More on Education Options from Jamie Leach

The following note is from Jamie Leach, the newest pastor at Covenant Life. He will be officially joining our team this summer and then will serve as a pastor and the principal of Covenant Life High School. Besides a long career in Christian education, Jamie has been a member of our sister church in Philadelphia for years. He served there as a youth pastor after attended the Sovereign Grace Pastors' College. His sense that God wanted him to return to Christian education coincided (read that as an almost scary example of divine providence) with our need for a new principal.

Jamie sent me this note after he read some of the posts I did on educational options. I think his comments are helpful. They come from a man with years of experience with Christian schools and a real passion for students.

Dear Josh,

I deeply appreciated your comments and exhortation in your video and I was also encouraged by the wisdom and humility contained in your father's comments that appeared on your blog.

I have been a Christian school educator for almost twenty years, but I have also taught many home school classes in church. I have found that the requirements for successful Christian education goes beyond any curriculum and its format. Whether a child's education takes place in the community of the classroom or is customized in the family's kitchen, it is not just the presentation of facts and information but the training of both the child's heart and the mind. Therefore, parenting is a critical factor in any education. Consistently I have found a great correlation between faithful students and faithful parents. Educational choices will vary, their strengths and weaknesses will present differing challenges to the parents, but the key to success in any of them lies in the attention and development given to the heart of a child. There are no educational choices that will guarantee your success as a parent. We must trust first and foremost in the grace of God. We find that grace in the cross of Christ and in fellowship with one another in the shadow of His cross.

In a church where a variety of educational choices exists among the parents, there is a rich resource of wisdom, knowledge, and experience available. As parents we can draw from that resource when we humbly share with and encourage one another through the most important truth that unites us - the gospel of Christ. To the extent that we honor, respect, encourage, and care for one another in fellowship and love, we will experience God's grace and parents will grow in their task of raising and educating the next generation of warriors for Christ.

In Christ,
Jamie Leach
Soon to be High School Principal
Covenant Life School