Leadership Thought: Some Reflections on My Recent Trip to Florida and a Church and School That Makes Me Proud 

Dear Friends,

In case you were wondering about what happened to Leadership Thoughts, I took some time off writing to visit friends and family in Georgia and Florida.

After two weeks of traveling a little over 2700 miles and visiting ten cities and spending time with almost 40 people, my days of living out of a suitcase are over.

Late last Wednesday my little dog Maggie and I arrived home  after a lengthy 12-hour drive from Savannah to Shrewsbury.

Maggie and I took our third trip to Florida, the first one shortly after Jean passed away. These annual trips have provided an opportunity for me to visit friends in Fort Lauderdale where I served for eight years as pastor, athletic director and chaplain of Calvary Christian Academy.

Begun as a ministry of Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, the school is now the largest Christian school in the country with over 2,500 students.

I especially wanted to be present this year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the school’s beginning.

It was an incredible experience to be back once again and to meet with so many of those friends Jean and I made while being a part of the rapid growth and development of the school.

The school started with 200 students in 2000 and  quickly doubled to 400 the following year as enrollment and facilities continued to grow and be developed.

I coached my first basketball team in 2002, and we played our home games on an outdoor court while the gym was being constructed.

Today the school has three gyms and a basketball team that has won two Florida state championships. Two years ago, the team was the number two ranked team in the country among all public and private schools, and this year they are ranked 3rd nationally with a 26-1 record. 

While there, I watched the team win their semifinal state game by 20 points, and I was amazed by the athletic talent the team possesses. With one Mc Donald's All American, and another four-star recruit along with several other players who will be heading to division 1 or 2 schools, the basketball program has  continued to develop a reputation for excellence.

Blessed with outstanding financial resources, the school recently completed the building of a 7-million-dollar field house equipped with a state-of-the-art training room with three full-time trainers. The locker rooms are as fine as you would find in any major college. Upstairs there are 16 offices for coaches and athletic administrators. The athletic director who followed me told me he has 90 coaches,  and he schedules 900 athletic events each year. 

The Field House overlooks a beautiful football facility with a gigantic college size scoreboard and a large press box and stands that will accommodate over 4,000 fans. Having won two state baseball titles, and  another in track and field, the school continues to excel athletically.

But what I am proudest of is the school’s continued commitment to the academic and spiritual development of their students. Having developed a reputation for excellence, the school has taken over and revitalized five area private schools that were ready to close, and each one of those schools is now excelling with growing enrollments and they are all on sound financial footing.

Yes, I am bragging about the church and the school, but I genuinely feel honored to have played a small part of the school and church’s success, something I attribute to leadership's unwavering commitment to put Christ first in everything they do.

The Lord always blesses when we put Him first and allow Him to lead and guide our decisions.

For many years the church was led by a dynamic pastor who was well known for his communication gifts.

Every weekend all three services were generally filled in a sanctuary that seated 3200. With the addition of 8 satellite churches, there were well over 20,000 worshiping each week. 

The dynamic pastor was one of the most gifted teachers in the country, and the church was experiencing phenomenal growth, but then it happened.

In 2014 this gifted pastor was brought down by  moral failure, and when it was discovered, he was immediately asked to resign.

There was no compromising of spiritual values in spite of the fact that the church had been largely built on this man's amazing pulpit gifts. Some in the church were concerned about what would happen if he were no longer in the pulpit, and they urged discipline and restoration as an option. Some asked how could the church afford to maintain a 75 acre campus without this man in the pulpit, but the church stood firm and refused to compromise, and while they initially lost 15% of their congregation over the next year, they discovered that God would honor their spiritual integrity and their commitment to being faithful to His ways, and today the church and school are stronger than ever.

There is a Chinese proverb that states. " If the roots are deep, there should be no fear that the wind will uproot the tree."

Proverbs 10:9 should be a good reminder to every believer. "People with integrity have firm footing, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall."

Yes, integrity provides stability. Each step away from a life of integrity is a step closer to a slippery slope that leads into a sinful lifestyle.

How proud I am today to have been a part of a church and a school that views every action and every decision through the lens of integrity. Thanks Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale and Calvary Christian Academy for teaching me those values of integrity; they are values that will never be forgotten.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom