Message from our Head of School

Dear CCA Families,  

My name is John Stubblefield, and I am privileged to serve as the Head of School at Christ’s Church Academy.  

If I have not had the opportunity to meet you, I hope that we can connect sometime in the weeks ahead. This is an exciting time for the CCA ministry – the vision that was held for so long was finally accomplished as we have moved to a new campus and are poised to begin our next campus project to bring our CCA athletic programs to our new home! 

Over the past three years, our school community has almost doubled in size, from approximately 370 students in grades K-12 to a current enrollment of 700 students from preschool to 12^th grade. During this time of change, I think it is important to remember our mission and values, and why CCA is such a special community. The best way to do that is to share a story that illustrates our culture and who we are as Christian educators.  

So, how many of you have heard of Death Valley?   

You know the desert region in California – named by the pioneers traveling west in 1849 as part of the 49er’s gold rush.  One of the early settlers recalled the experience of crossing the region by saying, “Every step I expect to sink down and die.” 

Despite what you may believe, Death Valley, not Florida, is officially the hottest place on earth. A record temperature of 134 degrees was recorded in 1913, and in 1972, Death Valley was the site of the hottest ground temperature ever recorded at 202 degrees!  

According to the National Weather Service, the average annual rainfall in the valley is 2.4 inches. If a bird flaps its wings too hard flying across the St. John’s River, we can get that much rain in the afternoon car line! 

But, in 2016 something amazing happened . . . . It started to rain.  Heavy storms dropped almost ¾ of an inch of rain in the fall.  Now, by our standards here in Florida, that would not even be considered a passing shower, but in the dry climate of Death Valley, receiving almost half of the annual rainfall at once unleashed flash floods throughout the region.   

And, in the ensuing months, the rainfall continued, not much, mind you, but enough. And then, as the weather began to warm with the approach of spring, it happened . . . the valley, Death Valley, the hottest, driest, most unhospitable place on the face of the earth, was carpeted with a seemingly unending sea of flowers – yellows, and purples, and whites! The valley floor was alive in vibrant colors that stretched to the horizon!   

It is known as a Super Bloom – a rare event that only occurs when the weather conditions are perfect.   

The seeds are always present, hidden under the scorched surface, waiting for just the right amount of rainfall to unlock and reveal their potential.   

Now you may be thinking, Dr. Stubblefield has totally lost it. But stick with me for a moment.  You see, we all have our God-given seeds of potential – our hopes, our dreams, our passions.   

And while many people believe that a teacher’s job is just that, teaching.  I would argue that the main responsibility of a teacher is to build relationships, to make connections with their students, to engage them in the classroom, and to help them discover their identity and purpose in Christ.  

You see, our students, your children, they are much more precious than flowers. They are created in the very image of God.   

And as Christian educators, we have a great responsibility for our students before God.   

So as teachers, we cannot ignore those students who are disengaged.  It is not like tending your garden where you just cut off the blooms that wither and only focus on the strong.   

We must find ways to reach all students, every child, because our commitment, our mission, dare I say, our passion is kids! It is your kids, and we must engage every child entrusted to our care.  We must help them discover, unlock, and achieve their God-given potential.   

Years from now, our students, these children, will not remember who taught them how to do long division or diagram a sentence, or the strategic importance of the Punic Wars. I mean I have two degrees in history and cannot remember the strategic importance of the Punic Wars. Instead, our students will remember which teacher made them feel loved, who believed in them, who encouraged them to reach for their dreams.   

You know, I still remember the words of my middle school music teacher, he told me that I would never do anything with soccer. I should give it up and pursue music.   

But music was not my passion.  It was my mom’s, and it was my teacher’s, but it was not mine.  And those words still sometimes ring in my ears, when I step on a field at a major soccer event, from the Disney Soccer Showcase to the US Regional Olympic Development Camps, I hear that whisper, “You will never do anything with soccer”   

But I just smile!  And keep walking, because I hear another voice, a louder voice, the voice of a coach who believed in me, who saw potential, who invested in my life, and who said probably 1,000 times, “Johnny (you see he called me Johnny) – just have confidence in yourself!”  Be confident! You can do this, and I’m here to support you!   

Now, we recognize that life is not always easy. There will be challenges and times when your child fails, but we want our students to embrace those challenges, knowing that we are here to love and support them. And when a student fails, we want them, in the words of Teddy Roosevelt to, “fail while daring greatly” . . . to know that if they stumble, we are here, and we are going to pick them up, dust them off, maybe even wipe away a tear as we put our arm around them and say –  

“I am here with you.  I support you. Let’s move forward together!”  

And when a student makes a mistake, and there will be mistakes – I have made plenty just this week.  We are going to say, it is OK, you made a mistake, but you are going to take responsibility for it . . . learn from it.  We are going to move forward together because we love you and more importantly, God loves you.  He has created you for a great purpose and His plans for your life are so amazing that you cannot even fully imagine them.    

You see as teachers at Christ’s Church Academy, this is who we are – this is who we are called to be.  

We are cultivators laboring in God’s field because the harvest is great!   

At CCA, we are committed to making disciples, better disciples, and more disciples as we desire for every CCA student to know Jesus, be transformed by Jesus, and live on mission with Jesus as we build a generation that will change the world.  

Thank you so much for your prayers and partnership!  

Go Eagles!  

John Stubblefield