine appointments. When it was all said and done, we had 4 times the interested families visit and begin the registration process than ever before. At the end of the day I was not even tired - I went home and taught a bunch of piano lessons!
I think I'm beginning to get the hang of this thing. Now on to the next project......
Showing posts with label One More Thing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label One More Thing. Show all posts
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Administrators change the world!
When I look at success in politics, institutions, families, businesses et al, I see that leadership makes all the difference. In my world, I've seen small Christian schools with the same numbers, same stated goals, and same chances end up in opposite directions, some growing and affecting kids lives, some shrinking and sinking, some becoming powerhouses. The obvious difference is the quality of the leader. Duh. But here's my epiphany: one major weapon of a great leader is working hand in glove with effective administrators.
Administrators change the world. I learned this studying church music history, of all things. The first music ever written down was in the 7th century, thanks to an amazing man - Pope Gregory. He only reigned as pope for 13 years, but in that time he not left a legacy that formed the basis of Western music, but he also evangelized Ireland, which eventually led to all of Europe being converted to Christianity, and effected great changes in the Church. Great leader, but you know it wasn't Greg penning all that music or shipping out to Ireland. He had administrators that did that, and did it well.
Martin Luther did something similar. This man completely revolutionized the religious, cultural and political structure of Europe and the known world by challenging the authority of the Roman Catholic church. He cared about the people in the pew who not only didn't understand the Latin service, but were not allowed to sing - only the professionals could do that. Martin Luther translated the Bible into German so the people could understand it and created a whole new genre of sacred music by taking songs the people were singing in everyday life, setting German words to them that were based on the Bible, and printed the first two hymnals. Marty did not create this all that himself. He had helpers - administrators - that got those projects done and out there.
Somehow this always reminds me of my great grandmother, Elizabeth McCann. She was a remarkable worman with the most amazing set of adventures - I'd like to write about her someday. The reason I know about her escapades is that she wrote and published small tracts about her life and I am lucky enough to own a couple of them now, a hundred years later. Out on a farm in the prairies with so many children, she ran a churchand had everyone stay for dinner after service, yet she found the time and gumption to get her tracts published so that she could give her story to people she met. Now that's administration!
Now it's me playing follow the leader to Dave Shinness. He is a good leader who sees the big picture, works well with his own leaders, and eats, sleeps and breathes Christian school. One of his great strengths is that he identifies leadership and administrative qualities in the people he works with and gives them opportunity to try out their wings. That's what he did with me too, after years of teaching music - he thought I could do an admin job with special needs. It was a massive learning curve for me; more paperwork than I care to think about (which is not my strength) but I worked my way through it until I got on top of it and I like the feeling of learning something big again. I earned myself a sideways move to development and another huge learning curve.
I may not have the effect that Pope Gregory, Martin Luther, or even Elizabeth McCann have had, but I want to finish what I start and be one of my principal's secret weapons. It reminds me of that other famous couple, Pinkie and the Brain:
"What are we doing tonight, Brain? Same thing we do every night, Pinkie; try to take over the world!"
Administrators change the world. I learned this studying church music history, of all things. The first music ever written down was in the 7th century, thanks to an amazing man - Pope Gregory. He only reigned as pope for 13 years, but in that time he not left a legacy that formed the basis of Western music, but he also evangelized Ireland, which eventually led to all of Europe being converted to Christianity, and effected great changes in the Church. Great leader, but you know it wasn't Greg penning all that music or shipping out to Ireland. He had administrators that did that, and did it well.
Martin Luther did something similar. This man completely revolutionized the religious, cultural and political structure of Europe and the known world by challenging the authority of the Roman Catholic church. He cared about the people in the pew who not only didn't understand the Latin service, but were not allowed to sing - only the professionals could do that. Martin Luther translated the Bible into German so the people could understand it and created a whole new genre of sacred music by taking songs the people were singing in everyday life, setting German words to them that were based on the Bible, and printed the first two hymnals. Marty did not create this all that himself. He had helpers - administrators - that got those projects done and out there.
Somehow this always reminds me of my great grandmother, Elizabeth McCann. She was a remarkable worman with the most amazing set of adventures - I'd like to write about her someday. The reason I know about her escapades is that she wrote and published small tracts about her life and I am lucky enough to own a couple of them now, a hundred years later. Out on a farm in the prairies with so many children, she ran a churchand had everyone stay for dinner after service, yet she found the time and gumption to get her tracts published so that she could give her story to people she met. Now that's administration!
