Volume III, Issue 9
January, 2004
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are blessed after him . — Proverbs 20 :7
Do you want God’s blessings on your life, your family’s lives, and the life of your ministry? Then walk with integrity. Webster defines integrity as “a firm adherence to a moral code.” God defines it as obedience to His Word. Jesus said, “Ye err, not knowing the scripture, nor the power of God.” Too often we are like the 4 and 5 year olds that I remember seeing leaving school most afternoons. We had a long walkway outside our school that led from the building to the parking lot. The children knew not to run into the street; however, they would often run down the sidewalk and would stop just short of the street. They would put their toes on the crack that separated the sidewalk from the street. They were following the rules, but they were right on the edge. For some reason many Christians think it is O.K. to live on the edge rather than to walk safely within the boundaries of
scripture. In the Christian school movement we talk a lot about Biblical world and life view. I have shared before that I think we talk more about it than we actually live it. Have you really considered what it means to live out a Biblical world and life view? What does it mean to your school? It should mean that you pay your bills on time, that you are consistent with your policies, and that your “yea’s mean yea and your no’s mean no.” It means that your walk on Monday is the same as your walk on Sunday. Far too many of us in the school business have heard young people say, “You don’t really know my parents. What you see here at school and church is not what I see at home.” The children in our schools need to have an example of Christianity that is just not all talk. They need to see the real thing. In the Christian school movement we don’t need to be sending
| And David
shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. Psalm 78:72 (NIV) |
mixed signals. The scripture
warns that we should not only avoid sin but we should be blameless — we should
avoid even the appearance of evil. Every personal relationship and every business
relationship should be based on Biblical integrity. One of the trends in business
today is the formation of strategic partnerships where two businesses agree
to work together for a common cause. Make sure that these relationships are
not based on finances but are based on integrity and that they do not violate
Biblical principles and/or policies. Secrecy of the conditions or terms of
the partnership is usually a good sign that something is wrong. Lead like
David, with integrity of heart and skillful hands
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Retention Is the Name of the Game!
January,
February and March are always difficult months in Christian schools. In fact,
I used to tell our teachers to buckle their seat belts in February because
Satan was going to attack. Why February? Because we were always in the middle
of re-enrollment time in February. Parents were making a decision about the
future education of their children. The school was usually announcing new
programs or trying to raise tuition so we could pay our teachers a livable
wage. Satan hates Christian education, and I think he releases his forces
to confuse, divide, and stir up trouble. Mark your calendar, February is always
trouble! Remember, Satan is trying to destroy and divide and convince parents
and the school that they are not on the same team. We must understand his
strategy and stand firm. Remember, he (Satan) is a defeated foe. Skip over
and read the last chapter. We won!
One of the things
that we would do in our school to combat Satan’s strategy was to go on the
offensive. We knew that we had to work together as a team so we approached
re-enrollment with a strategy of our own. We would always come up with a re-enrollment
theme or motto. We tried to make re-enrollment and the retention of our current
students the responsibility of everyone, not just our Admissions Department.
Once we established our theme we would remind everyone that it was re-enrollment
time and how critical it was to have every student return. We would have a
banner painted and hung on the outside of the building so that
parents, students, and teachers would be reminded that it was time to re-enroll.
We tied re-enrollment
to our mission by reminding teachers
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one re-enrolled. We made it a big deal each day when we gave out the shirts, and as a result students were going home encouraging mom and dad to return their enrollment contract so they could get their “T” shirt. We gave a pizza party to the first class that had 90% of their class re-enrolled. To keep the teachers informed of those who had re-enrolled and to open up communication between the teachers and the Admissions Department, we made the teachers’ lounge our “war room.” We placed the name of every student in school by grade on a large piece of poster board and posted it on the wall in the teachers’ lounge. When each student re-enrolled, his name was crossed off. This did two things. First it gave us a visual perspective of how we were doing on re-enrollment. It also made the teachers aware of who had re-enrolled and who had not. This in turn led to the second advantage. When the teachers saw who was not returning, they could begin to ask questions. If there was a problem, we could work on a solution. Many times we learned that a parent had lost his job and there might be financial concerns. Or perhaps there was a separation or divorce pending in the family. This often gave us an opportunity for ministry, and many times we were able to assist with financial aid and/or counseling. Bottom line — we had more ears and eyes listening for ways to assist our families. Our teachers also became actively involved in the re-enrollment process. We made sure the teachers also understood the budget implication of meeting our retention and enrollment goals. We worked together to develop and implement our re-enrollment strategy. We also took the time to celebrate when we reached our goals. It was not unusual for us to take an extra day off at Easter if we had reached our retention and enrollment goals. Remember,
the best customer you have is the one you have got. Develop a plan and strategy to keep him and then work your plan!
