Liberty Christian Academy - Tavares, Florida
By: Jennifer Walker - Journey

James Gardner thought he was destined to build houses. For six and a half years, he worked as a contractor in North Carolina.

"That was my ultimate goal," he said. "But the Lord had different plans."

Now the director of operations for Liberty Christian Academy in Tavares, Florida, Gardner has used his talent to save the school tens of thousands of dollars in its latest construction project.

Liberty Christian Academy is affiliated with Liberty Baptist Church. The church was founded on July 4, 1976. In 1989, church members founded Liberty Christian Academy. The new school offered a daycare and an Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) program. Growth was slow but steady until 1991, when Pastor Timothy J. Green, who is still at Liberty Baptist Church, took the helm. Pastor Green's mission was to grow the Christian school and make it a quality education facility.

Under Green's leadership, the school moved from the ACE program and began to incorporate a traditional classroom setting. The middle and high school adopted the A Beka math and English curriculum, an in-depth Biblical orientation that provides a rigorous worksheet approach that keeps children on an accelerated track. Soon after A Beka was introduced, the preschool and elementary programs followed suit and adopted the program. An athletics program also was introduced.

As the education programs offered by the school began to expand, so did its student body. Soon, the need for additional classrooms was apparent. In late 2002, the Life Center with 13 classrooms, school offices and a gym were added. Anticipating the need for more classrooms in the future, the sanctuary was built with 4,000 square feet of unfinished space above it.

Shortly after the school settled into its new center, Gardner came on board.

"The school did several things to be more competitive," Gardner said.

Not only did the school revamp its education programs, it also set a comparatively attractive tuition.

"The school has grown by 10 percent each year that I've been here," he said.

The sizable growth spurt encouraged the build out of the 4,000 square feet above the sanctuary. But funds were tight. An experienced contractor, Gardner was charged with overseeing the project.

Even though the space already had been made with sub-flooring, exterior walls and a roof, the estimated cost was more than $300,000. The price was steep for a school that wanted to pay cash for the renovation.

The school hired neighboring Ricker Construction to help with securing permits, but the majority of the work and coordinating of subcontractors fell to Gardner. Gardner called on church members to use their time and talent to help out with the project. Liberty Baptist Church's mission goes beyond evangelism, discipleship, ministry, fellowship and worship. It encourages involvement of its members in a group or a ministry, which includes the continuous growth of its school.

Gardner's request resulted in members volunteering to paint walls, lay tile in the bathrooms, and volunteering to do much of the work subcontractors would normally have done.

Some exterior work was required for a fire exit and a motorized handicap lift for the stairway, which set the budget back about $37,000. Permit issues also added about four months to the project, which, including that time, took about 15 months to complete.

Because of Gardner's fiscally keen leadership and the church members' hard work, the project, which was completed last summer, ended up costing a mere $163,000, nearly $150,000 less than expected.

"We were able to pay for the whole thing in cash," Gardner said. "We just looked at the different places where we could save money. It caused us to step back and evaluate a lot of our expenses and see if we could do things differently to save money."

Today, Liberty Christian Academy, a member of the American Association of Christian Schools (AACS), has an enrollment of 300, ranging from a new voluntary 4K to 12th grade. The new space includes a library, conference room, and computer lab complete with 25 computers on a network. Cable access also will be available by summer.

The school also houses the Central Florida Bible Institute, a three-year program that the school hopes to expand to a four-year program soon.

Liberty Christian Academy also recently doubled its acreage when it acquired 8 1/2 acres of nearby property in anticipation of building a sports complex.

"I'd like to see start this summer," Gardner said.

Once again, he hopes to rely on church members to assist with the project. The sports complex will include a stadium and three ball fields for football, soccer and baseball.

"Our goal is to grow our enrollment beyond 300," Gardner said.

By offering a quality education program, building its sports program, making its tuition competitive, and providing a sound facility for the school, Liberty Christian Academy is on the road to success.

FAST FACTS

School: Liberty Christian Academy

Location: Tavares, Florida

Student Body: 300

Grades Serves: 4K-12

Project Goal: Build out unfinished space for additional classrooms and school offices

Size: 4,000 square feet

Cost: $163,000

Challenge: The project estimate was more than $300,000, which strained the school's financial resources.

Solution: An on-staff director of operations with a contracting background rallied church members to donate their time and talents. As a result, the project came in well under budget, and the school was able to pay cash for its renovation.