Now it's me playing follow the leader to Dave Shinness. He is a good leader who sees the big picture, works well with his own leaders, and eats, sleeps and breathes Christian school. One of his great strengths is that he identifies leadership and administrative qualities in the people he works with and gives them opportunity to try out their wings. That's what he did with me too, after years of teaching music - he thought I could do an admin job with special needs. It was a massive learning curve for me; more paperwork than I care to think about (which is not my strength) but I worked my way through it until I got on top of it and I like the feeling of learning something big again. I earned myself a sideways move to development and another huge learning curve.
I may not have the effect that Pope Gregory, Martin Luther, or even Elizabeth McCann have had, but I want to finish what I start and be one of my principal's secret weapons. It reminds me of that other famous couple, Pinkie and the Brain:
"What are we doing tonight, Brain? Same thing we do every night, Pinkie; try to take over the world!"
Thursday, February 3, 2011
The Next Big Adventure
On January 9 I teased everyone that I was rolling out my Next Big Adventure that week. Which I did. Just not to you, my lovely readers. I've been livin' the dream since then and now I want to tell you about it.
I am now the Development Coordinator for Highroad Academy. For the next 6 months I have three goals:
When we were newlyweds we returned to ORU so that Dave could finish his degree, as he only needed one year. It did not go well. Me getting stopped by a delusional border guard while crossing into the states was our first clue. We had a tough time making ends meet. Dave's department head was bound and determined that Dave was pursuing the wrong degree and did everything in his power to prevent his graduation. At Christmas, Dave and I sat down at the rickety table in our $85 a month garage apartment and he proclaimed "we're going back to Vancouver, and we're going to THAT church!".
THAT church was Glad Tidings Temple, where my family were attending. They were crazy people, standing and worshipping for 60-70 minutes at a time with their hands in the air, long prayer meetings, double tithing to the church and world missions etc. Dave always left there with a massive headache, but if we didn't go my mother would phone and lambast us for forsaking the gathering of ourselves together.
So we packed up the VW van in Tulsa OK and got back to Canada at midnight on Christmas Eve. We found an upstairs apartment with Conrad Maines, Dave got a job driving a truck, and we went to THAT church. 3 weeks later, the pastor invited us to a meeting to discuss the possibility of starting a church school with Accelerated Christian Education. Coincidentally, I had seen one of the first ACE schools in Tulsa and had come home to tell Dave what an interesting concept I had seen. Hearing the pastor propose the very same thing in Vancouver BC I knew we had been set up by the Almighty.
That was the beginning of our life's work in Christian education almost 40 years ago. Dave taught for 8 years at Temple Academy (which later became Pacific Academy in Surrey BC), we pastored in Gibsons BC for 3 years while founding an ACE school, we both taught in Cornerstone Christian School in Abbotsford while Dave finished his teaching degree, then moved to Portland Oregon where Dave was both Music Pastor and vice principal of Temple Christian school (later City Christian School) for 13 years before returning to Canada for Dave to be the Principal of Highroad Academy, now in his tenth year.
In all of our experiences with Christian schools, Highroad Academy is far and away the best school. Every school says it has a great staff, but this staff is amazing: the collegiality, compassion, creativity - I've never experienced anything like it before. The input from the church leadership is steady and supportive, the academic level is the highest in our area, exceeding all expectations especially when the education and income levels of the participating families are considered. Our school is not a spectacular structure, but it is well built, well maintained and paid for. The financials are solid as a rock and enrollment grew by 10-13% per year until the recession. We have provincial winning sports teams and an extra emphasis on worship in our music program. Everyday I show up, the office staff makes me want to be an educator all over again. Most of the kids in our church attend Highroad which makes up 30-35% of our enrollment. The rest of the students are from 40 different local churches with no bickering or quibbling about it. It's all that and so much more.
However, we are not good at tooting our own horn. We don't advertise, we don't have parent meetings, we haven't had a proper street sign for years (a new one is on the way!), we don't require the parents volunteer or give large sums of money: we just show up each day, love the kids and do our best.
I want this to quit being Chilliwack's best kept secret. I want to shout it from the housetops. I know there are families looking for us - they just don't know who or where we are. This is the school I wished I could have raised my own children in. This is the school every community needs to have on every corner. Schools like these raise leaders that change the world. We are that school.
