In Part 1: Flight Delayed, the focus was on recognizing the current status of our Christian schools, do we need a face-lift or a faith-lift? 

In Part 2: Shakedown Cruises, we discussed how it appears that the current Christian school movement is going through a time of testing designed to prepare us for the storms that we collectively must weather.

In Part 3: Tipping Points, the primary realization is that in our schools, we have to strategically plan for and be aware of areas in our ministries that can tip the scales toward growth and sustainability.

Finally, in Part 4: Flywheel, we must put our shoulders to the wheel and begin to create momentum for the mission of building the Kingdom of God.  

Before joining the Bush-Cheney team, Gary Marx served as Development Director and lobbyist for The Family Foundation of Virginia and Focus on the Family. He summarized the challenge of Christian education: "We can simply defend what we have or create what we need." Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, describes lasting growth as turning a giant flywheel—it begins with a slow, steady effort that eventually builds unstoppable momentum. For Christian schools, the same principle applies.

What can be done to begin moving the Flywheel?

To initiate momentum, schools must take deliberate, steady action:

• Admissions: Redefine admission policies and protocols to protect Christ-centered identity while adjusting to cultural shifts and new financial tools (like ESAs). Schools must educate, edify, and evangelize.
• Teachers: Teachers are the school's greatest asset. Compensation and support must remain a priority, even as schools work to keep costs affordable.
• Technology: Meet the needs of a generation that learns visually and collaboratively, using technology as a tool, not a distraction.
• Retiree Engagement: Tap into the growing retiree population to teach specialty classes and mentor students.
• Global Perspective: Recognize that Christianity is expanding fastest outside the U.S.—and that America itself is now a mission field.
• Biblical Worldview: Equip students with a strong foundation for moral decisions, faith, and resilience in a hostile culture.

What More Must Be Done?

• Prayer: Establish intentional prayer networks that include students, staff, pastors, grandparents, and supporting churches.
• Purge: Eliminate programs, policies, and traditions that don't align with the mission or with Scripture.
• Pastors: Re-engage pastors as allies. Presence matters—students singing in church or schools helping at events is a powerful testimony and "free" advertising. Yet soberingly, only 7% of evangelical leaders send their children to Christian schools.
• Perseverance: Refuse to quit. Christian education is a spiritual warfare, and surrender to apathy is victory for the enemy. The most effective tool of the enemy is apathy: programs without passion, teachers without spirit, students without faith. Familiarity with the things of God can dull one's hunger for Him, but intimacy with Christ ignites a more profound desire. True conviction produces boldness, service, and joy.

Final Thoughts

Columbia International University’s motto— “To know Him and to make Him known”—reminds us that the goal is not simply to attract families, but to acknowledge and welcome God’s presence in our ministries.  Jesus said, “If I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32).  The phrase "coram Deo," meaning "before the face of God," was used by 16th-century Protestant Reformers like John Calvin and Martin Luther to describe living in continuous, conscious awareness of God's presence, authority, and glory. 

May we fall on our knees and lift our eyes to the One who alone can renew our schools, write His truth on our hearts, and make our lives His living testimony (2 Cor. 3:2–3).

References for the 4-part series include:

• Collins, Jim. 2001. Good to Great, New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.
• Frost, G. 2015. Does your school have a future? Christian School Educator 18(3): 6.
• Frost, G. 2014. Learning from the best, volume two: Growing greatness that endures in the Christian school. Colorado Springs, CO: ACSI.
• Gladwell, Malcolm. 2002. The Tipping Point. New York, NY: Bay Back Books.
• Marsh, J. A. 2007. Democratic dilemmas: Joint work, educational politics, and community. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
• Nichols, V. E. 2016. Schools at risk: An analysis of factors endangering the evangelical Christian school movement in America. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (UMI No. 10160167).
• Peterson, Eugene. 1993, Where Your Treasure Is. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing Co.
• Ritzema, R. 2013, October. Regional director's report. Presentation delivered in Temecula, CA, to the Southern California District 4 meeting of the California/Hawaii region of the Association of Christian Schools International.
• Wilson, J. Q. 1989. Bureaucracy: What government agencies do and why they do it. New York: Basic Books. In J. A. Marsh, Democratic dilemmas: Joint work, educational politics, and community, 101. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.