Now can you see why I'm so excited about this, my Next Big Adventure? I think I have time in my working life for one more big thing that takes years to pull off. Is this it? I think so....
I am now the Development Coordinator for Highroad Academy. For the next 6 months I have three goals:
- increase the profile of Highroad Academy in our community
- make sure our parents and church members know more about Highroad.
- work to increase enrollment in Highroad by 25 students for the 2011-2012 school year.
When we were newlyweds we returned to ORU so that Dave could finish his degree, as he only needed one year. It did not go well. Me getting stopped by a delusional border guard while crossing into the states was our first clue. We had a tough time making ends meet. Dave's department head was bound and determined that Dave was pursuing the wrong degree and did everything in his power to prevent his graduation. At Christmas, Dave and I sat down at the rickety table in our $85 a month garage apartment and he proclaimed "we're going back to Vancouver, and we're going to THAT church!".
THAT church was Glad Tidings Temple, where my family were attending. They were crazy people, standing and worshipping for 60-70 minutes at a time with their hands in the air, long prayer meetings, double tithing to the church and world missions etc. Dave always left there with a massive headache, but if we didn't go my mother would phone and lambast us for forsaking the gathering of ourselves together.
So we packed up the VW van in Tulsa OK and got back to Canada at midnight on Christmas Eve. We found an upstairs apartment with Conrad Maines, Dave got a job driving a truck, and we went to THAT church. 3 weeks later, the pastor invited us to a meeting to discuss the possibility of starting a church school with Accelerated Christian Education. Coincidentally, I had seen one of the first ACE schools in Tulsa and had come home to tell Dave what an interesting concept I had seen. Hearing the pastor propose the very same thing in Vancouver BC I knew we had been set up by the Almighty.
That was the beginning of our life's work in Christian education almost 40 years ago. Dave taught for 8 years at Temple Academy (which later became Pacific Academy in Surrey BC), we pastored in Gibsons BC for 3 years while founding an ACE school, we both taught in Cornerstone Christian School in Abbotsford while Dave finished his teaching degree, then moved to Portland Oregon where Dave was both Music Pastor and vice principal of Temple Christian school (later City Christian School) for 13 years before returning to Canada for Dave to be the Principal of Highroad Academy, now in his tenth year.
In all of our experiences with Christian schools, Highroad Academy is far and away the best school. Every school says it has a great staff, but this staff is amazing: the collegiality, compassion, creativity - I've never experienced anything like it before. The input from the church leadership is steady and supportive, the academic level is the highest in our area, exceeding all expectations especially when the education and income levels of the participating families are considered. Our school is not a spectacular structure, but it is well built, well maintained and paid for. The financials are solid as a rock and enrollment grew by 10-13% per year until the recession. We have provincial winning sports teams and an extra emphasis on worship in our music program. Everyday I show up, the office staff makes me want to be an educator all over again. Most of the kids in our church attend Highroad which makes up 30-35% of our enrollment. The rest of the students are from 40 different local churches with no bickering or quibbling about it. It's all that and so much more.
However, we are not good at tooting our own horn. We don't advertise, we don't have parent meetings, we haven't had a proper street sign for years (a new one is on the way!), we don't require the parents volunteer or give large sums of money: we just show up each day, love the kids and do our best.
I want this to quit being Chilliwack's best kept secret. I want to shout it from the housetops. I know there are families looking for us - they just don't know who or where we are. This is the school I wished I could have raised my own children in. This is the school every community needs to have on every corner. Schools like these raise leaders that change the world. We are that school.
Now can you see why I'm so excited about this, my Next Big Adventure? I think I have time in my working life for one more big thing that takes years to pull off. Is this it? I think so....
Friday, January 7, 2011
Things that keep me awake at night
Jet lag. An afternoon nap. Caffeine. Thinking about my kids/husband/life. Imagining that One More Thing.
I think turning 60 next year is making me aware that I have just enough time in my working life for One More Thing. Something bigger than me, that has a big learning curve, that will tend to consume me if I let it (another problem for another page) that will create something that was not there when I started.
I have some clues, but that's all so far. Stay tuned. Do you have any guesses? suggestions?
I think turning 60 next year is making me aware that I have just enough time in my working life for One More Thing. Something bigger than me, that has a big learning curve, that will tend to consume me if I let it (another problem for another page) that will create something that was not there when I started.
I have some clues, but that's all so far. Stay tuned. Do you have any guesses? suggestions?
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